AP Psychology Research Methods and Thinking

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Curiosity

A desire to explore, ask questions, and investigate how and why things happen. In science, curiosity motivates researchers to seek explanations and test ideas.

Skepticism

An attitude of questioning claims rather than accepting them without evidence; asking what a claim means and how we know it is true.

Humility

An awareness that our ideas may be wrong and a willingness to change them when evidence does not support them.

Critical Thinking

Thinking that does not automatically accept arguments or conclusions; it examines assumptions and sources, detects biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency, after learning an outcome, to believe that we would have predicted or foreseen it beforehand; the "I-knew-it-all-along" phenomenon.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to seek or favor information that supports existing beliefs while ignoring or distorting evidence that contradicts them.

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct, overestimating the accuracy of our beliefs, judgments, or abilities.

Peer Reviewers

Scientific experts who evaluate another researcher's work for its theory, originality, methods, and accuracy before it is accepted for publication.

Theory

An organized explanation using a set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events.

Hypothesis

A specific, testable prediction, often derived from a theory.

Operational Definition

A precise statement describing exactly how a variable is measured or manipulated in a study, allowing other researchers to reproduce the procedures.

Replication

Repeating the essential procedures of a research study, often with different participants or situations, to determine whether the original finding can be reproduced.

Case Study

A nonexperimental, in-depth examination of one individual or group, usually conducted in the hope of discovering principles that may apply more broadly.

Meta-Analysis

A statistical procedure that analyzes and combines the results of multiple studies to reach an overall conclusion.

Naturalistic Observation

A nonexperimental method involving observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without manipulating or controlling the situation.

Survey

A nonexperimental research method that uses questions to obtain people's self-reported attitudes, opinions, or behaviors, ideally from a representative sample.

Social Desirability Bias

Bias caused when people respond in ways they believe will make them look favorable or please the researcher, rather than responding completely honestly.

Self-Report Bias

Bias that occurs when people inaccurately report their own behaviors, thoughts, attitudes, or experiences, intentionally or unintentionally.

Experimenter Bias

Bias that occurs when a researcher's expectations or beliefs unintentionally influence participants, procedures, observations, or interpretation of results.

Population

All the individuals in the group being studied and about whom researchers hope to draw conclusions.

Sample

The subset of individuals from a population who actually participate in a study or from whom data are collected.

Sampling Bias

A flawed sampling process that produces a sample that does not accurately represent the population being studied.

Random Sample

A sample selected so that every member of the population has an equal chance of being included.

Representative Sample

A sample that accurately reflects the relevant characteristics of the larger population from which it was drawn.