bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Achievement Motivation
Authors: Wigfield Allan , Cambria Jenna
Published: January 2010

Motivational psychologists study what moves people to act and why people think and do what they do (Weiner, 1992). Motivation energizes and directs actions, and so it has great relevance to many important developmental outcomes such as school achievement, performance in other activity areas, and overall mental health. Fundamentally, motivational theorists and researchers work to understand the motivational predictors of choice, persistence, and effort (Wigfield, Eccles, Schiefele, Roeser, & Davis‐Kean, 2006). Achievement motivation refers more specifically to motivation relevant to performance on tasks in which there are criteria to judge success or failure. Examples of these kinds of tasks are school activities, work activities, and competitive sport activities. In all such activities competence is a crucial part of motivation to achieve. Motivation in all forms is most directly observable in the level of energy in individual's behaviors.
Acting Out
Authors: Toch Hans
Published: January 2010

The term “acting out” has been used to label behavior in a variety of contexts, ranging from preschools and kindergartens (to describe kids such as Johnny, who has decimated a prized collection of stuffed animals, and thrown them about) to psychological treatment settings (with regard to patients like Mildred, who has punched her therapist in the nose after he offered her a particularly insightful interpretation). The concept is most extensively in vogue, however, in organizations that deal with criminal offenders or persons who have been diagnosed as having mental health problems.
Actualization
Authors: Fischer Constance T.
Published: January 2010

The general common meaning of actualization is moving from potential into reality–actuality. Actualization is broadly valued in American culture, as is evident in the saying that anyone can become president, and in a recent army advertisement campaign urging potential recruits to “Be all that you can be.” In American psychology, self‐actualization has come to refer to a person's bringing into reality his or her own potential for a richly fulfilling, open, and appreciative life. In most recent times, actualization is more explicitly coming to include moving beyond self to identifying with humanity, nature, and the cosmos.
A
dler,
A
lfred (1871–1937)
Authors: Ansbacher Heinz L.
Published: January 2010

Alfred Adler founded the school of Individual Psychology, a theory of personality and psychopathology, as well as a method of psychotherapy. Based on the concepts of the unit, goal striving, and active participation of the individual, it is a humanistic view of psychology rather than a mechanistic drive psychology. It stresses cognitive rather than unconscious processes. Adler accepted being called “father of the inferiority complex.”
Adolescent Depression
Authors: McCauley Elizabeth , Schloredt Kelly
Published: January 2010

Depression during the adolescent years is a major public health problem. While somewhat rare in childhood, the rate of depressive disorders escalates over five‐fold in the adolescent years, moving from a 12‐month prevalence of less than 3% in the sixth‐ to ninth‐grade years to a prevalence of 17% during the eighteenth year of life (Hankin
,
Abramson, Moffitt, Silva, McGee, & Angell, 1998). Whereas rates of depression increase during this period for both boys and girls, by mid to late adolescence, depressed females outnumber depressed males by a ratio of 2:1 (Hankin et al., 1998). It is estimated that 20% of young people will have at least one episode of clinical depression by age 18, and 65% will experience transient or less severe depressive symptoms (Lewinsohn, Hops, Roberts, Seeley, & Andrews, 1993).
Adolescent Development
Authors: Lerner Richard M. , Boyd Michelle J. , Du Dan
Published: January 2010

Adolescence may be defined as the period in life when most of a person's biological, cognitive, psychological, and social characteristics are changing in an interrelated manner from what is considered childlike to what is considered adultlike. When most of one's characteristics are in this state of change, one is an adolescent.
Aesthetics
Authors: Smith Lisa F. , Smith Jeffrey K.
Published: January 2010

Aesthetics is the study of how human beings react in sensory and emotional fashion to the things we encounter in life, especially as being appealing or not appealing. Is a person beautiful? Is this dessert delicious? Is that work of art particularly moving? Researchers who study taste or beauty in humans are engaged in work in aesthetics, but in recent years the field has focused more on how people react to works of art, broadly defined (fine arts, music, architecture, film, and so on). Although the field evolved from and still has close ties to philosophy, aesthetics from the perspective of how people actually perceive and react to works of art can be seen as a logical branch of the study of psychology. This is sometimes referred to as the psychology of aesthetics or empirical aesthetics, to differentiate it from its philosophical cousin. This line is not always clear, however, and some scholars, notably Dewey, move with facility between philosophy and psychology. Aesthetics can be contrasted to the related term, art, in that aesthetics concerns the reception of stimuli rather than their production.
Affective Development
Authors: Wertlieb Donald , Vashchenko Myrna V. , Spetter Dante
Published: January 2010

