ap psych unit 1

three roadblocks to critical thinking

hindsight bias, overconfidence, perceiving patterns in random events

hindsight bias

believing you could have predicted an outcome after learning it

overconfidence

the tendency to think we know more than we do

three elements of the scientific attitude

curiosity, skepticism, humility

curiosity

a desire to explore and understand, need evidence based on real observations

skepticism

doubting + questioning w/o judgement

humility

admitting that your wrong if evidence doesn’t match your own ideas

critical thinking

does not accept arguments + conclusions blindly, asks questions

scientific method

theory —> hypothesis —> research + observations

theory

a statement of fact

hypothesis

an ‘if. . . then . . .’ statement

operational definition

statement of exact procedure used in a research study

replication

repeating a study

three scientific methods

descriptive, correlational, experimental

three descriptive methods

case studies, naturalistic observation, surveys/interviews

case study

a person or small group studied in depth to reveal underlying behavioral principles

clinical study

a kind of case study; therapists investigate problem associated w/ client

naturalistic observation

observing and recording behavior w/o controlling situation

survey

technique for obtaining self-reported attitudes, opinions, behaviors, done by questioning random people

cannot determine cause and effect

wording effect

wording of a question can change the results of a survey

false consensus effect

a tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

cohort effect

group w/ shared experience = similar interpretations

response bias

people give answers they believe the researchers want to hear

non-response bias

people don’t respond at all

population

all individuals in a group being studied

sample

subset of the population being studied

random sample

represents a population w/o bias, each member has an equal chance of inclusion

sampling bias

sampling so results will go in one direction or the other

representative sample

same distribution of demographic qualities as the population

variable

any attribute of a person or animal being studied

quantitative variable

a numerical value; counts or measurements

qualitative variable

a categorical variable that divides the individuals into distinct groups; can be numerical

correlational method

looks at relationship btwn two things — cause & effect

scatterplot

a graph composed of points generated by 2 quantitative variables

correlation coefficient

a statistical measure of the relationship btwn 2 variables

closer to 0 = weaker

can be positive or negative

positive correlation

variables increase or decrease together

negative correlation

as one variable decreases, the other increases

no correlation

as one variable increases or decreases, the other increases or decreases randomly

correlation and causation

correlation does not imply causation

third variable problem

a type of confounding variable where a factor leads to a mistaken causal relationship btwn 2 variables in a study

illusory correlation

perception of a relationship where none exists / a stronger-than-actual relationship

regression to the mean

extreme scores / events fall back toward the average

experiments

backbone of psychology research

isolate causes and their effects

manipulate / control factors

treatment

a specific condition applied to the individuals in the experiment

experimental group

subjects receive the treatment

control group

subjects do not receive the treatment or receive a dummy treatment

random assignment

each participant has an equal chance of being placed in any group

independent variable

factor manipulated by experimenter

dependent variable

the outcome that will be measured

confounding variables

extraneous factors that might influence the study’s results

present in 1 group, not the other

experimenter bias

a researcher’s expectations/preferences about the outcome of the study influence the result

placebo effect

a response to treatment based off expectations of the procedure/treatment

single blind procedure

participants are uninformed about the treatment (if any) that they are receiving

double blind procedure

participants and researcher are uniformed about which group receives the treatment and which does not

controls for experimenter bias and placebo

differences between samples are least likely to be statistically significant if

he samples are large and the standard deviations of the samples are small

Random samples provide __________ estimates of population averages if the samples have small __________.

good, standard deviations

In an experimental study of the extent to which mental alertness is inhibited by sleep deprivation, alertness would be the:

dependent variable

A correlation of +0.70 between children's physical height and their popularity among their peers indicates that:

higher levels of popularity are associated w/ greater physical height in children

Every twenty-fifth person who ordered a subscription to a weekly news magazine was contacted by market researchers to complete a survey of opinions regarding the magazine's contents. The researchers were most clearly employing a technique known as:

systematic sampling

What statistical technique would be appropriate for a researcher to use in trying to determine how consistent intelligence scores are over time?

standard deviation (1)

In an experimental study of the effects of dieting on weight loss, dieting would be the:

independent variable

A tendency to notice and remember instances in which our premonitions of disaster are subsequently followed by harmful events is most likely to contribute to:

illusory correlations

Stacey suggests that because children are more impulsive than adults, they will have more difficulty controlling their anger. Stacey's prediction regarding anger management exemplifies:

a hypothesis

In order to test the potential effect of hunger on taste sensitivity, groups of research participants are deprived of food for differing lengths of time before they engage in a taste-sensitivity test. This research is an example of:

correlational research

Which research technique is most directly useful for avoiding the thinking error known as the false consensus effect?

random sampling (1)

the __ is a measure of _

standard deviation, variation