The most celebraled exponent of BEHAVIOURISM not just in EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY but as a means of running a society. His original technique of OPERANT CONDITIONING was based on the work of PAVLOV and WATSON. He has expounded the social implications of his views in a number of influential works intended for the general public, notably Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity.

A term sometimes used in PSYCHOTHERAPY to describe the appearance of physical symptoms as a result of psychological STRESS as in PSYCHOSOMATIC illness.

A form of GROUP POLARISATION where people make riskier decisions under the influence of a group than by themselves. The opposite of CAUTIOUS SHIFT.

Making the necessary adjustments to follow a moving object; often used of the eye movements of an infant or a patient with suspected BRAIN DAMAGE.

The deliberate focusing of ATTENTION on something to the exclusion of competing stimuli.

From THANATOS. FREUD’S term for the death force; the study of the way people deal with death and dying.

Relating to SCHIZOPHRENIA.

In PSYCHOANALYSIS, a DEFENCE MECHANISM in which unacceptable UNCONSCIOUS impulses are channelled into consciously acceptable forms. For FREUD this was society’s main way of handling REPRESSION. It is certainly the most socially acceptable of the defence mechanisms.

A technique for probing areas of psychological difficulty which a person may have REPRESSED. The subject is asked to give immediate responses to a list of pre-selected words while his answers and the time taken to react to each stimulus word are noted.

Used in SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY to refer to the kind of BEHAVIOUR expected of a given person in a given situation.