Introduction to Psychology and Psychological Research Methods

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering psychological perspectives, historical movements, scientific and experimental methodologies, measurement principles, and biological foundations.

Psychology

The scientific study of the behavior of individuals and their mental processes.

Scientific method

The set of procedures used to gathering and interpreting objective information in a way that minimizes error and yields dependable generalizations.

Behavior

The actions by which an organism adjusts to its environment.

Behavioral data

Observational reports about the behavior of organisms and the conditions under which the behavior occurs or changes.

Structuralism

Associated with Edward Titchener; the study of the structure of mind and behavior, asserting that all human mental experiences can be understood as a combination of simple elements or events.

Introspection

Individuals' systematic examination of their own thoughts and feelings.

Gestalt psychology

A school of psychology that maintains that psychological phenomena can be understood only when viewed as organized, structured wholes, not when broken down into primitive perceptual elements.

Functionalism

Associated with William James and John Dewey; the perspective on mind and behavior that focuses on the examination of their functions in an organism's interactions with the environment.

Psychodynamic perspective

A psychological model in which behavior is explained in terms of past experiences and motivational forces, viewing actions as stemming from inherited instincts, biological drives, and attempts to resolve conflicts between personal needs and social requirements.

Behaviorist perspective

The psychological perspective primarily concerned with observable behavior that can be objectively recorded and with the relationships of observable behavior to environmental stimuli.

Behaviorism

A scientific approach that limits the study of psychology to measurable or observable behavior.

Humanistic perspective

A psychological model that emphasizes an individual's phenomenal world and inherent capacity for making rational choices and developing to maximum potential.

Cognitive perspective

The perspective on psychology that stresses human thoughts and the processes of knowing, such as attending, thinking, remembering, expecting, solving problems, fantasizing, and consciousness.

Biological perspective

The approach to psychology that stresses the importance of behavioral and mental adaptiveness, based on the assumption that mental capabilities evolved over millions of years to serve particular adaptive purposes.

Sociocultural perspective

The psychological perspective that focuses on cross-cultural differences in the causes and consequences of behavior.

Theory

An organized set of concepts that explains a phenomenon or set of phenomena.

Determinism

The doctrine that all events (physical, behavioral, and mental) are determined by specific causal factors that are potentially knowable.

Hypothesis

A tentative and testable explanation of the relationship between two (or more) events or variables, often stated as a prediction that a certain outcome will result from specific conditions.

Observer bias

The distortion of evidence because of the personal motives and expectations of the viewer.

Standardization

A set of uniform procedures for treating each participant in a test, interview, or experiment, or for recording data.

Operational definition

A definition of a variable or condition in terms of the specific operation or procedure used to determine its presence.

Variable

In an experimental setting, a factor that varies in amount and kind.

Independent variable

In an experimental setting, a variable that the researcher manipulates with the expectation of having an impact on values of the dependent variable.

Dependent variable

In an experimental setting, a variable that the researcher measures to assess the impact of a variation in an independent variable.

Experimental process

Research methodology that involves the manipulation of independent variables to determine their effects on the dependent variables.

Confounding variable

A stimulus other than the variable an experimenter explicitly introduces into a research setting that affects a participant's behavior.

Expectancy effect

A result that occurs when a researcher or observer subtly communicates to participants the kind of behavior he or she expects to find, thereby creating that expected reaction.

Placebo effect

A change in behavior in the absence of an experimental manipulation.

Control procedure

Consistent procedure for giving instructions, scoring responses, and holding all other variables constant except those being systematically varied.

Double-blind control

An experimental technique in which biased expectations of experimenters are eliminated by keeping both participants and experimental assistants unaware of which participants have received which treatment.

Placebo control

An experimental condition in which treatment is not administered; used in cases where a placebo effect might occur.

Between-subjects design

A research design in which different groups of participants are randomly assigned to experimental conditions or to control conditions.

Random assignment

A procedure by which participants have an equal likelihood of being assigned to any condition within an experiment.

Experimental group

A group in an experiment that is exposed to a treatment or experiences a manipulation of the independent variable.

Control group

A group in an experiment that is not exposed to a treatment or does not experience a manipulation of the independent variable.

Population

The entire set of individuals to which generalizations will be made based on an experimental sample.

Sample

A subset of a population selected as participants in an experiment.

Representative sample

A subset of a population that closely matches the overall characteristics of the population with respect to distributions such as male/female and racial/ethnic groups.

Random sampling

A procedure that ensures that every member of a population has an equal likelihood of participating in an experiment.

Within-subject design

A research design that uses each participant as his own control.

Correlational method

Research methodology that determines to what extent two variables or traits are related.

Correlational coefficient ($r$)

A statistic that indicates the degree of relationship between two variables.

Reliability

The degree to which a test produces similar scores each time it is used.

Validity

The extent to which a test measures what it was intended to measure.

Self-report measures

Self-behavior that is identified through a participant's own reports.

Behavioral measure

Overt actions or reactions that are observed and recorded.

Naturalistic observation

A research technique in which unobtrusive observations are made of behaviors that occur in natural environments.

Case study

Intensive observation of a particular individual or small group.

Informed consent

The process through which individuals are informed about experimental procedures, risks, and benefits before they provide formal consent.

Debriefing

A procedure in which the researcher provides the participant with as much information about the study as possible.

Natural selection

Darwin's theory that favorable adaptations are selected and passed on to subsequent generations.

Genotype

The genetic structure an organism inherits from its parents.

Phenotype

The observable characteristics of an organism.

Heredity

The biological transmission of traits from parents to offspring.

Genetics

The study of the inheritance of physical and psychological traits from ancestors.

Human behavior genetics

The area of study that evaluates the genetic component of individual differences in behaviors and traits.