Glossary
199 core terms, written in original language. Each entry notes whether it comes from the textbook's key terms or is a contemporary addition.
Showing 16 terms.
- Paediatric psychology Textbook concept
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A specialisation blending child clinical and health psychology for children with medical conditions and their families.
- Paradoxical technique Textbook concept
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A strategic intervention that prescribes the symptom or resists change in order to provoke change; raises ethical questions about transparency.
- Paraphrasing Textbook concept
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Restating the content of what a client said to check and show understanding.
See: Clinical interviewing and the mental status examination
- Peak experience Textbook concept
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Maslow's term for moments of intense joy, meaning or fulfilment associated with self-actualisation.
- Person–situation debate Contemporary update
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The debate over how much behaviour reflects stable traits versus situational influences.
See: Personality assessment: objective and projective methods
- POCSO Act, 2012 (India) Indian context · verify
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The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, which includes mandatory reporting duties. Verify current provisions in the official text.
See: Ethical decision-making, confidentiality limits and risk
- Polygraph Textbook concept
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A device recording physiological arousal, sometimes used in attempts to detect deception; its validity for that purpose is contested.
See: Behavioural observation, self-monitoring and checklists
- Positive predictive value Contemporary update
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The proportion of positive screening results that are true positives; depends on the base rate.
See: Psychometrics: reliability, validity and screening accuracy
- Prescription privileges Textbook concept
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Legal authority to prescribe medication; granted to specially trained psychologists in some US jurisdictions but not in India.
- Process specialist Textbook concept
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The least directive consultant role, helping consultees understand and improve their own processes.
- Program-centred administrative consultation Textbook concept
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Consultation focused on evaluating or improving a programme.
- Projective test Textbook concept
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A test using ambiguous stimuli to which people respond freely, such as inkblots or pictures.
See: Personality assessment: objective and projective methods
- Psychiatry Textbook concept
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The medical specialty concerned with mental illness; psychiatrists are physicians who can prescribe medication.
- Psychodynamic approach Textbook concept
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An approach emphasising unconscious processes, conflict, defences and the influence of early relationships.
See: The psychodynamic approach, Theoretical models: why orientation matters
- Psychotherapy Textbook concept
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A professional relationship using psychological methods to help a person change problematic feelings, thoughts or behaviour.
- Psychotropic medication Textbook concept
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Medication that affects mental processes, such as antidepressants and antipsychotics.
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