psychology vocabulary unit 2 - achee

specific

relating to a particular category

constitute

to make up or form

naturalistic observation

research method in which the psychologist observes the subject in a natural setting without interfering

case study

research method that involves an intensive investigation of one or more participants

longitudinal study

research method in which data are collected about a group of participants over a number of years to assess how certain characteristics change or remain the same during development

cross sectional study

research method in which data are collected from groups of participants of different ages and compared so that conclusions can be drawn about differences due to age

correlation

the measure of a relationship between two variables or sets of data

variable

any factor that is capable of changing

experimental group

the group to which an independent variable is applied

control group

the group that is treated in the same way as the experimental group except that the experimental treatment is not applied

eliminate

to remove or get rid of

evaluate

to determine the significance of

self-fulfilling prophecy

a situation in which a researcher’s expectations influence that person’s own behavior, and therefore influence the participant’s behavior

single-blind study

an experiment in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know which participants received which treatment

double-blind study

an experiment in which participant nor the experiment or know which participants received which treatment

placebo effect

a change in a participant’s illness or behavior that results from a belief that the treatment will have an effect rather than from the actual treatment

statistics

the branch of mathematics concerned with summarizing and making meaningful inferences from collections of data

significant

results that are unlikely to have occurred by chance

descriptive statistics

the listing and summarizing of data in a practical effective way

frequency distribution

an arrangement of data that indicates how often a particular score or observation occurs

normal curve

a graph of frequency distribution shaped like a symmetrical bell shaped curve; a graph of normally distributed data

central frequency

a number that describes something about the “average” score of a distribution variance

standard deviation

a measure of variability that describes an average distance of every score from the mean

variance

a measure of variability that describes an average distance of every score from the mean

correlation coefficiant

describes the direction and strength of the relationship between two sets of variables

inferential statistics

numerical methods used to determine whether research data support a hypothesis or whether the results were due to chance