Psych Unit #0

Biological Perspective

How hormones, drugs, neurotransmitters and brain structures influence the body and behavior

Evolutionary Perspective

How the natural selection of traits promotes the perpetuations of ones genes

Humanistic Perspective

Self actualization and humans reaching full potential

Behavioral Perspective

How we learn through observable responses and consequences; states that learning is automatic and thoughtless

Cognitive Perspective

Behavior is influenced by how a person thiks and remembers

Social-Cultural Perspective

How behavior and thinking vary across situatinos and cultures

Biopsychosocial Perspective

Human thinking and behavior results from combinations of biological, psychological, and social factors.

Experimental design

Design that can isolate and discover cause and effect relationships

Non-experimental design

Design that cannot isolate variables and identify cause-and-effect relationship; descriptive research

Independent Variable

Variable controlled by the experimenter

Dependent variable

Variable affected by the IV

Confounding variable/Third-variable problem

A 3rd, unaccounted for factor that affects both variable (Ex: In the event of homocide rates increasing along ice cream sales, the confounding variable is the weather)

Random Assignment

Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance

Population

The complete group of individuals with specified characteristisc that a researcher wants to generalize their findings to.

Sample

A smaller group of individuals selected from a larger target population

Random sampling

Randomly picking people for the study from the population you identified.

Representative sample

A subset of a population that accurately reflects the characteristics of that population

Convenience sample

A non-random sampling method that selects participants for their immediate availability and ease of access.

Sampling bias

A flawed sampling process that produced an underepresentative sample

Generalizability

The ability to apply the results of a study to a large population

Experimental group

Group in an experiment that recieves independent variable

Control group

Group in an experiment that does NOT recieves independent variable

Placebo group

Group that receives something that appears to the participants as the independent variable, but does not produce any intended effect.

Placebo effect

Phenomenon where participant experiences a change in their condition from an expectation of a treatment’s efficacy despite lack of therapeutic value in the treatment.

Single-blind procedure

Only research participants don’t know if they are in control or experimental group.

Double-blind procedure

Neither subject nor the experimenter knows who is in control of experiemental group

Experimenter bias

Observer/expermenter’s expextatinos might influence their descriptions and interpretations

Case study

Focuses on one individual or small group with a rare/unusual experience or condition

Correlation

DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION

Positive correlation

Direct relationship

Negative correlation

Inverse relationship

Illusory correlation

Tendency to perceive random coincidence as correlation (Ex: wearing a lucky t-shirt and doing well on a test.)

Directionality problem

When it’s not possible to determine which variable is influencing the change in theother (Ex: People who sleep more are happier vs people who are happier sleep more)

Scatterplot

A graphical relationship between 2 variables

Correlation coefficient

A measure of the relationship between 2 variables

r = +1.00

Perfect positive correlation

r = 0.00

No correlation

r = -1.00

Perfect negative correlation

Quantitative measures

Methods that rely on numerical data (Likert scale)

Qualitative measures

Methods that rely on in-depth, narritive data that are not translateable into numbers (e.g. structured interviews)

Surveys

Data collection tool that gathers self-reported attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of people through interviews of questionarres

Framing

Wording; the way we present information or “frame” a question, can influence how a person precieves and reacts to it

Social desirability bias

People present themselves in a socially favorable light

Self-report bias

People report their behavior innaccurately or selectively reveal or supress information (Ex: social desireability bias)

Meta-analysis

Statistical tool that combines data from multiple studies to reach a single conclusion on a recific research topic; Helps make sense of conflicting or inconclusive studies

Naturalistic observation

Type of descriptive reserach; Observing and recording behavior of subjects in their natural habitats without interacting

Hypothesis

An idea or explanation that can be tested through experimentation

Falsifiability

Can be disproven through an empirical test

Operational definition

Helps researchers clearly state and measure what they’re studying and their dependent variable

Replication

The process of repeating a study to see if the same results are obtained

Peer review

Experts within a field evaluating your research

Ethical guidelines

Codes and principals that define morally right and wrong conduct in research

Institutional review board

Ethics committee in universities and hospitals where research is conducted that reviews proposed research and approves/disproves proposals.

Informed consent

Participants knowing that they are involved in research, what the research is about, and giving their consent.

Informed assent

A minor’s consent to participate in a slimical trial + permission from a parent

Protection from harm (nonmaleficence)

Protecting the participants from harm, both physical and emotional

Confidentiality of participants

Paricipant’s privacy protected and no ability to match person to responses

Minimal deception

Full debriefing at the end of experiment, deception only allowed if impossible without, wil not cause trauma, and can’t invalidate informed consent

Confederates

People who secretly work with the researcher, act as a participant but role is to manipulate the situation

Debriefing

At the end of the study participants are told the purpose of the study, the real purpose, and the contact info of the researcher

Central tendency

Numbers that tell you a typical number in a dataset; Mean, median, mode

Measures of variation

Range and interpretation of standard deviation

Normal curve

Symmetrical, bell-shaped graph ; 68-95-99.7 rule

Positive skew

More data values fall to the left side, so there’s a tail on the right

Negative Skew

Distribution where more data values fall to the right side, so ther’s a tail on the left.

Bimodal distribution

Frequency distributino with two distinct peaks, indicating, two different groups of participants

Regression toward the mean

The tendency for extreme or unusual scores (or events) to fall back toward the average preformance just by chance

Statistical significance

How likely results are due to chance or due to the experimental treatment; p-value (significance = p-value of 0.05 or less)

Effect size

Calculates the magnitude of the experimental effect

Confirmation bias

The tendency to seek out and prefer info that supports our preexisting beliefs

Hindsight bias

After learning the outsome of an event, many people belive they could have predicted that very outcome

Overconfidence

Thinking we know more than we actually know