GRE Psychology Subject Test
Ablation ANS: A surgically induced brain lesion.
Absolute refractory period ANS: The period that follows the onset of an action potential. During this
period, a nerve impulse cannot be initiated
Absolute threshold ANS: The minimum of stimulus energy needed to activate a sensory system.
Accommodation ANS: A principle of Piaget's theory of cognitive development. It occurs when cognitive
structures are modified because new information or new experiences do not fit into existing cognitive
structures.
Acetylcholine ANS: A neurotransmitter found in both central and peripheral nervous systems linked to
Alzheimer's disease and used to transmit nerve impulses to the muscles, respectively.
Acrophobia ANS: A specific phobia that is an irrational fear of heights.
ACT model (Adaptive Control of Thought) ANS: A model that describes memory in terms of procedural
and declarative memory.
Actor-observer effect ANS: The tendency of actors to see observer behavior as due to external factors
(situational factors) and the tendency of observers to attribute actors' behaviors to internal
characteristics (dispositional characteristics).
Adrenaline ANS: A hormone that increases energy available for "fight or flight" reactions (also known as
epinephrine).
Afterimages ANS: A visual sensation that appears after prolonged or intense exposure to a stimulus.
,Agnosia ANS: Impairments in perceptual recognition.
Agoraphobia ANS: An irrational fear of being in places or situations where escape might be difficult.
All-or-none law ANS: A law about nerve impulses stating that when depolarization reaches the critical
threshold (-50 millivolts) the neuron is going to fire, each time, every time.
Alternate-form method ANS: In psychometrics, it is the method of using two or more different forms of
a test to determine the reliability of a particular test.
Altruism ANS: A form of helping behavior where the person's intent is to benefit someone else at some
cost to him- or herself.
Amnesia ANS: A dissociative disorder where individuals are unable to recall past experience, but this
inability is not due to a neurological disorder.
Analogy of inoculation ANS: McGuire's analogy that people can be psychologically inoculated against
the "attack" of persuasive communications by first exposing them to a weakened attack.
Analyses of Variance (anovas) ANS: A statistical method to compare the means of more than two
groups by comparing the between-group variance to the within-group variance.
Anchoring ANS: A cognitive term (a heuristic) that refers to the tendency of people to make decisions
based on reference points, or standards used to make judgements.
Anima (animus) ANS: An archetype from Jung's theory referring to the feminine behaviors in males, and
the masculine behaviors in females.
,Anorexia nervosa ANS: An eating disorder characterized by a refusal to maintain a minimal normal body
weight.
Anterograde amnesia ANS: Memory loss for new information following brain injury.
Anti-social personality disorder ANS: A personality disorder characterized by a pattern of disregard for,
and violation of, the rights of others.
Aphagia. ANS: An impairment in the ability to eat.
Aphasias ANS: Language disorders, which are associated with Broca's and Wernicke's areas in the brain.
Apparent motion ANS: An illusion that occurs when two dots flashed in different locations on a screen
seconds apart are perceived as one moving dot.
Apraxia ANS: An impairment in the organization of voluntary action.
Archetypes ANS: The building blocks for the collective unconscious referred to in Jung's theory of
personality.
Assimilation ANS: A principle of Piaget's theory of cognitive development. It is the process of
understanding new information in relation to prior knowledge, or existing schemata.
Association area ANS: Areas in the brain that integrate information from different cortical regions
Atkinson-Shiffin model ANS: A model of memory that involves three memory structures (sensory, short-
term and long-term), and the processes that operate these memory structures.
, Attachment bond ANS: Evidence of a preference for the primary caregiver and a wariness of strangers.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD/HD) ANS: A disorder characterized by developmentally
atypical inattention and/or impulsivity-hyperactivity.
Attribution theory ANS: Fritz Heider's theory that people tend to infer the causes of other people's
behavior as either dispositional (related to the individual) or situational (related to the environment).
Authoritarian parenting style ANS: A parenting style tending to use punitive control methods and
lacking emotional warmth.
Authoritative parenting style ANS: A parenting style tending to have reasonably high demands for child
compliance coupled with emotional warmth.
Autism ANS: A disorder whose essential features are lack of responsiveness to other people, gross
impairment in communication skills, and behaviors and interests that are repetitive, inflexibly routined
and stereotyped.
Autokinetic effect ANS: An illusion that occurs when a spot of light appears to move erratically in a dark
room, simply because there is no frame of reference.
Availability heuristic ANS: A decision-making short-cut that people tend to use when trying to decide
how likely something is based upon how easily similar instances can be imagined .
Aversion therapy ANS: A behavioral therapy of pairing unpleasant stimuli with undesirable behavior.
Balance theory ANS: Fritz Heider's consistency theory that is concerned with balance and imbalance in
the ways in which three elements are related
Ablation ANS: A surgically induced brain lesion.
