336 ❯ GlossaryHomosexuality—a tendency to direct sexual desire
toward another person of the same sex.
Homozygous—the condition when both genes for a
trait are the same.
Hormone—chemical messenger that travels through
the blood to a receptor site on a target organ.
Hostile aggression—deliberate infliction of pain
upon an unwilling victim.
Humanistic approach—psychological perspective
concerned with individual potential for growth and
the role of unique perceptions in growth toward
one’s potential.
Huntington’s disease—dominant gene defect that
involves degeneration of the nervous system char-
acterized by tremors, jerky motions, blindness, and
death.
Hypnagogic state—relaxed state of dreamlike aware-
ness as we fall asleep.
Hypnosis—a technique that involves an interaction
between the person (hypnotist) who suggests cer-
tain feelings, thoughts, perceptions, or behaviors
and the subject who experiences them.
Hypochondriasis—a somatoform disorder involving
persistent and excessive worry about developing a
serious illness.
Hypothalamus—part of the brain under the thalamus
that controls feeding behavior, drinking behavior,
body temperature, sexual behavior, threshold for
rage behavior, activation of the sympathetic and
parasympathetic systems, and secretion of hor-
mones of the pituitary.
Hypothesis—prediction of how two or more factors
are likely to be related.
Iconic memory—visual sensory memory.
Id—Freud’s original system of the personality; it
operates on the pleasure principle and seeks imme-
diate gratification of its wants and needs; uncon-
scious reservoir of primal urges and libido.
Ideal self—Rogerian term for the self we desire to
be; discrepancy with real self causes psychological
problems.
Identical twins—also called monozygotic twins; two
individuals who share all of the same genes/hered-
ity because they develop from the same zygote.
Identity vs. role confusion—in Erikson’s theory,
establishing an identity is the developmental task
of adolescence or stage 5 of his eight-stage psycho-
social theory of development.
Idiographic methods—personality techniques that
look at the individual such as case studies, inter-
views, and naturalistic observations.
Illness anxiety disorder (IAD)—classified with
somatic symptom disorders. Patients may or may
not have a medical condition but have heightenedbodily sensations, are intensely anxious about the
possibility of an undiagnosed illness, or devote
excessive time and energy to health concerns,
often obsessively researching them for at least six
months. Previously called hypochondria.
Imagery—mental pictures.
Implicit memory (nondeclarative memory)—long-
term memory for skills and procedures to do things
affected by previous experience without that expe-
rience being consciously recalled.
Imprinting—the process by which certain animals
form attachments during a critical period very early
in life.
In-group—a group of which one is a member and
one tends to favor.
In vivo desensitization—behavior therapy for pho-
bics; the client actually is placed in the fearful set-
tings rather than imagining them as in systematic
desensitization.
Incentive—a positive or negative environmental stimu-
lus that motivates behavior, pulling us toward a goal.
Incongruence—in Rogerian therapy, discrepancy
between a client’s real and ideal selves.
Incubation—putting aside a problem temporarily;
allows the problem solver to look at the problem
from a different perspective.
Independent variable (IV)—the factor the researcher
manipulates in a controlled experiment (the cause).
Individualism—identifying oneself in terms of per-
sonal traits with independent, personal goals.
Individualized tests—given to individuals in 1:1
setting; cost of hiring a professional makes them
expensive; probably better for determining indi-
vidual IQ scores; subjective grading.
Individuation—according to Jung, is the psycho-
logical process by which a person becomes an
individual, a unified whole, including conscious
and unconscious processes.
Inductive reasoning—reasoning from the specific to
the general, forming concepts about all members
of a category based on some members.
Industrial/organizational psychologists—psychologists
who aim to improve productivity and the quality
of work life by applying psychological principles
and methods to the workplace.
Inferential statistics—statistics that are used to inter-
pret data and draw conclusions.
Information processing model of memory—
explanation of memory that compares operation of
human memory to a computer involving encod-
ing, transfer to storage, and retrieval from storage.
Informational social influence—accepting others’
opinions about reality, especially in conditions of
uncertainty.BM.indd 336 27-05-2018 15:32:47