C

casta

literally, it means lineage but in the colonial period, the word referred to people of mixed race

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casta painting

this was a style of painting, typical of the eighteenth century, which represented the various racial mixtures possible in Latin America

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categorization

Process that involves perceiving someone or something as belonging to a specific category. In the case of people we refer to social categorization as the process of perceiving individuals as members of a given social group.    

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Central autonomic network (CAN)

Part of the regulation system of the brain, which comprises several interconnected cortical and subcortical structures. It is involved in the regulation of processes underlying the functioning of internal organs, endocrine system, pain modulation, and complex motor responses. 

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change blindness

difficulty observers have in noticing changes to visual scenes, when the change is accompanied by some other visual disturbance

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child-based twin design

a twin study that relies on twin children

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choice architecture

Components of the decision-making context that influence decisions and behavior without formally restricting freedom of choice (e.g. through prohibitions).

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choice blindness

failure to detect changes in a decision outcome when the choice was covertly manipulated

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chronic dieters

highly motivated to restrict their calorie intake in order to control their body weight; however, they are rather unsuccessful dieters as they are not only known for their food restriction, but also for their repeated lapses of restraint (Herman & Polivy, 1980)

Synonyms: restrained eaters

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chronotype

The individual day-and-night rhythm. Morning chronotypes tend to go to bed early and get up early, while evening chronotypes prefer to stay up longer and get up later. Most people fall into the intermediate range between morning and evening types.

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Classical conditioning

Learning that “one event predicts another”; or more specifically, a type of associative learning in which “a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response when it is associated with a stimulus that already produces that response” (Gazzaniga et al., 2016, p. 226). 

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Climate crisis

is a huge threat to the planet and all living things. It results from man-made changes to the atmosphere and the climate system, in particular through massive greenhouse gas emissions - often referred to as "climate change". Its effects are real, permanent, difficult to control and can be seen and felt worldwide. They are particularly evident in the form of rising sea levels, extreme weather events, droughts, heatwaves and the extinction of species. The climate crisis not only jeopardises the environment, but also the stability of human societies. This reveals a clear social injustice: the most disadvantaged and least resilient population groups are affected the most. Psychologically speaking, the climate crisis can trigger severe stress (also known as climate stress), as the extent of the threat is difficult to grasp and cannot be controlled individually. In order to cope with and contain it, people must work together to make fundamental changes in social, political, economic and ecological relationships.

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Climate stress

describes the physical and emotional reactions to the direct and indirect consequences of the climate and biodiversity crisis. Climate stress is complex and is caused by different types of stressors. These can be, for example, stressors that affect the person directly, such as very high temperatures during a heatwave. Social stressors can arise, for example, when relatives die as a result of climate-related natural disasters. Ecological stressors, on the other hand, describe negative changes in the environment, e.g. when the death of forests is witnessed. These stressors can occur directly, for example as a result of an extreme weather event such as a severe storm. They can also be communicated via the media, for example through reports on climate-related natural disasters. Climate stress can also develop from fears and other unpleasant feelings such as frustration and hopelessness about possible future effects of the climate crisis. The psychological effects of climate stress can vary, ranging from anxiety and worry to more severe psychological distress such as anxiety and depression. In addition, various stress symptoms and other stress-related illnesses can occur. These can affect well-being and quality of life. It is therefore important to develop effective coping strategies and measures.

 

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cognitive accessibility

the ease with which a given concept comes to mind

refers to the ease or speed with which information stored in memory comes to mind (i.e., can be retrieved)

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cognitive decline

 refers to a decreasing ability to perform well on tasks that require speedy, analytical, or creative thinking due to aging

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cognitive dissonance

psychological discomfort that is caused by people’s awareness of inconsistency among important beliefs, attitudes, or actions; people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance 

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Collaboration

A set of techniques used to appeal to the source’s reward system, with the aim to increase compliance. Examples include: making bargains with the source, offering special rewards and reinforcements. 

 

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collective efficacy

the ability to solve the community’s problems collectively

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Collective unconscious

An inherited universal psychic system that stores potentials and capacities for patterns of thought and behavior, consisting of “pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to certain psychic contents” (Jung, 1959a, p. 42-4). Also see the entries for “archetypes” and “instincts.”

