Unit 0 AP Psychology

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Behaviors

Observable actions and responses

Mental processes

All things individuals can do with their minds

Experiment

Researcher manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process; determine a cause and effect relationship

Independent variable

Factor that is manipulated; what is being controlled?

Dependent variable

Outcome factor; what is being measured?

Confounding variable

Factor other than the IV that could produce on effect

Random assignment

Everyone in the sample has equal chance of being placed in the experiment or control groups

Experimental group

Receives the IV (treatment/condition)

Control group

Does not receive the IV (treatment/condition) ; may receive a placebo in drug studies

Experimental design

Manipulates on independent variable; randomly assigns participants to different groups

Non-experimental design

Does not manipulate variables; observed patterns; does not randomly assign participants to groups

Case study

On individual or group is studied in depth (rare condition) in the hope of revealing universal principles

Naturalistic observation

Observes and records behavior in naturally occurring situations

Meta analysis

Combines results from lots of research studies on the same topic to find patterns or trends that might not be obvious in just one study alone

Correlational studies

Relationship between two variables such that one may predict the other

Negative correlation

When one variable increases, the other decreases

Positive correlation

When one variable increases, the other increases (or both decrease)

Correlation strength

Strong if value is close to -1.0 or +1.0; weak if close to 0

Correlation direction

Value of regression is positive (+) or negative (-)

Correlation is not?

Causation

Directionality problem

In a correlational study, this may occur when the researcher doesn’t know which variable is impacting the other

Third variable problem

Indicates there is something sneaky that might be contributing to the relationship between two variables

Operational definition

A carefully worded statement of how variables are measured

Representation research goal

Research studies should be representative of the target population

High validity research goal

Research measured what it should

High reliability research goal

Research gets consistent results when replicated

Statistical significance research goal

Numerical value (p<.05) that states our results were not due to chance and the hypothesis is accepted

Generalizability

The extent to which results obtained from the sample are applicable to a broader population

Informed consent

Contract stating risks and goals of experiment; participants must sign and agree

Deception

Cannot be too extreme

Coercion

Cannot be forced/tricked

Anonymity

Identities may not be revealed

Protection from harm

Cannot be placed in mental/physical risk

Debriefing

After experiment, told fuller explanation of purpose, especially if deception was involved

Descriptive statistics

Describe trends in the data

Inferential statistics

Draws conclusions to make predictions or generalizations