AP Psych Vocab Quiz #1 (Unit 0)

Words #1-36

Cultural Norms

the rules or expectations of behavior and thoughts based on shared beliefs within a specific cultural or social group

Confirmation Bias

the tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Hindsight Bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it (the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon)

Overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct (we tend to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgement)

Independent Variables

in an experiment, the factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied

Confounding Variables

factor other than the factor being studied that might influence a study’s results

Dependent Variables

in an experiment, the outcome that is measured; variable that may change when independent variable is manipulated

Random Assignment

assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between the different groups

Case Study

a descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

Correlation

a measure of the extent to which 2 factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other

Positive Correlation

direct relationship between 2 variables (as value of one increases, the other’s increases too)

Negative Correlation

inverse relationship between 2 variables (the value of one decreases, the other’s increases)

Meta-Analysis

research study procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies

Naturalistic Observation

descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally-occurring situations without trying to manipulate or control the situation

Hypothesis

a testable prediction, often implied by a theory

Falsifiable (as it pertains to hypotheses)

the ability for something to be proven false (testing the null hypothesis to see if it can be accepted or rejected)

Operational Definitions

a carefully worded statement of exact procedures used in a research study (ex. measurable human intelligence)

Replication

repeating essence of a research study, usually with different participants and situations; to see whether basic findings can be reproduced

Central Tendency

refers to the middle of a data set, where data tends to fall (ex. median, mode, mode)

Variation

the differences and diversity that exists within a population

Percentile Rank

the percentage of scores in a data distribution that fall below a particular score

Mean

arithmetic average, total sum of all the scores divided by number of scores

Median

midpoint, middle score in a data distribution

Mode

the most frequently occurring score or scores

Range

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

Normal Curve

symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes distribution of many types of data, most scores fall near the average

Positive Skew

data distribution is more spread out on the right side, unusually high scores

Negative Skew

data distribution is more spread out on the left side, unusually low scores

Bimodal Distribution

distribution with 2 peaks around which values tend to cluster

Standard Deviation

a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score

Regression Toward the Mean

the tendency for extreme or unusual scores to fall back toward their average

Sample

relatively small number of participants drawn from an entire population

Population

all the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn

Representative Sample

sample with participants with characteristics that closely match the characteristics of the whole population

Random Sampling

sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

Convenience Sampling

sampling method where you select a naturally-occurring group of people within the population you want to study