Psychology Terms A–Z

Purpose is a long-term goal or mission that provides direction and reason for your life.

Goal setting is the process of clearly defining desired outcomes and creating specific plans to achieve them. Like a compass guiding your direction, meaningful goals add motivation and purpose to life.

Engagement is a state of deep involvement and focused participation in activities. It is a key factor in increasing life satisfaction.

When the body reacts to past experiences, even if the mind does not fully remember or understand why.

When past experiences seem to stay in the body as sensations or reactions.

Sleepwalking is a sleep disorder where a person unconsciously gets up and walks around or performs actions while in a deep sleep.

It's a feeling of having no motivation and depleted energy. Even when you know what you need to do, your body just won't move.

Helplessness is a state where your energy is completely drained and you feel unable to do anything. It's okay to start with just one small step.

A state of feeling powerless to change your situation. There's also a well-known concept called learned helplessness.

An attachment style in which a person denies the need for close relationships and places excessive emphasis on independence. People with this style strongly believe they are perfectly fine on their own.

Dance Movement Therapy is an arts-based treatment that uses body movement and dance to express and heal emotional experiences. Even emotions that are hard to put into words can be naturally released through the body.

The part of the mind that lies beyond conscious awareness yet powerfully shapes our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is one of the core concepts in psychology, most famously emphasized by Freud.

These are prejudices you hold without even realizing it. Everyone has them, and recognizing them is the first step.

No Contact is a self-protective strategy where you cut off all communication and interaction with an emotionally manipulative person or toxic relationship in order to fully break free from their influence.

It's the attitude of respecting and accepting someone exactly as they are, without any conditions attached.

Unconditional love means accepting and loving someone exactly as they are, without any conditions or expectations in return.

Anhedonia is the absence of pleasure — an inability to experience enjoyment from activities that were previously pleasurable. It is a core symptom of depression listed in the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria.

Text anxiety is the worry and stress you feel when communicating through text messages or messaging apps. It includes overthinking before hitting send, feeling uneasy when someone reads your message but doesn't reply, or dreading a delayed response.

Problem-focused coping is a way of dealing with stress by directly trying to solve the problem that is causing it.

Problem solving is a cognitive process that uses various strategies to close the gap between your current situation and a desired goal. It's the mental strength that helps you navigate life's big and small challenges.

A field of psychology that compares how people from different cultures think, feel, and behave differently — and what we all share in common.

Managing the stress and mixed emotions of adapting to a new culture after moving, studying, or working abroad.

Disorientation or stress that can arise when familiar customs and social cues change in a new cultural setting.

A field of psychology that explores how culture shapes the way people think, feel, and behave.

An ongoing commitment to staying open and curious about other people's cultural experiences, rather than assuming you already understand them.

A clinical approach that carefully considers a person's cultural background to better understand and assess their mental health experiences.

Awareness of and respect for cultural differences in values, beliefs, and everyday practices.

The deep sense of loss and grief that comes from leaving behind your culture, homeland, language, and traditions through experiences like immigration or displacement.

The ability to understand, communicate with, and support people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.

Cultural identity is your sense of belonging to a cultural group and how that connection shapes who you are.

The ways people think, feel, and behave can vary significantly depending on the culture they grew up in.

Lasting harm to a group's shared memory and sense of identity after collective violence, oppression, or displacement.

The psychological process of adapting to a new cultural environment while finding balance between one's original culture and the new culture.

This field studies how substances like alcohol and drugs affect physical and mental health. It seeks to understand the psychological mechanisms of substance dependence and supports healthy recovery.

A condition where a person cannot control their use of drugs or other substances, causing serious problems for their health and daily life.

Substance abuse treatment is a professional process designed to help people overcome problems with alcohol, drugs, or other addictive substances. It provides comprehensive support from detoxification through rehabilitation and relapse prevention.

A condition where mood changes such as depression or mania occur as a result of using substances like alcohol or drugs. Once the effects of the substance fade, mood can gradually recover.

A condition where a person intentionally creates or exaggerates illness symptoms even though they are not actually sick. It stems from a deep psychological need to receive attention and care from others.

Baiting is when someone deliberately provokes you to get an emotional reaction they can use against you. The goal is not connection, but control.

This field examines how media such as TV, social media, and advertising influences perceptions and standards of physical appearance. Unrealistic beauty standards promoted by media can seriously threaten a person's self-esteem.

A field that studies how the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney — read at the time of arrest — psychologically affect individuals, and whether people can truly understand and exercise these rights.

Future faking is a manipulation tactic where someone offers promises or plans for the future they have no intention of fulfilling, in order to keep their partner in the relationship or get what they want in the present.

The Future Self is the psychological concept of imagining who you will become and letting that vision guide your choices today. The more connected you feel to your future self, the wiser your present decisions tend to be.

A manipulation technique where someone intentionally copies another person's speech patterns, behaviors, and values to fake intimacy and gain their trust.

Procrastination is the pattern of repeatedly putting off tasks you know you need to do, even when you're aware of the consequences of delaying.

The concept that gut bacteria influence our mood and mental health. Through the 'gut-brain axis,' microorganisms in the intestines play a role in our emotional responses and stress reactions.

Subtle words or actions that send rude or discriminatory messages to minority group members, even when unintentional. Small on their own, but when repeated, they can cause deep psychological harm.

A classification of three types of subtle, indirect discriminatory words and actions directed at minority group members in everyday life. These behaviors, whether intentional or not, communicate negative messages to those from marginalized groups.

A therapeutic approach that uses drawing, painting, sculpting, and other art-making activities to help people express, explore, and heal psychological difficulties.

Myelin is an insulating layer that wraps around a neuron's axon, helping nerve signals travel faster.