Affect, as a feature or type of behavior, and hence a focus of psychology, is one of the least understood and most challenging problems in the field. “Affect” relates to and/or encompasses a wide range of concepts and phenomena including feelings, emotions, moods, motivation, and certain drives and instincts. It is often used as a synonym of “emotion”; however, others have used it to describe external manifestations of emotion or mood. Anger, joy, fear, laughter, sadness, anxiety, pride, love, hate, and so on—are all so central to human experience, yet so little understood by psychology. Theorists and researchers have approached affect in numerous ways, often using idiosyncratic, contradictory, or mutually exclusive conceptualizations and operational definitions, thus resulting in confusion and limited progress in our understanding of affect or any of these other related or synonymous constructs.
Aging and Intelligence
Authors: Li Shu‐Chen , Li Karen Z. H.
Published: January 2010

Phenomena of aging effects on intellectual and cognitive functioning are investigated by research approaches at the psychometric, information‐processing, and biological levels. Evidence from these approaches complements each other and should be considered conjointly for a comprehensive overview of aging and intelligence. Recent neurcomputational approaches help to integrate theory and data across these levels.
Akathisia
Authors: Brüne Martin
Published: January 2010

The term
akathisia
(literally “not to sit”) was introduced by the Bohemian neuropsychiatrist Lad Haskovec in 1901 (Haskovec, 1901). Akathisia represents a complex psychomotor syndrome, comprising a subjective (emotional) and an objective (motor) component (Sachdev, 1995; Iqbal, Lambert, & Masand, 2007). The subjective symptoms of akathisia include inner restlessness, urge to move (tasikinesia), inability to remain still, general unease, discomfort, inability to relax, poor concentration, dysphoria, anxiety, fear, terror, rage, suicidal ideation, and aggressive thoughts.
Alcohol Use Disorders
Authors: Sher Kenneth J.
Published: January 2010

Within theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM‐IV‐TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000), alcohol use disorders (AUDs) can be subdivided into two major diagnoses: alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence.Alcohol abuserefers to a pathological pattern of drinking marked by one or more of four domains of problems—specifically recurrent using of alcohol in physically hazardous situations, legal problems, problems in fulfilling role obligations, and interpersonal problems.Alcohol dependencerefers to a presumed more severe condition marked by three or more of seven criteria—tolerance, withdrawal, impaired control of drinking, inability to cut down or abstain, a great deal of time spent drinking or recovering from alcohol's effects, important activities given up because of drinking, and drinking despite knowledge that it is having adverse effects on one's mental and/or physical health.
Alexia/Dyslexia
Authors: Miller Carlin J.
Published: January 2010

In an increasingly literate world, the inability to read is a significant disability that may affect academic success, employment, and self‐concept. Because widespread literacy is a relatively recent historical development, it should not be surprising that it was only about 100 years ago that the first case of alexia or “word blindness” was described. By definition, the term
alexia
describes a condition in which reading ability is lost as a result of some neurological insult, such as head injury or stroke. With alexia, it is assumed that the individual had adequate reading achievement prior to the neurological insult, and therefore, the disability is not developmental in nature.
Alexithymia
Authors: Zimmermann Grégoire
Published: January 2010

All individuals experience emotions and feelings, two terms that are often used interchangeably in everyday language. However, contemporary specialists in the area of affect concur that emotions are multifaceted phenomena characterized by more or less coordinated changes in three components: a cognitive‐experiential component (subjective conscious experience, such as feeling happy), a behavioral‐expressive component (characteristic overt expression, such as frowning), and a physiological component (autonomic arousal, such an increase in heart rate or blood pressure). With particular respect to the cognitive component, people differ considerably in the degree to which they pay attention to their emotional experiences, as well as in their abilities to differentiate between their feelings and share them with others. The alexithymia construct has been proposed to account for this variability.
All‐or‐None Law
Authors: Thorne B. Michael
Published: January 2010

The major parts of a neuron or nerve cell include the dendrites, the cell body, and the axon, which is a single, relatively long process extending away from the cell body. The neuron typically receives information from neighboring neurons through chemical substances called neurotransmitters that are released near the dendrites and cell body. The neuron may relay this information to other neurons by the nerve impulse, which is a characteristic of the axon.
Altruism
Authors: Batson C. Daniel
Published: January 2010

Altruism refers to a specific form of motivation for benefiting another. Some biologists, economists, and psychologists speak of altruism as a form of behavior (e.g., costly helping or helping with no external reward). However, such use fails to consider the motivation for the behavior, which has historically been crucial for altruism.
American Psychological Association of Graduate Students
Authors: Hasan Nadia T.
Published: January 2010

The American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) is a continuing committee within the American Psychological Association (APA) that advocates for the unique needs and concerns of graduate students. APAGS consists of approximately 40,000 student affiliate members and is one of the largest constituency groups within the APA. APAGS is the largest group of organized psychology graduate students in the world (APAGS, 2008).
American Psychological Association Code of Ethics
Authors: Stricker George
Published: January 2010

