AP Psych Vocab 8.24

Psychiatrist

A medical doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating mental disorders

Psychologist

A professional who studies behavior and mental processes and provides psychological assessment and therapy.

Applied Research

Research designed to solve practical problems or address real-world issues.

Basic Research

Research conducted to increase knowledge and understanding without an immediate practical application.

Behaviorism

The perspective that focuses on observable behavior and how it is learned through interactions with the environment.

Psychoanalysis

A perspective and therapeutic approach developed by Freud that emphasizes unconscious thoughts

Biopsychosocial Perspective

The view that behavior and mental processes result from the interaction of biological

Humanistic Perspective

The perspective that emphasizes free will and personal growth

Cognitive Perspective

The perspective that focuses on thinking and memory

Biological Perspective

The perspective that explains behavior and mental processes through biological factors such as the brain

Sociocultural Perspective

The perspective that examines how culture and social aspects influence behavior

Confounding Variable

An unwanted factor that changes along with the independent variable and can affect the results of an experiment.

Case Study

An in-depth investigation of one person

Correlation

A statistical relationship between two variables that shows how strongly they are related

Dependent Variable

The variable that is measured in an experiment to determine whether it is affected by the independent variable.

Independent Variable

The variable that a researcher changes or manipulates in an experiment.

Single-Blind Study

A study in which participants do not know which group or condition they are assigned to.

Double-Blind Study

A study in which neither the participants nor the researchers interacting with them know who is in each group.

Placebo Effect

An improvement in a person's condition caused by their expectations or belief that a treatment will work rather than by the treatment itself.

Standard Deviation

A measure of how much scores in a set of data typically differ from the mean.

Control Group

The group in an experiment that does not receive the experimental treatment and is used for comparison.

Experimental Group

The group in an experiment that receives the treatment or condition being tested.

Representative Sample

A sample that closely reflects the important characteristics of the larger population being studied.

Convenience Sample

A sample made up of people who are easily available to the researcher.

Random Sample

A sample in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.