AP Psychology : Unit 0

Psychology

the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

Curiosity Skepticism Humility

the three core scientific attitudes: asking questions

Critical Thinking

evaluating evidence assumptions and conclusions instead of accepting claims at face value

Hindsight bias

the tendency to believe after an outcome that you would have predicted it (the "I knew it all along" effect)

Confirmation Bias

the tendency to seek or favor information that supports what you already believe

Overconfidence

the tendency to overestimate how accurate your knowledge or judgments are

Peer reviewers

experts who evaluate a study before publication to check its quality and validity

Theory

an explanation that organizes observations and predicts future behaviors or events

Hypothesis

a testable prediction often drawn from a theory

Operational Definition

a precise statement of how a variable is measured or manipulated in a study

Replication

repeating a study to see whether the original results hold up

Case Study

an in-depth investigation of one person or a small group

Meta-Analysis

a statistical method that combines the results of many studies

Naturalistic Observation

observing behavior in its natural setting without intervening

Survey

gathering self-reported attitudes or behaviors from many people through questions

Social desirability bias

the tendency to answer in ways that make oneself look good rather than truthfully

Self-report bias

inaccuracy in data caused by people reporting on themselves inaccurately

Experimenter Bias

when a researcher's expectations influence the study's results

Population

the entire group a researcher wants to describe or draw conclusions about

Sample

the subset of the population actually studied

Sampling Bias

when a sample is not representative of the population and distorts results

Random Sample

a sample in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen

Representative Sample

a sample that accurately reflects the characteristics of the population

Experimental Methodology

research that manipulates variables to determine cause and effect

Non-Experimental Methodology

research that describes or correlates without manipulating variables and cannot show causation

Correlation

a measure of how two variables are related

Correlation Coefficient

a number from -1 to +1 showing the strength and direction of a relationship

Variable

any factor that can change and be measured

Scatterplot

a graph of plotted points showing the relationship between two variables

Illusory Correlation

perceiving a relationship between two variables when none actually exists

Directionality Problem

the uncertainty in a correlation about which variable is causing the other

Regression Toward the Mean

the tendency for extreme scores to drift back toward the average on retesting

Experiment

a method that manipulates an independent variable to measure its effect on a dependent variable allowing cause-and-effect conclusions

Experimental Group

the group exposed to the treatment or independent variable

Control Group

the group not exposed to the treatment used as a comparison baseline

Independent Variable(s)

the factor the experimenter manipulates

Dependent Variable(s)

the outcome the experimenter measures

Random Assignment

assigning participants to groups by chance to make the groups equivalent

Single-Blind Procedure

a design where participants do not know which condition they are in

Double-Blind Procedure

a design where neither participants nor researchers know who is in which condition

Placebo

an inactive substance or fake treatment given to the control group

Confounding Variable

an outside factor that could affect the results and offer an alternative explanation

Quantitative Research

research that collects numerical data that can be measured and analyzed statistically

Qualitative Research

research that collects non-numerical data such as interviews or observations to explore meaning and experience

Likert Scales

a rating scale on which people indicate their level of agreement

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

a committee that reviews proposed research to ensure it is ethical and protects participants

Informed Consent

participants' agreement to take part in a study after being told what it involves

Protect from Harm

the ethical requirement to keep participants safe from physical and psychological harm

Confidentiality

the ethical requirement to keep participants' data and identities private

Debriefing

informing participants after a study about its true purpose and addressing any deception used

Descriptive Statistics

numbers that summarize and describe a set of data

Histogram

a bar graph that displays the frequency distribution of data

Measure of Central Tendency

a single value that describes the center of a data set

Mode

the most frequently occurring score in a data set

Mean

the arithmetic average of a set of scores

Median

the middle score when the data are ordered from lowest to highest

Percentile Rank

the percentage of scores that fall at or below a given score

Skewed Distribution

a distribution in which scores cluster toward one end

Measures of Variation

numbers that describe how spread out the scores in a data set are

Range

the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a data set

Standard Deviation

a measure of how much

Normal Curve

a symmetrical bell-shaped distribution in which most scores fall near the mean

Inferential Statistics

statistics used to determine whether results can be generalized to a larger population

Statistical Significance

an indication that a result is unlikely to have occurred by chance

Effect Size

a measure of the strength or magnitude of a relationship or difference

Biological perspective

explains behavior in terms of the brain

Psychodynamic perspective

explains behavior in terms of unconscious drives and early childhood experiences

Behavioral perspective

explains behavior in terms of learning through conditioning and environmental influences

Cognitive perspective

explains behavior in terms of how people think

Humanistic perspective

explains behavior in terms of free will

Sociocultural perspective

explains behavior in terms of social and cultural influences

Biopsychosocial perspective

an approach that looks at health, illness, and human behavior by combining biological, psychological, and social factors