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collectivism

refers to a cultural worldview that encourages a focus on duties above rights and an emphasis on group membership, harmony, interpersonal connectedness, context sensitivity

a cultural orientation where people tend to stress in-group cohesion, priority on group goals, community and society, common in Asia (Triandis, 1995)

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commitment

is the belief that you wish to make a relationship keep working into the future; if you have this without the other two then you have “empty love”

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common ground

the information or knowledge that conversation partners share; the things they (have come to) mutually know, believe, and/or recognize

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common sense

the ability to perceive, understand and judge practical matters with little reflection or argument; this is generally assumed to be a universal human ability (van Holthoon & Olson, 1987) 

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commons dilemma

The difficulty of managing shared natural resources - which results in many of the environmental problems that exist today - was allegorised in a social dilemma called “The Tragedy of the Commons” (also called the commons dilemma) by Garrett Hardin, an ecologist (1968). Hardin described a field for grazing cattle which is shared by a village. The field must not be overused otherwise the grass will get used up, perhaps to a stage when replenishment is no longer possible. If everyone allows one cow onto the land, there is enough for all. If an individual villager allows more than one cow to graze, that villager - called a free-rider - will benefit. But if others follow suit, everyone suffers as the resource becomes depleted. The dilemma is therefore the choice between short-term individual and long-term collective interests. Taking more than others (competition) may provide temporary benefits to some, but agreeing to limit your use of the resource (cooperation) ultimately benefits all. A good example of the temptation not to cooperate in a commons dilemma is our reluctance to limit our fuel usage. Have you ever reasoned to yourself like this: “If I don’t use up some of the remaining fuel in the world, someone else will; all I can do is delay the inevitable depletion by a few seconds”? (See laboratory social dilemmas for a description of how this works experimentally.)

Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science, 162, 1243– 1248.

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communal sharing

people treat each other as equivalent and undifferentiated concerning a certain social domain

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communal sharing relationship

a type of social relationship in which members implicitly assume that their bodies share a common substance that binds them together. This relationship is typically found among close kin or members of a group with a salient shared identity

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companionate love

is intimacy plus commitment; you’re great friends, you’re dedicated to being together, you just don’t have the erotic emotionally supercharged insanity of passion (which is good for, say, siblings)

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comparative suffering hypothesis

states that seeing the offender suffer from fate is sufficient for victims to feel satisfaction

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Compensatory control theory

was developed to understand how people  maintain the belief that they live in an orderly and stable world when experiencing fluctuations in perceived personal control; when personal control is perceived to be low, people can compensate by affirming beliefs in external sources of control, such as supernatural agents and governmental bodies

 

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competence

means being intelligent, skillful, and able

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concept activation

the process by which general ideas (like “action” or “inaction”) are mentally triggered, sometimes resulting in an impact on associated behaviors

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conceptual metaphors

refers to the idea that people use concrete sensory information to understand dissimilar abstract information (e.g., LOVE is a JOURNEY)

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concern with future consequences

an individual’s tendency to be concerned with immediate vs. future consequences, and base one’s decisions on those consequences that are important to the individual

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conditioned response

“A response to a conditioned stimulus; a response that has been learned” (Gazzaniga et al., 2016, p. 227).

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conditioned stimulus

“A stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place” (Gazzaniga et al., 2016, p. 227).

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confabulation

a confusing imagination with memory

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Confrontation and Competition

A set of techniques that rely on threats or perceived punishment. For example: emphasize the investigator’s authority, threaten the source with longer sentence, and use deception. 

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connectedness functions

refer to those functions of gossip that help individuals obtain acceptance and liking from important individuals and groups

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conscientiousness

one of the Big Five personality factors, characterized by traits such as organization, thoroughness, reliability, and practicality, and their relative absence of careless, negligence, and unreliability

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consensual non-monogamy

a form of romantic relationship configuration where all partners involved agree to engage in romantic and/or sexual relationships with other peoplel; this includes (but is not limited to): polyamory (partners involved agree on loving sexual and romantic relationships with others), swinging (partners agree on sexual relationships with others, typically engaged in as a couple and often at parties) and open relationships (partners agree on sexual engagements with others, typically with the expectation that love is not part of the equation)

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consequentialism

A system of ethics that, at its simplest, uses the consequences of our actions to determine whether they are right or wrong. (This is in contrast to a deontological system of ethics, in which actions have intrinsic moral value, regardless of their consequences.)

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Consolidation

Consolidation happens when new information is transferred from short-term memory (which can be easily disturbed) to long-term memory (which is more stable). Memory consolidation requires time.    

