AP Psych Unit 0 - Vocab Quiz #1

Cultural norms

The shared expectations and rules that guide behavior within a specific culture or society

Random Assignment

each participant has an equal chance of being placed into any group.

case study

one individual is studied in-depth in order to identify behavioral, emotional, and/or cognitive qualities that are universally true, on average, of others

correlation

a statistical index used to represent the strength of a relationship between two factors, how much and in what way those factors vary, and how well one factor can predict the other

positive correlation

that one variable increases as the other variable increases

negative correlation

one variable decreases as the other variable increases

meta-analysis

a research strategy where instead of conducting new research with participants, the researchers examine the results of several previous studies.

naturalistic observation

researchers opt to observe their participants in their natural
habitats without interacting with them at all.

Hypothesis

testable predictions

falsifiable

the principle that states that a research hypothesis must be able to be disproven

operational definitions

Precise definitions of a variable being observed so that is it measurable and manageable

Replication

repeating the original observations with different participants,
materials, and circumstances.

central tendency

a single score that represents a whole set of scores.

variation

the differences and diversity that exist within a population, specifically in terms of traits or characteristics

percentile rank

the percentage of scores in a distribution that a particular score falls above.

mode

the most frequently occurring score or scores.

mean

the total sum of all the scores divided by the number of scores.

Median

The midpoint—the 50th percentile, middle

range

the gap between the lowest and highest

normal curve

a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the
distribution of many types of data

Positive Skew

most values are on the lower end, but there are some exceptionally large values. This creates a "tail" or skew toward the positive end.

negative skew

most values are on the higher end, but there are some exceptionally small values. This creates a "tail" or skew toward the negative end.

bimodal distribution

if two scores appear equally frequently and more frequently than any other score.

standard deviation

a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score.

regression toward the mean

the tendency for extreme or unusual scores or events to fall back (regress) toward the average.

random sample

a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.

sample

smaller group of the population

representative sample

a sample that has characteristics that are similar to those in the population.

Convenience method

a sampling method used where a you select a naturally-occurring group of people within the population you want to study.

Confirmation Bias

when you look for evidence to confirm your beliefs while ignoring all other evidence that disapprove of it.

Hindsight Bias

the tendency upon hearing about research findings (and many other things) to think that they knew it all along

Overconfidence

people's tendency to be excessively confident in
their decisions.

Independent variable

the experimental variable or variable that is manipulated by the research

confounding variable

any difference between the experimental and
control conditions

Dependant variable

the variable that is being measured

population

the whole group you want to study and describe