Vocabulary

5α-reductase: An enzyme required to convert testosterone to 5α-dihydrotestosterone.
Abstinence: Avoiding any sexual behaviors that may lead to conception.
Acceptance and commitment therapy: A therapeutic approach designed to foster nonjudgmental observation of one’s own mental processes.
Adoption: To take in and raise a child of other parents legally as one’s own.
Affective forecasting: Predicting how one will feel in the future after some event or decision.
Age in place: The trend toward making accommodations to ensure that aging people can stay in their homes and live independently.
Age of viability: The age at which a fetus can survive outside of the uterus.
Agender: An individual who may have no gender or may describe themselves as having a neutral gender.
Aggression: A form of social interaction that includes threat, attack, and fighting.
Ambivalent sexism: A concept of gender attitudes that encompasses both positive and negative qualities.
Ambulatory assessment: An overarching term to describe methodologies that assess the behavior, physiology, experience, and environments of humans in naturalistic settings.
Anal sex: Penetration of the anus by an animate or inanimate object.
Androgyny: Having both feminine and masculine characteristics.
Anomalous face overgeneralization hypothesis: Proposes that the attractiveness halo effect is a by-product of reactions to low fitness. People overgeneralize the adaptive tendency to use low attractiveness as an indicator of negative traits, like low health or intelligence, and mistakenly use higher-than-average attractiveness as an indicator of high health or intelligence.
Anxious-avoidant: Attachment style that involves suppressing one’s own feelings and desires, and a difficulty depending on others.
Anxious-resistant: Attachment style that is self-critical, insecure, and fearful of rejection.
Aromatase: An enzyme that converts androgens into estrogens.
Attachment theory: Theory that describes the enduring patterns of relationships from birth to death.
Attitude: A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor.
Attractiveness halo effect: The tendency to associate attractiveness with a variety of positive traits, such as being more sociable, intelligent, competent, and healthy.
Authoritarian parenting: Parenting style that is high is demandingness and low in support.
Authoritative parenting: A parenting style that is high in demandingness and high in support.
Automatic: A behavior or process has one or more of the following features: unintentional, uncontrollable, occurring outside of conscious awareness, and cognitively efficient.
Automatic thoughts: Thoughts that occur spontaneously; often used to describe problematic thoughts that maintain mental disorders.
Availability heuristic: A heuristic in which the frequency or likelihood of an event is evaluated based on how easily instances of it come to mind.
Barrier forms of birth control: Methods in which sperm is prevented from entering the uterus, either through physical or chemical barriers.
Benevolent sexism: The “positive” element of ambivalent sexism, which recognizes that women are perceived as needing to be protected, supported, and adored by men.
Bigender: An individual who identifies as two genders.
Binary: The idea that gender has two separate and distinct categories (male and female) and that a person must be either one or the other.
Bisexual: Attraction to two sexes.
Blended family: A family consisting of an adult couple and their children from previous relationships.
Boomerang generation: Term used to describe young adults, primarily between the ages of 25 and 34, who return home after previously living on their own.
Case study: An in-depth and objective examination of the details of a single person or entity.
Central route to persuasion: Persuasion that employs direct, relevant, logical messages.
Cervix: The lower portion of the uterus that connects to the vagina.
Chameleon effect: The tendency for individuals to nonconsciously mimic the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one’s interaction partners.
Child abuse: Injury, death, or emotional harm to a child caused by a parent or caregiver, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Childfree: Term used to describe people who purposefully choose not to have children.
Childless: Term used to describe people who would like to have children but are unable to conceive.
Chromosomal sex: Also known as genetic sex; defined by the 23rd set of chromosomes.
Chromosomal sex: The sex of an individual as determined by the sex chromosomes (typically XX or XY) received at the time of fertilization.
Cisgender: A term used to describe individuals whose gender matches their biological sex.
Cisgender: When a person’s birth sex corresponds with his/her gender identity and gender role.
Clitoris: A sensitive and erectile part of the vulva; its main function is to initiate orgasms.
Clock time: Scheduling activities according to the time on the clock.
Cognitive bias modification: Using exercises (e.g., computer games) to change problematic thinking habits.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): A family of approaches with the goal of changing the thoughts and behaviors that influence psychopathology.
