Psychology AP Chapter 1
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laurenleistman on April 5, 2012
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The Science of Psychology
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38 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Psychology | the scientific study of behavior and mental processes |
| Scientific Method | an approach to knowledge that relies on collecting data, generating a theory to explain the data, producing testable hypotheses based on the theory, and testing those hypotheses empirically |
| Theory | systematic explanation of a phenomenon; it organizes known facts, allows us to predict new facts, and permits us to exercise a degree of control over the phenomenon |
| Hypotheses | specific, testable predictions derived from a theory |
| Psuedoscience | a theory or body of knowledge that portrays itself as a science but is not based on empirical observation or is inconsistent with broader scientific theory |
| Structuralism | school of psychology that stresses the basic units of experience and the combinations in which they occur |
| Functionalist Theory | theory of mental life and behavior that is concerned with how an organism uses its perceptual abilities to function in its environment |
| Psychodynamic Theories | personality theories contending that behavior results from psychological dynamics that interact within the individual, often outside conscious awareness |
| Behaviorism | school of psychology that studies only observable and measurable behavior |
| Gestalt Psychology | school of psychology that studies how people perceive and experience objects as whole patterns |
| Existential Psychology | school of psychology that focuses on the meaninglessness and alienation of modern life, and how these factors lead to apathy and psychological problems |
| Humanistic Psychology | school of psychology that emphasizes nonverbal experience and altered states of consciousness as a means of realizing one's full human potential |
| Cognitive Psychology | school of psychology devoted to the study of mental processes in the broadest sense |
| Evolutionary Psychology | an approach to, and subfield, of psychology that is concerned with the evolutionary origins of behaviors and mental process, their adaptive value, and the purposes they continue to serve |
| Gender | the psychological and social meanings attached to being biologically male or female |
| Gender Stereotypes | general beliefs about characteristics that are presumed to be typical of each sex |
| Gender Roles | behaviors that we expect each gender to engage in |
| Culture | the tangible goods and the values, attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs that are passed from one generation to another |
| Race | a subpopulation of a species, defined according to an identifiable characteristic (i.e., geographic location, skin color, hair texture, genes, facial features) |
| Ethnicity | a common cultural heritage, including religion, language, and/or ancestry, that is shared by a group of individuals |
| Ethnic Identity | the aspect of an individual's self-concept that is based on his or her awareness of being a member of a particular ethnic group |
| Feminist Theory | feminist theories offer a wide variety of views on the social roles of women and men, the problems and rewards of those roles, and prescriptions for changing those roles |
| Sexual Orientation | refers to the direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same sex, the other sex, or both sexes |
| Naturalistic Observation | research method involving the systematic study of animal or human behavior in natural settings rather than in the laboratory |
| Observer Bias | expectations or biases of the observer that might distort or influence his or her interpretation of what was actually observed |
| Case Study | intensive description and analysis of a single individual or just a few individuals |
| Survey Research | research technique in which questionnaires or interviews are administered to a selected group of people |
| Correlational Research | research technique based on the naturally occurring relationship between two or more variables |
| Experimental Method | a research technique in which an investigator deliberately manipulates selected events or circumstances and then measures the effects of those manipulations on subsequent behavior |
| Subjects | (participants) individuals whose reactions or responses are observed in an experiment |
| Independent Variable | in an experiment, the variable that is manipulated to test its effects on the other, dependent variables |
| Dependent Variable | in an experiment, the variable that is measured to see how it is changed by manipulations in the independent variable |
| Experimental Group | in a controlled experiment, the group subjected to a change in the independent variable |
| Control Group | in a controlled experiment, the group not subjected to a change in the independent variable, used for comparison with the experimental group |
| Experimenter Bias | expecations by the experimenter that might influence the results of an experiment or its interpretation |
| Sample | selection of cases from a larger population |
| Random Sample | sample in which each potential participant has an equal chance or being selected |
| Representative Sample | sample carefully chosen so that the characteristics of the participants correspond closely to the characteristics of the larger population |
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