Glossary ❮ 343Prejudice—unjustified attitudes we hold about
others; generally negative evaluation based on eth-
nicity, race, sex, or some other criterion.
Prelinguistic speech—initial steps of cooing and
babbling, later accidental imitation, and finally
deliberate imitation as precursors to language
development.
Premack principle—a high probability behavior can
serve as a reward for a low probability behavior,
thus increasing it.
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder—a recurrent
depressive disorder occurring most months in
the days before a woman starts menstruating
characterized by mood swings, feeling suddenly
sad or tearful, irritability or anger, feelings of
being “keyed up,” difficulty concentrating, lack
of energy, change in appetite, change in sleep pat-
terns, sensation of bloating.
Prenatal development—period of development that
begins with fertilization, or conception, and ends
with birth.
Preoperational stage—Piaget’s second stage of cog-
nitive development (2–7 years) during which the
child represents and manipulates objects with sym-
bols (language) and is egocentric.
Primacy effect (Law of Primacy)—the tendency to
remember initial information; in the memoriza-
tion of a list of words, the primacy effect is evi-
denced by better recall of the words early in the list.
Primary emotions—joy, fear, anger, sadness, sur-
prise, and disgust which are inborn.
Primary motives—internal mechanism directing
behavior dealing with sustaining processes biologi-
cally necessary for survival such as thirst, hunger,
and sex.
Primary reinforcers—important automatic and
unlearned (inborn) rewards like food and drink.
Primary sex characteristics—the reproductive
organs (ovaries, uterus, and testes) and external
genitals (vulva and penis).
Priming—activating specific associations in memory
either consciously or unconsciously.
Proactive interference—occurs when something you
learned earlier disrupts recall of something you
experience later.
Problem solving—the active efforts we undertake to
discover what must be done to achieve a goal that
isn’t readily attainable.
Procedural memory—memories of perceptual,
motor, and cognitive skills.
Projection—Freudian defense mechanism that attri-
butes our undesirable feelings to others.
Projective personality tests—present ambiguous
stimuli such as inkblots (Rorschach) or pictures(TAT) with the assumption that test takers will
project their unconscious thoughts or feelings onto
the stimuli (according to psychoanalytic approach).
Prosocial behavior—positive, helpful, and construc-
tive behavior.
Prototype—a mental image or “best example” that
incorporates all the features you associate with a
particular category.
Psychiatrist—medical doctor and mental health pro-
fessional who can prescribe medication or perform
surgery.
Psychoactive drug—a chemical that can pass through
the blood-brain barrier to alter perception, think-
ing, behavior, and mood.
Psychoanalysis—Freudian form of therapy involving
free association, dream analysis, resistance, and trans-
ference aimed at providing the patient insight into
his or her unconscious motivations and conflicts.
Psychoanalyst—a therapist who has taken special-
ized training in psychoanalysis generally after earn-
ing either an MD or a PhD.
Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic approach—
psychological perspective concerned with how
unconscious instincts, conflicts, motives, and
defenses influence behavior.
Psychological dependence—intense desire to
achieve a drugged state in spite of adverse effects.
Psychology—the science of behavior and mental
processes.
Psychometricians (measurement psychologists)—
focus on methods for acquiring and analyzing
psychological data; measure mental traits, abilities,
and processes.
Psychopathology—a pattern of abnormality evi-
denced by emotions, behaviors, or thoughts inap-
propriate to the situation that lead to personal
distress or the inability to achieve important goals.
Psychopharmacotherapy—the use of psychotropic
drugs to treat mental disorders.
Psychophysics—study of the relationship between
physical energy and psychological experiences.
Psychosis—reality distortion evidenced by highly
disordered thought processes.
Psychosurgery—any surgical technique in which
neural pathways in the brain are cut in order to
change behavior, including lobotomy.
Psychoticism—Eysenck’s personality dimension that
measures our level of tough-mindedness, how hos-
tile, ruthless, and insensitive we are; as opposed to
tender-mindedness, how friendly, empathetic, and
cooperative we are.
Puberty—the early adolescent period marked by
accelerated growth and onset of the ability to
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