2025 AP Psychology ALL CED Terms (except disorders/treatment)

Experiment

A way of confirming the validity of psychological findings with consistent and repeatable results

Hypothesis

testable prediction, not yet confirmed or unconfirmed

Operational Definitions

a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures, helps with future replication

Theories

explanations that organize and predict

Intuition

an effortless feeling/thought, often incorrect

Bias

prejudice in favor of or against a thing

Experimental Group

the group being tested/exposed

Control Group

the group NOT being tested/exposed

Independent Variable (IV)

manipulated factor

Dependent Variable (DV)

consistent factor

Random Selection

a random selection of a diverse population used to eliminate bias

Random Assignment

subjects placed in experimental/control groups at random to eliminate bias

Large Sample Size

helps increase accuracy and validity of data by limiting confounding variables

Convience Sampling

technique where subjects are chosen based on proximity/accessibility (diminishes integrity)

Confounding Variables

factors that cause differences between the experimental group and the control group other than the IV (age, gender, home life, etc.)

Control Variables

anything held constant to reduce confounding variables

Sampling Bias

when a sample is not representative of the population from which it is drawn

Experimenter Bias

when the experimenter (intentionally or unintentionally) influences the results to portray a certain outcome

Social Desirability Bias

the tendency of survey respondents to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself

Correlation Study

study that determines the relationship between 2 variables

Naturalistic Observations

unhindered observations in a natural environment

Case Study

study of one individual in great detail

Meta-Analysis

a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies

Bar Graphs

a graph with bars and gaps representing categories and numerical values

Histogram

a bar graph depicting a frequency distribution

Scatterplots

a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two variables, the amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation

Quantitative

Data that is in numbers

Qualitative

Data in the form of words

Correlation Coefficient

measures the relationship strength between 2 variables ranging from -1 to 1

Positive Correlation

above 0

Negative Correlation

below 0

Positive Skew

Right

Negative Skew

Left

Bimodal

data set with two peaks

Bell Curve

data set with one peak

Central Tendencies

typical value for a probability distribution

Mode

most frequently occurring score

Mean

average

Median

the middle score in a distribution

Range

the difference between the highest and lowest scores

Percentile

A point on a ranking scale of 0 to 100

Standard Deviation (SD)

measures the average difference between each score and the mean of the data set

Statistical Significance

how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance

Psychological Institutions

The American Psychological Association (APA) and British Psychological Society (BPS) determine the ethics and

procedures, and requires compliance from any prospective experimenters

HIPAA Privacy Rule

Law that regulates the use and disclosure of patients' protected health information (PHI).

IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee)

committee that approves or denies permission for studies involving animals

Experimental Prerequisites

1) Obtain informed consent of the subjects

2) Protection from physical harm or discomfort

3) Confidentiality regarding subject information

4) A full debrief of the results for subjects afterwards

Informed Assent

-case in which child is informed about what is going to be required and they have the opportunity to agree to or disagree to treatment

-children of different ages require different levels of confidentiality

Critical Thinking

thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

Hindsight Bias

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

Falsifiable

the possibility that a hypothesized relationship can be shown to be incorrect

Survey

non-experimental method for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group

Self-Report Bias

bias when people report their behavior inaccurately

Random Sampling

a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

Population

all those in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn

Variable

anything that can vary and is feasible and ethical to measure

Illusory Correlation

perceiving a relationship where none exists, or perceiving a stronger-than-actual relationship

Regresson Toward the Mean

the tendency for extreme or unusual scores or events to fall back (regress) toward the average

Placebo Effect

the phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior

Validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Informed Consent

giving potential participants enough information about a study to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate

Debriefing

the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants

Descriptive Statistics

numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups. Includes measures of central tendency and measures of variation.

Inferential Statistics

numerical data that allow one to generalize- to infer from sample data the probability of something being true of a population

Effect Size

the strength of a relationship between two or more variables

behavioral psychology

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2)

humanistic psychology

historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people and the individual's potential for personal growth

psychology

the science of behavior and mental processes

natural selection

the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival with most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

biopsychosocial approach

an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis

biological psychology

a branch of psychology that studies the links between biological (including neuroscience and behavior genetics) and psychological processes

evolutionary psychology

the study of the roots of behavior and mental processes using the principles of natural selection

psychoanalysis/psychodynamic

a branch of psychology that studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that information to treat people with psychological disorders

behavioral psychology

the scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning

cognitive psychology

the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicatin

social-cultural psychology

the study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking

Heredity

Genetic transmission of traits from parents to offspring.

Environmental factors

External influences affecting individual development and behavior. Nurture

Natural selection

Evolutionary process which results in organisms being better adapted to survive and reproduce.

Eugenics

Study aimed at improving genetic quality of humans; eliminating certain genes from the gene pool

Twin studies

Research comparing similarities between identical and fraternal twins to determine power of nature vs. nurture

Central nervous system

Brain and spinal cord, controlling body functions.

Peripheral nervous system

Nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.

Somatic nervous system

Controls voluntary movements and sensory information.

Autonomic nervous system

Regulates involuntary body functions like heartbeat.

Sympathetic nervous system

Prepares body for stress-related activities, fight or flight

Parasympathetic nervous system

Calms the body and conserves energy.

Cerebral cortex

Outer layer of the brain, our thinking cap. Gray matter

Occipital lobes

Brain regions responsible for visual processing; back of brain

Temporal lobes

Involved in auditory processing and memory; located around the ears.

Parietal lobes

Processes sensory information and spatial awareness; located on the top of the brain

Frontal lobes

Associated with reasoning, planning, and movement; located in the front of the brain

Motor cortex

Controls voluntary muscle movements.

Broca's Area

Region responsible for speech production.

Wernicke's Area

Region involved in language comprehension.

Aphasia

Language impairment due to brain damage.

Thalamus

Relay station for sensory information to the cortex.

Hypothalamus

Responsible for our drives: hunger, thirst, sex & body temperature. Reward Center. Controls pituitary gland.

Reward center

Brain area associated with pleasure and motivation; dopamine is released; .involves hypothalamus

Pituitary gland

Master gland controlling other endocrine glands; responsible for growth and sexual maturation