Welcome to the A-Z encyclopedia - psychology
Understand better why you think, feel, and react the way you do
🧠A-Z Encyclopedia of Psychology
How does the human brain work?
A - Learned optimism
Developing a helpful, realistic view of setbacks
A - Learned helplessness
When you come to expect that what you do probably makes little difference
A - Learned guilt
The difference between real guilt and guilt that has been imposed on you — and how to tell them apart
A - altruism
When caring for others is valuable — but you don’t have to erase yourself
A - Fear and tension around authority
Why authority can cause extra tension in some people
A - Fear conditioning
When certain triggers can automatically evoke fear
A - Autonomous Thinking
When you learn to trust your own judgment
A - Availability bias / Availability heuristic
Why striking examples can feel bigger than they are statistically
B - Need for Meaning
The desire for your life, choices, and relationships to mean something
B - Influence
How influence works — and why it affects everyone
B - Confirmation bias
Why we often notice information that fits our beliefs faster
B - BITE model – behavior, information, thoughts, and emotions
How can behavior, information, thoughts, and emotions be influenced by a group?
C - Catastrophizing / Thinking in worst-case scenarios
When your thoughts quickly jump to the worst possible outcome
C- Codependency
When someone else becomes more important than your own compass
C - Cognitive dissonance
When beliefs, information, and behavior collide
C - Need for control
When certainty becomes increasingly important
D - Dissociation
When you or the world temporarily feels different
D - Dunning-Kruger effect
Why self-confidence and expertise are not the same
E - Emotional conditioning
When a feeling becomes linked to a trigger
F - Fear of failure
When a mistake feels like a judgment on yourself
F - Framing effect
How the same reality can feel different depending on the way it is framed
F - Fundamental attribution error
when behavior quickly seems like character
G - Gaslighting
When your trust in your own perception is undermined
G - Memory and False Memories
Why can’t video footage be rewound?
G - Conscience
If something feels wrong, does that automatically mean it is actually wrong for you?
G - Healthy selfishness
Taking care of yourself without losing sight of others
G - Group Identity
Why “we” can feel so powerful
G - Peer Pressure
Why deviation can feel difficult, even when no one says anything
G - Group loyalty
When the bond with a group grows stronger than other relationships.
H - Halo effect
When one impression colors our entire judgment
H - Attachment
How Early and Later Relationships Can Shape Our Expectations of Intimacy
H - Hypervigilance
Why the alarm system is hard to calm down
I - Indoctrination
When does passing on beliefs become something other than ordinary upbringing, education, or socialization?
I - Ingroup and outgroup thinking
Why do people often view their own group more positively than other groups?
I - Internalization
How can beliefs and norms from the outside become part of your own inner voice?
I - Intrusive thoughts
Unwanted thoughts that can suddenly arise.
I. Influence of Language
How words can steer attention, meaning, and emotion.
J - Jealousy and Comparison
Why do we so easily measure ourselves by other people's standards?
K - Critical thinking
Investigating information without needing to know in advance what the outcome should be.
L - Learning by repetition
Why beliefs can start to feel increasingly familiar.
L - Loyalty conflict
When loyalty to one person or value feels like betrayal of another
M - Manipulation
When influence tries to circumvent another person's free will.
M - Moral injury (moral injury)
The pain that can arise when your own moral boundaries are deeply crossed.
N - Negativity bias
Why negative information often hits especially hard.
O - Bystander effect
Why do people sometimes help less quickly when others are present?
O - Bystander effect
When a group can come to a standstill by waiting for one another.
O - Uncertainty
When not knowing feels hard to bear.
O - Ostracism
When the people who were part of your life no longer let you be part of theirs
P - Placebo and nocebo effect
How expectations can influence complaints and perceived treatment
P - Psychological reactance
Why can restricting freedom create the urge to do the opposite?
R - Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS)
What it is, how it develops, and what helps in recovery
P - Perfectionism
When 'good enough' feels like failure
P - to please
When pleasing others becomes more important than your own boundaries.
P - Posttraumatic Growth
Positive changes that can sometimes arise alongside the consequences of a crisis.
Q - Quasi-certainty
Seeking the illusion of certainty when uncertainty feels hard.
R - Grief and Loss
Adapting to a reality in which something important is no longer the same.
R - Ruminating (worrying)
When thoughts keep circling around without a solution arising.
S - Shame and guilt
the difference between 'I did something wrong' and 'there is something wrong with me'
S - Scarcity thinking
When the shortage almost takes up all the attention.
S - Blame Shifting
When the responsibility for one's own behavior falls on someone else.
S - Social identity
Who we are shaped by the groups we belong to.
S - Social influence
How do other people influence our choices without any need for coercion?
S - Social exclusion as a means of control
When the fear of losing a group starts to influence your choices.
S - Stockholm syndrome
A popular term for being involved with someone who also threatens or exerts control.
T - True to Yourself
When loyalty and honesty seem to clash
U - Delayed grief
When grief only becomes truly palpable later.
U - Procrastination
Avoiding important tasks because the task itself or the feelings surrounding it are difficult.
V - Resilience
The ability to adapt after a setback.
V - Safety
The experience of having enough space to exist, to choose, and to heal.
V - Victim blaming and self-blame
When you are made to feel responsible — or you make yourself responsible — for what happens to you.
V - Free will
Being free to choose — but what does that choice mean within the faith?
W - Resilience
Sensing your boundaries, making choices, and coping with pressure without losing yourself.
X - The X-factor of charisma.
Why do some people come across as particularly convincing or attractive?
Y - Yes-set technique
How a series of small consents can increase the likelihood of further consent.
Z- Self-image
Who am I if I no longer live according to others’ expectations?
Z - Self-Compassion
Looking at yourself with the same humanity that you often give to others
Z - Self-blame
When you keep putting the responsibility on yourself.
Z - Self-reflection
Self-examination without judging yourself
Z-Black-and-white thinking
Why our brain sometimes splits the world into extremes. Reading time: 8 minutes
Z - Self-censorship
What happens when you don’t show parts of yourself because being seen could cost you something?
Hypervigilance
Always on Alert — How Conditioning in Religion Can Permanently Affect the Nervous System