AP Psychology Unit 0: Science Practices

Cultural Norms

the shared, unwritten rules, values, and expectations that guide appropriate behavior within a specific society or group

Confirmation Bias

the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses, while ignoring or downplaying information that contradicts them

Hindsight Bias

the tendency to believe after learning an outcome that one would’ve foreseen it (i knew it all along phenomenon)

Overconfidence

when humans tend to think we know more than we do (Rahnev Et Al)

Experimental Study

a scientific investigation that tests a hypothesis to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between variables

Case Study

a non experimental technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations

Correlation

a statistical relationship or connection between two or more variables, indicating they change together, but not necessarily that one causes the other

Meta- Analysis

a statistical procedure that combines the quantitative results from multiple independent studies on the same research topic to produce a single, overall conclusion or estimate of an effect size

Hypothesis

an educated guess

Falsifiable

theory that can be shown to be false through a specific observation or experiment

Operational Defenition

a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in the research study

Independent Variable

a factor manipulated by the experiment and whose effect is being studied

Dependent Variable

the factor controlled/dependent on the independent variable

Confounding Variables

variables that cannot be controlled

Sample

a subgroup of a larger population that is selected for a research study to draw conclusions about the entire group

Population

the entire group of individuals that a researcher is interested in studying and wants to draw conclusions about

Representative Sample

a subset of a larger population that accurately reflects the characteristics of the entire population

random sampling

the process of selecting participants for a study such that every member of the target population has an equal chance of being chosen

convenience sampling

a non-probability sampling method where researchers select participants who are readily available and convenient to access

Sampling Bias

when a sample is selected in a way that makes it unrepresentative of the overall population- produces an unrepresentative sample

Generalizability

the extent to which the findings from a research study on a specific sample can be applied to a broader population

Experimental Group

the group of participants in a study that is exposed to the independent variable or treatment being tested

Control Group

the variables that stay constant throughout the experiment

Placebo

the phenomenon where a person experiences a genuine improvement in their condition after receiving a harmless, inert substance or treatment (a placebo) because they believe it is a real treatment

Single Blind

only one party is unaware of the treatment assignment

Double Blind

neither parties know the treatment study

Social Desirability Bias

the tendency for individuals to answer survey or interview questions in a way that presents themselves favorably to others, often by over-reporting positive traits and behaviors or under-reporting negative ones

Qualitative

research or data that is non-numerical, focusing on subjective experiences, descriptions, and observations to understand underlying qualities, behaviors, or phenomena

Quantitative

uses numerical measures to collect and analyze data, allowing for statistical analysis to test hypotheses, identify relationships between variables, and generalize findings to broader populations

Peer Review

an independent assessment process where experts in the field of psychology evaluate a research study or article before it is published

Replication

the process of repeating the essence of a research study with different participants and/or in different circumstances to determine if the original findings are consistent and can be generalized

Directionality Problem

a limitation of correlational research that arises when two variables are found to be correlated, but it's unclear which variable is the cause and which is the effect

Third Variable Problem

occurs when an observed correlation between two variables (X and Y) is actually due to a third, unmeasured variable (Z) that influences both X and Y, creating a false causal relationship

Survey Technique

a research technique that collects self-reported data from a representative sample of individuals through questionnaires or interviews to gather information about their attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, or characteristics

Self Report Bias

occurs when participants' answers to a survey or questionnaire are influenced by factors like social desirability, memory inaccuracies, or a lack of self-awareness, leading to information that doesn't accurately reflect their true attitudes, behaviors, or experiences

Institutional Review

a committee that reviews research proposals involving human subjects to ensure ethical standards and participant welfare are protected

Informed Consent

provide potential participants with sufficient information about a study to allow them to make a voluntary and informed decision about participation

Informed Assent

informed consent for minors

Protection From Harm

an ethical principle requiring researchers to ensure participants are safeguarded from both physical and psychological harm

Confidentiality

the ethical principle that requires researchers to protect a participant's private information, ensuring their identity and data are not disclosed to others without their consent

Deception

when a researcher intentionally withholds information or provides false information to participants so that they may form a mistaken belief about the study's purpose, methods, or implications

Research Confederates

an actor hired by the researcher to pose as a genuine participant in an experiment while actually following the experimenter's script or instructions

Debriefing

the true purpose, methods, and findings of the research to participants, especially when deception was used

Mean

average of all data

Median

if you were to line up all numbers- it’ll be the one in the middle

Mode

the number that shows up most often

Range

the spread of numbers in a data set

Normal Curve

a symmetrical, bell-shaped graph that represents the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes, where the majority of scores cluster around the average

Variation

the extent to which data points differ from each other or spread out within a dataset

Skewness

when you data favors one way more than the other

Bimodal Distribution

a frequency distribution with two distinct peaks (modes), indicating that the data points in a set cluster around two different values

Standard Deviation

a statistical measure of variability, or the average distance of scores from the mean

Percentile Rank

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

Regression Towards Mean

the statistical phenomenon where exceptionally high or low scores or measurements tend to move closer to the average (mean) upon retesting

Scatterplot

a graph that visually displays the relationship between two quantitative variables by plotting each data point as a dot

Correlation Coefficient

a numerical value between -1 and +1 that describes the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables

Effect Size

how much info you get after an experiment

Statistical Significance

a research result is very unlikely to have occurred by chance. When a finding is statistically significant, it indicates the difference or relationship observed between variables is real and not just random fluctuation, allowing researchers to reject the null hypothesis