IU PSY P-101 Chapter 1-2 Terms

Applied Psychologists

Psychologists who extend the principles of scientific psychology to practical problems in the world

Behavior

Observable actions

Behaviorism

Type of psychology based on observable behavior rather than immediate conscious experience

Clinical Psychologist

A psychologist who diagnoses and treats psychological problems

Cognitive Revolution

The shift away from strict behaviorism, begun in the 1950s, characterized by renewed interest in fundamental problems of consciousness and internal mental processes.

Culture

The shared values, customs, and beliefs of a community

Eclectic approach

The idea of selecting information from several types of psychology rather than relying on a single school of thought

Empiricism

The idea that knowledge comes directly from experience

Evolutionary psychology

Movement proposing that we're born with mental processes and "software" acquired through natural selection in our past

Functionalism

The early school of thought that believed the proper way to understand the mind and behavior was to analyze their function and purpose

Humanistic psychology

A school of psychology that focuses on people's unique capacities for choice, responsibility, growth, and goodness

Mind

The contents and processes of subjective experience: sensations, thoughts, and emotions

Nativism

The idea that some knowledge is innate at birth

Psychiartists

Mental doctors who can diagnose and treat psychological problems and can prescribe medicine

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mind

Research psychologists

Psychologists who try to discover the basic principles of behavior and mind

Structuralism

An early school of psychology that used introspection to understand the mind by breaking it down into basic parts

Immediate conscious experience

The subjective, first-person awareness of your own thoughts, sensations, and feelings when experiencing something ("what it feels like")

Case study

A descriptive research process in which effort is entirely focused on a single case/individual

Confidentiality

Personal information of a research participant should not be revealed without permission

Confounding variable

An uncontrolled variable in an experiment that can alter results

Correlation

A statistic that measures the extent of a relationship between two variables but does not show causation

Debriefing

Informing participants at the conclusion of an experiment of its general purpose, including any deception involved

Dependent variable

The behavior that is measured or observed in an experiment

Descriptive research

Methods designed to observe and describe behavior

Descriptive statistics

Mathematical techniques that help researchers describe their data

Double-blind study

An experiment in which neither the participants nor the researchers know the group assignments to limit biases

Experimental research

When the experimenter actively manipulates the environment to observe its effect on behavior

External validity

The extent to which the results can be generalized to real life

Independent variable

The aspect of the environment that is manipulated in an experiment

Inferential statistics

Mathematical techniques that help researchers decide whether the data is representative of the population or is due to chance

Informed consent

Before consenting to participate in research, participants are fully informed of any factors that could alter their willingness to participate

Internal validity

The extent to which an experiment has effectively controlled for confounding variables

Naturalistic observation

A research technique that records naturally occurring behavior

Operational definitions

Definitions that specify how concepts can be observed and measured

Placebo

An inactive substance or fake treatment used as a control in an experiment

Random assignment

Ensures each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any of the treatments; reduces bias

Random sampling

A procedure guaranteeing that everyone in a population has an equal likelihood of being selected for the sample

Reactivity

When behavior changes as a result of the observation process

Scientific method

A multistep technique that generates empirical knowledge

Single blind study

Participants are unaware of which condition they have been assigned to control for participant expectancies

Survey

Research technique designed to gather limited amounts of information from many people, usually through questionnaires

Variability

An assessment of how well a test measures what it is supposed to measure