AP Psych Unit 1 Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards for AP Psychology Unit 1 covering psychological perspectives, research methods, ethics, and basic statistics.

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Empiricism

Knowledge acquired through observation, gathering, and analyzing data/evidence to support.

Nature vs Nurture

Nature refers to genetics, inherited, and innate traits; nurture refers to environmental influences.

Biological Perspective

Behavior explained by genetics, hormones, neurotransmitters (brain chemicals), brain structure, etc.

Psychodynamic / Psychoanalytic Perspective

Behavior explained by unconscious urges and impulses; repression of early childhood trauma.

Cognitive Perspective

Behavior explained by "thinking", problem solving, decision making, reasoning, memory, and information processing.

Behavioral Perspective

Behavior explained by learning through associations, rewards and punishments, observations/modeling.

Humanistic Perspective

Perspective asserting that humans are inherently good, striving to reach potential, and possess unique perception and free-will.

Sociocultural Perspective

Behavior explained by societal and cultural factors (norms and expectations from family, peers, media, gender, religion, ethnicity).

Individualistic Culture

A culture where you and immediate family are placed first.

Collectivist Culture

A culture focused on the good of the group, where individuals set aside their own needs for the group.

Evolutionary Perspective

Behavior explained by the need for survival.

Eclecticism

Combining more than 1 approach to explain behavior.

Institutional Review Board

Green light from ethics committee ensuring research with humans protects participant safety, privacy, and rights.

Informed Consent

Process for adults only where participants know they are involved in research and give their approval.

Informed Assent

Process allowing minors (kids) to agree to participate in clinical trials or research studies.

Deception

If participants are deceived about the nature of the study, the deception must not be so extreme as to invalidate the informed consent.

Confidentiality

Researchers cannot share personal info of participants without permission.

Anonymity

Identities and actions of participants must not be revealed in any way by the researcher (no personal details collected).

Risk / Harm

Participants cannot be placed at significant mental or physical risk; must be interpreted by the review board.

Debriefing

Participants must be told of the purpose of the study and provided with ways to contact researchers about the results.

Hypothesis

Testable, educated prediction about the relationship between two variables.

Operational Definitions

Defining variables in research in a specific and measurable way.

Non-Experimental Research

Research conducted to observe and record behavior, identify naturally occurring relationships, and assess how one variable predicts another.

Experimental Research

Research conducted to investigate cause and effect.

Quantitative Research / Data

Quantifiable, numerical data.

Likert Scale

A rating scale used to measure survey participants' opinions, attitudes, motivations, and more.

Qualitative Research / Data

Narrative data that cannot be translated into numbers.

Structured Interview

Standardized method of assessment in psychology using a predetermined set of questions for all interviews.

Naturalistic Observation

Observing behavior in a natural setting without interference, manipulation, or control.

Case Study

Intense examination of one person, small group, or unique situation using a variety of methods.

Survey

Questionnaire used to learn about participants' opinions, beliefs, attitudes, and general patterns of behavior.

Social Desirability Bias

Giving answers most desired/expected by the researcher or society.

Self-Report Bias

Bias resulting when people may not be fully truthful in their responses.

Framing (Leading Questions)

How questions are worded can impact how people respond.

Meta-Analysis

Statistical analysis where researchers review, combine, and analyze the results of multiple studies.

Experiment / Experiment Design

A method to establish cause and effect by manipulating one variable and measuring the effect on another variable while using random assignment.

Population

Target group of interest for the study from which a sample group is drawn.

Sample

Members of the population who are chosen to participate in research.

Representative Sample

When the demographics of the sample are proportional to the demographics of the population.

Biased Sample

An unrepresentative sample.

Random Sample

Sample selection where every member of the population has an equally likely chance of being chosen to participate.

Convenience Sample

Participants are chosen because they are the easiest for the researcher to access.

Independent Variable

The variable that is being manipulated.

Dependent Variable

The variable that is being measured.

Confounding / Extraneous Variables

A variable, other than the independent variable, that may impact the effects of the study.

Experimental Group

Group(s)/condition(s) that receives the independent variable.

Control Group

Group(s)/condition(s) that does not receive the independent variable.

Random Assignment

Every participant has an equal chance of being placed in any of the groups/conditions.

Quasi-Experiment

Experimental design that does NOT use random sampling or random assignment because it is either impossible or unethical.

Participant Bias

Bias caused when participants may unintentionally influence results.

Experimenter Bias

Bias caused when experimenters/researchers may unintentionally influence results.

Single-Blind Procedure

When participants do not know whether they are in the experimental group(s) or control group (reduces participant bias).

Double-Blind Procedure

When neither the participants nor the experimenter know who is in the experimental group(s) or control group (reduces experimenter bias).

Placebo Effect

Occurs when participants' expectations cause a change in behavior/the way you feel, when given an inactive treatment.

Replication

The process of repeating a study or experiment to validate its findings and ensure the results can be reliably replicated.

Reliability

The consistency of the findings or results of a psychology research study.

Validity

Whether the test or measurement tool actually measures what it is supposed to measure.

Correlation vs Causation

When two variables are correlated, a relationship exists between them, but it does not mean that one variable caused a change in the other variable.

Illusory Correlation

Perceiving a relationship between two variables where none exists, or perceiving a stronger-than-actual relationship.

Regression Towards the Mean

Tendency for extreme or unusual scores or events to fall back (regress) toward the average.

Directionality Problem

A limitation of correlational research that occurs when it is unclear which variable influences another, making it difficult to establish causal relationships.

Third-Variable Problem

A limitation of correlational research that occurs when a third variable leads to a mistaken causal relationship between two others.

Mean

The average.

Median

Middle number when data points are in numerical order.

Mode

Most frequently occurring score.

Range

$$\text{highest score} - \text{lowest score}$$

Standard Deviation

Average distance between each score and the mean of the data set.

Positive Correlation

Variables head in the same direction.

Negative Correlation

The variables head in opposite directions.

Correlation Coefficient

Statistical value that describes the strength of the relationship between two variables.

Statistical Significance

Statistically significant means confident that the IV caused changes in the DV (not chance); statistically insignificant means not confident that the IV caused the change (results may be due to chance).

Effect Size

The larger the effect size, the more one variable can be explained by another.