Psychology Terms A–Z

Mind reading is when you assume you know what someone else is thinking without checking. You tell yourself, 'They must be thinking this,' without any confirmation.

Authoritarian parenting is a strict, control-focused style where parents demand obedience without explanation. Rules are enforced through punishment rather than reasoning, and the child's feelings or opinions are rarely acknowledged.

Deep exhaustion that can happen when you spend a long time caring for someone else and your own needs keep getting pushed aside.

A pattern where someone focuses so much on caring for others that they neglect their own needs.

The emotional, physical, and mental strain that can build up while taking care of a family member or loved one.

The freeze response is a survival reaction where your body and mind become immobilized when you sense a threat. It's not a failure to act — it's your brain automatically choosing a protective strategy.

Motivation is the inner force that initiates, directs, and sustains our behavior. It is the driving power of the mind that moves us toward our goals.

A state where you have things you need to do but can't find the drive to start, feeling like you simply don't have the energy. This is something everyone experiences at some point.

A counseling technique that draws out a person's inner motivation for change. It's about exploration, not persuasion.

Peer support is a process where people with similar experiences help and encourage one another as they recover together. The empathy and understanding of someone who has faced the same struggles can be an incredibly powerful source of strength.

A therapeutic approach that uses trained animals to improve psychological, emotional, and social functioning in individuals experiencing mental health challenges.

Identification is the process of adopting the attitudes, behaviors, and values of someone you admire or feel close to as your own.

Changing your views or behavior to align with a group.

Assimilation is Jean Piaget's term for interpreting new experiences by fitting them into existing mental frameworks, rather than changing those frameworks. It's how we make sense of unfamiliar things using what we already know.

A type of attachment where a person deeply desires closeness but is simultaneously afraid of it. You want to get close to others, but fear of being hurt keeps you pulling away.

Understanding fear and responding to it without letting it decide every action for you.

Located in the upper part of the brain, the parietal lobe processes touch, spatial awareness, and bodily sensations. It helps you know where your body is and how the surrounding space is arranged.

Desensitization is the gradual reduction of emotional responses to a stimulus through repeated exposure. In therapeutic settings, it is intentionally used to help reduce anxiety.

Doom spending is the tendency to make impulsive purchases driven by anxiety and pessimism about the future — a way of seeking comfort in the present when the future feels hopeless.

Doom scrolling is the compulsive habit of continuously scrolling through negative or distressing news content online, even when it makes you feel worse.

Doomism is the belief that climate change or social crises are already beyond fixing — an extreme pessimism that leads to paralysis and the abandonment of any meaningful action.

It's the feeling that your words or emotions aren't reaching others — that you're being dismissed or overlooked. Mindy is here to truly listen to everything you have to say.

School refusal is when a child strongly refuses to go to school or shows severe anxiety symptoms when attempting to attend.

Digital empathy is the ability to understand and care for another person's feelings and situation in online environments. It's the warmth of remembering that there is a real person with real emotions on the other side of the screen.

A field where algorithm-based technology is used in mental health care and treatment. It is developing in various forms including algorithm-based counseling, emotion analysis, and digital therapeutics.

A digital detox means consciously reducing or taking a break from smartphones, social media, and the internet. Stepping away from the digital world for a while can leave your mind feeling much lighter.

The psychological and physical advantages gained by intentionally reducing or stopping the use of digital devices for a period of time. Stepping away from the digital world for a while can make your mind feel significantly lighter.

The ability to critically understand digital technology and information, and to use them in a healthy way. It's an essential skill for navigating the online world wisely and protecting yourself.

Digital minimalism is a way of living that intentionally reduces the use of digital devices and online activities, allowing you to focus on what is truly meaningful to you.

Digital footprint anxiety is the worry that traces left online — posts, searches, photos — will permanently remain and negatively impact your future. It's the fear that something you shared in the past could one day come back to cause problems.

Digital burnout is a state of extreme mental and physical exhaustion caused by excessive use of digital devices and online activities. It reaches a point where even looking at a screen becomes painful and overwhelming.

Digital anxiety refers to the feelings of unease and worry experienced in relation to digital technology and online environments. It arises from constant connectivity, information overload, and cyber threats that leave the mind feeling unsettled.

Digital wellbeing means using technology in a healthy, balanced way to maintain psychological health. It's about enjoying the benefits of technology while minimizing its negative effects.

The identity created and expressed in online spaces, which can differ from who you are in real life — it's another version of you shaped by the digital world.

Digital addiction refers to a state where excessive use of digital devices or services such as smartphones, games, and social media interferes with daily life. It is a psychological dependence that is difficult to control by willpower alone.

The Default Mode Network (DMN) is a brain network that becomes active when you're not focused on any particular task — it's most active when you're daydreaming or letting your mind wander.

Social relationships formed with friends of similar age, which are critically important for development during childhood and adolescence.

Peer pressure is the psychological push to conform to the expectations or behaviors of your friends and social group.

Staying true to your own values while keeping healthy relationships, even when friends or peers push you toward choices that don't feel right for you.

Love bombing is a manipulation strategy where someone overwhelms their partner with excessive affection and attention early in a relationship, creating psychological dependency and control.

Raymond Cattell was a psychologist who proposed the trait theory of personality and the fluid-crystallized model of intelligence. Using the statistical technique of factor analysis, he identified 16 source traits that make up personality.

A pioneer of moral development theory who demonstrated that people's capacity for moral judgment develops in sequential stages. He extended Piaget's cognitive development theory into the domain of morality.

A projective test where you look at inkblot images and describe what you see.

The Rosenthal Effect describes how our expectations of someone can actually influence that person's behavior and performance. Also known as the Pygmalion Effect, it shows that positive expectations have the power to create genuinely positive outcomes.

Known as the father of American existential psychology, Rollo May viewed anxiety as a natural part of human existence and a driving force for growth. He taught that true courage means living authentically as yourself even in the midst of anxiety.

Leadership style refers to the way a leader guides their team, and it has a major impact on members' motivation and performance.

Limerence is a state of intense, overwhelming romantic obsession with a specific person. Thoughts of them never leave your mind, and you experience extreme emotional highs and lows depending on how they respond to you.

This field addresses the psychological trauma experienced by victims when intimate images are shared without their consent, as well as the process of recovery from that trauma.

Lithium is the longest-used mood stabilizer for treating bipolar disorder.

Marsha Linehan is the founder of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), who developed an effective treatment for borderline personality disorder and chronic self-harm. She emphasized a dialectical approach that balances acceptance and change.