 | Term | Definition |
| |
Empiricism |
knowledge comes from senses; observation & experimentation are the basis of sci |
| |
Structuralism |
Titchener, introspection to examine mind |
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Functionalism |
James, emphasized adaptive significance of behavior & mental processes |
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nature-nurture issue |
controversy over relative contributions that genes & experience make in the dev of psychological traits & behaviors |
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Natural Selection |
principle that those traits of a species that contribute to reproduction & survival are most likely to be passed on to next generations |
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Basic Research |
pure sci that aims to increase psychology's sci knowlege base rather than 2 solve practical problems |
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Applied Research |
sci study that aims to solve practical problems |
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Clinical Psychology |
branch of psych concerned w/ study, assessment, treatment of ppl w/ disorders |
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Psychiatry |
branch of medicine concerned w/ physical diagnosis & treatment of psych disorder |
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Hindsight Bias |
refers to the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome - including a psych research finding - that 1 would have foreseen |
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Critical Thinking |
careful reasoning that examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, assesses conclusions |
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theory |
explanation using an integrated set of principles that org & predicts observations |
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hypothesis |
testable prediction, often implied by theory, testing hypothesis helps scientists 2 test the theory |
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Operational definitions |
precise statements of procedures used 2 def independent & dependent variables |
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Replication |
process of repeating an experiment, often w/ diff participants & in diff situations, 2 see whether the basic finding generalizes 2 other ppl & circumstances |
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Survey |
descriptive research strategy in which a rep, random sample of ppl are ques about attitudes & behav |
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Case Study |
desc research strategy in which 1 person is studied in great depth, often w/ intention of revealing universal principles |
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false consensus effect |
tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs & behaviors |
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Population |
consists of all the members of a group being studied |
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Random Sample |
1 that is rep b/c every member of the pop has an equal chance of being included |
| |
Naturalistic Observation |
involves observing & recording behav in naturally occurring situations w/o trying 2 manip & control |
| |
Correlation Coefficient |
stat measure that indicates the extent 2 which 2 factors vary tog, thus how well 1 factor can be predicted from the other |
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Scatterplot |
depiction of the relationship btwn 2 variables by means of graphed cluster of dots |
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illusory correlation |
false perception of a relationship btwn 2 events when none exists |
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experiment |
research strategy i which a researcher directly manip factors in order 2 observe effects |
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placebo |
inert substance that is administered as a test of whether an exp participant who thinks treatment is in effect, behaves the same as if it was actually present |
| |
double-blind procedure |
control procedure in which neither the experimentor nor participants are aware of which condition is in effect, used 2 prevent participants & exp from inf result |
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placebo effect |
any effect on behavior caused by placebo |
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experimental condition |
participants are exposed 2 ind variable being studied (ex: ppl who receive drug) |
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Control Condition |
ind variable is withheld so that comparison 2 exp cond can be made (ex: ppl who don't get drug) |
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Random Assignment |
procedure of assigning participants 2 exp & cont cond by chance 2 min diff btwn groups |
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Independent variable |
factor being manipulated & tested by investigator (IF) |
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Dependent Variable |
factor being measured by investigator (THEN, reaction) |
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standard deviation |
avg amount by which scores in distribution deviate around mean, more precise than range |
| |
statistical significance |
obtained result very likely represents real diff rather than sampling variation or chance factors |
| |
Culture |
enduring behaviors, ideals, attitudes, trads shared by large group of ppl & trans from gen 2 gen |
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