Cohabitation: Arrangement where two unmarried adults live together.
Coherence: Within attachment theory, the gaining of insight into and reconciling one’s childhood experiences.
Coital sex: Vaginal-penile intercourse.
Collective efficacy: The shared beliefs among members of a group about the group’s ability to effectively perform the tasks needed to attain a valued goal.
Comorbidity: Describes a state of having more than one psychological or physical disorder at a given time.
Conception: Occurs typically within the fallopian tube, when a single sperm fertilizes an ovum cell.
Cowper's glands: Glands that produce a fluid that lubricates the urethra and neutralizes any acidity due to urine.
Cunnilingus: Oral stimulation of the female’s external sex organs.
Daily Diary method: A methodology where participants complete a questionnaire about their thoughts, feelings, and behavior of the day at the end of the day.
Day reconstruction method (DRM): A methodology where participants describe their experiences and behavior of a given day retrospectively upon a systematic reconstruction on the following day.
Defeminization: The removal of the potential for female traits.
Demasculinization: The removal of the potential for male traits.
Developmental intergroup theory: A theory that postulates that adults’ focus on gender leads children to pay attention to gender as a key source of information about themselves and others, to seek out possible gender differences, and to form rigid stereotypes based on gender.
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT): A treatment often used for borderline personality disorder that incorporates both cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness elements.
Dialectical worldview: A perspective in DBT that emphasizes the joint importance of change and acceptance.
Dihydrotestosterone (DHT): A primary androgen that is an androgenic steroid product of testosterone and binds strongly to androgen receptors.
Directional goals: The motivation to reach a particular outcome or judgment.
Dizygotic twins: Twins conceived from two ova and two sperm.
Drive state: Affective experiences that motivate organisms to fulfill goals that are generally beneficial to their survival and reproduction.
Durability bias: A bias in affective forecasting in which one overestimates for how long one will feel an emotion (positive or negative) after some event.
Ecological momentary assessment: An overarching term to describe methodologies that repeatedly sample participants’ real-world experiences, behavior, and physiology in real time.
Ecological validity: The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life.
Ego defenses: Mental strategies, rooted in the ego, that we use to manage anxiety when we feel threatened (some examples include repression, denial, sublimation, and reaction formation).
Elder abuse: Any form of mistreatment that results in harm to an elder person, often caused by his/her adult child.
Electronically activated recorder, or EAR: A methodology where participants wear a small, portable audio recorder that intermittently records snippets of ambient sounds around them.
Emergency contraception: A form of birth control used in a variety of circumstances, such as after unprotected sex, condom mishaps, or sexual assault.
Empty Nest: Feelings of sadness and loneliness that parents may feel when their adult children leave the home for the first time.
Endocrine gland: A ductless gland from which hormones are released into the blood system in response to specific biological signals.
Engagement: Formal agreement to get married.
Epididymis: A twisted duct that matures, stores, and transports sperm cells into the vas deferens.
Erogenous zones: Highly sensitive areas of the body.
Estrogen: Any of the C18 class of steroid hormones, so named because of the estrus-generating properties in females. Biologically important estrogens include estradiol and estriol.
Evaluative priming task: An implicit attitude task that assesses the extent to which an attitude object is associated with a positive or negative valence by measuring the time it takes a person to label an adjective as good or bad after being presented with an attitude object.
Excitement phase: The activation of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system defines this phase of the sexual response cycle; heart rate and breathing accelerate, along with increased blood flow to the penis, vaginal walls, clitoris, and nipples.
Experience-sampling method: A methodology where participants report on their momentary thoughts, feelings, and behaviors at different points in time over the course of a day.
Explicit attitude: An attitude that is consciously held and can be reported on by the person holding the attitude.
Exposure therapy: A form of intervention in which the patient engages with a problematic (usually feared) situation without avoidance or escape.
External validity: The degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific sample and context of a study to some larger population and broader settings.
Fallopian tubes: The female’s internal sex organ where fertilization is most likely to occur.
Family of orientation: The family one is born into.
Family of procreation: The family one creates, usually through marriage.
Family systems theory: Theory that says a person cannot be understood on their own, but as a member of a unit.
