PSYC 1F90 CHAPTER 1 DEFINITIONS

Structuralism

Study of sensations and personal experience analyzed as basic elements.

Gestalt psychology

Study of thinking, learning, and perception in whole units, not by analysis into parts.

Humanistic psychology

Study of people as inherently good and motivated to learn and improve.

Understanding

In psychology, being able to state the causes of a behavior.

Scientific method

A form of critical thinking based on careful measurement, controlled observation, and repeatable results.

Biased sample

A subpart of a larger population that does not accurately reflect characteristics of the whole population.

Structured observation

Observing behavior in situations that have been set up by the researcher.

Physiological data

Data that come from participants' physiological processes (including measures of the brain and heart, muscles, and the production of hormones).

Counselor

A mental health professional who specializes in helping people with problems that do not involve serious mental disorders.

Gender bias in research

A tendency for females and female-related issues to be underrepresented in research, whether psychological or otherwise.

Critical thinking

In psychology, a type of reflection involving the support of beliefs through scientific explanation and observation.

Dependent variable

The element of an experiment that measures any effect of the manipulation.

Extraneous variable

A condition or factor that may change and is excluded from influencing the outcome of an experiment.

Control group

Subjects in an experimental study who do not receive the treatment being investigated.

Quasi-experimental study

A descriptive study in which researchers wish to compare groups of people, but cannot randomly assign them to groups.

Uncritical acceptance

The tendency to believe claims because they seem true or because it would be nice if they were true.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to remember or notice information that fits one's expectations, while forgetting or ignoring discrepancies.

Superstition

Unfounded belief held without evidence or in spite of falsifying evidence.

Pseudoscience

Unfounded belief system that seems to be based on science.

Science

An objective approach to answering questions that relies on careful observations and experiments.

Psychologist

A person highly trained in the methods, factual knowledge, and theories of psychology.

Animal model

In research, an animal whose behavior is studied to derive principles that may apply to human behavior.

Clinical psychologist

A psychologist who specializes in the treatment of psychological and behavioral disturbances or who does research on such disturbances.

Counseling psychologist

A psychologist who specializes in the treatment of milder emotional and behavioral disturbances.

Psychiatrist

A medical doctor with additional training in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders.

Psychoanalyst

A mental health professional (usually a medical doctor) trained to practice psychoanalysis.

Scientific observation

An empirical investigation structured to answer questions about the world in a systematic and intersubjective fashion (i.e., observations can be reliably confirmed by multiple observers).

Stimulus

Any physical energy that an organism senses.

Introspection

Personal observation of your own thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Imageless thought

An old term describing the inability of introspectionists to become subjectively aware of some mental processes; an early term describing the cognitive unconscious.

Cognitive unconscious

The part of the mind of which we are subjectively unaware and that is not open to introspection.

Functionalism

School of psychology that considers behaviors in terms of active adaptations.

Natural selection

Darwin's theory that evolution favors those plants and animals best suited to their living conditions.

Behaviorism

School of thought in psychology that emphasizes study of observable actions over study of the mind.

Response

Any muscular action, glandular activity, or other identifiable aspect of behavior.

Radical behaviorism

A behaviorist approach that rejects both introspection and any study of mental events, such as thinking, as inappropriate topics for scientific psychology.

Dynamic unconscious

In Freudian theory, the parts of the mind that are beyond awareness, especially conflicts, impulses, and desires not directly known to a person.

Psychoanalysis

Freudian approach to psychotherapy emphasizing the exploration of the unconscious using free association, dream interpretation, resistances, and transference to uncover unconscious conflicts.

Neo-Freudians

Psychologists who accept the broad features of Freud's theory but have revised the theory to include the role of cultural and social factors while still accepting some of its basic concepts.

Psychodynamic theory

Any theory of behavior that emphasizes internal conflicts, motives, and unconscious forces.

Cognitive psychology

The study of information processing, thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.

