TOEFL psychology vocabulary
235 words in this theme, levelled so you can tell what is worth your time at your band.
TOEFL psychology vocabulary is the language of behaviour, motivation and cognition — *attentive*, *deceive*, *cognition*, *inhibit*. It is one of the largest subject themes in the bank because psychology passages and lectures recur across Reading and Listening more than almost any other field.
Why this theme earns your time
Psychology items reward precision between near-synonyms — a passage that distinguishes *perceive* from *interpret* is testing exactly that gap. The theme also skews C1, so these are the words most likely to sit at the top of your band rather than the bottom.
What the words look like
Every entry carries its part of speech, pronunciation, CEFR level, the collocations it actually appears in, and a sentence using it. A sample from the bank:
| Word | CEFR | Meaning | In use |
|---|---|---|---|
| acceptv. /əkˈsept/ | A2 | to agree to take or believe somethingaccept an offer · accept responsibility | The journal accepted the paper without changes. |
| attentiveadj. /əˈtentɪv/ | B2 | listening or watching carefully; helpful and considerateattentive to detail · an attentive host | An attentive audience makes a nervous speaker relax. |
| confessv. /kənˈfes/ | C1 | to admit something you feel bad aboutconfess to · I must confess | She confessed that she had skipped the reading. |
| deceivev. /dɪˈsiːv/ | C1 | to make someone believe something falsedeceive sb into · appearances deceive | The calm surface deceived the swimmers. |
| embracev./n. /ɪmˈbreɪs/ | C1 | to hug; to accept willinglyembrace change · a warm embrace | The town embraced the new festival at once. |
| gaspv./n. /ɡæsp/ | C1 | to breathe in sharply from shock or effortgasp for breath · a gasp of surprise | The audience gasped at the twist. |
| huskyadj. /ˈhʌski/ | C2 | sounding low and rougha husky voice | Her voice was husky after the long talk. |
| memoryn. /ˈmeməri/ | B1 | the ability of the mind to store and remember informationlong-term memory · memory loss | Short-term memory can hold only about seven items for roughly twenty seconds. |
| perceptionn. /pərˈsepʃən/ | B2 | the way the brain notices and understands things through the sensesvisual perception · public perception | Visual perception depends on how the brain organizes light signals received by the eyes. |
| reluctantadj. /rɪˈlʌktənt/ | B2 | unwilling and hesitantreluctant to do · a reluctant witness | He was reluctant to name the source. |
| shrugv./n. /ʃrʌɡ/ | B2 | to raise the shoulders to show you don't know or careshrug off · with a shrug | He shrugged when asked about the delay. |
| temptv. /tempt/ | B2 | to make someone want to do somethingtempt sb to do · be tempted by | The warm weather tempted us to skip the lecture. |
What to learn at your level
Most of this theme sits at CEFR C1 (34% of its words). At band 4 the B1 and B2 entries are the ones that move your score; grinding C1 vocabulary before the B2 layer is solid is the most common way to spend weeks and gain nothing.
| Level | Words | Share |
|---|---|---|
| A2 | 14 | 6% |
| B1 | 32 | 14% |
| B2 | 42 | 18% |
| C1 | 80 | 34% |
| C2 | 67 | 29% |
Recognising a word is not knowing it
Complete the Words asks you to *produce* a word from context with only its opening letters shown, and the writing tasks ask you to produce it from nothing. That is why the PrepScore drill makes you write the word rather than flip a card, and counts it mastered only after two correct productions in a row. See how the vocabulary drill works.
Drill this theme free
Twenty words a day at no cost, tested by production rather than recognition.
Frequently asked questions
Does the TOEFL test psychology terminology?
Not as subject knowledge. Passages and lectures use the vocabulary, and the questions test whether you followed the argument — which requires the words.
Why is this theme mostly C1?
Behaviour and cognition are described with abstract nouns and precise verbs, which sit higher on the CEFR scale than concrete vocabulary does.
Keep reading
By PrepScore · Last reviewed · Editorial standards