chapter 1 ap psych
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44 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 hindsight bias | I-knew-it-all along phenomenon |
| critical thinking | smart thinking that examines summptions, descerns hiden values, evaluates evidence, etc. |
| theory | an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events. |
| hypothesis | a testable prediction usually implied by a theory |
| operational definition | a statement of procedures used to define research variables to REPLICATE |
| replicate | repeating essense of research study |
| case study | when psychologists study one individual in great depth in the hope of revealiing things true of us all. |
| survey | a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a random sample |
| false consensus | the tendency to overestimate other's agreement with us |
| population | all the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study |
| random sample | a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion |
| naturalistic observation | observing and recording behavior in naturaly occuring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation |
| correlation | a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together and thus how well a factor predicts the other |
| correlation coefficient | the mathematical expression of the relationship |
| scatterplot | a graphed cluster of dots, each which represents the values of two variables. The amount of scatter suggests strenght of the correlation. Little scatter is high correlation |
| illusionary correlation | the perception of a relationship where none exists. |
| experiment | a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable) |
| double-blind procedure | an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and research staff are ugnoarnat about whether the participants recieve treatment or placebo |
| placebo effect | experimental results caused by expectations alone |
| experimental condition | the condition of an experiment that exposes participants to the treatment to one version of the independent variable |
| control condition | the condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and serves as a comparison for evauating the effect of the treatment |
| random assignment | asigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups |
| independent variable | the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whos effect is being studied |
| dependent variable | the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable |
| mode | the most frequently occuring scores in a distribution |
| mean | the arithmetic average of a distribution |
| median | the middle score in a distribution |
| range | the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution |
| standard deviation | a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score |
| statistical significance | a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occured by chance |
| culture | the enduring behaviors, ideas, attiudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next |
| quasi-experiment | measurement of dependent variable when random assignment to groups is not possible |
| confounding variables | factors that cause differences between the experimental group and the control group other than the independent variable |
| experimenter bias | a phenomenon that occurs when a researches expectations of preferences about the outcome of a study influnce the results obtained |
| demand characteristics | clues particpants discover about the purpose of the study that suggest how they should response |
| placebo | a physical or psucjological treatment given to the congtrol group that resembles the treatment given to the experimental group, but contains no active ingredient |
| reliability | consistency or repeatability of results |
| validity | the extent to which an instrument measures or predicts what it is supposed to measure of predict |
| normal distribution | bell-shaped curve that represents data about how lots of human characteristics are dispersed in the population |
| infrential statistics | statistics that are used to interpret data and draw conclusions |
| frequency distribution | an orderly arrangement of scores indicating the frequency of each score or group of scores |
| descriptive statistics | numbers that summarize a set of research data obtained from a sample |
| statistics | a field that involves the analysis of numerical data about representative samples of populations |
| central tendecy | the average or most typical scores of a set of research data |
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