Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

date rape

 
Rape in which the rapist is either a 
date or a romantic acquaintance (Module 34).

daydreams

 
Fantasies that people construct 
while awake (Module 14).

decay

 
The loss of information in memory 
through its nonuse (Module 22).

declarative memory

 
Memory for factual infor-
mation: names, faces, dates, and the like 
(Module 20).

defense mechanisms

 
In Freudian theory, 
unconscious strategies that people use to 
reduce anxiety by concealing the source of it 
from themselves and others (Module 40).

deinstitutionalization

 
The transfer of former 
mental patients from institutions to the commu-
nity (Module 51).

dendrite

 
A cluster of fi bers at one end of a neu-
ron that receives messages from other neurons 
(Module 7).

dependent variable

 
The variable that is mea-
sured and is expected to change as a result of 
changes caused by the experimenter’s manipu-
lation of the independent variable (Module 5).

depressants

 
Drugs that slow down the nervous 
system (Module 16).

depth perception

 
The ability to view the world 
in three dimensions and to perceive distance 
(Module 13).

descriptive statistics

 
The branch of statistics 
that provides a means of summarizing data 
(Module 56).

determinism

 
The idea that people’s behavior is 
produced primarily by factors outside of their 
willful control (Module 3).