Introduction to Psychology and Scientific Research Methods

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering basic psychological definitions, historical approaches, major figures, and empirical research methods based on the provided text.

Psychology

The scientific study of human behaviour.

Mind

The private set of events that happen inside of a person, such as unobservable thoughts and feelings experienced at every moment.

Behaviour

A public set of events, referring to the observable things people say and do.

Edwin Smith Papyrus

An Ancient Egyptian document containing the earliest scientific record of the brain, spinal cord, and behavioural symptoms.

Nativism

The philosophical view that individuals are born with some innate knowledge and abilities, meaning the mind is not completely blank at birth.

Empiricism

The philosophical view that all knowledge is acquired through experience, asserting that a child's mind is a blank slate at birth (tabula rasa).

Philosophical Dualism

The belief held by René Descartes that the mind and body are fundamentally separate entities that interact with one another.

Philosophical Materialism

The view advocated by Thomas Hobbes that all mental phenomena are reducible to physical phenomena, meaning the mind is what the brain does.

Philosophical Realism

The position held by John Locke that perceptions of the physical world are produced entirely by information conveyed directly by sensory organs.

Philosophical Idealism

The view proposed by Immanuel Kant that perceptions of the physical world are the brain's interpretation of sensory information rather than a direct reflection of reality.

Phrenology

A debunked theory created by Franz Joseph Gall proposing that specific mental abilities are located in distinct brain regions and reflected by bumps and dents on the skull.

Reaction Time

The amount of time taken by an individual to respond to a specific sensory stimulus.

Consciousness

A person's subjective experience of the world and their own mental processes.

Structuralism

An early approach to psychology, associated with Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener, that aimed to analyze and isolate the basic elements of consciousness.

Introspection

The technique used by structuralists involving the subjective observation and reporting of one's own conscious experiences.

Functionalism

An approach to psychology developed by William James that studies the purpose of mental processes and how they help organisms adapt and survive.

Natural Selection

Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory stating that traits increasing an organism's survival and reproductive success are more likely to be passed on to future generations.

Hysteria

A temporary loss of cognitive or motor functions that usually results from emotionally upsetting experiences.

Unconscious

The part of the mind containing information, memories, and impulses of which people are not consciously aware.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud's general psychological theory emphasizing the influence of unconscious processes and childhood experiences on thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.

Psychoanalysis

A therapeutic approach designed to provide individuals with insight into their unconscious minds by examining childhood memories, dreams, and fantasies.

Humanistic Psychology

An approach to psychology founded by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers that emphasizes human positive potential and self-actualization.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

A pyramid model structuring human needs from base biological survival requirements up to self-actualization at the apex.

Behaviourism

An approach advocating that psychology restrict itself to the scientific study of observable actions and responses rather than unobservable mental events.

Principle of Reinforcement

B. F. Skinner's concept stating that behaviours followed by pleasant outcomes will be repeated, while those followed by unpleasant outcomes will not.

Illusions

Errors of perception, memory, or judgement where subjective experience differs from objective reality.

Gestalt Psychology

A psychological approach emphasizing that the mind creates unified perceptual experiences and naturally perceives whole patterns rather than sums of individual parts.

Developmental Psychology

The branch of experimental psychology that studies how psychological phenomena change across the human life span.

Quantity Conservation

The developmental milestone where a child understands that the quantity of a substance remains constant despite changes in its physical shape or appearance.

Social Psychology

A subfield of psychology that investigates the causes and consequences of interpersonal behaviour and social interaction.

Conformity

The tendency for individuals to alter their beliefs, attitudes, actions, or perceptions to match the normative standards of a group.

Out-group Homogeneity Bias

The cognitive bias where individuals view members of an out-group as being more similar to one another than members of their in-group.

Cognitive Psychology

The scientific study of human information-processing, focusing on internal mental processes such as perception, memory, thinking, language, and problem-solving.

Evolutionary Psychology

A discipline explaining mind and behaviour in terms of the adaptive value of abilities preserved over time by natural selection.

Cognitive Neuroscience

An interdisciplinary field that studies the direct relationship between brain activity and mental processes.

Behavioural Neuroscience

The study linking specific brain mechanisms and biological structures directly to observable behaviour.

Cultural Psychology

The study of how culture shapes, reflects, and interacts with individual psychological processes and mental life.

Absolutism

The view in cultural psychology that culture has little impact on psychological functions and that the human mind operates identically everywhere.

Relativism

The view in cultural psychology that psychological processes vary significantly across different cultures.

Scientific Method

A systematic procedure for discovering facts using empirical evidence to formulate and test theories.

Theory

A hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon.

Hypothesis

A falsifiable prediction derived from a theory that can be tested through empirical observation or experiment.

Rule of Parsimony

The principle (also known as Occam's razor) that recommends choosing the simplest explanation that accounts for all evidence while avoiding unnecessary assumptions.

Operational Definition

A description of an abstract property in concrete, measurable terms.

Validity

The extent to which a concrete measurement and an underlying conceptual property are correctly related.

Reliability

The tendency for an instrument or measure to produce the exact same result whenever it is used to measure the exact same thing.

