PSYC 1030: Key Skills in Psychology (Lectures 1–8)

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering foundational academic, cognitive, developmental, and scientific methodology concepts from PSYC 1030 (Lectures 1 to 8).

Metacognition

The cognitive process of "thinking about thinking," involving actively monitoring, directing, and guiding one's own learning (for example, planning how to study for a test).

Extended Digestion

Richard Wrangham's evolutionary concept stating that cooking food acts as a culturally derived biological extension of digestion, which provided early humans with the surplus energy necessary to develop uniquely large brains.

Extended Memory

The concept that culturally derived technologies, such as writing systems, allow humans to offload cognition into an external medium to enhance and augment biological memory.

Learning Style

The widely held but scientifically unsupported concept that different individuals prefer to process information in specific sensory modalities (such as visual, auditory, reading/writing, or kinesthetic) and learn best when instruction conforms to those preferences.

Aptitude-Treatment Interaction (ATI)

A research paradigm examining whether an educational outcome depends on matching an individual's specific aptitude or learning style to a corresponding instructional treatment.

Constructivism

A psychological theory of learning positing that knowledge is actively constructed by learners through their direct interactions with the environment rather than passively received.

Mental Model

A cognitive framework representing how an individual understands, organizes, and navigates the world, simplifying complex reality into understandable chunks.

Critical Path Analysis

A planning method that maps out the absolute minimum, non-negotiable steps needed to achieve a goal efficiently (the "critical path"), distinguishing them from variable, nice-to-have steps ("non-critical path").

ABC Model of Operant Conditioning

B.F. Skinner's behavioral framework consisting of an Antecedent (a stimulus or environmental cue), a Behavior (an observable, measurable response), and a Consequence (an outcome that shapes the probability of the behavior recurring).

Intrinsic Motivation

The internal drive to perform an activity for its own sake and for personal satisfaction or skill development, which can be undermined by external financial rewards.

Extrinsic Motivation

The external drive to perform an activity primarily to earn a reward (such as money or grades) or to avoid punishment.

Deep Learning

A learning orientation driven by the intrinsic challenge of mastering something new, resulting in material that fundamentally transforms how the learner thinks, feels, and acts.

Strategic Learning

A learning orientation driven by competition and doing well, where the learner focuses on achieving high grades without engaging deeply enough to alter their perspectives.

Surface Learning

A learning orientation driven by the fear of failure, where the learner avoids probing deeply and tends to reproduce information verbatim.

Biocultural Phenomenon

A developmental pattern produced by the interplay between biological readiness and cultural practices, such as cultural diapering choices causing physical gait disruptions in infants.

Expressed Norms

Clearly articulated and observable rules, expectations, and behaviors that are officially endorsed or commonly practiced within a given society.

Social Development Theory (Vygotsky)

Lev Vygotsky's developmental perspective asserting that cognitive growth is guided by social interactions, viewing children as apprentices who learn from adults and peers through modeling and collaboration.

Assembly-Line Instruction

A Western schooling model influenced by functionalism, Taylorism, and Fordism that organizes education like a factory, using unilateral transmission of isolated skills out of context for extrinsic rewards and sorting.

Learning by Observing and Pitching In (LOPI)

An Indigenous educational model in which children learn through keen observation and collaborative contribution to the real endeavors of their family and community.

Task-Switching

An executive function that involves the brain rapidly and unconsciously shifting attention between tasks, disproving the notion of true simultaneous multitasking.

Knowledge Illusion

A cognitive bias in which people overestimate their own understanding, believing they understand complex mechanisms far better than they actually do until tested.

Cornell Method

A note-taking system structured around five steps: Record notes in a main column, Reduce into summaries/cues, Recite out loud from cues, Reflect on broader connections, and Review regularly.

SQ3R

An active reading technique consisting of five sequential phases: Survey (skimming headings), Question (asking questions), Read (actively reading to answer), Recite (summarizing in one's own words), and Review (evaluating overall takeaways).

Law of Effect

Edward Thorndike's behavioral principle stating that responses resulting in a satisfying state of affairs become more firmly connected to the situation and more likely to recur, whereas responses followed by discomfort are weakened.

Finitude

The reality of human existence having strict time boundaries (an average human lifespan of approximately $4{,}000$ weeks), requiring deliberate choices about what to accomplish rather than attempting to do everything.

Pomodoro Technique

A time-management method that balances focus and deliberate breaks by scheduling tasks into $25$-minute intervals of focused work followed by a $5$-minute break.

Body Doubling

A productivity strategy in which an individual works on a challenging or avoided task alongside another person to promote accountability and focus.

Block Scheduling

A calendar-based planning strategy of dedicating distinct blocks of time to specific tasks to minimize context switching and avoid last-minute stress.

Empirical Paper

A category of scientific publication that presents, analyzes, and discusses original research data collected through observational or experimental methods.

Meta-Analysis

A research synthesis method that statistically aggregates and analyzes findings across multiple independent scientific studies to evaluate an overall effect size.

Predatory Journal

An opportunistic academic publication that solicits manuscripts and charges authors processing fees without providing legitimate peer review or editorial oversight.

Peer Review

An academic evaluation process in which independent experts critically assess a submitted manuscript's methodology and rigor before an editor decides whether to accept, request revisions for, or reject it.

Independent Variable

The factor that a researcher deliberately manipulates, controls, or uses to group participants in order to test its effect on another variable.

Dependent Variable

The outcome variable that is measured in an investigation to determine whether it changes in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

Confounding Variable

An uncontrolled extraneous variable that covaries with the independent variable, obscuring whether the independent variable is truly responsible for the observed effect.

Hypothetico-Deductive Method

The scientific process of proposing a testable, falsifiable hypothesis, deducing specific predictions from it, and testing those predictions through observation or experimentation to confirm or refute the hypothesis.

HARKing

An acronym for "Hypothesizing After the Results are Known," describing the problematic practice where researchers present post-hoc hypotheses as if they were pre-planned predictions.

Photo Elicitation

A qualitative research method that uses photographs during interviews to stimulate memory, prompt discussion, and extract participant meaning and experiences.

Bayes' Rule

A principle of probability stating that the likelihood of a hypothesis being true is a mathematical function of its prior probability combined with the strength of new empirical evidence.

Goodhart's Law

The principle stating that when an indicator or measure becomes a target, it ceases to function as a reliable measure.

Pseudoscience

A set of claims or practices masquerading as science that relies on authority, emotion, or tradition, and refuses to subject its ideas to rigorous empirical testing or falsification.