Stockholm Syndrome

  Stockholm syndrome refers to a group of psychological symptoms that occur in some persons in a captive or hostage situation. The term takes its name from a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, in August 1973. The robber took four employees of the bank (three women and one man) into the vault with him and kept them hostage […]

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Learning Viewpoint

The Learning Viewpoint assumes that abnormal behavior is due to a persons past experiences which they have subsequently learned to associate with a particular emotion. Experiences we have during our childhood can cause us to become drawn to, or repelled from, similar situations in adulthood. For example, a person who was locked in a dark […]

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Psychodynamic Viewpoint

The Psychodynamic Viewpoint holds the view that some behavioral disorders occur as a result of repressed emotional conflicts and stem from Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual theory of development. The psychodynamic viewpoint sees mental disorders as being caused by repressed memories and conflicts in the unconscious mind.  Years ago, this was a very common explanation for a […]

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Biological Viewpoint

The Biological Viewpoint assumes that an abnormal behavior or viewpoint occurs as a result of something wrong with the body, and in most cases, the brain. Genetics, hormonal levels, disease, infections or a brain injury could all contribute to a person behaving differently from how they normally would. Biologically based psychological disorders tend to appear […]

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Impostor syndrome

The impostor syndrome, sometimes called impostor phenomenon or fraud syndrome, is a psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments. Despite external evidence of their competence, those with the syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved. Proof of success is dismissed as luck, […]

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Four stages of competence

In psychology, the four stages of competence, or the “conscious competence” learning model, relates to the psychological states involved in the process of progressing from incompetence to competence in a skill. Initially described as “Four Stages for Learning Any New Skill”, The Four Stages of Learning provides a model for learning. It suggests that individuals are […]

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Fundamental attribution error

In social psychology, the fundamental attribution error, also known as the correspondence bias or attribution effect, is people’s tendency to place an undue emphasis on internal characteristics to explain someone else’s behavior in a given situation, rather than considering external factors. It does not explain interpretations of one’s own behavior, where situational factors are more […]

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Illusory superiority

Illusory superiority is a cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate their positive qualities and abilities and to underestimate their negative qualities, relative to others. This is evident in a variety of areas including intelligence, performance on tasks or tests, and the possession of desirable characteristics or personality traits. It is one of many positive […]

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Naive realism

Naive realism is the theoretical basis for several social cognitive biases proposed by Lee Ross and Andrew Ward. It has also been studied by Emily Pronin, Thomas Gilovich and Dale Griffin. The three “tenets” of naive realism are: That I see entities and events as they are in objective reality, and that my social attitudes, beliefs, […]

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False-consensus effect

In psychology, the false-consensus effect or false-consensus bias is a cognitive bias whereby a person tends to overestimate how many people agree with him or her. There is a tendency for people to assume that their own opinions, beliefs, preferences, values, and habits are “normal” and that others also think the same way that they […]

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