Absolute refractory period ANS: The period that follows the onset of an action potential. During this
period, a nerve impulse cannot be initiated
Absolute threshold ANS: The minimum of stimulus energy needed to activate a sensory system.
Accommodation ANS: A principle of Piaget's theory of cognitive development. It occurs when cognitive
structures are modified because new information or new experiences do not fit into existing cognitive
structures.
Acetylcholine ANS: A neurotransmitter found in both central and peripheral nervous systems linked to
Alzheimer's disease and used to transmit nerve impulses to the muscles, respectively.
Acrophobia ANS: A specific phobia that is an irrational fear of heights.
ACT model (Adaptive Control of Thought) ANS: A model that describes memory in terms of procedural
and declarative memory.
Actor-observer effect ANS: The tendency of actors to see observer behavior as due to external factors
(situational factors) and the tendency of observers to attribute actors' behaviors to internal
characteristics (dispositional characteristics).
Adrenaline ANS: A hormone that increases energy available for "fight or flight" reactions (also known as
epinephrine).
Afterimages ANS: A visual sensation that appears after prolonged or intense exposure to a stimulus.
,Agnosia ANS: Impairments in perceptual recognition.
Agoraphobia ANS: An irrational fear of being in places or situations where escape might be difficult.
All-or-none law ANS: A law about nerve impulses stating that when depolarization reaches the critical
threshold (-50 millivolts) the neuron is going to fire, each time, every time.
Alternate-form method ANS: In psychometrics, it is the method of using two or more different forms of
a test to determine the reliability of a particular test.
Altruism ANS: A form of helping behavior where the person's intent is to benefit someone else at some
cost to him- or herself.
Amnesia ANS: A dissociative disorder where individuals are unable to recall past experience, but this
inability is not due to a neurological disorder.
Analogy of inoculation ANS: McGuire's analogy that people can be psychologically inoculated against
the "attack" of persuasive communications by first exposing them to a weakened attack.
Analyses of Variance (anovas) ANS: A statistical method to compare the means of more than two
groups by comparing the between-group variance to the within-group variance.
Anchoring ANS: A cognitive term (a heuristic) that refers to the tendency of people to make decisions
based on reference points, or standards used to make judgements.
Anima (animus) ANS: An archetype from Jung's theory referring to the feminine behaviors in males, and
the masculine behaviors in females.
,Anorexia nervosa ANS: An eating disorder characterized by a refusal to maintain a minimal normal body
weight.
Anterograde amnesia ANS: Memory loss for new information following brain injury.
Anti-social personality disorder ANS: A personality disorder characterized by a pattern of disregard for,
and violation of, the rights of others.
Aphagia. ANS: An impairment in the ability to eat.
Aphasias ANS: Language disorders, which are associated with Broca's and Wernicke's areas in the brain.
Apparent motion ANS: An illusion that occurs when two dots flashed in different locations on a screen
seconds apart are perceived as one moving dot.
Apraxia ANS: An impairment in the organization of voluntary action.
Archetypes ANS: The building blocks for the collective unconscious referred to in Jung's theory of
personality.
Assimilation ANS: A principle of Piaget's theory of cognitive development. It is the process of
understanding new information in relation to prior knowledge, or existing schemata.
Association area ANS: Areas in the brain that integrate information from different cortical regions
Atkinson-Shiffin model ANS: A model of memory that involves three memory structures (sensory, short-
term and long-term), and the processes that operate these memory structures.
, Attachment bond ANS: Evidence of a preference for the primary caregiver and a wariness of strangers.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADD/HD) ANS: A disorder characterized by developmentally
atypical inattention and/or impulsivity-hyperactivity.
Attribution theory ANS: Fritz Heider's theory that people tend to infer the causes of other people's
behavior as either dispositional (related to the individual) or situational (related to the environment).
Authoritarian parenting style ANS: A parenting style tending to use punitive control methods and
lacking emotional warmth.
Authoritative parenting style ANS: A parenting style tending to have reasonably high demands for child
compliance coupled with emotional warmth.
Autism ANS: A disorder whose essential features are lack of responsiveness to other people, gross
impairment in communication skills, and behaviors and interests that are repetitive, inflexibly routined
and stereotyped.
Autokinetic effect ANS: An illusion that occurs when a spot of light appears to move erratically in a dark
room, simply because there is no frame of reference.
Availability heuristic ANS: A decision-making short-cut that people tend to use when trying to decide
how likely something is based upon how easily similar instances can be imagined .
Aversion therapy ANS: A behavioral therapy of pairing unpleasant stimuli with undesirable behavior.
Balance theory ANS: Fritz Heider's consistency theory that is concerned with balance and imbalance in
the ways in which three elements are related
