facial micro-expressions

expressions of emotion as a sequence of involuntary, fast facial action

False allegations

Accusations of crimes that are not anchored in real events.

false belief

belief for the occurrence of events that actually do not happen

false confession

when a person confesses to a crime that they did not actually commit; often occurs as a result of inappropriate interrogation and/or mental impairment

False confessions

When an innocent suspect admits to a crime he/she did not commit. 

false memories

remembering details or whole events that were not experienced

false memory

remembering events that do not happen

false memory implantation

a method to implant false memories into participants; in this method participants are persuaded by photoshopped photos that they have experienced an event and then form false memories for the event

familiarity-liking effect

the tendency to like what is familiar 

 

fatuous love

is passion plus commitment; you’re thinking about the other person all the time, your pulse races when you think about them, and you like to giggle together about the word “forever,” even if you don’t have a deep intimate understanding of each other (well, yet)

feminist-disability theory

a framework to analyze and critique social systems and material practices that stigmatize certain kinds of bodily variations (i.e., people with disabilities); the key motives are forging positive identities and promoting the inclusion of women with disabilities in mainstream society

field

a term introduced by Csikszentmihalyi (1999) to describe a social group responsible for judging individual outcomes according to their creativity; the field is a relevant social system for the creating individual and it represents a part of society

field study

a research project conducted in everyday, real-world settings

Fight-flight-freeze response

A physiological reaction that occurs in response to an acute stressful situation to help people cope with danger; also called “the acute stress response”

filial imprinting

is imprinting (see below) by offspring

Flashback

Sudden, disturbing, and often repeated vivid memories of an event in the past; associated with PTSD, those who experience flashbacks feel like the traumatic event is happening all over again

fluency

subjective experience of ease with which people process information

foils

lineup members of known likely to be innocent (also named distractors or fillers)

folk biology

the cognitive study of how people classify and reason about the organic world; of particular interest is the human tendency to classify animals and plants into specific species-based groups

Forensic child interview

When children are interviewed by police as part of a criminal investigation.

forensic evidence

Physical evidence such as ballistics, blood test, and DNA test etc. utilized in legal cases

forgotten details

information in eyewitness accounts that was reported in an initial recall-attempt, but is not reported later

framing

Different forms of presenting the same information that trigger different psychological processes. Examples: A glass is half full vs. half empty; 100 out of 300 people died vs. 200 out of 300 people were saved.

Free recall

memory test in which people are asked to provide information any and all information they can remember

free-riders

selfish individuals within a group whom consume a public resource without contributing toward its cost (i.e., individuals who obtain benefits or rewards without making an appropriate effort or sacrifice)

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

a neuroimaging technique that indirectly measures changes in neuronal activity through indexing the utilization of oxygen in the blood. This technique has proven incredibly useful for localizing brain function

fundamental attribution error

the tendency for people to over-emphasize dispositional, or personality-based, explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing situational explanations

Fundamental Attribution Error

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

Fuzzy-trace Theory (FTT)

according to this theory, information is stored into two traces: a) the verbatim trace captures specific details, and b) the gist trace captures underlying meanings

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