UCR
The unconditional response. Unconditional means not learned. The UCR of salivation, which occurs in the presence of food is not learned. It is a reflex response.
UCS
The unconditional stimulus. Unconditional means not learned.
Unconditional positive regard
Unconditional positive regard is the love we get from other people for who we are as a person, warts and all. Most usually unconditional positive regard comes from our parents. If they, or others give us conditional positive regard this can lead to psychological ill health according to the humanistic approach.
Unconscious
In Freudian terms, the largest part of our mind of which we are unaware. The unconscious contains our instincts, passions, fears and traumas. These form the basis of neuroses such as hysterias, phobias, compulsions, anxieties and panic disorders.
Universal
Term often used in psychology to refer to those thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that apply to us all. Universal abilities are innate. This means that they come to us by way of genetic inheritance. If something is innate it usually has a high survival value for us. This is the reason it is innate in the first place! Universal abilities include such things as the Fight or Flight response.
Unobtrusive measures
Unobtrusive measures are another indirect way of investigating attitudes. Unobtrusive measures rely on the assumption that our behaviour is consistent with our attitudes. An unobtrusive measure of attitude to religion might thus be frequency of attendance at church. Another might be the extent to which two people like each other as measured by their eye contact. This type of behaviour, however measured, is not a particularly good guide to attitude. See also physiological techniques and projective techniques.
Unstructured Interview
The key feature of the unstructured interview is the free-ranging nature of the questions asked. The researcher does not have, nor needs to stick to any particular questions.
Unstructured observation
Unstructured observation is the unplanned, informal, watching and recording of behaviours as they occur in a natural environment.
A reasonable example would be Whyte (1943) when he joined an Italian street gang in Chicago. He used a cover story that he was writing a book about the area, when in fact he was observing gang members from a psychological point of view. On his experiences he wrote, 'I began as a non-participating observer. As I became accepted into the community I found myself becoming a non-observing participant.'
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