The American Psychological Association (APA) promulgated the first Code of Ethics for psychologists in 1953. This publication, however, had been preceded by a committee devoted to ethical concerns that had been formed in 1938, and was based on the work of a committee organized in 1947 (Canter, Bennett, Jones, & Nagy, 1994). The formalization and codification of ethical standards was a response to the increasing professionalization of psychology, a development that began during World War II.
Animal Intelligence
Authors: Vonk Jennifer , Povinelli Daniel J.
Published: January 2010

The study of animal intelligence has been addressed by ethologists, biologists, psychologists, anthropologists, neurologists, zoologists, and ecologists, among others, each guided by different theoretical perspectives. Representatives from each field have thus defined intelligence in different ways. The resulting disparate theoretical definitions have, not surprisingly, led to distinct operational definitions, encouraging strikingly different methodological approaches to the study of intelligent behavior in animals. Two broad approaches can be identified. Researchers studying animals in the field (e.g., ethologists, biologists, behavioral ecologists) have tended to focus on questions of how animals adapt to and solve ecological problems, whereas those studying animals in captive environments (e.g., psychologists) have focused on questions of generalized learning and memory and concept formation.
Anomic Aphasia
Authors: Casas Rachel , Tranel Daniel
Published: January 2010

Anomic aphasia is a very disabling disorder that results from acquired brain dysfunction (typically stroke, traumatic brain injury, or temporal lobe resection). Patients with anomic aphasia manifest an isolated deficit in their ability to name things like concrete entities (named by nouns), actions (named by verbs), or spatial relationships (named by prepositions). Defective naming, also known as anomia, is a frequent part of the symptom complex that characterizes patients with aphasia (Goodglass & Wingfield, 1997; Tranel & Anderson, 1999), where aphasia refers to disturbances of the comprehension and formulation of verbal messages caused by acquired damage to language‐related brain structures (typically in the left hemisphere).
Applied Behavior Analysis
Authors: Meador Stephanie K. , Hatfield David B.
Published: January 2010

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) refers to the application of the science of behavior whereby observable behavior is studied and operantly modified. Data are continually collected and evaluated during baseline and intervention phases, and guide all decisions regarding intervention modifications. The roots of applied behavior analysis can be tracked back to the field of experimental behavior analysis in which animal behaviors were modified through systematic manipulation of environmental events, such as the repeated presentation and removal of antecedents (events that immediately precede behavior) and consequences (events that immediately follow behavior).
Approach‐Avoidance Conflict
Authors: McNaughton Neil
Published: January 2010

When meeting a group of strangers, or being asked to speak in public, we can experience concurrent approach and withdrawal tendencies—both stick and carrot. When approach and avoidance are both strong, the conflict can be experienced as social, or performance, or some other form of anxiety. It can also bias our economic behavior making us risk averse. If chronic, conflict results in stress.
Assistive Technology
Authors: Brodwin Martin G.
Published: January 2010

As all areas of society continue to become more technologically advanced, individuals who have disabilities and chronic medical conditions are benefiting through the use of assistive technology and becoming more mainstreamed into American society. As they become more independent in all areas of life and are less reliant on public services, society benefits as well. Many of these persons have been able to find employment or return to work. Therefore, the income for individuals with disabilities increases, as does their purchasing power to buy goods and services. Assistive technology offers an effective and viable means to increase or restore functioning, enhance quality of life, and diminish barriers, physical as well as attitudinal.
Association for Psychological Science
Authors: Kraut Alan , Brookhart Sarah
Published: January 2010

The Association for Psychological Science (APS,
http://www.psychologicalscience.org
) is the leading international organization devoted solely to scientific psychology. Its mission is to promote, protect, and advance the interests of scientifically oriented psychology in research, application, and improvement of human welfare. APS has been a significant force in unifying and strengthening the science of psychology.
Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers
Authors: Kaslow Nadine J. , Keilin W. Gregory , Hsu Jeanette
Published: January 2010

Founded in 1968 and incorporated in 1982, the Association of Psychology Internship Centers (APIC) was originally constituted as an informal group of psychologists involved in internship training. These trainers banded together for the purpose of sharing information about mutual problems. Over time, the organization expanded its mission to include postdoctoral training as well as internship training, and in 1992 it was renamed the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC).
Asthma
Authors: Schmaling Karen B.
Published: January 2010

Asthma is characterized by inflammation of the airways, leading to hyperresponsiveness and/or and obstruction, which result in cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, and other clinical symptoms. Asthma often begins in childhood and is the most common chronic illness of childhood. Host (e.g., genetic) and environmental (e.g., allergens, stress) factors appear to interact to produce altered immune system responses that result in inflammation. Asthma is more prevalent in children (8.5%) than in adults (6.7%), females than males, African Americans than whites, those of Puerto Rican than Mexican origin among Hispanics, and among impoverished persons versus those at or above the federal poverty level (Moorman et al., 2007).
Attribution Theory
Authors: Weiner Bernard
Published: January 2010

