Experimental Psychology Lecture Notes Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards generated from Experimental Psychology lecture notes covering Modules 1 through 13.

Science Content

The findings, results, and common knowledge accumulated through research.

Science Process

The scientific methods and procedures used to reach research conclusions.

Common Sense Psychology

The non-scientific practice of using common sense to explain psychological phenomena.

Confirmation Bias

An adherence to an idea or preference wherein people tend to overlook instances that disprove their beliefs.

Gambler's Fallacy

The mistaken belief that the odds of winning increase with each attempt.

Overconfidence Bias

A tendency where having a large amount of data (right or wrong) creates the false impression that one's belief, guess, or explanation is correct.

Scientific Mentality

The foundational scientific assumption that behavior must follow a natural order and can be predicted.

Alfred North Whitehead

Philosopher who stated that faith in an organized universe is essential to science, as order is required to justify searching for patterns.

Aristotle

Philosopher who advocated for systematic observation and classification of naturally occurring events.

Empirical Data

Data that are observable or directly experienced.

Galileo

Scientist who disproved earlier assumptions by testing under proper conditions (vacuum), demonstrating that light objects fall at the same rate as heavy objects.

Parsimony

The scientific principle stating that when faced with two equally defensible explanations, the simplest is preferred until conflicting data rules it out.

Basic Research

Theoretical research aimed at expanding understanding of a specific occurrence, subject, or natural law, typically conducted in sterile environments.

Applied Research

Investigation that seeks practical answers to current problems and industrial challenges in real-world or open-world settings.

Antecedent Conditions

Circumstances or events that come before the event to be explained, representing the cause in an experiment.

Informed Consent

A subject's agreement to participate in a study after being fully informed about its nature, procedures, risks, and benefits.

Deception

The practice of misleading participants in a research study to obtain unbiased information when necessary.

Synthetic Statements

Statements that can be evaluated as either true or false, characteristic of experimental hypotheses.

Testable Statements

Statements for which actual means of manipulating antecedent conditions and measuring resulting behavior exist.

Falsifiable Statement

A hypothesis worded such that failures to observe predicted effects count as evidence that the hypothesis is false.

Inductive Reasoning

Reasoning that proceeds from specific observations to general principles.

Deductive Reasoning

Reasoning that proceeds from general principles to specific predictions.

Null Hypothesis

A statement predicting zero relationship or no significant difference between conditions.

Independent Variable

The variable manipulated by the experimenter to assess its causal relationship to an observed phenomenon.

Dependent Variable

The variable that changes, appears, or disappears in response to manipulation of the independent variable.

Abstract

A concise summary of a research report ranging from 150 to 250 words, written in past tense, containing statement of problem, methods, results, and conclusions.

Extraneous Variable

Any factor that is not the primary focus of the experiment but has potential to influence the results.

Confounding Variable

An extraneous variable that impacts the dependent variable while simultaneously correlating with or affecting the independent variable.

Control Variable

A variable not of central interest that is intentionally held constant or limited to prevent it from influencing outcomes.

Nominal Scale

A scale of measurement that classifies items into two or more distinct named categories.

Ordinal Scale

A scale of measurement where values are ordered or ranked in terms of magnitude.

Interval Scale

A quantitative scale of measurement with equal intervals between adjacent values, but lacking a true zero point.

Ratio Scale

A quantitative measurement scale characterized by equal intervals and a true zero point.

Reliability

The degree to which experimental measurements are consistent or repeatable over time.

Interrater Reliability

The level of agreement between measurements recorded by different raters or observers evaluating the same responses.

Validity

The extent to which an experimental method actually measures the specific variable it is designed to evaluate.

Internal Validity

The degree to which a study establishes that changes in the dependent variable were directly caused by manipulation of the independent variable.

Demand Characteristics

Aspects of the experimental setting that signal to participants how they are expected to behave.

Pygmalion Effect

A self-fulfilling prophecy wherein an experimenter's expectations subtly influence subject performance and outcome.

Double-Blind Experiment

An experimental procedure in which neither the participants nor the experimenters know which treatment condition participants receive.

Between-Subjects Design

An experimental design in which distinct, non-overlapping groups of subjects are assigned to different treatment conditions.

Random Assignment

A procedure in which every participant has an equal opportunity of being selected for any treatment condition.

Effect Size

A statistical estimate indicating the magnitude or strength of a treatment effect.

Variance Formula

The average of squared differences from the mean, calculated as $s^2 = \frac{\sum (X - \bar{X})^2}{n}$.

Standard Deviation

A measure of data dispersion around the mean, calculated as the square root of variance $s = \sqrt{\frac{\sum (X - \bar{X})^2}{n}}$.

Type I Error

A false positive statistical error occurring when a researcher mistakenly rejects a true null hypothesis.

Type II Error

A false negative statistical error occurring when a researcher fails to reject a false null hypothesis.

Within-Subjects Design

An experimental design in which every subject participates in all treatment conditions.

Progressive Error

Systematic changes in participant performance across repeated treatment trials caused by practice, learning, fatigue, or boredom.

Main Effect

The direct effect of one independent variable on the dependent variable, averaged across all levels of other independent variables.

Interaction Effect

An outcome in factorial designs where the effect of one independent variable varies depending on the level of another independent variable.

Crossover Interaction

A specific interaction pattern displayed graphically by intersecting non-parallel lines, indicating opposite treatment effects across variable levels.

Small N Design

A research design used to intensely analyze the behavior of an individual participant or a small sample.

External Validity

The degree to which research conclusions can be generalized to different real-world settings, procedures, and populations.

Hawthorne Effect

The tendency of research participants to alter their behavior simply because they know they are being observed.

Phenomenology

A nonexperimental method focusing on describing an individual's immediate conscious experience.

Case Study

An in-depth descriptive recording made by an outside observer of an individual's personal history, experiences, or behaviors.

Scatterplot

A visual representation of scores belonging to subjects on two continuous variables, used to display direction and strength of relationship.

Factor Analysis

A statistical data-reduction technique used to identify subsets of correlated variables within a large dataset.

Quasi-Experimental Design

A design that resembles an experiment but lacks complete experimental control, such as random assignment or manipulation of antecedents.

Longitudinal Design

A quasi-experimental developmental approach tracking changes over time in the same cohort of individuals.

Cross-Sectional Design

A developmental study comparing distinct groups of participants of varying ages at a single point in time.

Yea-Sayers

Survey respondents who systematically agree with questions regardless of their manifest content.

Stratified Random Sampling

A probability sampling method where random samples are drawn from population subgroups in proportions matching the overall population.

Snowball Sampling

A non-probability sampling method where current participants identify or recruit additional respondents meeting specific research criteria.