Glossary of Psychological Terms
Definitions of terms used in psychology, psychometric testing and occupational assessment, organised alphabetically.
N Ach
An abbreviation for need for achievement — see that entry.
N Aff
An abbreviation for need for affiliation — see that entry.
Naive subject
In psychology generally, a research participant unfamiliar with the specific experiment they are taking part in; in social psychology specifically, a participant who has been deliberately misled about the experiment's true purpose. In conformity research, for instance, telling participants upfront that the study is measuring how much they conform to group pressure would defeat the purpose, so a cover story is used instead, with the true purpose revealed afterward during debriefing.
Narcissism
Named after the Greek myth of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection: excessive self-love or self-preoccupation, to the exclusion of genuine interest in others. In psychoanalytic theory, an early stage of psychosexual development in which the infant's own self is the primary object of libidinal interest.
Narcolepsy
A neurological disorder characterised by sudden, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep, regardless of the situation or the person's intentions.
Narcosis
A state of stupor or deep unconsciousness induced by drugs.
Nativism
The “nature” side of the nature-nurture debate: the position emphasising the influence of genetic inheritance and biological maturation over learning and experience, including the view that certain abilities, such as the perception of space, may be innate rather than learned.
Natural selection
Charles Darwin's account of the mechanism driving evolution, in which the individuals best adapted to their environment in a given generation are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing their advantageous traits on to future generations.
Naturalistic observation
The scientific observation of behaviour as it occurs in its natural setting, without any attempt to manipulate or control the situation, as would happen in a formal experiment.
Nature-nurture problem
The long-running question, central to psychology, of the relative contributions of heredity (nature) and environment and experience (nurture) in shaping human psychological characteristics.
Need for achievement
A strongly felt motivation to accomplish goals, meet high standards, and attain success. Some research has linked this motivation to particular patterns of child-rearing, especially early encouragement of independent achievement by mothers, particularly of first-born sons. Associated especially with American psychologist David McClelland.
Need for affiliation
The motivational need to be near and connected with other people, particularly salient when facing a stressful or unpleasant shared experience; situated, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, above basic physiological and safety needs. Some research suggests this need varies with birth order, with last-born children showing the least need for affiliation and first-born children, especially males, showing the most.
Negative reinforcement
In conditioning, the removal or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus following a desired response, which strengthens (rather than eliminates) that response — a term often confused, even in professional writing, with punishment, which weakens a response.
Negative transfer
The detrimental effect that previous learning can have on a new learning task, because the two situations require conflicting responses — for example, difficulty steering a boat with a tiller after having learned to steer a car with a wheel. See also: transfer of training.
Neill, A. S. (1883-1976)
A Scottish educator who founded Summerhill School in England with the aim of allowing children to grow up free from unnecessary repression. Though deeply influenced by Freudian ideas, Neill's work has also been embraced by later humanistic psychologists and educators as an expression of their own principles of child-centred learning.
Neo-Freudian
A psychoanalyst who accepts the core framework of Freudian theory while incorporating later modifications and departures from it — Erich Fromm, Karen Horney and Harry Stack Sullivan are prominent examples. Freud's earlier followers who broke away more sharply, notably Alfred Adler and Carl Jung, are usually referred to instead as schismatics rather than neo-Freudians.
Neologism
Literally, a newly coined word. Sometimes found in disordered schizophrenic speech, but far more often encountered in scholarly and scientific writing, either where ordinary words are given new specialised meanings (such as censorship or protocol) or where entirely new terms are invented (such as brainwashing or territoriality).
Neonate
A newborn infant, typically referring to the first four weeks of life.
Nervous breakdown
A popular, non-clinical term for a neurosis or acute psychological crisis severe enough to significantly disrupt a person's ability to function, sometimes requiring hospital treatment.
Nervous prostration
See neurasthenia — an older term for a neurotic state of extreme physical and mental exhaustion.