Fellatio: Oral stimulation of the male’s external sex organs.
Feminization: The induction of female traits.
Five stages of psychosexual development: Oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Fixed action patterns (FAPs): Sequences of behavior that occur in exactly the same fashion, in exactly the same order, every time they are elicited.
Foot in the door: Obtaining a small, initial commitment.
Foreskin: The skin covering the glans or head of the penis.
Foster care: Care provided by alternative families to children whose families of orientation cannot adequately care for them; often arranged through the government or a social service agency.
Free association: In psychodynamic therapy, a process in which the patient reports all thoughts that come to mind without censorship, and these thoughts are interpreted by the therapist.
Full-cycle psychology: A scientific approach whereby researchers start with an observational field study to identify an effect in the real world, follow up with laboratory experimentation to verify the effect and isolate the causal mechanisms, and return to field research to corroborate their experimental findings.
Functional distance: The frequency with which we cross paths with others.
Gender: The psychological and sociological representations of one’s biological sex.
Gender: The cultural, social, and psychological meanings that are associated with masculinity and femininity.
Gender constancy: The awareness that gender is constant and does not change simply by changing external attributes; develops between 3 and 6 years of age.
Gender discrimination: Differential treatment on the basis of gender.
Gender identity: A person’s psychological sense of being male or female.
Gender identity: Personal depictions of masculinity and femininity.
Gender roles: Societal expectations of masculinity and femininity.
Gender roles: The behaviors, attitudes, and personality traits that are designated as either masculine or feminine in a given culture.
Gender schema theory: This theory of how children form their own gender roles argues that children actively organize others’ behavior, activities, and attributes into gender categories or schemas.
Gender stereotypes: The beliefs and expectations people hold about the typical characteristics, preferences, and behaviors of men and women.
Genderfluid: An individual who may identify as male, female, both, or neither at different times and in different circumstances.
Genderqueer or gender nonbinary: An umbrella term used to describe a wide range of individuals who do not identify with and/or conform to the gender binary.
Generalize: Generalizing, in science, refers to the ability to arrive at broad conclusions based on a smaller sample of observations. For these conclusions to be true the sample should accurately represent the larger population from which it is drawn.
Glans penis: The highly sensitive head of the penis, associated with initiating orgasms.
Gonadal sex: The sex of an individual as determined by the possession of either ovaries or testes. Females have ovaries, whereas males have testes.
Good genes hypothesis: Proposes that certain physical qualities, like averageness, are attractive because they advertise mate quality—either greater fertility or better genetic traits that lead to better offspring and hence greater reproductive success.
Gradually escalating commitments: A pattern of small, progressively escalating demands is less likely to be rejected than a single large demand made all at once.
Heterogamy: Partnering with someone who is unlike you in a meaningful way.
Heterosexual: Opposite-sex attraction.
Heuristics: Mental shortcuts that enable people to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently.
Heuristics: A mental shortcut or rule of thumb that reduces complex mental problems to more simple rule-based decisions.
Homeostasis: The tendency of an organism to maintain a stable state across all the different physiological systems in the body.
Homeostatic set point: An ideal level that the system being regulated must be monitored and compared to.
Homogamy: Partnering with someone who is like you in a meaningful way.
Homosexual: Same-sex attraction.
Hormonal forms of birth control: Methods by which synthetic estrogen or progesterone are released to prevent ovulation and thicken cervical mucus.
Hormone: An organic chemical messenger released from endocrine cells that travels through the blood to interact with target cells at some distance to cause a biological response.
Hostile sexism: The negative element of ambivalent sexism, which includes the attitudes that women are inferior and incompetent relative to men.
Hot cognition: The mental processes that are influenced by desires and feelings.
Hypothalamus: A portion of the brain involved in a variety of functions, including the secretion of various hormones and the regulation of hunger and sexual arousal.
Imaginal performances: When imagining yourself doing well increases self-efficacy.
Impact bias: A bias in affective forecasting in which one overestimates the strength or intensity of emotion one will experience after some event.
Implicit Association Test: An implicit attitude task that assesses a person’s automatic associations between concepts by measuring the response times in pairing the concepts.
