Question | Answer |
psychology | the study of the mind and behavior |
behavior | any action or reaction of a living organism which can be observed |
cognition | what and how the organism thinks, knows, and remembers |
psyche | the mind in its entirety - different from the physical body - also the ancient Greek concept of the "soul" |
monism | belief that the mind and body are the different aspects of the same thing - they are one |
dualism | belief that the mind and body are different things that interact - they are separate |
nature-nurture controversy | the argument over the extent to which behavior results from heredity and experience |
school of structuralism (structuralists) | first perspective that believed psychology should involve the scientific study of the conscious mind. influenced by atomic theory of matter --> all complex substances can be separated into component elements and analyzed - the "structure" of the mind |
school of functionalism (functionalists) | early psychological perspective concerned with what the mind does and why - the "function" of the mind - inspired by Darwin's theory of evolution |
theories | a principle or group of interrelated principles that claims to explain or predict related phenomena |
phrenology | early attempt to analyze the mind by examining the shape of the skull |
introspection | the process of attempting to access directly one's own internal psychological processes, judgments, perceptions, or states |
phenomenology | the idea that behavior is based on natural, unanalyzed perception |
hypothesis | prediction of how 2 or more factors are likely to interact or be realated |
replication | repetition of the methods used in a previous experiment to see whether the same methods will yield the same results |
subjects | the humans or animals who are being studied or observed |
independent variable (IV) | the factor the researcher manipulates in a controlled experiment (the cause) |
Dependent variable (DV) | the behavior or mental process that is measured in an experiment or quasi-experiment (the effect) |
population | all the individuals in the group being studied (such as all college students, all female high school students with eating disorders, or all Americans, etc) |
sample | the subgroup of the population that participates in the study ( your group of research subjects) |
random selection | choosing members of a population in a manner that allows every individual to have an EQUAL chance of being chosen |
experimental group | the subjects that receive the treatment (independent variable - the group exposed to the "cause") |
control group | the comparison group; the subjects in the sample that are similar to the experimental group in every way except they are not actually exposed to the "cause" - control subjects do not receive the independent variable |
random assignment | division of the sample into groups so that every individual has an EQUAL chance of being put in any group or condition (experimental or control) |
confounding variables | differences between the experimental group and the control group other than the independent variable that can influence your results - generally something you either don't realize can affect your data or you can't control the effect it has |
operational definition | a description of the specific procedure used to determine/measure the presence of a variable |
experimenter bias | a phenomenon that occurs when a researcher's expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained |
demand characteristics | clues participants discover about the purpose of the study that suggest how they should respond |
single-blind procedure | research design in which participants don't know whether they are in the experimental or control group |
double-blind procedure | research design in which neither the experimenter not the participants know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group |
placebo | a fake special treatment; classic example is a sugar pill instead of actual medicine |
placebo effect | subjects in an experimental group could have behave differently than they normally would only because they know they're being exposed to a special treatment |
reliability | consistency or repeatability of results |
validity | whether an instrument measures or predicts what it is supposed to measure or predict |
experiment | subjects exposure to some event, treatment, or condition which is manipulated by the experimenter (this factor is called the independent variable). Subject's behavior (the dependent variable) is then recorded |
quasi-experiment | measurement of a dependent variable when random assignment to groups is not possible |
correlational studies | allow researchers to determine whether a relationship exists between 2 variables (but cannot actually determine if one thing caused the other) |
correlation coefficient (r) | a statistical measure that describes the strength of a relationship - coefficient ranges from -1 to +1 (-1 is just as strong as +1 and only differs in the direction of the relationship) |
positive correlation | high scores on one variable tend to be paired with high scores on the other variable - and low scores with low scores (e.g. more studying has a positive correlation with higher test grades) |
negative correlation | high scores on one variable tend to be paired with low scores on the other variable (e.g. low stress has a negative correlation with lower rates of illness) |
illusory correlation | the perception of a relationship where no relationship actually exists |
false consensus effect | tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people share our own beliefs and behaviors |
scatterplot | a graph of dots representing the data between 2 variables. the graphed dots then indicate what type of correlation exists (if any) |
naturalistic observation | careful observations of humans or other animals in real-life situations (in their natural environments) |
surveys | individuals reply to a series of questions or to rate their agreement with various statements - the purpose is to discover beliefs, opinions, and attitudes |
case studies | a single individual is studied intensely to examine a problem or issue relevant to the person |
descriptive statistics | numbers that summarize a set of research data obtained from a sample |
inferential statistics | allow you to make inferences about a population based on the characteristics of the data you collected from your sample |
statistical significance (p) | simply means that the probability of any relationship (or difference) you find in your sample wasn't likely to have happened by chance |
ethical guidelines | suggested rules for acting responsibly and morally when conducting research or in clinical practice |
informed consent | telling subjects all features of the experiment prior tot heir participation in the study |