Introduction to Psychology Lecture Notes Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering psychological perspectives, historical figures, research methods, statistical concepts, experimental designs, and ethical rules from Intro Psychology lecture notes.

Phrenology

An early popular pseudoscience that stated that bumps on the human head dictated how humans act.

Wilhelm Wundt

Psychologist who established the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany in 1879.

Biological Perspective

A psychological perspective that studies how bodily events, such as hormones, organ speed, and the nervous system, affect behavior, feelings, and thought.

Evolutionary Psychology

A perspective focusing on how genetically influenced behavior that was functional in the past is reflective in our present behaviors and mental processes.

Learning Perspective

A psychological perspective concerning how the environment and experience affect human behavior.

Cognitive Perspective

A perspective emphasizing what goes on in people's heads and how people reason, remember, solve problems, and acquire moral standards.

Sociocultural Perspective

A psychological perspective focusing on social and cultural forces outside the individual that shape every aspect of behavior.

Basic Psychology

Subfield of psychology consisting of academic researchers, biological psychologists, and cognitive psychologists.

Applied Psychology

Subfield of psychology consisting of practical practitioners such as clinical and counseling psychologists, forensic psychologists, and psychoanalysts.

Psychotherapist

Someone who does any psychotherapy; this term is not legally regulated.

Psychoanalyst

A person who practices psychoanalysis therapy, which requires specialized training.

Psychiatrist

A medical doctor trained to diagnose mental disorders, some of whom conduct research on mental problems.

Principle of Falsifiability

The principle that a hypothesis must be set up so that it could be disproved if contrary evidence is discovered.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to think a certain way if others think so too.

Representative Sample

A group of participants that accurately represents the larger population the researcher is interested in.

Descriptive Methods

Research methods that yield descriptions of behavior but do not provide direct explanations for why it occurs.

Case Study

A detailed description of a particular individual being studied or treated based on record examination, mostly used by clinicians, with weak generalizability for forming conclusions.

Observational Study

A study in which the researcher systematically measures and records behavior naturalistically or in a lab without interfering with it.

Psychological Tests

Standardized procedures used to measure personality traits, emotional states, aptitudes, interests, and abilities.

Objective Tests

Psychological tests that measure beliefs, feelings, or behaviors that an individual is aware of.

Projective Tests

Psychological tests designed to tap into unconscious feelings or motives.

Reliability

The consistency of test scores or measurement for the same participant from one time and place to another.

Validity

The ability of a test to measure what it was designed or supposed to measure.

Cross-Sectional Study

A study in which different groups of participants are compared at a given time.

Longitudinal Study

A study in which participants are followed and periodically reassessed over a period of time.

Single-Blind Study

A study in which participants do not know what condition they are in.

Experimenter Effects

Unintended changes in participants' behavior as a result of cues that the experimenter inadvertently conveys.

Double-Blind Study

An experiment in which neither the people being studied nor the individuals running the study know who is in what condition until after the results.

Field Research

An empirical investigation conducted in a natural setting outside the lab.

Informed Consent

The doctrine that anyone participating in human research must do so voluntarily and know enough about the study.

Descriptive Statistics

Statistical numbers that organize and summarize research data.

Inferential Statistics

Statistical procedures that allow researchers to conclude how statistically reliable a study's results are.

Significance Test

A statistical procedure testing how likely a study would have turned out the same if there were no relationship between the variables in question.

Effect Size

A standardized way of describing the strength of the relationship between variables.

Replication

The process of repeating the same procedure to determine whether the results of a research study would turn out the same way.

Tenacity

An approach to gathering knowledge based on the persistence of information and common sense.

Intuition

An approach to gathering knowledge characterized by having no identifiable reasoning or inference.

Authority

An approach to gathering knowledge where credibility is based on the source or sources.

Rationalism

An approach to gathering knowledge that employs pure reasoning with no test of premises.

Empiricism

An approach to gathering knowledge that relies on experience without the use of logic.

Science

A marriage of empiricism and rationalism that involves collecting data in controlled conditions and analyzing data carefully.

Operational Definition

An element of the scientific process that requires being clear about measurements and terms.

Naturalistic Observation

Observing people in a natural state during observational research.

Laboratory Observation

Observational research conducted within a set experiment setting.

Pilot Testing

Having a trial run, which is useful for testing observational research methods.

Norms

Standards for psychological tests established by having an idea of the norm or average performable score.

Correlation

A relationship between two variables that can be positive or negative, though correlation does not equal causation.

J. S. Mill's Criteria for Cause and Effect

Three criteria for determining cause and effect: temporal precedence, co-relationship/covariance, and elimination of rival explanations.

Temporal Precedence

A criterion for establishing cause and effect requiring that the cause comes before the effect.

True Experiments

Research designs involving the manipulation of a variable to create comparison groups and the random assignment of participants into groups.

Random Assignment

Assigning participants into experimental groups by chance, which tends to equalize the groups on all other variables.

Independent Variable

The variable in an experiment that is manipulated or changed.

Dependent Variable

The variable in an experiment that changes based on the independent variable.

Control Condition

The baseline or actively changed variable condition set up for comparison across groups in an experiment.

Debriefing

An ethical consideration involving explaining the nature and details of the study to the participant after participation.