Implicit attitude: An attitude that a person cannot verbally or overtly state.
Implicit measures of attitudes: Measures of attitudes in which researchers infer the participant’s attitude rather than having the participant explicitly report it.
Integrative or eclectic psychotherapy: Also called integrative psychotherapy, this term refers to approaches combining multiple orientations (e.g., CBT with psychoanalytic elements).
Integrative or eclectic psychotherapy: Also called integrative psychotherapy, this term refers to approaches combining multiple orientations (e.g., CBT with psychoanalytic elements).
Internal validity: The degree to which a cause-effect relationship between two variables has been unambiguously established.
Intersex: Born with either an absence or some combination of male and female reproductive organs, sex hormones, or sex chromosomes.
Intimate partner violence: Physical, sexual, or psychological abuse inflicted by a partner.
Introitus: The vaginal opening to the outside of the body.
Joint family: A family comprised of at least three generations living together. Joint families often include many members of the extended family.
Labia majora: The “large lips” enclosing and protecting the female internal sex organs.
Labia minora: The “small lips” surrounding and defining the openings of the vagina and urethra.
Learned helplessness: The belief, as someone who is abused, that one has no control over his or her situation.
Linguistic inquiry and word count: A quantitative text analysis methodology that automatically extracts grammatical and psychological information from a text by counting word frequencies.
Lived day analysis: A methodology where a research team follows an individual around with a video camera to objectively document a person’s daily life as it is lived.
Lordosis: A physical sexual posture in females that serves as an invitation to mate.
Ma: Japanese way of thinking that emphasizes attention to the spaces between things rather than the things themselves.
Marriage market: The process through which prospective spouses compare assets and liabilities of available partners and choose the best available mate.
Masculinization: The induction of male traits.
Masochism: Receiving pain from another person to experience pleasure for one’s self.
Masturbation: Tactile stimulation of the body for sexual pleasure.
Maternal behavior: Parental behavior performed by the mother or other female.
Menstruation: The process by which ova as well as the lining of the uterus are discharged from the vagina after fertilization does not occur.
Mere-exposure effect: The notion that people like people/places/things merely because they are familiar with them.
Mere-exposure effect: The tendency to prefer stimuli that have been seen before over novel ones. There also is a generalized mere-exposure effect shown in a preference for stimuli that are similar to those that have been seen before.
Mindfulness: A process that reflects a nonjudgmental, yet attentive, mental state.
Mindfulness-based therapy: A form of psychotherapy grounded in mindfulness theory and practice, often involving meditation, yoga, body scan, and other features of mindfulness exercises.
Modern family: A family based on commitment, caring, and close emotional ties.
Monochronic (M-time): Monochronic thinking focuses on doing one activity, from beginning to completion, at a time.
Monozygotic twins: Twins conceived from a single ovum and a single sperm, therefore genetically identical.
Mood-congruent memory: The tendency to be better able to recall memories that have a mood similar to our current mood.
Morph: A face or other image that has been transformed by a computer program so that it is a mixture of multiple images.
Motivated skepticism: A form of bias that can result from having a directional goal in which one is skeptical of evidence despite its strength because it goes against what one wants to believe.
Mullerian ducts: Primitive female internal sex organs.
Multigenerational homes: Homes with more than one adult generation.
Myotonia: Involuntary muscular movements, such as facial grimaces, that occur during the excitement phase of the sexual response cycle.
Natural forms of birth control: Methods that rely on knowledge of the menstrual cycle and awareness of the body.
Need for closure: The desire to come to a decision that will resolve ambiguity and conclude an issue.
Neglect: Failure to care for someone properly.
Neuroimaging techniques: Seeing and measuring live and active brains by such techniques as electroencephalography (EEG), computerized axial tomography (CAT), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Neuropsychoanalysis: An integrative, interdisciplinary domain of inquiry seeking to integrate psychoanalytic and neuropsychological ideas and findings to enhance both areas of inquiry (you can learn more by visiting the webpage of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society at http://www.neuropsa.org.uk/).
Neurotransmitter: A chemical messenger that travels between neurons to provide communication. Some neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine, can leak into the blood system and act as hormones.
Nuclear families: A core family unit comprised of only the parents and children.
