Psych concepts I don't understand

False Consensus versus Overconfidence

False consensus makes us believe that our opinion is more popular but overconfidence makes us think that we are more correct than we actually are.

illusionary correlation

Perceiving a relationship when it isn't apparent. Correlation =/= causation. A correlation could be the cheese consumption to the amount of divorce in montana. Even if they follow a similar graph, they aren't caused by one another, they are simply correlated.

Belief Perserverance

Thinking that something is true even when proven false Ex: masks reduce the chance of spreading covid

Confirmation bias

Cherry-picking information.

functional fixedness

cognitive bias that limits someone's ability to think outside of the box (use an object that is used in a different way than it is used traditionally)

Theory versus hypothesis

Theories lead to hypotheses.

Case study

looking closely at a small group or individual to determine a correlation

Pros: Good for rare and specific problems, you can see correlation easier

Cons: Can't generalize results, hard to replicate, expensive & time consuming

Naturalistic observation

To watch the participants and be present with them to form a correlation

Cons: Lack of controlled variables, unable to make causation, Hawthorne Bias (people change when being knowing that they're being watched)

Survey

A questionnaire used to get data and form a correlation

Pros: Can detect correlations easliy and swiftly

Cons: hard to avoid framing (the argentian and river survey)

Experiments

controlling all variables but one and measuring the effects of that variable

Fixation

the inability to see a problem from a new perspective

Mental set

To approach a situation the same way you've done in the past

Representative Vs Availability Heuristic

Availabity Heuristic is how judging how likely something is based off of out memory

Representative Heuristic is jduinging the likely hood of events in terms of how they match our prototypes

Concepts

A mental grouping of similar things (Categorization)

Random Sample

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

Random assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

P

Represents the accuracy of an experiment by calculating the chances of an outside factor. If P

R

correlation coefficient, how closely related are these two variables. the closer each is to 1 or -1 is how correlated they are

Aptitude versus Achievement

Aptitude: Measures the probability you are going to succeed

Ex: SAT

Achievement: Measures how much you know from your past learning

Ex: This test I'm studying for right now

Principals of Test Construction

1) Standardization

Involves pretesting a representative sample of people and forming a normal distribution (test scores)

2) Reliability

When a test yields consistent results again and again

3) Validity

When it measures what it is supposed to

(Ex: A reading test shouldn't be given out to measure math level)

types of Validity

Content validity:

How a test measures a behavior/trait of interest

Ex: Driving test that samples driving tasks)

Refers to the success of a test predicting a particular behavior or trait it is designed to predict in the future

Ex: Behavior(College grades) that a test (SAT) is designed to predict