Operational definition

Defining a scientific concept by stating the specific actions or procedures used to measure it. For example, hunger might be defined as the number of hours of food deprivation.

Determinism

The idea that all behavior has prior causes that would completely explain one's choices and actions if all such causes were known.

Free will

The ability to freely make choices that are not controlled by genetics, learning, or unconscious forces; the idea that human beings are capable of making choices or decisions themselves.

Self-actualization

The process of fully developing personal potentials.

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Biopsychosocial model

An approach acknowledging that biological, psychological, and social factors interact to influence human behavior and mental processes.

Biological perspective

The attempt to explain behavior in terms of underlying biological principles.

Evolutionary psychology

Approach that emphasizes inherited, adaptive aspects of behavior and mental processes.

Neuroscience

The broader field of biopsychologists and others who study the brain and nervous system, such as biologists and biochemists.

Psychological perspective

The traditional view that behavior is shaped by psychological processes occurring at the level of the individual.

Social perspective

The focus on the importance of social contexts in influencing the behavior of individuals.

Social norms

Rules that define acceptable and expected behavior for members of a group.

Cultural relativity

The idea that behavior must be judged relative to the values of the culture in which it occurs.

Description

In scientific research, the process of naming and classifying.

Prediction

In psychology, an ability to accurately forecast behavior.

Control

In psychology, altering conditions that influence behavior.

Falsification

The deliberate attempt to uncover how a commonsense belief or scientific theory might be false.

Hypothesis

Predicted outcome of an experiment, or an educated guess about the relationship between variables.

Theory

Comprehensive explanation of observable events.

Self-report data

Information that is provided by participants about their own thoughts, emotions, or behaviors, typically on a questionnaire or during an interview.

Survey

Descriptive research method in which participants are asked the same questions.

Population

The entire group of people from which a sample is drawn.

Sample

Subset of a population being studied.

Representative sample

A small, randomly selected part of a larger population that accurately reflects characteristics of the whole population.

Social desirability

Deliberate tendency to provide polite, socially acceptable responses.

Observational data

Data that come from watching participants and recording their behavior.

Naturalistic observation

Observing behavior as it unfolds in natural settings.

Observer effect

Changes in an organism's behavior brought about by an awareness of being observed.

Observer bias

The tendency of an observer to distort observations or perceptions to match his or her expectations.

Variable

Factor or characteristic manipulated or measured in research.

Experiment

A study in which the investigator manipulates at least one variable while measuring at least one other variable.

Independent variable

Variable manipulated by the researcher in an experiment.

Experimental subjects

Humans (also referred to as participants) or animals whose behavior is investigated in an experiment.

Participants

Humans whose behavior is investigated in an experiment.

Experimental group

Group that receives the treatment the study is designed to test.

Random assignment

Use of chance to place subjects in experimental and control groups.

Statistically significant

Experimental results that would rarely occur by chance alone.

Meta-analysis

A statistical technique for combining the results of many studies on the same subject.

Research participant bias

Changes in the behavior of study participants caused by the unintended influence of their own expectations.

Placebo effect

Changes in behavior due to participants' expectations that a drug (or other treatment) will have some effect.

Placebo

Inactive substance or treatment that is distinguishable from a real, active substance or treatment.

Single-blind study

Research in which the subjects do not know which treatment they receive.

Researcher bias

Changes in participants' behavior caused by the unintended influence of a researcher's actions.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A prediction that prompts people to act in ways that make the prediction come true.

Double-blind study

Research in which neither the observer nor the subjects know which subjects received which treatment.

Correlational research

Descriptive study that quantifies the degree to which events, measures, or variables are associated.

Correlation

The existence of a consistent, systematic relationship between two events, measures, or variables.

Correlation coefficient

A statistical index ranging from -1.00 to +1.00 that indicates the direction and degree of correlation.

Causation

The act of causing some effect.

Case study (clinical method)

In-depth analysis of the behavior of one person or a small number of people.