Bio ph

Superstition

Belief based on gut feeling, magic, or irrational thinking.

Authority

Accepting knowledge because someone important said it.

Tenacity

Holding on to beliefs through repetition.

Rationalism

Using logical reasoning; accuracy depends on valid premises.

Empiricism

Gaining knowledge through objective observation.

Science

A combination of rationalism and empiricism—logical reasoning based on observation.

Hindsight bias

Belief that one 'knew it all along' after the outcome is known.

Overconfidence

Overestimating one’s knowledge or abilities.

Perceiving order in randomness

Humans often see patterns where none exist.

Curiosity

Desire to explore and understand the world.

Skepticism

Requiring data to be convinced.

Humility

Accepting when you're wrong or don’t know.

Scientific method

A process for testing ideas through hypotheses, observation, and experimentation.

Case study

In-depth examination of one individual.

Naturalistic observation

Observing subjects in their natural environment.

Ecological validity

The extent findings apply to real-world behavior.

Disguised observation

Participants don't know they're being observed.

Undisguised observation

Participants are aware they're being observed.

Participant observation

Researcher participates in the setting.

Expectancy effects

Researcher’s expectations bias results.

Narrative records

Full descriptive notes or recordings of behavior.

Standardized interviews

Same questions, same order for all participants.

Semistandardized interviews

Flexible question wording, some elaboration allowed.

Unstandardized interviews

Unstructured, free-flowing conversation.

Focus group interview

Group discussion with 6–10 participants.

Likert scale

Numerical rating scale indicating agreement or frequency.

Loaded question

Includes emotionally charged or biased terms.

Leading question

Suggests a desired response.

Double-barreled question

Asks two things in one question.

Response bias

Tendency to answer similarly across questions.

Reverse coding

Reversing the scoring of a question to control bias.

Demographic questions

Questions about personal characteristics (e.g., age, gender).

Correlation

Measure of how two variables vary together.

Positive correlation

Both variables increase or decrease together.

Negative correlation

One variable increases as the other decreases.

Correlation coefficient (r)

A number from -1.00 to +1.00 that indicates strength and direction.

Third Variable Problem

A third factor influences both correlated variables.

Illusory correlation

Believing there’s a relationship when none exists.

Regression toward the mean

Extreme values tend to move closer to average on retesting.

Independent variable (IV)

The variable that is manipulated.

Dependent variable (DV)

The variable that is measured.

Confounding variable

A variable that may affect the DV besides the IV.

Double-blind procedure

Neither researchers nor participants know group assignments.

Placebo effect

Behavior changes due to belief in treatment.

IRB

Institutional Review Board – oversees ethics in research.

Informed consent

Participants agree after being informed about study details.

Minimal risk

No more risk than in daily life.

Deception in research

Withholding true purpose to avoid biasing responses.

Debriefing

Explaining study purpose and answering questions after participation.

Tuskegee study

Unethical study where Black men were denied syphilis treatment.

Unethical studies

Examples include Milgram's obedience study, Stanford prison experiment, Tuskegee syphilis study.

Measures of central tendency

Mean, median, mode.

Standard deviation

Average amount each score differs from the mean.

Statistical significance

Results unlikely due to chance (p ≤ 0.05).

Reliable result

Representative sample, low variability, many observations.