Object relations theory: A modern offshoot of the psychodynamic perspective, this theory contends that personality can be understood as reflecting mental images of significant figures (especially the parents) that we form early in life in response to interactions taking place within the family; these mental images serve as templates (or “scripts”) for later interpersonal relationships.
Oral sex: Cunnilingus or fellatio.
Orgasm phase: The shortest, but most pleasurable, phase of the sexual response cycle.
Orgasmic platform: The tightening of the outer third of the vaginal walls during the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle.
Ovaries: The glands housing the ova and producing progesterone, estrogen, and small amounts of testosterone.
Ovulation: When ova travel from the ovaries to the uterus.
Oxytocin: A neurotransmitter that regulates bonding and sexual reproduction.
Oxytocin: A peptide hormone secreted by the pituitary gland to trigger lactation, as well as social bonding.
Pace of life: The frequency of events per unit of time; also referred to as speed or tempo.
Paraphilic disorders: Sexual behaviors that cause harm to others or one’s self.
Parental behavior: Behaviors performed in relation to one’s offspring that contributes directly to the survival of those offspring
Paternal behavior: Parental behavior performed by the father or other male.
Penis: The most prominent external sex organ in males; it has three main functions: initiating orgasm, and transporting semen and urine outside of the body.
Perceived social support: A person’s perception that others are there to help them in times of need.
Performance experiences: When past successes or failures lead to changes in self-efficacy.
Peripheral route to persuasion: Persuasion that relies on superficial cues that have little to do with logic.
Permissive parenting: Parenting that is low in demandingness and high in support.
Person-centered therapy: A therapeutic approach focused on creating a supportive environment for self-discovery.
Physical abuse: The use of intentional physical force to cause harm.
Planning fallacy: A cognitive bias in which one underestimates how long it will take to complete a task.
Plateau phase: The phase of the sexual response cycle in which blood flow, heart rate, and breathing intensify.
Plethysmography: The measuring of changes in blood - or airflow - to organs.
Polychronic (P-time): Polychronic thinking switches back and forth among multiple activities as the situation demands.
Pregnancy: The time in which a female carries a developing human within her uterus.
Preoptic area: A region in the anterior hypothalamus involved in generating and regulating male sexual behavior.
Primacy of the Unconscious: The hypothesis—supported by contemporary empirical research—that the vast majority of mental activity takes place outside conscious awareness.
Primed: A process by which a concept or behavior is made more cognitively accessible or likely to occur through the presentation of an associated concept.
Primitive gonads: Reproductive structures in embryos that will eventually develop into ovaries or testes.
Progesterone: A primary progestin that is involved in pregnancy and mating behaviors.
Progestin: A class of C21 steroid hormones named for their progestational (pregnancy-supporting) effects. Progesterone is a common progestin.
Prohormone: A molecule that can act as a hormone itself or be converted into another hormone with different properties. For example, testosterone can serve as a hormone or as a prohormone for either dihydrotestosterone or estradiol.
Prolactin: A protein hormone that is highly conserved throughout the animal kingdom. It has many biological functions associated with reproduction and synergistic actions with steroid hormones.
Prostate gland: A male gland that releases prostatic fluid to nourish sperm cells.
Prototype: A typical, or average, member of a category. Averageness increases attractiveness.
Proximity: Physical nearness.
Psychic causality: The assumption that nothing in mental life happens by chance—that there is no such thing as a “random” thought or feeling.
Psychoanalytic therapy: Sigmund Freud’s therapeutic approach focusing on resolving unconscious conflicts.
Psychodynamic therapy: Treatment applying psychoanalytic principles in a briefer, more individualized format.
Psychological abuse: Aggressive behavior intended to control a partner.
Psychological reactance: A reaction to people, rules, requirements, or offerings that are perceived to limit freedoms.
Psychosexual stage model: Probably the most controversial aspect of psychodynamic theory, the psychosexual stage model contends that early in life we progress through a sequence of developmental stages (oral, anal, Oedipal, latency, and genital), each with its own unique mode of sexual gratification.
Quickening: The feeling of fetal movement.
Reappraisal, or Cognitive restructuring: The process of identifying, evaluating, and changing maladaptive thoughts in psychotherapy.
