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 thala-
mus that controls feeding behavior, drinking
behavior, body temperature, sexual behavior,
threshold for rage behavior, activation of the sym-
pathetic and parasympathetic systems, and secre-
tion of hormones 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 psy-
chosocial theory of development.
Idiographic methods—personality techniques that
look at the individual such as case studies, inter-
views, and naturalistic obervations.
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
stimulus 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 individ-
ual IQ scores; subjective grading.
Individuation—according to Jung, is the psycholog-
ical process by which a person becomes an individ-
ual, 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—psychol-
ogists who aim to improve productivity and the
quality of work life by applying psychological prin-
ciples and methods to the workplace.
Inferential statistics—statistics that are used to inter-
pret data and draw conclusions.
Information processing model of memory—expla-
nation 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.
Inhibitory neurotransmitter—chemical secreted at
terminal button that reduces or prevents neural
impulses in the postsynaptic neuron.
Insight learning—the sudden appearance (often cre-
ative) or awareness of a solution to a problem.
Insomnia—the inability to fall asleep and/or stay
asleep.
Instinct—inherited, complex automatic species-
specific behavior.
Instinct theory—theory of motivation that physical
and mental instincts such as curiosity and fearful-
ness cause us to act.
Instinctive drift—the tendency of an animal to
revert to instinctive behavior which interferes with
learning.Glossary Ü 325