This is a glossary of psychological and sociological terminology used on this site and/or relevant to its aims regarding the alignment and integration of the behavioural sciences.

The Glossary provides brief explanations and information on the concepts within the framework of Integrated SocioPsychology. Where a term is linked specifically to one of the key models discussed on the site, then only very basic information is given in the GIossary and visitors should view the page on the model for more details. Similarly, where a term is linked to a topic in the A-Level Resources, then visitors will find more detailed information in the appropriate sub-section. (While the A-Level pages are designed primarily for academic students, most people should find the style and level of detail quite manageable.)

Note: this is an integrated Glossary. Academic students, when using definitions from here should be careful that the meanings given are acceptable within the scope of their studies. Due to the fractured and fragmented nature of the behavioural sciences and the differences between the competing schools of thought, not all definitions given here are accepted by all schools of thought.

Comments are invited from visitors re the accuracy of definitions and suggestions for new pertinent definitions are most welcome.

Thanks and appreciation to those psychologists, sociologists, Gravesians and NLP Practitioners who have contributed directly or indirectly to the definitions in this Glossary.

Nos

1st/2nd Order Change: In Spiral Dynamics 1st Order Change involves modifications to the existing way of thinking without any fundamental change in motivation - ie: still within the existing vMEME Stack. 2nd Order Change involves shifts in motivation and significant changes in the vMEME Stack. 2nd Order Change is described as 'Evolution' when there is a relatively orderly shift in thinking, with insight into how the new way of thinking should be. When there is initial blockage to change and then sudden eruption into the new way of thinking, this is termed 'Revolution'. In the case of 2 or more new vMEMES being accessed more or less instantly, the term 'Quantum Leap' is applied. See also Bateson Learning Levels.

1st/2nd Tier: Clare W Graves perceived that the first 6 levels of his model had a quality of subsistence to them whereas the 7th and 8th were substantially different, having a quality of being, and thus represented a second tier of motivational systems. (These two different qualities reflected the work of Abraham Maslow on 'deficiency needs' and 'being needs'.)

The 2nd Tier concept is highly contentious among some Gravesians because of its 'hijacking' by what might be called '2nd Tier elitists' who disdain '1st Tier thinking'.

1st/2nd/3rd/4th Positions: see Perceptual Positions.

4Q/8L: the most important output of the meeting of minds between Don Beck and Ken Wilber, this runs the vMEMES of Spiral Dynamics through Wilber's All Quadrants/All Levels philosophy of spiritual consciousness and human inter-relations. Put simply, in 4Q/8L the 4 Quadrants represent:-

• Upper Right - the physical development of the individual's brain and nervous systems
• Upper Left - the development of the indvidual's thinking processes (vMEMES)
• Lower Right - the structures and systems in which people live and operate - studied in Structural Functionalism
• Lower Left - cultures: the ways in which people think and behave - studied in Symbolic Interactionism and Memetics

The scope offered by 4Q/8L is so all-encompassing that it effectively provides a schematic for integrating just about everything to do with motivation in the behavioural sciences.

7+/-2: back in the late 19th Century Joseph Jacobs identified that only between 5 and 9 nine distinct items can be held in short-term memory at any one time. He deduced that when the individual's limit was reached, either new items were not retained or older items were displaced from memory. Hence many of the problems in recalling things we have just seen or heard!
However, according to the classic 1956 research of George Miller, by organising information into meaningful 'chunks', more can be retained within those 5-9 items. For example: 'V', 'B', 'T', 'C', 'I', 'B' are 6 individual items; but, organised into 'ITV' and 'BBC', they make up just 2 chunks, theoretically allowing upto another 7 items to be entered into short-term memory. Herbert Simon found a little later (1974) that smaller chunk sizes could be remembered more easily than larger chunk sizes.
NLPers tend to express Miller's concept as 7+/-2 chunks in the Conscious Mind.