New article warns against incorrect use of psychological terms

A paper in the latest issue of Frontiers in Psychology highlights why 50 commonly used terms in psychology should be avoided. The article, by Lilienfeld et al. is aimed at students, teachers and researchers of psychology and warns that terminology must be used carefully otherwise it can easily lead to misinformation and confusion. To illustrate this point, Lilienfeld et al. identify 50 problematic words or expressions commonly used in psychological literature. These expressions are grouped into five categories: inaccurate or misleading terms, frequently misused terms, ambiguous terms, oxymorons (contradictions), and pleonasms (the use of more words than are necessary to communicate meaning).