Chapter 1: Thinking Critically With Psychological Science

Naturalistic observations

________ and surveys tend to show that a specific trait and /or behavior often coincides with another trait /behavior.

Survey

________: A descriptive technique for obtaining the self- reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.

Replication

________: repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding can be reproduced.

Hindsight Bias

________: The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.

Hypotheses

________: a testable prediction, often implied by a theory.

Humans

________ tend to think that we known than we actually do, tending to make us more confident than correct.

unusual scores

Regression Toward the Mean: the tendency for extreme or ________ or events to fall back (regress) toward the average.

Variable

________: anything that can vary and is feasible and ethical to measure.

Illusory Correlation

________: perceiving a relationship where none exists, or perceiving a stronger- then- actual relationship.

Random assignment

________ allows researchers to minimize the possibilities of preexisting conditions between the different groups.

Scatterplot

________: a graphed cluster of dots, each representing the values of two different variables.

meta analysis

A(n) ________ is an important tool in medical and psychological sciences.

Case Study

________: A descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.

human trials

ALlowing reasearch to be done on animals can help develop and study reactions to different types of treatments before ________.

Psychological science

________ focuses less on specific behaviors than on revealing general principles that make it easer for us to understand many different behaviors.

Experiment

________: a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (the independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable)

artificial settings

The principles of the visual system that researchers apply to more complex behaviors that have been developed through many experiments created in ________.

Operational Definition

________: a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures (operations) used in a research study.

Correlation Coefficient

________: a statistical indeed of the relationship between two things (from- 1.00 to +1.00)

Correlations

________ allow us to see relationships we may have not seen, as well as restrain "seeing "relationships that are nonexistent.

Independent Variable

________: in an experiment, the factor that is manipulated, the variable whose effect is being studied.

Hindsight bias

________, overconfidence, and our habit of looking at random events and finding patterns often tempt us to overestimate our intuition.

Naturalistic Observation

________: A descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.

Correlation

________: a measurement of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other.