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Consolidation

The step in the memory process in which a memory is stabilized allowing short-term memories to be converted into long-term memories

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Conspiracy mentality

denotes the general tendency to believe in conspiracy theories (of any kind). The term is based on the finding that people who believe in one conspiracy theory often believe in other conspiracy theories that are unrelated in terms of their content

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consummate love

is intimacy plus passion plus commitment; you’ve got it all; they don’t give prizes for this, it IS a prize

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contact hypothesis

 the notion that contact between members two groups tends to reduce tensions between them, particularly when it occurs under certain types of circumstances

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Context Manipulation

A set of non-verbal, non-interpersonal techniques used for altering the physical and/or temporal space where the interrogation takes place with the aim to increase the likelihood of a successful outcome. 

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Context Manipulation

A set of non-verbal, non-interpersonal techniques used for altering the physical and/or temporal space where the interrogation takes place with the aim to increase the likelihood of a successful outcome. 

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contradictory details

information in eyewitness accounts that was initially reported and is later changed

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contradictory details

information in eyewitness accounts that was initially reported and is later changed

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control condition

Many psychological experiments are designed to examine the impact of a specific variable (in the case of this paper: sleep deprivation) on different facets of human functioning (in the case of this paper: decision making). To examine this impact scientifically, two groups (also called conditions) are compared: the experimental condition in which the variable of interest is present (i.e., sleep deprivation) and a control condition in which the variable is not present (i.e., a well-rested group). Apart from the variable of interest, both conditions have to be as similar as possible. The difference in functioning (i.e., decision making) between both groups informs about the impact of the variable under study.

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cooperation

In the context of a social dilemma, cooperative behaviour acts in the interests of the collective, rather than acting in the individual’s interests. This will involve forgoing immediate benefits to the individual in order to preserve the shared resource. The alternative behaviour is competition, where the individual does whatever is necessary to gain maximum personal benefit.

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coping

the process of managing taxing circumstances, and seeking to reduce or tolerate stress or conflict

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Cortisol

A steroid hormone belonging to a group of hormones called glucocorticoids; produced in humans by the zona fasciculate of the adrenal cortex in the adrenal gland (near kidney)

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counterfactual

phenomena are phenomena that are physically implausible or nonexistent; in psychology mostly known for counterfactual thinking: pondering about what would have happened if one had done something different at a certain point in time; so though the phenomenon can easily be thought about, it’s just impossible in the present reality

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counterintuitive

phenomena are phenomena that are at odds with factual or logical reasoning; ironically, counterintuitive can also stand for phenomena at odds with gut feelings and intuition, which are often disproven; take the earth for an example, the idea that the earth is flat is an intuitive idea; the discovery that the earth was a round spheroid, is therefore a counterintuitive idea; yet, this doesn’t mean that the idea isn’t true: it’s just unlikely to be thought

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coyote

one of the terms proposed for the racial mixture represented by a person with one indigenous and one mestizo parent

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craving

a subjective feeling in which one experiences a strong urge or desire to engage in a certain behavior 

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creative conceptual expansion

the process of extending the conceptual boundaries of an existing concept by synthesizing it with other seemingly irrelevant concepts

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creativity

a much-studied phenomenon typically attributed to a) a person, b) a product, c) a process or d) an environment ; it is distinguished by the production of novel and useful things, whereas countless approaches to defining, generating and facilitating creativity have been developed in the four areas

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cue

Every characteristic of a person that is informative of his/her membership to a given group.

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Cued recall

A memory test in which people are asked to provide answers, assisted by memory cues (e.g., specific questions, cues, hints, etc.)

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cultural anthropologist

belongs to a branch of the social sciences that studies cultural variation among humans

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cultures of dignity

based on the conviction that each person has an intrinsic value; dignity cultures try to balance ideals of equality and liberty: everyone’s worth is the same; one’s worth is not dependent on other’s judgments (Kim, Cohen, Au, 2010)

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cultures of honor

cultures that are concerned with the preservation of personal and group honor and reputation

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cystic fibrosis

is a childhood-onset hereditary disease that affects mucus producing glands found in the liver, pancreas, and especially the lungs; there is currently no cure for cystic fibrosis and many who suffer from this disease die at age 20 or 30; however, with new treatments some cystic fibrosis sufferers’ life expectancy is increasing to 40 or 50

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