Attribution theory refers to a field of study rather than to a specific scientific conception. The heart of this area of investigation includes assumptions, hypotheses, and theories regarding how laypersons arrive at answers to “why” questions such as: “Why did I fail my exam?” and “Why did Jim and Mary break up?” Note, then, that this approach grapples with both self‐ and other perception. In addition, there also is concern with the consequences of causal beliefs, including their emotional and motivational significance. Although attribution inquiry is typically included under the domain of social psychology, it has had impact in the areas of clinical, cognitive, developmental, educational, personality, and motivational psychology as well, thereby providing a general foundation for psychology.
Autistic Disorder
Authors: Thompson Travis
Published: January 2010

Autistic disorder is an Axis I clinical disorder in theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM‐IV‐TR; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000) and is one of three autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in this diagnostic system. The current diagnostic criteria for ASDs are those listed in the DSM‐IV‐TR; however, it is likely that these criteria may undergo changes in the upcoming DSM V, based on a growing research literature suggesting that autistic disorder, Asperger's disorder, and pervasive developmental disorders‐NOS (not otherwise specified) represent points on a severity continuum that run in the same families, rather than being qualitatively distinct conditions.
Autoshaping
Authors: Meador Stephanie K. , Hatfield David B.
Published: January 2010

Autoshaping typically occurs when biologically primed stimulus‐response relations interact with and occasionally override operantly learned, potentially incompatible response‐reinforcer relations. It may also be referred to as “misbehavior of organisms.” The name is derived from quick operant shaping that occurred without apparent reinforcement of successive approximations. Typically, the behavior observed depends on object or goal received; for example, food appears to release eating behavior and water to release drinking behavior. Although initially thought to manifest only among simpler mammals, autoshaping may occur in different animals including humans (Siegel, 1978). Consensus regarding etiology is lacking, although this is not a result of irregularities in data; the phenomenon of autoshaping is valid and reliable. As an example of autoshaping, pigeons quickly learn key pecking responses when a key is illuminated and provides a reliable and salient cue for the delivery of food (Brown & Jenkins, 1968). However, attempts to operantly extinguish or negatively punish pecking generally fail, which leaves open the question of whether the behavior was acquired through operant training or some other modality.
Avoidance Learning
Authors: Luiselli James K.
Published: January 2010

Avoidance learning occurs when an individual's behavior prevents exposure to an unpleasant consequence. This arrangement, or contingency, is pervasive in everyday life. For example, in writing a mortgage check each month, the homeowner does so not because this behavior is immediately pleasurable, but rather because it avoids conflict with, and possible foreclosure by, a financial lender. Or, consider the motorist who is traveling above the speed limit posted on a highway. On seeing the blinking light of a police vehicle ahead, the driver slows down to avoid a negative encounter with law enforcement. It might be said, in fact, that learning by avoidance is what motivates most people, most of the time.
Babinski Sign
Authors: Neelon Francis A.
Published: January 2010

In 1896, Joseph Jules François Félix Babinski (1857–1932) reported a clinical sign that now famously bears his name (Babinski, 1896). In point of fact, Babinski described several signs of importance in neurology, but the one under consideration here (and the one usually referred to as
the
Babinski sign) denotes the extension, rather than the expected flexion, of the great toe upon mildly noxious stimulation of the soles of the feet in patients who have lesions of the pyramidal tracts. Others had seen this reflex response, but Babinski was the first to call attention to its diagnostic importance (for example, in differentiating structural from hysterical paralysis) (Babinski, 1898). He later pointed out that fanning of the lateral toes may accompany extension of the great toe (Babinski, 1903), but this is not an essential component of the sign.
Battered Woman Syndrome
Authors: Rubin Linda
Published: January 2010

Twenty‐five percent of women are physically or sexually abused, and in nearly all instances psychologically abused, by intimate partners during the course of a relationship. Walker (1979) identified Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS) as a predictable pattern of psychological response to domestic violence. During the same time period, Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was identified by the American Psychiatric Association (1980) to describe the predictable effects of traumatic events. It became increasingly clear that different types of terrifying experiences, including combat, rape, torture, and childhood physical and sexual abuse, all resulted in the same basic psychological response (Herman, 1992). Nearly two‐thirds of battered women experienced symptom patterns that met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD (Goodman & Epstein, 2008). By the 1990s, it became apparent that PTSD in battered women and BWS were explaining the same condition.
Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development
Authors: Robertson Gary J.
Published: January 2010

The Bayley Scales are carefully constructed norm‐referenced measures for assessing the development of infants and toddlers, ages 1 month to 3 years 6 months. Originally developed by Dr. Nancy Bayley and published in 1969, the Second Edition of the Bayley Scales (BSID‐II) was published in 1993, and a third edition (Bayley‐III) was released in 2006. The description that follows focuses on the Bayley‐III, developed by the staff of the Psychological Corporation with advice from a panel of outside experts, consultants, and reviewers. The administration manual states that Bayley‐III “maintains the original nature and purpose of the Bayley Scales as envisioned by its author, Nancy Bayley” (Bayley, 2006a, p.1).
Behavior Assessment System for Children
Authors: Reynolds Cecil R.
Published: January 2010

The Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC–2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004) is a multimethod, multidimensional system used to evaluate the behavior and self‐perceptions of children, adolescents, and young adults aged 2 through 25 years. The BASC–2 is multimethod in that it has the following components, which may be used individually or in any combination: (1) two rating scales, one for teachers (Teacher Rating Scales, or TRS) and one for parents (Parent Rating Scales, or PRS), which gather descriptions of the child's observable behavior, each divided into age‐appropriate forms; (2) a self‐report scale (Self‐Report of Personality, or SRP), on which the child or young adult can describe his or her emotions and self‐perceptions; (3) a Structured Developmental History (SDH) form; (4) a form for recording and classifying directly observed classroom behavior (Student Observation System, or SOS), which is also available for PDA applications as an electronic version known as the BASC–2 POP or Portable Observation Program; and (5) a self‐report for parents of children ages 2–18 years, designed to capture a parent's perspective on the parent‐child relationship in such domains as communication, disciplinary styles, attachment, involvement, and others.
Behavioral Inhibition
Authors: Williams Douglas A.
Published: January 2010

The termbehavioral inhibitionwas introduced into learning theory by the 1904 Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine, Ivan Pavlov (1927). Pavlov turned his attention to studies of salivary conditioning after completing his prize‐winning research examining neural regulation of the circulatory organs. He found that an initially neutral conditioned stimulus (CS), such as the sound of a metronome, could acquire significance if it reliably signaled the delivery (excitatory conditioning) or omission (inhibitory conditioning) of a biologically relevant unconditioned stimulus (US), such as meat powder. Excitatory conditioning allowed a hungry dog to prepare for the US in advance of its arrival, supporting the development of a conditioned response (CR). Inhibitory conditioning permitted a learned CR to be suppressed on trials in which the otherwise expected US was omitted in the presence of another CS, such as a light.
Bender Visual‐Motor Gestalt Test
Authors: Brannigan Gary G.
Published: January 2010

In 1938, Lauretta Bender published her groundbreaking monograph,
A Visual Motor Gestalt Test and Its Clinical Use
. Over time, the Visual‐Motor Gestalt Test, more commonly referred to as the Bender‐Gestalt Test, became a “mainstay in the assessment battery…as an assessment tool in appraisal of intelligence…as a screening technique for neuropsychological dysfunction, as a clinical tool for sampling visual‐motor proficiency, and as a standard projective technique in the assessment of personality” (Piotrowski, 1995, p. 1272).
Bipolar Disorder
Authors: Goldstein Tina R.
Published: January 2010

Bipolar disorder, previously referred to as manic‐depressive illness, is a disorder affecting mood, behavior, and cognition. Individuals with bipolar disorder experience symptoms from two “poles”: (1) depression, characterized by low mood, sadness, anhedonia, sleep and appetite disturbance, poor concentration, fatigue, feelings of guilt and worthlessness, and psychomotor slowing; and (2) mania, distinguished by euphoric, elevated and/or irritable mood, decreased need for sleep, increased energy and activity, hypersexuality, pressured speech, racing thoughts, grandiosity, and increased risk‐taking.
Boston Naming Test
Authors: Ferraro F. Richard , Lowell Kristen
Published: January 2010

Although in clinical use for approximately 30 years (Kaplan, Goodglass, & Weintraub, 1978, 1983), the Boston Naming Test (BNT) continues to enjoy wide appeal and wide acceptance as the premier visual confrontational naming test for use in clinical (i.e., Alzheimer's Disease, stroke) and nonclinical populations (i.e., children, young adults). The BNT assesses visual naming ability via the use of black and white line drawings, and its appeal is reflected in translations into several languages (e.g., Chinese, Jamaican, Korean, Spanish, and French) and the development of various short forms of the original 85 item test (e.g., 60‐, 30‐ and 15‐item versions) that retain its original validity and reliability and continued ease of use, scoring, and interpretation of various neuropsychological processes related to language usage and language ability. As with other neuropsychological tests that have endured for so many years, the BNT enjoys a rich database of the effects of various demographic variables as well as extensive normative data across a wide age range (Strauss, Sherman, & Spreen, 2006).
Buros Mental Measurements Yearbook
Authors: Spies Robert
Published: January 2010

