0.1-0.3 AP Psych Vocab

scientific attitude

the combination of curiosity, humility, and skepticism that allows people to think harder and smarter

critical thinking

thinking that deeply assesses claims instead of blindly believing them

hindsight bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that you would have forseen that outcome

overconfidence

believing that your abilities or precognition are better than they really are

perceiving order in random events

finding patterns in places where there are none

common sense

sayings or beliefs that describes what has happened, not what will happen

scientific method

a self-correcting process for evaluating ideas with observation and analysis

theory

an idea that organizes scientific observations to explain behaviors

hypothesis

a testable prediction that a scientific theory produces

falsifiability

the ability of a hypothesis to be proven false; a marker that a hypothesis is scientifically strong

operational definitions

a carefully worded statement detailing exact procedures used in a research study

case study

an in-depth analysis of an individual or group

naturalistic observation

recording the natural behavior of a group

social desirability bias

when people respond to researchers’ questions in a way they think the researcher will like

self-reporting bias

when people don’t accurately report or remember their behaviors

sampling bias

a flawed sampling group (one that isn’t diverse enough) that generates inaccurate results

convenience sampling

collecting samples from a group that is readily available, rather than a diverse and true representative sample group

random sample

a sample that fairly represents a population because every member has an equal chance of being selected

population

every person in a group being studied