Received social support: The actual act of receiving support (e.g., informational, functional).
Receptor: A chemical structure on the cell surface or inside of a cell that has an affinity for a specific chemical configuration of a hormone, neurotransmitter, or other compound.
Refractory period: Time following male ejaculation in which he is unresponsive to sexual stimuli.
Replacement fantasy: Fantasizing about someone other than one’s current partner.
Representativeness heuristic: A heuristic in which the likelihood of an object belonging to a category is evaluated based on the extent to which the object appears similar to one’s mental representation of the category.
Resolution phase: The phase of the sexual response cycle in which the body returns to a pre-aroused state.
Reward value: A neuropsychological measure of an outcome’s affective importance to an organism.
Sadism: Inflicting pain upon another person to experience pleasure for one’s self.
Safer-sex practices: Doing anything that may decrease the probability of sexual assault, sexually transmitted infections, or unwanted pregnancy; this may include using condoms, honesty, and communication.
Safer-sex practices: Doing anything that may decrease the probability of sexual assault, sexually transmitted infections, or unwanted pregnancy; these may include using condoms, honesty, and communication.
Sandwich generation: Generation of people responsible for taking care of their own children as well as their aging parents.
Satiation: The state of being full to satisfaction and no longer desiring to take on more.
Schema: A mental model or representation that organizes the important information about a thing, person, or event (also known as a script).
Schema: A mental representation or set of beliefs about something.
Schemas: The gender categories into which, according to gender schema theory, children actively organize others’ behavior, activities, and attributes.
Scrotum: The sac of skin behind and below the penis, containing the testicles.
Second shift: Term used to describe the unpaid work a parent, usually a mother, does in the home in terms of housekeeping and childrearing.
Secure attachments: Attachment style that involves being comfortable with depending on your partner and having your partner depend on you.
Self-efficacy: The belief that you are able to effectively perform the tasks needed to attain a valued goal.
Self-regulation: The complex process through which people control their thoughts, emotions, and actions.
Self-report measure: A type of questionnaire in which participants answer questions whose answers correspond to numerical values that can be added to create an overall index of some construct.
Semen: The fluid that sperm cells are transported within.
Seminal vesicles: Glands that provide sperm cells the energy that allows them to move.
Sex: Biological category of male or female as defined by physical differences in genetic composition and in reproductive anatomy and function.
Sex: An organism’s means of biological reproduction.
Sex determination: The point at which an individual begins to develop as either a male or a female. In animals that have sex chromosomes, this occurs at fertilization. Females are XX and males are XY. All eggs bear X chromosomes, whereas sperm can either bear X or Y chromosomes. Thus, it is the males that determine the sex of the offspring.
Sex differentiation: The process by which individuals develop the characteristics associated with being male or female. Differential exposure to gonadal steroids during early development causes sexual differentiation of several structures including the brain.
Sexual abuse: The act of forcing a partner to take part in a sex act against his or her will.
Sexual attraction: The capacity a person has to elicit or feel sexual interest.
Sexual consent: Permission that is voluntary, conscious, and able to be withdrawn at any time.
Sexual dysfunctions: A range of clinically significant impairments in a person’s ability to experience pleasure or respond sexually as outlined by the sexual response cycle.
Sexual fluidity: Personal sexual attributes changing due to psychosocial circumstances.
Sexual harassment: A form of gender discrimination based on unwanted treatment related to sexual behaviors or appearance.
Sexual literacy: The lifelong pursuit of accurate human sexuality knowledge, and recognition of its various multicultural, historical, and societal contexts; the ability to critically evaluate sources and discern empirical evidence from unreliable and inaccurate information; the acknowledgment of humans as sexual beings; and an appreciation of sexuality’s contribution to enhancing one’s well-being and pleasure in life.
Sexual orientation: Refers to the direction of emotional and erotic attraction toward members of the opposite sex, the same sex, or both sexes.
Sexual orientation: A person’s sexual attraction to other people.
Sexual response cycle: Excitement, Plateau, Orgasm, and Resolution.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs): Infections primarily transmitted through social sexual behaviors.
Silent language: Cultural norms of time and time use as they pertain to social communication and interaction.
