chapter 1, 2, 3

psychological triad

the three essential topics of psychology: how people think, how they feel, and how they behave

basic approach

a theoretical view of personality that focuses on some phenomena and ignores others; trait, biological, psychoanalytic, phenomenological, learning, and cognitive

trait approach

the theoretical view of personality that focuses on individual differences in personality and behavior, and the psychological processes behind them

biological approach

the view of personality that focuses on the way behavior and personality are influenced by neuroanatomy, biochemistry, genetics, and evolution

psychoanalytic approach

the theoretical view of personality that emphasizes the unconscious processes of the mind

phenomenological approach

the theoretical view of personality that emphasizes experience, free will, and the meaning of life; closely related to humanistic psychology and existentialism

learning

in behavioralism, a change in behavior as a result of experience

learning approach

the theoretical view that focuses on how behavior changes as a function of rewards and punishments; also called behaviorism

funders first law

great strengths are usually great weaknesses, and often the opposite is true as well

humanistic psychology

the approach to personality that emphasizes aspects of psychology that are distinctly human; closely related to the phenomenological approach and existentialism

funders second law

there are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous

s-data (self judgements)

ratings that people provide of their own personality attributes or behavior

face validity

the degree to which an assessment instrument on its face appears to measure what its intended to measure

self-verification

the process by which people try to bring others to treat them inn a manner that confirms their self-conceptions

i-data (informants data)

judgements made by knowledgeable informants about general attributes of an individuals personality

judgements

data that derive, in the final analysis, from someone using his or her common sense and observations to rate personality or behavior

expectancy effect

the tendency for someone to become the kind of person others expect them to be; also know as self fulfilling prophecy and behavioral confirmation

L-data (life data)

more-or-less easily verifiable, concrete, real-life outcomes, which are of possible psychological significance

b-data (behavioral data)

direct observations of another’s behavior that are translated directly or nearly directly into numerical form; can be gathered in natural or contrived (experimental) settings

reliability

in measurement, the tendency of an instrument to provide the same comparative information on repeated occasions

measurement error

the variation of a number around its true mean due to uncontrolled, essentially random influences; also called error variance

state

a temporary psychological event, such as an emotion, thought, or perception

trait

a relatively stable and long-lasting attribute of personality

aggregation

the combining together of different measurements, such as by averaging them

spearman-brown formula

in psychometrics, a mathematical formula that predicts the degree to which the reliability of a test can be improved by adding more items

psychometrics

the technology of psychological measurement

validity

the degree to which a measurement actually reflects what it is intended to measure

construct

an idea about a psychological attribute that goes beyond what might be assessed through any particular method of assessment

construct

an idea about a psychological attribute that goes beyond what might be assessed through any particular method of assessment

construct validation

the strategy of establishing the validity of a measure by comparing it with a wide range of other measures

generalizability

the degree to which a measurement can be found under diverse circumstances, such as time, context, participant population, and so on; includes both reliability and validity

case method

studying a particular phenomenon or individual in depth both to understand the particular case and to discover general lessons or scientific laws

experimental method

a research technique that establishes the casual relationship between an independent variable (x) and dependent variable (y) by randomly assigning participants to experimental groups characterized by differing levels of x, and measuring the average behavior (y) that results in each group

correlational method

a research technique that establishes the relationship between two variables by measuring both variables in a sample of participants

scatter plot

a diagram that shows the relationship between two variables by displaying points on a two-dimensional plot

correlation coefficient

a number between -1 and +1 that reflects the degree to which one variable is a linear function of another

research

exploration of the unknown; finding out something that nobody knew before one discovered it

objective test

A personality test that consists of a list of questions to be answered by the subject as True or False, Yes or No, or along a numeric scale (e.g., 1 to 7).

factor analysis

A statistical technique for finding clusters of related traits, tests, or items

p-level

In statistical data analysis, the probability that the obtained correlation or difference between experimental conditions would be expected by chance.

type 1 error

In research, the mistake of thinking that one variable has an effect on, or relationship with, another variable, when really it does not.

type 2 error

In research, the mistake of thinking that one variable does not have an effect on or relationship with another, when really it does.

effect size

A number that reflects the degree to which one variable affects, or is related to, another variable.

correlation coefficient

A number between –1 and +1 that reflects the degree to which one variable, traditionally called y, is a linear function of another, traditionally called x.

binominal effect size display

A method for displaying and understanding more clearly the magnitude of an effect reported as a correlation, by translating the value of r into a 2 × 2 table comparing predicted with obtained results

replication

Doing a study again to see if the results hold up. Replications are especially persuasive when done by different researchers in different labs than the original study

publication bias

The tendency of scientific journals preferentially to publish studies with strong results.

questionable research practices

Research practices that, while not exactly deceptive, can increase the chances of obtaining the result the researcher desires. Such practices including deleting unusual responses, adjusting results to remove the influence of seemingly extraneous factors, and neglecting to report variables or experimental conditions that fail to yield expected results. Such practices are not always wrong, but they should always be questioned.

p-hacking

Analyzing data in various ways until one finds the desired result.

open science

A set of emerging principles intended to improve the transparency of scientific research and that encourage fully reporting all methods and variables used in a study, reporting studies that failed as well as succeeded, and sharing data among scientists.