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Explore helpful definitions of key terminology.
If you’ve been thinking about studying a postgraduate course in psychology, you might have come across some subject-specific terms that you’re not familiar with just yet. If you need some help understanding them, take a look through our glossary for some straightforward definitions.
Psychology: The study of the human mind and how it influences behaviour – including thoughts, feelings, memory, and communication.
Psychologist: A person who specialises in studying the human mind and the motivations behind human behaviour.
Cognitive psychology: The study of how people process information – including perceiving, learning, remembering, and reasoning.
Biological psychology: Also known as physiological psychology, this is the study of how a person’s body – particularly the nervous system, hormones, and genetics – influences behaviour.
Social psychology: The study of how a person’s social environment – including actual or imagined interactions with others – influences behaviour.
Developmental psychology: A branch of psychology that explores how people’s ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving change over their lifetime.
Behavioural psychology: Also known as behaviourism, this is an approach to psychology that views all human behaviour as a response to their environment.
Clinical psychology: A psychological specialty focused on the application of research methodologies to provide mental and behavioural health care for people.
Abnormal psychology: A branch of psychology that explores unusual mental and behavioural patterns – such as obsessive-compulsive disorder or depression – in a clinical context.
Positive psychology: A branch of psychology that explores the strengths and positive individual characteristics that allow people to have lives of meaning and happiness.
Personality: A person’s characteristic way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. The term can also refer to the psychological qualities that make all humans alike – as well as distinct from other species.
Individual differences: The psychological or behavioural characteristics by which one person may be distinguished from another.
Psychometrics: A branch of psychology that explores how behaviour and mental attributes can be quantified and measured via tests, genetic profiles, and other tools.
Equip yourself with the research capabilities and critical understanding needed to enter the field of psychology with the University of Portsmouth’s online, part-time MSc in Psychology:
