ries that can easily be brought to conscious aware-
ness.
Preconventional level—Kohlberg’s first level of
moral development, which bases moral behavior
on obedience and punishment, or acting in one’s
own best interests.
Predictive validity—the extent to which a test accu-
rately forecasts a specific future result.
Prefrontal lobotomy—a surgical procedure that
destroys the tracts connecting the frontal lobes to
lower centers of the brain, once believed to be an
effective treatment for schizophrenia.
Prejudice—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.
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
evidenced 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
attributes our undesirable feelings to others.
Projective personality tests—present ambiguous
stimuli such as inkblots (Rorschaach) 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,
thinking, behavior, and mood.
Psychoanalysis—Freudian form of therapy involv-
ing 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 M.D. or a Ph.D.
Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic approach—psy-
chological perspective concerned with how uncon-
scious 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 psy-
chological 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.332 á Glossary
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