Power

The capacity of a measuring instrument to detect the specific concrete conditions outlined in an operational definition.

Demand Characteristics

Aspects of an observational setting that lead participants to behave in ways they believe an observer wants or expects them to.

Naturalistic Observation

A technique for gathering data by unobtrusively observing subjects within their natural environments.

Observer Bias

The phenomenon where an experimenter's expectations skew both what they believe they observed and what actually occurred.

Double-blind Study

A research design in which neither the researcher nor the participant knows the specific hypothesis or group assignment.

Frequency Distribution

A graphic display showing measurements organized by the total count of times each value occurred.

Normal Distribution

A symmetrical, bell-shaped frequency distribution where measurements concentrate centrally around the mean.

Mode

The specific value that appears most frequently in a set of data.

Mean

The mathematical average obtained by dividing the sum of all values by the total number of values in a dataset.

Median

The middle score in an ordered set of values where half the scores are higher and half are lower.

Range

A measure of variability calculated by subtracting the smallest value from the largest value in a distribution.

Standard Deviation

A descriptive statistic showing how far data values typically deviate from the mean.

Correlation Coefficient

A mathematical index (denoted as $r$) ranging from $-1.0$ to $+1.0$ that measures the direction and strength of the relationship between two variables.

Third-variable Correlation

The phenomenon where two variables appear correlated only because both are causally linked to an unmeasured third variable.

Manipulation

An experimental technique involving systematic variation of an independent variable to establish its causal effect.

Independent Variable

The variable manipulated by experimenters to evaluate its causal impact on an outcome.

Dependent Variable

The outcome variable measured in an experiment to assess whether changes in the independent variable had an effect.

Experimental Group

The group of participants in an experiment who receive the specific manipulation being tested.

Control Group

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

Self-Selection

A research flaw occurring when participant attributes determine their assignment to experimental conditions instead of random assignment.

Random Assignment

A procedural method using chance mechanisms to ensure each participant has an equal probability of placement in any experimental group.

Statistically Significant

A experimental finding achieved when the probability that random assignment failed is less than 5 percent ($p < .05$).

Type I Error

An error occurring when researchers incorrectly conclude that a causal relationship exists between variables when none actually exists.

Type II Error

An error occurring when researchers incorrectly conclude that no causal relationship exists between variables when one actually does.

Debriefing

A comprehensive verbal explanation given to participants after a study explaining its true nature, hypothesis, and any deception used.

Observing children through a one-way mirror in a classroom setting without their knowledge to study sharing behavior

Naturalistic observation, which minimizes demand characteristics by unobtrusively observing subjects in their natural environment.

A clinical trial where neither the participants nor the doctors administering the treatments know who receives the active medication versus a placebo

Double-blind study design, which prevents both demand characteristics and observer bias from influencing results.

Defining "aggression" in a study as "the total number of times a child hits or pushes another child during a 20-minute recess"

Operational definition, which describes an abstract property in concrete, measurable terms.

The finding that ice cream sales and drowning rates increase together, caused by the unmeasured factor of warmer outdoor temperatures

Third-variable correlation, where two variables covary only because both are causally linked to an unmeasured third factor.

A researcher concluding that a memory supplement improves recall test scores when in reality the supplement has no effect

Type I error (a false positive conclusion where a causal relationship is claimed when none exists).

A researcher concluding that a novel therapy does not reduce anxiety symptoms when it actually does

Type II error (a false negative conclusion where a real causal effect goes undetected).

A dog learning to sit on command because it receives a food treat every time it performs the action

Principle of reinforcement, B. F. Skinner's concept stating that behaviors followed by pleasant outcomes are repeated.

A sports fan assuming that all fans of an opposing team act, dress, and think in the exact same obnoxious way

Out-group homogeneity bias, the tendency to view members of an external group as more similar to one another than members of one's own group.

A child recognizing that pouring juice from a short, wide glass into a tall, thin glass does not change the total volume of juice

Quantity conservation, a developmental cognitive milestone where physical shape changes do not distort quantity understanding.

Study participants changing their normal behavior and working faster simply because they notice an investigator holding a clipboard nearby

Demand characteristics, aspects of a research environment that cause participants to alter behavior to fit perceived expectations.

Flipping a coin to determine whether each participant is placed into the caffeine group or the placebo group in a reaction time study

Random assignment, a technique ensuring every participant has an equal likelihood of being placed in any experimental condition to avoid self-selection bias.

Two people looking at the exact same image of a dress and perceiving different colors because their brains interpret optical information differently

Philosophical idealism, Immanuel Kant's view that perceptions reflect the brain's interpretation of sensory data rather than direct physical reality.

The philosophical belief that a non-physical mind controls a physical body through interaction at the pineal gland

Philosophical dualism, proposed by René Descartes.

Choosing a simple explanation with fewer assumptions over a complex explanation to account for observed data

Rule of parsimony (Occam's razor).

An experimental result where calculation shows the probability that random assignment failed is less than 5 percent ($p < .05$)

Statistically significant result, meaning the observed difference between groups is unlikely to be due to chance alone.