The BELL-SHAPED CURVE of a NORMAL DISTRIBUTION, named after Carl Gauss, a nineteenth-century German mathematician.

Technically, the investigation of the way in which the INDEPENDENT VARIABLE in an EXPERIMENT affects the DEPENDENT VARIABLE, but the term is used more generally for the whole procedure of an experiment, from the selection of subjects to the statistical analysis of the results.

Belonging, or regarding oneself as belonging, to the male or female sex.

See OESTROGEN.

Considered essential by SOCIAL SCIENTISTS in breaking down social prejudices. While a relationship between people of unequal status can breed attitudes consistent with their relationship, so do relationships between those of equal status. Thus, to reduce PREJUDICE, interracial contact should be between persons equal in status.

The practice of restricting marriage partners to a person from one’s own social or kinship group.

Contrasted with EXOGAMY.

The pleasantness or unpleasantness of the sensation one experiences from the stimulus of a given person, object or situation.

A biological theory about the development of the embryo which stresses the influence of the environment. The interaction of embryo and environment produces new properties that were not present in the fertilised egg, or ZYGOTE. In certain psychological theories, especially those of ERIK ERIKSON, epigenesis refers to a sequence of developmental stages that must be followed to attain psychological maturity.

Concerned with the processes involved in the way we recognise faces. An increasingly important area of research in COGNITION and PERCEPTION.

In the way psychologists use this term there is widespread agreement that it represents a complex state of diffuse physical changes, marked by strong feelings and accompanied by a behavioural impulse towards achieving a specific goal. The IDENTIFICATION and labelling of particular emotions involves a large element of social learning and varies widely across time and place.