Psychology Chapter 2 Vocab

scientific method

scientific method

system of gathering data so that bias and error in measurement are reduced

hypothesis

tentative explanation of a phenomenon based on observations

naturalistic observation

The study of people or animals in their natural environment

observer effect

tendency of people or animals to behave differently from normal when they know they are being observed

observer bias

tendency of observers to see what they expect to see

laboratory method

method of conducting research in a controlled environment

case study

study of one individual in great detail

survey method

method of conducting research in the form of interviews

representative sample

randomly selected sample of subjects from a larger population of subjects

population

the entire group of people or animals in which the researcher is interested

correlation

a measure of the relationship between two variables

correlation coefficient

a number derived from the formula for measuring a correlation and indicating the strength and direction of a correlation

experiment

a deliberate manipulation of a variable to see if corresponding changes in behavior result, allowing the determination of cause-and-effect relationships

operational definition

definition of a variable of interest that allows it to be measured

informed consent

permission from a person (or a parent or guardian in the case of minors) to participate in an experiment after the risks and purpose of the experiment have been explained

independent variable

variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter

dependent variable

variable in an experiment that represents the measurable response or behaviour of the subjects in the experiment

confounding variable

variable in an experiment that may unintentionally affect the dependent variable

experimental group

subjects in an experiment who are subjected to the independent variable

control group

subjects in an experiment who are not subjected to the independent variable and who may receive a placebo treatment

random assignments

process of assigning subjects to the experimental or control groups randomly, so that each subject has an equal chance of being in either group

placebo effect

phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior

experimenter effect

tendency of the experimenter's expectations for a study to unintentionally influence the results of the study

double-blind experiment

study in which neither the experimenter nor the subjects know if the subjects are in the experimental or control group