As a new professor of measurement and statistics at Rutgers University in the early 1930s, Oscar Krisen Buros recognized the increasing importance of standardized testing to industrialized societies. In order to insure greater public accountability for tests and to evaluate the many claims being made by test authors and publishers, Buros created the
Mental Measurements Yearbook
(MMY) series. During an editorship that would last over 40 years, Buros recruited a cadre of skilled professionals to write “candidly critical” test reviews that would serve a variety of public interests. For test users, the series would allow valuable access to the expertise of scholars and professionals. Buros believed that knowledgeable test users would gradually become informed consumers of testing products and would select tests that met or exceeded minimal standards of psychometric adequacy. For test writers and publishers, Buros maintained that the publication of critical reviews would “cause authors and publishers to publish fewer but better tests” (Buros, 1938).
Bystander Involvement
Authors: Greenberg Martin S.
Published: January 2010

In March 1964, Kitty Genovese was brutally murdered in New York while 38 of her neighbors watched from their apartment windows. Even though the attack lasted over a half hour, no one called the police until it was over. As a direct result of this incident, a great deal of empirical and theoretical knowledge has been generated on the topic of bystander involvement.
Catharsis
Authors: Feshbach Seymour
Published: January 2010

The concept of catharsis is the source of considerable controversy in the psychological literature. From the standpoint of mental health and social adjustment, cathartic procedures have been shown to have negligible or destructive effects while there is also evidence attesting to their psychological utility. Although the controversy and conflicting claims cannot be fully resolved, much of the difference in judgment regarding the utility of catharsis is due to the different meanings and mechanisms ascribed to catharsis.
Central Tendency Measures
Authors: Fife Dustin , Mendoza Jorge
Published: January 2010

This article defines three different measures of central tendency: the mean, the median, and the mode. Each measure serves the same purpose, which is to describe the central tendency of data. We begin by defining what central tendency is, and then we explain how each measure of central tendency contributes to our understanding of a particular dataset.
Child Abuse
Authors: Miller‐Perrin Cindy
Published: January 2010

The problem of child abuse and neglect did not receive serious attention until C. Henry Kempe and his colleagues published their research in the mid‐1960s on the “battered child syndrome,” a pattern of unexplained physical injuries in children, purportedly inflicted by parents or caregivers. This work helped to initiate a movement in the United States to protect children from child abuse and neglect. The 1974 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (P.L. 93‐247) mandated reporting laws as well as procedures for investigating suspected cases of child abuse and neglect. In addition, the act provided for research in child abuse and neglect and established the Center for Child Abuse and Neglect within the Children's Bureau of the Department of Health and Human Services. Since the 1960s and 1970s, progress in the field has been rapid, expanding our understanding about the definition and magnitude of child abuse and neglect, the emotional and physical sequelae of abuse, and potential treatment interventions to address the needs of child maltreatment victims and their families.
Child Behavior Checklist
Authors: Moretti Marlene M. , Obsuth Ingrid
Published: January 2010

The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which is part of the broader Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) tools, was first published in 1983 and has undergone several revisions since then. The CBCL assesses behavioral and emotional problems as well as social competencies of children and adolescents, ages 1½–19 years, as reported by their parents and/or other caregivers. Caregivers rate the presence of 99 behaviors in very young children (CBCL/1½–5/LDS) or 118 behaviors in older children and teens (CBCL/6–18) during the past 6 months. Twenty additional items assess school performance, social relationships, and activities.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Authors: Nater Urs M. , Miller Andrew H. , Reeves William C. , Raison Charles
Published: January 2010

Although diseases similar to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have been recognized for centuries under various rubrics, strict diagnostic criteria for conditions dominated by medically unexplained chronic fatigue were first proposed in 1988. Current diagnostic criteria were originally crafted in 1994 by an International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study Group as an attempt to standardize patient populations included in research studies. The International CFS Research Case Definition requires chronic fatigue of at least six‐months duration; this fatigue cannot be substantially alleviated by rest, is not the result of ongoing exertion, and is associated with substantial reductions in occupational, social, and personal activities. In addition, at least four out of the following eight symptoms must occur with fatigue in a six‐month period: prolonged extraordinary postexertional fatigue, impaired memory or concentration, unrefreshing sleep, aching or stiff muscles, multijoint pain, sore throat, tender glands, and new headaches (Fukuda et al., 1994). Importantly, the research case definition precludes classification as CFS if a patient has an identifiable medical cause of being fatigued. Similarly, individuals with certain psychiatric conditions cannot be classified as CFS in research studies. Exclusionary psychiatric conditions include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and melancholic major depression. Notably, comorbidity with psychiatric disorders is relatively high. Recent data indicate that almost 60% of CFS cases in the population suffer from at least one comorbid psychiatric condition, with affective disorders being the most prevalent ones.
Circadian Rhythms
Authors: Rosenwasser Alan M.
Published: January 2010

