Blog
Psychology, a term at a time
Longer reads from the team behind Psychology World: where the concepts in the dictionary come from, what they actually mean, and how they show up outside a textbook.
- Psychodynamics8 min read
Id, ego and superego: Freud's other model, and the one it gets mistaken for
Id, ego and superego are Freud's 1923 structural model — a different map from conscious and unconscious, though the two get mixed up constantly.
Read - Studying9 min read
Spaced repetition: why spreading study over time beats cramming
Spaced repetition beats cramming: what the spacing effect is, why it works, and how to use it for psychology terms.
Read - Motivation12 min read
Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation: what Deci and Ryan actually showed
Enjoying the task vs chasing the reward. The classic distinction, the overjustification effect, and what self-determination theory adds.
Read - Social psychology14 min read
Milgram's obedience experiment, and what the 65% actually means
Milgram's baseline: 65% shocked to 450V. The procedure, the variations that matter, and the archival corrections.
Read - Cognition12 min read
Proactive vs retroactive interference: which memory gets in whose way
Proactive interference: old learning blocks new. Retroactive: new learning blocks old. The difference, a reliable memory aid, and the studies behind both.
Read - Conditioning12 min read
Schedules of reinforcement: the four schedules, in Ferster and Skinner's own definitions
Fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, variable interval: the four schedules in their original definitions, and a test for any exam scenario.
Read - Studying9 min read
The forgetting curve: what Ebbinghaus actually measured
Memory fades fast, then slowly. What Ebbinghaus measured in 1885, why the "70% forgotten in a day" figures misread it, and what the replication found.
Read - Motivation10 min read
Locus of control: what Rotter actually measured
Locus of control is the expectation that outcomes depend on you or on outside forces. What Rotter's scale measures, and how it differs from self-efficacy.
Read - Motivation9 min read
Maslow's hierarchy of needs: the pyramid he never drew
Maslow's 1943 theory has five levels of need — but he never drew the pyramid, and later research found the strict order doesn't hold up.
Read - Conditioning12 min read
Negative reinforcement vs punishment, and the word Skinner changed his mind about
Negative reinforcement strengthens a behaviour; punishment weakens it. The four quadrants, the test that sorts any example, and why Skinner's words confused it.
Read - Cognition13 min read
Perceptual errors: halo, primacy, Pygmalion, and what the studies really show
Halo effect, primacy effect, Pygmalion and the rating errors: the perceptual errors every list names, the studies behind them, and how well each holds up.
Read - Conditioning12 min read
Classical vs operant conditioning: the difference, and where it blurs
Classical conditioning links a signal to an event; operant links a behaviour to its consequence. The difference, the original terms, and where it blurs.
Read - Studying10 min read
How to memorise psychology terminology so it actually sticks
Rereading and highlighting rank as low-utility study methods. What the evidence supports instead, applied to memorising psychology terminology.
Read - Occupational health8 min read
Burnout is not a medical diagnosis. Here is what ICD-11 says
The WHO classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition. What ICD-11 code QD85 covers, and how burnout differs from depression.
Read - Professions9 min read
Psychologist, psychotherapist, psychiatrist: who is who
Three titles, three different trainings, one of them medical. What each one is allowed to do — and why the answer changes from country to country.
Read - Language11 min read
Forty psychology terms that do not translate cleanly into German
Angst is not angst. Affekt is not affect. Forty psychology terms where the English and German words look alike and mean different things.
Read - Psychotherapy9 min read
CBT, DBT, ACT, psychodynamic: a plain glossary of therapy names
What CBT, DBT, ACT, psychodynamic, schema and systemic therapy each actually mean — the names decoded, without recommending one over another.
Read - Cognition9 min read
Ten cognitive biases, told apart
Confirmation bias, anchoring, the availability heuristic and seven more — defined precisely, plus the difference between a heuristic and a bias.
Read - Psychodynamics8 min read
Twelve defence mechanisms, in plain English
Projection, repression, sublimation, reaction formation and eight more — each defined in one sentence, with the pairs people mix up kept apart.
Read - Cognition9 min read
Cognitive dissonance, and the study that named it
Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort of holding two beliefs that clash. Festinger’s 1959 study, four examples, and the four ways people resolve it.
Read - Motivation9 min read
Learned helplessness: what Seligman actually found
Learned helplessness is the belief that nothing you do changes the outcome. What Seligman’s 1967 study showed, and what he corrected in 2016.
Read - Development9 min read
The four attachment styles, and where the names came from
Secure, anxious, avoidant, disorganised: what the four attachment styles mean, who named them, and why the infant labels don’t transfer to adults.
Read