Single parent family: An individual parent raising a child or children.
Skene’s glands: Also called minor vestibular glands, these glands are on the anterior wall of the vagina and are associated with female ejaculation.
Social cognition: The study of how people think about the social world.
Social learning theory: This theory of how children form their own gender roles argues that gender roles are learned through reinforcement, punishment, and modeling.
Social proof: The mental shortcut based on the assumption that, if everyone is doing it, it must be right.
Social time: Scheduling by the flow of the activity. Events begin and end when, by mutual consensus, participants “feel” the time is right.
Somatosensory cortex: A portion of the parietal cortex that processes sensory information from the skin.
Stepfamily: A family formed, after divorce or widowhood, through remarriage.
Stereotypes: Our general beliefs about the traits or behaviors shared by group of people.
Structural model: Developed to complement and extend the topographic model, the structural model of the mind posits the existence of three interacting mental structures called the id, ego, and superego.
Support support network: The people who care about and support a person.
Survey method: One method of research that uses a predetermined and methodical list of questions, systematically given to samples of individuals, to predict behaviors within the population.
Target cell: A cell that has receptors for a specific chemical messenger (hormone or neurotransmitter).
Task-specific measures of self-efficacy: Measures that ask about self-efficacy beliefs for a particular task (e.g., athletic self-efficacy, academic self-efficacy).
Temporal perspective: The extent to which we are oriented toward the past, present, and future.
Testicles: Also called testes—the glands producing testosterone, progesterone, small amounts of estrogen, and sperm cells.
Testosterone: The primary androgen secreted by the testes of most vertebrate animals, including men.
The norm of reciprocity: The normative pressure to repay, in equitable value, what another person has given to us.
The rule of scarcity: People tend to perceive things as more attractive when their availability is limited, or when they stand to lose the opportunity to acquire them on favorable terms.
The triad of trust: We are most vulnerable to persuasion when the source is perceived as an authority, as honest and likable.
Topographic model: Freud’s first model of the mind, which contended that the mind could be divided into three regions: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. (The “topographic” comes from the fact that topography is the study of maps.)
Traditional family: Two or more people related by blood, marriage, and—occasionally-- by adoption.
Transgender: A term used to describe individuals whose gender does not match their biological sex.
Transgender: A person whose gender identity or gender role does not correspond with his/her birth sex.
Transgender female (TGF): A transgender person whose birth sex was male.
Transgender male (TGM): A transgender person whose birth sex was female.
Trigger features: Specific, sometimes minute, aspects of a situation that activate fixed action patterns.
Trimesters: Phases of gestation, beginning with the last menstrual period and ending about 40 weeks later; each trimester is roughly 13 weeks in length.
Two-parent family: A family consisting of two parents—typical both of the biological parents-- and their children.
Unconditional positive regard: In person-centered therapy, an attitude of warmth, empathy and acceptance adopted by the therapist in order to foster feelings of inherent worth in the patient.
Uninvolved parenting: Parenting that is low in demandingness and low in support.
Urethra: The tube that carries urine and semen outside of the body.
Uterus: Also called the womb—the female’s internal sex organ where offspring develop until birth.
Vagina: Also called the birth canal—a muscular canal that spans from the cervix to the introitus, it acts as a transport mechanism for sperm cells coming in, and menstrual fluid and babies going out.
Vas deferens: A muscular tube that transports mature sperm to the urethra.
Vasectomy: A surgical form of birth control in males, in which the vas deferens is intentionally damaged.
Verbal persuasion: When trusted people (friends, family, experts) influence your self-efficacy for better or worse by either encouraging or discouraging you about your ability to succeed.
Vestibular glands (VGs): Also called major vestibular glands, these glands are located just to the left and right of the vagina, and produce lubrication to aid in sexual intercourse.
Vicarious performances: When seeing other people succeed or fail leads to changes in self-efficacy.
Vulva: The female’s external sex organs.
White coat hypertension: A phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in the hospital or doctor’s office but not in their everyday lives.
Wolffian ducts: Primitive male internal sex organs.
Working models: An understanding of how relationships operate; viewing oneself as worthy of love and others as trustworthy.
Zygote: Fertilized ovum.