Psychology Terms A–Z

Selfie culture refers to the widespread practice of taking self-portraits and sharing them on social media. While it can be a tool for self-expression, it may also lead to appearance obsession and self-objectification.

Selfie dysmorphia is when someone begins to see their filter-edited selfie as their ideal appearance, leading to growing dissatisfaction with how they actually look in real life.

Extinction is when a learned behavior gradually disappears because reinforcement is no longer provided.

A part of the brain that helps with balance, movement coordination, and learning physical skills.

A body-oriented trauma therapy that helps release survival energy stored in the nervous system by gently tuning into physical sensations.

Healthy strategies for managing the comparison, anxiety, and compulsive scrolling that social media can bring into your life.

Social media addiction is a state in which a person cannot control their social media use, uses it excessively, and experiences disruptions to their daily life as a result.

A manipulation technique that exploits people's psychological vulnerabilities to extract information or induce specific actions, targeting human psychology rather than technical systems.

A practice of intentionally reducing or stopping social media use for a period of time to restore mental health. It helps you escape digital fatigue and rediscover a sense of inner calm.

Social Media FOMO is the anxiety of feeling left out or like you're missing something important when you see other people's experiences on social media. It's a modern psychological phenomenon that arises from being exposed to others' lives in real time.

Idealized appearance images encountered on social media influence how we perceive and feel satisfied with our own bodies. This phenomenon can lead to internalizing unrealistic beauty standards without even realizing it.

This refers to the paradoxical phenomenon where being connected to many people through social media can actually deepen feelings of loneliness. Despite having hundreds of online 'friends,' people often feel more isolated than ever.

This concept explores the psychological impact that social media use has on a person's sense of worth and self-esteem. It helps us understand the digital environment where self-esteem can easily be shaken through comparisons with others.

Minority stress is the chronic, additional psychological burden experienced simply by belonging to a socially marginalized group. Discrimination, prejudice, and social exclusion accumulate over time and significantly impact mental health.

A specialized field that addresses the psychological aspects of children's health issues. It helps children with illnesses and their families adjust emotionally.

The belief that there is one perfect person in the world destined just for you, which can create unrealistic expectations in relationships and make normal conflicts feel like signs of incompatibility.

The endowment effect is the psychological tendency to place a higher value on things you own than their objective worth. Simply because something is 'mine,' it feels more precious — a natural bias of the human mind.

Loss aversion is the psychological tendency to feel losses about twice as intensely as equivalent gains. The fear of losing something is far more powerful than the joy of gaining the same thing.

Solastalgia is the distress caused by environmental change in one's home environment — a homesickness for a place you haven't left, because that place has changed around you.

Solomon Asch was a social psychologist famous for his conformity experiments. He experimentally demonstrated that people tend to conform to group opinion even when the majority is clearly wrong, revealing how social pressure influences individual judgment.

A condition where repeatedly buying things impulsively — even when they aren't needed — begins to cause serious problems in daily life.

Passive aggression is behavior where dissatisfaction or anger is expressed indirectly rather than openly and directly.

A manipulative behavioral strategy that expresses hostility or anger in indirect, covert ways instead of direct confrontation.

Passive communication is a style where you go along with others' opinions without expressing your own thoughts or feelings.

Using information and reasoning to narrow several possibilities down to one well-supported answer.

Sleep architecture refers to the pattern and composition of recurring sleep stages that cycle throughout the night. It describes how different stages of sleep are organized and distributed during a single night's rest.

Sleep stages are recurring phases of distinct brain activity during sleep, divided into non-REM (stages 1–3) and REM sleep.

Sleep paralysis is a temporary state where you are conscious but completely unable to move your body, occurring just as you are falling asleep or waking up.

A sleep disorder where breathing repeatedly stops during sleep, significantly reducing sleep quality.

Sleep debt is the accumulated deficit that builds up when you consistently get less sleep than your body needs.

Sleep anxiety is a vicious cycle where worrying about not being able to fall asleep actually makes it even harder to sleep.

Sleep hygiene refers to the lifestyle habits and environmental conditions that promote good, healthy sleep.

A tool for recording daily sleep patterns that helps identify and improve sleep problems.

A method that improves sleep efficiency by limiting the time spent in bed to match your actual sleep duration.

Sleep plays a core role in storing and organizing memories — this is a well-established finding in brain science.

This field studies how the quality and quantity of sleep profoundly affects our mental health. It reveals the warm truth that sleeping well is the foundation of emotional well-being.

Medications that help with insomnia—trouble falling or staying asleep. They are meant for short-term use as prescribed; long-term use can lead to tolerance and dependence.

Dendrites are branch-like structures extending from a neuron that receive signals from other nerve cells. You can think of them as the brain's information-receiving antennas.

This field studies how a patient's psychological state before and after surgery affects surgical outcomes and recovery. It's a compassionate discipline that addresses surgical anxiety and helps patients prepare mentally.

A psychological attitude of acknowledging and embracing one’s experiences and emotions as they are, without judgment or avoidance. It is often the first step toward meaningful change.

A therapeutic approach that focuses on accepting difficult emotions rather than trying to eliminate them, while committing to actions aligned with personal values.

A special structure on the surface of nerve cells that neurotransmitters bind to in order to pass along signals. When the right chemical attaches to a receptor, it triggers a specific response inside the cell.

The myelin sheath is an insulating layer that wraps around a neuron's axon, helping electrical signals travel quickly and efficiently. Healthy myelin is essential for smooth communication between the brain and body.

Shame is the feeling of 'I myself am the problem.' Unlike guilt, shame leads you to reject your entire sense of self.

A shame spiral is a vicious cycle where one shameful experience triggers deeper and deeper negative thoughts, pulling you further down with each loop.

Coping with shame means working through the painful feeling that something is fundamentally wrong with who you are, and rediscovering your own worth.

Shaming is a form of psychological abuse where someone intentionally makes another person feel deep shame in order to destroy their self-esteem and gain control over them.

Math anxiety is an intense feeling of tension and fear that arises when solving math problems or dealing with numbers. It's not about actual math ability — it's a phenomenon where negative emotions about math interfere with performing up to one's true potential.

A stage of change in which a person recognizes a reason to change but has not yet committed to acting.

This is the stage where a person doesn't yet feel that change is necessary. It refers to a state where someone doesn't recognize a problem or has no intention of changing.