AP PSYCH VOCAB (that i dont know)

Empiricism

idea that knowledge comes from experience and observations

Empirical Data

information that is collected through direct observation, experimentation, or measurement, rather than through theories, rumors.

Introspection

Looking inward to report your own internal, conscious thoughts and feelings.

ex: the flowers were red and smelled like ..

Classical Conditioning

behavioral: a type of learning where an organism learns to associate two things together

ex: that tiktok trend of making u get scared when i say potato or smth

Applied Research

scientific study that aims to solve practical, real-world problems.

Basic Research

scientific study aimed at increasing psychology's general knowledge base.

just for funsies.. or research

Hindsight bias

“i knew it all along (lie)”

Believing you predicted an outcome, even though you had no idea.

Conformation bias

Searching only for info that proves you are right and ignoring evidence that contradicts your beliefs.

(you believe texting causes bad grades. you notice 5 failing students who text, but ignore 20 straight-A students who also text.)

Experimenter bias

A scientist accidentally influences the results of a study to match their hypothesis.

Coercion

forcing or tricking someone into doing something against their will.

Cohort effects (type of research)

when research results are messed up because different age groups grew up in different generations.

• The Study: A scientist finds that 70-year-olds text much slower than 16-year-olds.

• The Scientist's Mistake: Guessing that aging naturally makes fingers worse at texting.

• The Cohort Effect: The 70-year-olds text slower simply because they grew up using flip phones and landlines, not because of their age.

Internal Validity (type of research)

Experimental: as about Accuracy inside the lab. (Did our experiment actually cause the result, or did we mess up?)

External Validity (type of research)

Experimental: is about Real-world application. (Does this lab result actually apply to the real world outside?)

Demand characteristics

subtle clues in an experiment that tell the participants what the researcher expects to find.
(change their behavior, not good)

• Hawthorn effect: act better because they’re being watched

Sampling bias (type of research)

Experimental: when a researcher selects a group for a study that does not fairly represent the entire population.

Random assignment (type of research)

Experiment: How you DIVIDE those participants into groups. (during the experiment).

like random who gets the experimental or control

Random sampling (type of reearch)

Experiment: process of choosing a representative group of participants from a larger population,

Stratified sampling (type of research)

method of sampling where the researcher divides the entire population into distinct subgroups
like 25 freshmen, 25 sophomore, 25 juniors, 25 seniors

Illusory correlation (type of study)

correlational: is the perception of a relationship between two variables when no actual relationship exists.

bob wears their "lucky socks" and hits a home run, leading them to believe the socks caused the hit.

z-score

experimental: a metric (-3 to +3) that tells you how many standard deviations a specific score is away from the mean.

if its just above or below average

p-value

experimental: a number that tells you how likely it is that your research results happened by pure luck or random chance.

if less than 0.05 its significant

r-value

correlational: a statistic that measures the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables on a scale from -1 to 1.

Cross sectional design

a scientist compares different groups of people of different ages at one single point in time.

a memory test to a group of 20-year-olds, 40-year-olds, and 60-year-olds all at once (haha beat that longitudinal design)

Regression towards mean

if a variable is extreme on its first measurement, it will tend to be closer to the average (the mean) on its second measurement.

If you get a perfect 100% on your first psychology quiz by pure luck, you will likely get a score closer to your usual B-average on the next quiz because extreme flukes naturally balance back to normal.

Standard deviation

a statistic that measures how much scores vary, or spread out, around the average (mean) of a data set

Self report bias

inaccurate data, dishonest
(social desire or legit forgot)

Theory bc it broad helps make a hypothesis!! (don’t answer)

Reliability vs Validity

Reliability: like redoing it again to double checky (retaking test to see if u get similar scores)

Validity: ru tested on the correct stuff is it valid for research

inferential stats

tools that allow researchers to draw conclusions, make predictions,

Nominal Scale

just labels
Depression, Anxiety, or OCD.

Ordinal Scale

in order, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place

Interval scale

a numerical scale where intervals are meaningful, but there is no true zero.
(ratio scale is true zero)

Discrete data

data that not very precise just like
The number of panic attacks a patient has in a week (e.g., 0, 1, 2, 3). You cannot have 1.5 panic attacks.

Continous data

time and weight

A participant's reaction time to a flashing light e.g., 234.56 milliseconds

t-test

to compare the averages (means) of two separate groups
(fluke or not)

greater t value the better to show not rando chance