Psychological Science Practices

15-25% of the exam

Hindsight Bias

Tendency to believe, after learning something, you knew it all along aka the knew-it-all-along phenomenon.

Overconfidence

The tendency to believe we know more than we do and overestimate our abilities, knowledge, or the likelihood of success in a situation, often leading to poor decision-making.

Perceiving Order in Random Events

The tendency to perceive meaningful connections or patterns where none exist.

Hypothesis

A specific and testable prediction or educated guess.

Theory

A theory explains a natural phenomenon validated through observation, experimentation, and other verifiable data.

Falsifiability

A theory or hypothesis can be disproven by observation or experiment. It’s used to distinguish between scientific and pseudo-scientific claims (claims or practices that lack scientific evidence or validity).

Operational Definition

Specifies how a variable or concept is observed and measured within a study.

Case Study

A non-experimental research method in which one individual or group is studied in depth to prove a hypothesis.

Naturalistic Observation

A non-experimental research method of observing subjects in their natural environment without interfering with or manipulating their behaviors/interactions/habits.

Survery

A non-experimental research method for obtaining self-reported data by questioning the participants. (Used to obtain data only, not for research purposes).

Social Desirability Bias

Tendency to respond favorably according to the researcher’s presumed expectation.

Self-Report Bias

A tendency where individuals provide inaccurate or distorted information about themselves, their behaviors, or their experiences.

Sampling Bias

A flawed sampling process that doesn't accurately represent the population being studied.

Convenience Sampling

Where researchers select participants based on ease of access or availability, rather than random selection.

Correlation Research

Detects a relationship between two or more variables. Correlation ≠ Causation

Correlation Coefficient

A statistical numerical measure of the strength of a relationship

(neg. correlation) r= -1.00 to 1.00 (pos. correlation) — 0 indicates no correlation.

• Positive correlation: As one variable increases, the other variable tends to increase as well. —> same direction on scatterplot

  (ex: as age increases, so does the number of wrinkles)

• Negative correlation: As one variable increases, the other variable tends to decrease. —> different direction on scatterplot

  (ex: as tiredness increases, the number of hours of sleep tends to decrease)

Illusory Correlation

Perceiving a non-existant relationship between two variables.

Variable

A characteristic, number, or quantity that can be measured or quantified and that can vary or change.

Independent Variable: The variable manipulated to see its effect on another variable. (Cause)

Dependent Variable: The variable that is measured. (Effect)

Control Variable: A variable that is kept constant during an experiment.

Experimental Group

The group that receives the treatment or variable being tested.

Control Group

The group that does not receive the treatment or the variable being tested.

Reliability

The consistency or dependability of a measure.

Validity

The extent to which a test, experiment, or research finding accurately measures what it is supposed to measure.

Meta-Analysis

A combination of results from two or more separate studies to strengthen findings.

Placebo Effect

When a person's physical or mental health appears to improve after taking a placebo or 'dummy' treatment

Double Blindness

Where neither the participants nor the experimenters know who is receiving a particular treatment to prevent bias.

Single Blindness

When the participant doesn't know if they are in the treatment group or the control group.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, favor and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.

Cognitive Bias

Bias in thinking or judging.

Representative Sampling

A subgroup of a larger population that accurately reflects the characteristics and demographics of the entire group.

Random Sampling

Everyone in the population has an equal chance of getting selected/picked.

Generalizability

The degree to which research findings can be applied to other people, situations, or times.

Random Assignment

Assigns participants to either the control or experimental group randomly to increase the chance of equal representation and decrease bias.

Wording Effect

How you frame the question can impact your answers.

Experimenter Bias

When researchers unconsciously influence their experiment's results based on their expectations or preferences.

Confounding Variable

A third variable that affects both the independent and dependent variables, making it difficult to determine the observed relationship between them.

Effect Size

Effect size tells us how big or strong a change or difference is in a psychological study— how much of an impact an intervention had (how A affected B)

• ideal effect size: 0.3

• tells us how meaningful the relationship between the variables is

• gives us the strength value of the relationship between variables