Nesting instinct
The apparently innate drive in birds to build a nest in preparation for laying eggs. The popular idea that an analogous “nesting instinct” governs human behaviour (for instance, before childbirth) is an example of anthropomorphism, and considerably oversimplifies the complexity of human motivation.
Neuralgia
A disorder affecting a single nerve, producing sharp, localised, intermittent pain along its path.
Neurasthenia
An older diagnostic term for a neurotic condition marked by extreme fatigue, weakness and general debility, both physical and mental, once widely diagnosed but now largely replaced by more specific modern diagnoses.
Neurology
The medical and scientific study of the structure, function and disorders of the nervous system.
Neuron
The basic cellular unit of the nervous system, specialised for receiving, processing and transmitting electrochemical signals.
Neurophysiology
The study of the physiological functioning of the nervous system — how neurons and neural circuits actually operate.
Neuropsychology
The branch of physiological psychology concerned with the relationship between the nervous system, particularly the brain, and mental processes and behaviour, often studied through the effects of brain injury or disease.
Neurosis
A functional psychological disorder, without an identifiable organic cause, whose roots in emotional conflict can often be understood and addressed through psychotherapy. Neurosis may present in various forms, including anxiety, fugue, hysteria, obsession, compulsion or phobia; behaviour suggestive of any of these is described as neurotic.
Night blindness
A significantly weakened capacity for dark adaptation, caused either by an underlying organic disease or by vitamin A deficiency.
Nomothetic
An approach within psychology emphasising the search for general, universal laws or principles governing behaviour, rather than the uniqueness of individual cases. Compare with idiographic.
Non-directive therapy
A therapeutic approach that accepts a client's expression of their own needs and conflicts on their own terms, without imposing a predetermined interpretive framework or steering them toward a particular conclusion. Carl Rogers's client-centred therapy is the most well-known example.
Non-verbal communication
Communication between people through means other than spoken or written language — including facial expression, gesture, eye contact and body posture.
Nonconscious ideology
The largely unquestioned, taken-for-granted assumptions people hold about the world, which can shape their behaviour profoundly even though they remain unaware of holding them.
Nonparametric statistics
Statistical methods that can be applied when data do not meet the assumptions of a normal distribution — a common situation with much real-world data on human behaviour, which often departs from a perfectly symmetrical bell curve.
Nonsense syllables
Meaningless three-letter combinations, such as ZEJ or TUZ, used in memory research because they carry no pre-existing associations that could aid recall (at least to an English speaker).
Norm
In statistics, a value representative of an entire group of scores, such as one of the measures of central tendency (mean, median or mode). See also: group norm, social norm, referring to expected patterns of behaviour rather than a statistical value.
Normal
Literally, conforming to an established norm or standard; as applied to behaviour, it generally refers either to what is statistically typical or expected (the social norm), or to what is considered proper and appropriate given the circumstances.
Normal distribution
The characteristic distribution of data drawn from a random sample of a population, which, when plotted on a graph, forms a symmetrical bell-shaped curve, with most scores clustering near the average and progressively fewer scores toward each extreme.
Normative influence
In social psychology and sociology, the process by which a person's behaviour is shaped by their anticipation of how others will judge it as right or wrong, distinct from informational influence, which is based on others being a source of evidence about reality.
Nuclear family
The immediate family unit of parents and their children, living together as a single household, as distinct from the wider extended family of more distant relatives.
Null hypothesis
In experimental psychology, the default assumption that any observed difference between an experimental group and a control group is simply due to chance, and does not reflect a genuine, significant effect. The purpose of an experiment's statistical analysis is typically to determine whether the evidence is strong enough to reject the null hypothesis in favour of a real effect.
Nystagmus
An involuntary, repetitive jerking movement of the eyes, typically a rapid movement in one direction followed by a slower drift back. It occurs normally for a short time after the head has been spun, but can also be a sign of underlying neurological or brain damage when it occurs without such a trigger.
