Glossary K

Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926) published a list of categories of mental illness in 1883. Until recent times, many clinicians used this list to diagnose mental illness. Today the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2000) serves the same purpose. Kraepelin was also a pioneer in the field known today as Psychopharmacology.

Krause's end bulbs refer to proprioceptor sensitive to touch and thermal changes found in the skin, subcutaneous tissue, lip and eyelid mucosa, and external genitals.

KSAs is the acronym for knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that are needed to complete a job or task successfully.

Kuder-Richardson 20 refers to a formula for estimating the internal consistency of a test. The KR20 or KR20 method is equivalent to the average split-half correlation obtained from all possible splits of the items. For the KR20 formula to be applied, all items must be scored either 0 or 1.

Kuder-Richardson formula 20 refers to a formula for computing split-half reliability that corrects for the fact that individual scores are based on only half of the total test items; a statistic used to determine internal reliability of tests that use items with dichotomous answers (yes/no, true/ false). Kuder-Richardson formula 20 is also known as Kuder-Richardson 20 , KR20 or KR20 method. Please see also Kuder-Richardson 20

- Kurt Koffka (1886 - 1941) : Kurt Koffka is considered a co-founder of the school of Gestalt psychology. Koffka who is a German psychologist worked with Wertheimer on his early perception experiments .

- Kurt Lewin (1890 - 1947) : Kurt Lewin is an early Gestaltist who sought to explain human behavior in terms of the totality of influences acting on people rather than in terms of the manifestation of inner essences. Lewin was mainly responsible for applying Gestalt principles to the topics of motivation and group dynamics.

Kuru refers to a spongiform encephalopathy suffered by the Fore people of New Guinea.

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