AP Psychology-Scientific Practices

cognitive bias

jumping to conclusions your brain based off of personal experiences that might not be accurate

hindsight bias

believing that you knew the result from the beginning after finding out the result

overconfidence

believing that you know more than you really do

perceived order in random events

people seek patterns to comfort themselves in a world that it out of their control

scientific method

an experimental process that psychological scientists use to test their theories

theory

an explanation using organized observations

hypothesis

predictions that are tested in theories

operational definitions

carefully worded reports to replicated the original report. used to avoid bias

replicate

repeating original results in a study to check for new observations or common results

confounding variables

other factors in an experiment besides the independent and dependent variable that can affect the outcomes of the experiment

experiment

a way to research certain things by controlling one group and manipulating the other

independent variable

the factor in an experiment that is being manipulated to study and form observations

dependent variable

the factor in an experiment that’s outcome is being studied based on the independent variable

population

the group of people could get studied in an experiment

sample

the group within the population that is studied in the research

random sample

randomly selecting people in society to be part of an experiment

random assignment

randomly assigning people to different experimental groups to receive the most accurate results in an experiment

control group

the group within the experiment that does not change (constant)

experimental group

the group within the experiment that changes to experiment and manipulate the data to find new observations

single bind

when those who are being experimented on are unknowing of the comparison between two factors

double bind

when those who are being experimented on and those who are administering the experiment are unknowing of the comparison between two factors

naturalistic observation

observing subjects in their natural environment

survey

administered to collect data about opinions, attitudes, and reported behaviors (self-report)

case study

studying one person/group by following the history of the event rather than experimenting

meta-analysis

compares the results of multiple studies to get a more reliable conclusion

longitudinal study

one group of subjects is studied over a longer period of time

cross-sectional

studies data from multiple different groups of people at one point in time

validity

the extent to which a test/study measures what it’s supposed to measure

placebo

fake treatment to the control group so they get the placebo effect

correlational

when two things have a similar relationship (observed. does not=causation)

positive correlation

two things up (positive) (more study=better grades)

negative correlation

one up, one down (more daydream=worse grades)

Institutional Review Boards

reviews all research with human participants to make sure there are minimal risks when being researched (contract, debrief, etc.)

descriptive statistics

mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation, normal distribution (summarize and describe data)

mean

average (all numbers/number of numbers)

median

middle number

mode

most common number

range

difference between the highest and lowest number

standard deviation

distance average data set is from the mean

inferential statistics

used to check if results are reliable or chance

statistical significance

a research finding is unlikely to have occurred due to random chance or error, but rather indicates a "real" effect or difference