50 MOST USED FRQ TERMS

Ethical Guidelines (APA)

confidentiality, informed consent, debriefing, deception must be warranted

statistical significance

a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance

Placebo

control group; something which has a positive mental effect, but no physical effect

Single vs double blind

single: the people giving the treatment know but the participants don't

double: both the people and the participants don't know

experimental group vs. control group

EXPERIMENTAL GROUP is the group receiving the independent variable

CONTROL GROUP does not receive anything, in order to act as a comparison

Reliability vs. Validity

-A test may be reliable without being valid, but a test cannot be valid unless it is reliable

random assignment vs random sampling

Random sampling means that you choose your ENTIRE GROUP OF PARTICIPANTS randomly from a given population of potential participants.

Random assignment means that you randomly assign those participants to either control or experimental groups.

operational definition

a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in a research study

confounding variable

a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect in an experiment

independent variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

dependent variable

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction, often implied by a theory

experiment

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process

Inference (and how a random sample is used)

A conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning

How to obtain a random sample

define the population, determine the sample size, randomly assign

Correlation does not equal causation

Correlation does not mean cause and effect. A correlation of 1 between two variables does not mean that one necessarily causes the other. A correlation of 0 does not mean that one prevents the other. For example, height and weight in people have a positive correlation. However, the height does not cause the weight or vice versa. It's just that they are most likely to be strongly related.

Different research methods

case study, survey, experimental designs, naturalistic observations, correlation design

observational learning + modeling

learning by observing others; also called social learning

modeling:

the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

proactive interference

+

retroactive interference

proactive interference: old information is interfering with new learning

retroactive interference: new information causes forgetting of old information

(it is what is forgotten that/ interfered with that describes it)

Conformity

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

instrinsic vs extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic Motivation: a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake; you tend to put your all into the task at hand; good motivators (curiosity, interest)

Extrinsic Motivation: a desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment; necessary, but can diminish performance; bad motivators (money)

Heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms

self-efficacy

An individual's belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.

Deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

fluid vs crystallized intelligence

Fluid = Capacity to solve problems. Crystallized = general knowledge.

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Yerkes-Dodson Law

the principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases

social facilitation vs social inhibition

SF: stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others

SI: the tendency to perform complex or difficult tasks more poorly in the presence of others

Parts of the brain

hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain (and their structures)

Visual Pathway to the Brain

Cornea-iris-pupil-lens-retina-optic nerve-optic chiasm -thalamus-occipital lobe-visual cortex

sympathetic vs parasympathetic nervous system

The sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for intense physical activity and is often referred to as the fight-or-flight response.

The parasympathetic nervous system has almost the exact opposite effect and relaxes the body and inhibits or slows many high energy functions. (rest and digest)

convergent vs divergent thinking

convergent- believing there is a single correct answer (using facts to find right answer)

divergent- thinking there are multiple possible answers to a problem (brainstorming)

schedules of reinforcement

different patterns of frequency and timing of reinforcement following desired behavior

fixed ratio (life in mario after getting 100 coins), variable ratio (slot machines), fixed interval (class periods), variable interval (fishing)

mass vs distributed practice

Mass Studying(cramming): Short-term leaning and feeling of confidence

Distributed: better long-term recall

procedural memory

A type of long-term memory of how to perform different actions and skills. Essentially, it is the memory of how to do certain things.

encoding failure

failure to process information into memory

context dependent memory vs state dependent memory

CD: The theory that information learned in a particular situation or place is better remembered when in that same situation or place.

SD: The tendency for information to be better recalled when the person is in the same psychological or physiological state as when the information was first encoded or learned

developmental stage theorists

Piaget: Stages of cognitive developmental

Erikson: Stages of psychosocial development

Kohlberg: Stages of moral development

cross-sectional study

cross-sectional study: a study in which people of different ages are compared with one another

longitudinal study: research in which the same people are restudied and retested over a long period

Big Five Personality Traits

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism (OCEAN)

self-fulfilling prophecy

an expectation that causes you to act in ways that make that expectation come true.

Schema

a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information

cognitive dissonance

an unpleasant state that arises when a person recognizes the inconsistency of his or her actions, attitudes, or beliefs

group thinking

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives

display rules

cross-cultural guidelines for how and when to express emotions

Neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that cross the synaptic gaps between neurons

(ACH, dopamine, serotonin, GABA, Glutamate, norepinephrine)

neuron firing

"all or nothing" either fires or doesn't

cocktail party effect

ability to attend to only one voice among many

social loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable

prospective memory

remembering to do something in the future