Circadian rhythms are endogenously generated daily cycles in physiology and behavior. In this context, the term
endogenous
means that circadian rhythms are dependent on internal biological timing mechanisms, referred to as circadian “clocks,” “pacemakers,” or “oscillators.” As implied by the combined
circa
and
dian
, these timing mechanisms produce biological rhythms with period lengths of approximately 24 hours. When exposed to the precise 24‐hour periodicity of the environment—for example, to daily 24‐hour light‐dark cycles—endogenous circadian clocks become synchronized or
entrained
to those environmental cycles. In contrast, when maintained in experimental isolation from daily time‐cues, circadian clocks express their endogenous “free‐running” periodicity, which only approximates 24 hours. Researchers generally consider the free‐running period as expressed in constant darkness to best reflect the period of the endogenous circadian clock.
Clinical Psychology, Historical Roots of
Authors: Routh Donald K.
Published: January 2010

Clinical psychology is probably the most common specialty within psychology around the world today (Lunt & Portinga, 1996). Its principal aims include the study of psychopathology and its assessment and treatment. Many clinical psychologists are also concerned with the psychological aspects of physical health problems as well. This same territory is shared by a number of other professional disciplines, including psychiatry, social work, mental health nursing, and various types of counseling and psychotherapy. Compared to professionals in these neighboring fields, present‐day clinical psychologists are distinctive in the quality of their training in research, behavior therapy, and objective assessment methods.
Cognitive Dissonance
Authors: Egan Louisa
Published: January 2010

Few constructs within social psychology have generated more research and controversy than cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance describes a state in which two or more cognitions (including attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors) conflict such that the inverse of one follows from another. When Festinger first introduced the concept of cognitive dissonance in 1957, he used the example of a smoker encountering information that smoking was bad for his health. Festinger proposed that such a dissonant state is aversive and motivates cognitive change, just as the aversive state of hunger motivates eating. The more important and the greater the difference between the cognitions, the greater the need to reduce dissonance will be. Festinger argued that dissonance may be reduced through a variety of means. For instance, the individual in this example might reduce dissonance by (1) ceasing to smoke; (2) questioning the evidence that smoking is bad for his respiratory health; or (3) deciding that, perhaps, it is true that smoking is bad for his health, but that it keeps his weight down and the dangers of being overweight are worse than the dangers of respiratory illness.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Authors: Engelmann Jan B. , Berns Gregory S.
Published: January 2010

The study of the neural basis of cognition, or cognitive neuroscience, has evolved rapidly in the last 15 years. In large part this has resulted from the parallel advances in imaging technology and raw computing power. Indeed, the exponential growth and concomitant movement of extraordinarily powerful computers to the desktop has made routine the analysis of large complex datasets. Cognitive neuroscience is an enterprise that depends heavily on the use of modern imaging technologies like positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and because of this reliance on technology, the ability to look noninvasively at the functionings of the human brain has only become possible very recently.
Computerized Adaptive Testing
Authors: Wainer Howard
Published: January 2010

The Bible in the book of Judges (12:4–6) records an early example of testing with a one‐item test that had very high stakes:

Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh.”
Concept Formation
Authors: Goldstone Robert L. , Hill Thomas T. , Day Samuel B.
Published: January 2010

A concept is a mentally possessed idea or notions that can be used to categorize information or objects. Over the course of each person's lifetime, thousands of concepts are learned for nouns like corkscrew, justice, and doorknob; for adjectives like green, symmetric, and beautiful; and for verbs like kick, climb, and eschew. Although some philosophers have maintained that we do not genuinely learn new concepts through induction (Fodor, 1998), most psychologists believe that concepts can be learned and that the representational capacity of learners increases as they acquire new concepts. Most efforts have been spent developing accounts of how people acquire and represent concepts, including models based on rules, exemplars, boundaries, and theories.
Confidence Interval
Authors: Rossi Joseph S.
Published: January 2010

The concept of the confidence interval was introduced and developed theoretically by Jerzy Neyman in the 1930s. The confidence interval indicates the degree of certainty that a specified range of values around a parameter estimate contains the true value of the population parameter. The upper and lower boundaries of the range are the confidence limits. The width of the confidence interval indicates the degree of precision associated with the parameter estimate. Wider intervals indicate less precision, and narrower intervals indicate greater precision. The width of the interval can never be zero, because there will always be some sampling error associated with estimating a population parameter from sample data. Sampling error may be due to measurement unreliability or other chance factors that cause fluctuations from sample to sample. The result is that, no matter how carefully a sample is drawn or how large it is, one can never be certain that the sample estimate is exactly equal to the parameter (population) value.
Conformity
Authors: Griskevicius Vladas
Published: January 2010

Are people generally conformists who are easily influenced by their peers? Or are they independent thinkers who stick to their individual beliefs? In the 1950s, experimental psychologist Solomon Asch was becoming increasingly discontented as accruing evidence indicated that people were highly suggestible. Critical of this perspective, Asch 1956 began a line of research that he expected would invalidate and dispel the notion that humans are “like sheep.”
Control Therapy
Authors: Shapiro Deane H. , Astin John A. , Shapiro Shauna L. , Soucar Elizabeth , Santree Craig
Published: January 2010

