AP psych unit 0 terms

Psychodynamic Perspective

An approach in psychology, originating with Sigmund Freud, that emphasizes the role of unconscious motives, unresolved childhood conflicts, and hidden drives in shaping human behavior and personality.

Behavioral Perspective

An approach to psychology focused exclusively on observable, measurable behaviors and how they are learned through conditioning, reinforcement, and punishment.

Humanistic Perspective

An approach in psychology that emphasizes individual human potential, self-actualization, free will, and the innate drive for personal growth.

Cognitive Perspective

An approach in psychology focusing on mental processes—such as memory, perception, problem-solving, language, and decision-making—and how people process, store, and retrieve information.

Biological Perspective

An approach in psychology that seeks to explain human behavior and mental processes through physiological mechanisms, including genetics, brain structure, neurotransmitters, and biological systems.

Evolutionary Perspective

An approach in psychology that applies Darwinian principles of natural selection, explaining how behaviors and mental traits evolved because they conferred adaptive or survival advantages.

Sociocultural Perspective

An approach in psychology that examines how social environments, cultural norms, family, and group dynamics influence individual behavior, thoughts, and attitudes.

Biopsychosocial Perspective

An integrative framework that views human health, development, and behavior as the result of dynamic interactions between biological, psychological, and social factors.

Confirmation Bias

The cognitive tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and remember information that confirms one's pre-existing beliefs while ignoring or discounting contradicting evidence.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe, after an outcome has occurred, that one could have foreseen or predicted it; commonly known as the "I-knew-it-all-along" phenomenon.

Overconfidence

The tendency for individuals to overestimate the accuracy of their own knowledge, judgments, abilities, or beliefs.

Empirical Evidence

Information and data acquired through direct observation, systematic measurement, and experimentation rather than through intuition, belief, or reasoning alone.

Scientific Method

A standardized, multi-step process of research involving observation, forming a hypothesis, conducting empirical testing, collecting data, analyzing results, and drawing conclusions.

Hypothesis

A precise, testable, and falsifiable prediction about the expected relationship between two or more variables based on a theory or observation.

Falsifiable

A principle of scientific hypotheses specifying that there must be a theoretical possibility of proving the statement false through empirical testing.

Peer Review

The process by which independent scientific experts in a relevant field evaluate research studies for validity, methodology, and quality before publication in a journal.

Replication

The repetition of an experimental study, using the same or adapted procedures, to determine whether the original findings can be consistently reproduced.

The American Psychological Association (APA)

The primary professional organization representing psychology in the United States, which establishes ethical guidelines, publication formatting standards, and research protocols.

Quantitative Data

Numerical data that can be measured, quantified, and analyzed using statistical techniques.

Qualitative Data

Descriptive, non-numerical data—such as text, images, or observations—used to understand underlying reasons, meanings, and experiences.

Likert Scales

A survey rating scale used to measure attitudes or opinions by asking respondents to indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement along a structured continuum.

Structured Interviews

A research method where an interviewer asks a predetermined set of standardized, fixed questions in a strict order to all participants.

Survey Technique

A quantitative research technique used to gather self-reported data regarding attitudes, behaviors, or opinions from a large sample of participants via questionnaires or interviews.

Wording Effect

A form of bias in survey research where subtle changes in how a question is phrased or framed significantly alter participant responses.

Naturalistic Observation

A non-experimental research method where researchers observe and record subjects' behaviors in their natural environments without intervention or manipulation.

Case Study

An in-depth, detailed investigation of a single individual, small group, or rare event over an extended period of time.

Correlational Research

A non-experimental research design that measures the mathematical relationship between two or more naturally occurring variables without manipulating them.

Third Variable Problem

A limitation of correlational research where an unmeasured, extraneous variable may account for the observed relationship between two measured variables.

Scatterplot

A visual graph representing pairs of numerical values, used to illustrate the direction and strength of a correlation between two quantitative variables.

Correlation Coefficient

A statistical measure (r) ranging from -1.00 to +1.00 that indicates both the direction and strength of a relationship between two variables.

Positive Correlation

A relationship between two variables in which both variables move in the same direction—either both increase together or both decrease together.

Negative Correlation

An inverse relationship between two variables in which one variable increases while the other decreases.

Experimental Method

A rigorous research procedure in which an investigator manipulates one or more independent variables under controlled conditions to determine cause-and-effect relationships.

Independent Variable

The variable in an experiment that is deliberately manipulated or controlled by the researcher to observe its effect on an outcome.

Dependent Variable

The variable in an experiment that is measured to determine if it changes in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

Confounding Variable

An unwanted, extraneous factor in an experiment that varies systematically with the independent variable, confusing the true cause-and-effect results.

Operational Definitions

Clear, precise, and measurable descriptions of how variables will be quantified and manipulated within a specific study.

Experimental Group

The group of participants in an experiment who are exposed to the active treatment or independent variable manipulation.

Control Group

The group of participants in an experiment who do not receive the experimental treatment, serving as a baseline comparison.

Random Assignment

A procedure where participants are assigned to experimental or control conditions purely by chance, ensuring groups are probabilistically equivalent before manipulation.

Placebo Effect

A phenomenon where participants experience actual psychological or physical improvements due solely to their expectation or belief in a treatment rather than the treatment itself.