Ap Pysch Unit 0 Terms

Hindsight Bias

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

Hypothesis

a testable prediction, often inspired by a theory

Operational Definitions

A carefully worded statement of the exact procedures(operations). For example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures

Control Group

In an experiment, the group not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with experimental group & serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment

Case Study

a non-experimental technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal studies

Naturalistic Observation

a non-experimental technique of observing & recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate & control situations

Survey

A non-experimental technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes/behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.

Social Desirability Bias

bias from people responding in ways they presume a researcher expects/wishes

Sampling bias

a flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample

Random Sample

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

Illusory Correlation

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

Random Assignment

assigning participants to experimental & control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between groups

Double blind procedure

an experimental procedure in which both the research staff & participants are ignorant about whether the research participants have received the treatment or or the placebo, commonly used in drug evaluation studies

Placebo effect

experimental results caused by expectations alone, any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition which the recipient assumes is an active incredient

Dependent Variable

The outcome that is measured the variable that may change when independent variable is manipulated

Independent variable

the factor that is manipulated, variable whos effect is being studied

Confounding variable

a factor other than the factor being studied that might influence a study’s results

Experimenter bias

bias caused when researchers may unintentionally influence results to confirm their own beliefs

Informed consent

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

Debriefing

The post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose & any deceptions, to its participants

Mode

the most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution

mean

The arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores & then dividing by the number of scores

median

the middle score in a distribution, half the scores are below and half are above

correlation coefficient

a statistical index of the relationship between 2 variables (from -1,00 to +1.00)