AP Psychology Unit 0 Flash Cards

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to see events that have already occurred as being more predictable than they were before they took place.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for information that supports preconception and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.

Belief Perseverance

The cognitive bias that causes people to cling to their initial beliefs even after the basis for them has been discredited or disproved.

Overconfidence Bias

When a person’s subjective confidence in their judgement is reliably greater than their objective accuracy.

Sampling Bias

An error in the sampling process that allows some members of a population to be more or less likely to be included in a study

Experimenter Bias

An error resulting from the experimenter’s unconscious expectations of results.

Social Desirability Bias

When respondents provide answers they think are more socially acceptable rather than truthful ones.

Self Report Bias

When respondents answer questions inaccurately because of misunderstanding, forgetting, or personal beliefs.

Empirical Data

Evidence that comes from observation, experience, or experimentations.

Operational definition

Definitions used to clarify what they are measuring.

Replication

Conducting an experiment or study again to verify and confirm the original findings to ensure reliability and validity.

Reliability

Consistency and stability of an assessment’s results.

Validity

The degree to which assessments succeed in measuring what they are designed to measure.

Independent Variable

The variable that the experimenter manipulates.

Dependent Variable

The variable that researchers measure.

Control Group

A comparison group that doesn’t receive the experimental treatment.

Cofounding Variable

A third variable that could possibly affect the other variables.

Placebo Effect

When change in a person’s physiology on health results from their expectations.

Placebo

A substance or treatment with no healing effects, often used to test new treatments.

Single-Blind Study

One in which the participants do not know whether they belong to the control group or the experimental group.

Double-Blind Study

When neither the experimenter nor the participants know to which group the participants belong.

Generalize

Applying what was learned to all people.

Representative Sample

A sample that has characteristics similar to those in the population.

Random Sampling

One in which each member of the population has the same chance of getting into the sample as any other member.

Random Assignment

Randomness that helps eliminate any difference between the groups.

Behavioral Perspective

A psychology approach that focuses on observable actions and external environmental stimuli rather than the internal thoughts or feelings.

Psychodynamic Perspective

A psychological approach that views human behavior, thoughts, and emotions as driven by unconscious motives, internal conflicts, and early childhood experiences.

Humanistic Perspective

A psychological view that focuses on a person’s free will, personal growth, and inherent drive to reach their full potential.

Cognitive Perspective

A way of studying human behavior by focusing on internal mental process.

Evolutionary Perspective

A way of looking at human behavior, thoughts, and traits through the lens or natural selection.

Biological Perspective

A way of understanding human behaviors and mental processes by looking at physical and internal systems.

Sociocultural Perspective

A way of looking at human behaviors, learning, and mental health through the lens of social groups, relationships, and cultural norms.

Phineas Gage Case Study

1948 - Event in neuroscience where a railroad foreman survived an accidental explosion driving a 13-pound iron rod through his frontal lobe.

Experimental Study

A type of research where scientists actively change one or more variables to see the effect on other variables.

Case Study

An in-depth, real world investigation of a single person, group, event, or organization.

Surveys

A research tool used to gather self-report data from a group of people.

Correlational Study

A non-experimental research design that measures two or more variables to see if a statistical relationship exists between them.

Positive Correlation Coefficient

Variables move together.

Negative Correlational Coefficient

Variables move oppositely.

Naturalistic Observation

A research method where psychologists study humans or animals in their real-world environments without interfering.

Meta-analysis

A statistical method used to combine and compare the results of multiple independent studies on the same topic.

Miligram’s Experiment

An experiment that tested how far ordinary people would go to obey an authority figure who ordered them to inflict physical pain (stimulated shocks on unconsenting strangers).

The Stanford Prison Experiment

An experiment that tested how social roles, labeling, and situational pressure influence human behaviors.

Informed Consent

Ensuring a client, patient, or participant fully understands the scope, risks, benefits, and alternatives of treatment or study before they agree to take part.

Protection in a Study (Minimizing Harm)

Non-maleficence.

Deception in a Study

When a researcher intentionally misleads participants or hides facts about the study.

Debriefing

A short talk between a researcher and a person who takes part in a study after the test ends.

Research Confederate

An actor or helper who pretends to be a normal study participant.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

An ethics committee that reviews research proposals involving human participants.

A falsifiable hypothesis

A testable statement that can be proven wrong by empirical data or observation.