midterm_01_review_14A_WI25

Authority

Believing what we are told; trust in people with high status, can be effective for social cohesion but may be wrong.

Intuition

Believing what 'feels' right; gut feeling without deliberation or reasoning, highly subjective and prone to confirmation bias.

Method of Tenacity

Reliance on tradition and accepted truths, which may not adapt well in competitive environments.

Rational-Inductive Method

Logical thinking and theorizing; starting from specific facts to formulate a general hypothesis.

Descriptive Method

Categorizing nature through direct observation and collection of specimens; high ecological validity but limited in cause-and-effect understanding.

Experimental Method

Understanding nature through controlled manipulation of events to establish cause-and-effect relationships.

Independent Variable

The variable that is manipulated by the experimenter.

Dependent Variable

The variable that is measured by the experimenter.

Hypothesis

A prediction made before the experiment regarding the expected outcomes of the dependent variable.

Confound

An extraneous variable that may affect the outcome of an experiment.

Basic Research

Research aimed at expanding knowledge without immediate practical application.

Applied Research

Research aimed at solving practical problems.

Scientific Theory

A set of related statements that explain and predict natural phenomena.

Parsimony

The principle that when two explanations are equally accurate, the simpler one should be chosen.

Testability

The ability of a theory or hypothesis to be falsified through empirical evidence.

Pseudoscience

Claims or beliefs that appear scientific but do not adhere to the scientific method.

Null Hypothesis (H0)

A statistical hypothesis asserting that no relationship or effect is present.

Alternate Hypothesis (H1)

A statistical hypothesis asserting that a relationship or effect does exist.

Type I Error

Rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true.

Type II Error

Retaining the null hypothesis when it is false.

Internal Validity

The extent to which an experiment accurately identifies the relationship between variables without interference.

External Validity

The extent to which the findings of an experiment can be generalized to other settings or populations.

Sensitivity

The ability of an instrument or procedure to detect relevant distinctions in the research question.

Qualia

Subjective mental experiences that cannot be directly observed by anyone but the subject.

Theoretical Constructs

Concepts developed to describe qualia that may vary across different psychological theories.

Operational Measurements

Assigning observable behavior as a proxy for an unobservable entity.

Observer-Expectancy Effect

The influence of the observer's expectations on the behavior of participants.

Demand Characteristics

Clues in an experiment that may guide participants on how they are expected to behave.