Being aware of the environment. In PSYCHOANALYSIS, those aspects of one’s psychological functioning of which the EGO is aware.

As used in PSYCHOANALYSIS, this is a DEFENCE MECHANISM in which a person perceives himself to be lacking in some way and tries to make up for it by substituting some other characteristic which is perhaps exaggerated. This was a key concept in the work of Alfred Adler, who suggested that in this way a small man might compensate for his lack of size by being aggressive and dominating psychologically.

See INFERIORITY COMPLEX.

A theory of COGNITIVE SCIENCE opposed to the older INFORMATION PROCESSING model as a way of understanding mental functioning. It suggests the brain operates as a network, capable of performing many operations at the same time and also of learning from its experience, unlike a computer which operates sequentially (i.e. a form of processing in which the operations are distributed over a vast network and occur in parallel).

According to the American learning theorist E.C. Tolman, a cognitive map is a mental representation by an animal or human of the way in which a goal can be achieved or a problem solved. From his work on rats, Tolman came to believe that the animals learned a cognitive map of the MAZE and not simply a series of movements.

A concept suggested by the PSYCHOANALYST Wilhelm Reich that to protect his EGO, an individual can put up a powerful front which dominates his whole PERSONALITY. For example, disguising hatred as love in dealing with a spouse or parent. Reich regarded the piercing of this armour as a key task for PSYCHOANALYSIS.

See also REACTION FORMATION.

A visual impression that persists after the stimulus has been removed, for example, when the eyes are closed after looking at a bright light.

The study of the origins of disease: physical, mental or emotional.

An instrument for quantifying skin sensitivity to touch by measuring the smallest distance between two points of contact on the skin where the person can perceive each of them separately rather than as a single stimulus.

The parts of a cell nucleus that carry the GENES.

(1) The idea that there are mental attributes of a group over and above those of the individuals composing it.

(2) The idea that a group shares common mental processes that lead it to take concerted action.