Psychology Perspectives, Careers, Research Methods, Statistics, and Ethics

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering psychology perspectives, careers, research methods, statistics, and research ethics based on lecture notes.

Humanistic psychology

The study of how people can grow, improve, and reach their full potential.

Cognitive psychology

The study of how people think, learn, remember, communicate, and solve problems.

Cognitive neuroscience

The study of how brain activity is connected to thinking and mental processes.

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Evolutionary psychology

The study of how evolution and natural selection influence behavior and the mind.

Positive psychology

The study of human strengths, happiness, and what helps people thrive.

Behavioral psychology

The study of observable behavior and how people learn.

Biological psychology

The study of how biology, such as genes, the brain, and hormones, affects behavior and mental processes.

Psychodynamic psychology

The study of how unconscious thoughts, desires, and conflicts affect behavior.

Social-cultural psychology

The study of how society, situations, and culture affect behavior and thinking.

Clinical psychology

The study, assessment, and treatment of psychological disorders.

Psychiatry

A branch of medicine that treats psychological disorders, including with medications.

Operational definition

A specific explanation of exactly how something is measured or tested in a study.

Random sample

A sample where everyone in the population has an equal chance of being chosen.

Correlation

A measure of how two things are related or change together.

Experiment

A study where researchers change one variable to see how it affects another variable.

Double-blind procedure

An experiment where neither the participants nor researchers know who gets the treatment.

Placebo effect

A change caused by a person's expectation that a treatment will work, even if the treatment is inactive.

Independent variable

The variable that the researcher changes/manipulates.

Confounding variable

An outside factor that could affect the results of an experiment.

Dependent variable

The outcome being measured; it changes because of the independent variable.

Mode

The most common score.

Mean

The average.

Median

The middle score when the numbers are put in order.

Range

The difference between the highest and lowest scores.

Standard deviation

A measure of how spread out the scores are from the average.

Informed consent

Participants are given enough information to decide whether they want to participate.

Debriefing

Explaining the study to participants after it is over, including any deception.

Confidentiality

Keeping participants' personal information and identities private.

Deception

Misleading or withholding information from participants during a study.

Generalizability

How well the results of a study can apply to the larger population.

Informed assent

An agreement from someone who cannot legally give consent, such as a child, to participate in a study.

Meta-analysis

Combining the results of many studies to get an overall conclusion.

Protection from harm

Taking reasonable steps to prevent or reduce harm to research participants.

Reliability

A test's ability to give consistent results over time.

Single-blind study

A study where the participants don't know which group they are in.

Validity

How accurately a test measures what it is supposed to measure.