The area of the RETINA where the OPTIC NERVE leaves the eye. This area is insensitive to light and the eye is therefore ‘blind’ at that point.

Also used now to refer to an area of someone’s (otherwise rational) beliefs which is impervious to change through OBJECTIVE information or rational argument.

A dual or partial inability to distinguish colours. Total colour blindness is very rare but partial colour blindness (particularly the inability to distinguish red and green from each other or from grey) is surprisingly common. It has been estimated that about 8 to 10 per cent of males are born with this defect, though it is rare in females.

From the Greek word for ‘gift’ and used originally for the ‘gift of divine grace’. An elusive quality of PERSONALITY often defined as ‘personal magnetism’, which is considered by some social scientists to be an essential element in leadership, while others consider it to be largely manufactured.

A type of response to a WORD ASSOCIATION TEST which is based on similarity of sound, e.g. ‘master-faster’.

A school of thought in PSYCHOLOGY which opposed the behaviourist view that there is a direct link between stimulus and response via the nervous system, arguing that complex learning involves the restructuring and reorganising of knowledge and ideas by the brain. Contrast with BEHAVIOURISM.

Sociological term for people who share the same goal but work towards it without communicating or interacting.

A FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION that has two MODES.

A test for BRAIN DAMAGE which requires the subject to copy some simple designs. This psychological test was first developed by child neuropsychiatrist Lauretta Bender. The test is used to evaluate “visual-motor maturity”, to screen for developmental disorders, or to assess neurological function or brain damage. The original test consists of nine figures, each on its own 3 × 5 card. The subject is shown each figure and asked to copy it onto a piece of blank paper. The test typically takes 7-10 minutes, after which the results are scored based on accuracy and other characteristics.

Used of someone who seeks counselling or PSYCHOTHERAPY from a practitioner with a HUMANISTIC or NON-DIRECTIVE approach.

Term used by psychologists to describe our perceptualability to deal with several messages at once but attend to only one of them. For example, at a noisy party, only paying attention to the person you are talking to and filtering out all the other voices and noises. This phenomenon is often taken as the model for studying SELECTIVE ATTENTION based on listening to speech.