Terms beginning with O
Which psychology terms begin with O?
4 entries beginning with O: Obedience to Authority, Observational Learning, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Operant Conditioning.
From the PsychologyOrbit knowledge base on 2 November 2026.
O
Obedience to Authority
The tendency to comply with instructions from a perceived legitimate authority, including instructions that conflict with a person's own moral judgement. Studied most famously, and most contentiously, by Milgram.
Observational Learning
Learning a behaviour, and its likely consequences, by watching someone else perform it. Bandura showed that people acquire responses without ever being reinforced for them, which classical and operant conditioning alone could not explain.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
A condition involving intrusive, unwanted thoughts, images or urges that cause marked distress, and repetitive behaviours or mental acts performed to reduce that distress or prevent a feared outcome.
Operant Conditioning
Learning in which the consequences of a behaviour change how likely that behaviour is to occur again, through reinforcement that increases it or punishment that decreases it.
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