Control Therapy is an integrated approach to psychotherapy and health care that combines theory, research, and practice. Its theory, test construction, and interventions have been developed and empirically tested over a 25‐year period involving research and clinical work with thousands of individuals in more than a dozen countries.
Correctional Psychology
Authors: Dvoskin Joel A. , Morgan Robert D.
Published: January 2010

Psychologists have a long and storied history within American corrections. Although psychologists' roles were originally aimed at institutional management and correctional rehabilitation, over the course of time services have increasingly focused on treatment of serious mental illness (SMI) and emotional crises. For many years, correctional mental health services were often limited to psychopharmacological treatments; however, this is no longer the case, and psychologists are now in significant demand. With their versatile skill set (e.g., assessment, treatment, behavioral programming, and research), psychologists are the most frequently employed mental health professionals in correctional settings (Camp & Camp, 1999). Psychologists have become so essential to correctional facilities that the field has become a leading employer of clinical and counseling psychologists.
Countertransference
Authors: Gelso Charles J.
Published: January 2010

The topic of the therapist's countertransference to the client and the client's verbal and nonverbal behavior has been around since the very earliest days of the “talking cure” in the early twentieth century. This concept, however, has had a complex and unsteady history. For many years, it was viewed as something to be done away with, and its presence marked a treatment that was not going well. Perhaps because of this negative view, countertransference was avoided as a topic of study in the early years of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. During the past 25 years, however, there has been an upsurge of interest, and many studies have been conducted on countertransference. This increase has coincided with a broadened conception of countertransference as a process that may be highly beneficial to therapy or highly detrimental, depending on how and what the therapist does with his or her countertransference reactions. Epstein and Feiner (1979) maintain that these two themes, countertransference as a hinderance and countertransference as an aid to understanding, have been intertwined like a double helix throughout much of the history of therapy.
C
ronbach,
L
ee
J
. (1916–2001)
Authors: Staff
Published: January 2010

Lee J. Cronbach received his BA from Fresno State College and the PhD from the University of Chicago in 1940. He taught at the Universities of Chicago, Illinois, and Stanford. He was Vida Jacks Professor of Education at Stanford. In 1957, he served as president of the American Psychological Association, and in 1974 received its Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award.
Cross‐Cultural and Cross‐National Assessment
Authors: Oakland Thomas
Published: January 2010

Cross‐cultural assessment refers to the practice of acquiring test data on persons who differ culturally. Such assessment practices originally were used somewhat exclusively by persons who specialized in cross‐cultural psychology, a branch of psychology that studies similarities and variances in human behavior and psychological constructs across cultures (VandenBos, 2007). Cross‐cultural scholarship has been described as growing from a whisper in the 1960s to a thriving enterprise in the twenty‐first century (Segall, Lonner, & Berry, 1998). This growth is seen, in part, in an increase in the numbers of cross‐cultural studies, going from an estimated 600 in 1978 to approximately 1,500 in 2003 (van de Vijver, 2006).
Cultural Bias in Psychological Testing
Authors: Helms Janet E.
Published: January 2010

Cultural bias has no a priori definition. Instead, its presence is inferred from differential performance of socioracial (e.g., Blacks, Whites), ethnic (e.g., Latinos/Latinas, Anglos), or national groups (e.g., U.S. Americans, Japanese) on measures of psychological constructs such as cognitive abilities, knowledge or skills (CAKS), or symptoms of psychopathology (e.g., depression). Historically, the term grew out of efforts to explain between‐group score differences on CAKS tests primarily of African American and Latino/Latina American test takers relative to their White American counterparts and concerns that test scores should not be interpreted in the same manner across these groups. Although the concept of cultural bias in testing and assessment also pertains to score differences and potential misdiagnoses with respect to a broader range of psychological concepts, particularly in applied psychology and other social and behavioral sciences, this aspect of cultural bias has received less attention in the relevant literature (Tyson, 2004). Therefore, cultural bias as it pertains to CAKS testing is the primary focus herein.
Cyclothymic Disorder
Authors: Alloy Lauren B. , Abramson Lyn Y.
Published: January 2010

Cyclothymic disorder is characterized by two or more years of recurrent and intermittent mood episodes in which the individual oscillates or “cycles” between periods of depression and hypomania, with or without normal periods interspersed between the depressive and hypomanic states. Cyclothymic depressions include symptoms such as sadness, anhedonia, low energy, pessimism, poor concentration, and sleep and appetite changes resembling those observed in episodes of major depression. Cyclothymic hypomanic periods involve symptoms such as euphoria, high energy/activity, talkativeness, high self‐confidence and grandiosity, decreased sleep, and impulsive, reckless behaviors typically observed in mania. However, unlike major depression and mania, both types of cyclothymic mood episodes are of subsyndromal intensity and duration (two to three days on average). Cyclothymic disorder can present as predominantly depressed, predominantly hypomanic, or balanced with approximately equal proportions of high and low periods (Goodwin & Jamison, 1990).