psych unit 1 flashcards

ch. 1-2

psychology

study of the mind

empiricism

knowledge of the world is based off of experiences

structuralism

looks at the brain as a whole

functionalism

looks as the individual functions of the brain

humanistic psychology

environment influences growth potential and need for acceptance

nature-nurture issue

biggest psychology debate; genetics vs. environment

natural selection

genetics influence ability to survive

levels of analysis

biological influences, psychological influences, and social-cultural influences

biopsychosocial approach

how biological, psychological, and social factors impact personality

basic research

theories & hypotheses

applied research

psych field for solving problems, curing illnesses, and innovating technology

counseling psychology

helping ppl with psychological & personal issues

clinical psychology

studying, assessing, and treating ppl with psychological issues

psychiatry

MDs who use drugs to treat psychological issues

hindsight bias

“i-knew-it-all-along” phenomenom

critical thinking

not blindly accepting arguments & conclusions

theory

an explanation that uses principles to predict behaviors or events

hypothesis

a testable prediction, typically based off of a theory, in order to challenge that theory

operational definition

a description of something in terms of the procedures that can be used to measure it

replication

the repetition of an experiment to verify its results

case study

studying a likely non-disordered individual

survey

questioning a representative, random sample of people

false consensus effect

the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our behaviors and beliefs

population

a group of people that a sample is drawn from

random sample

when each member of a population has an equal chance of being in the sample

naturalistic observation

observing and recording the behavior of animals

correlation

when one trait or behavior accompanies another

scatter plot

a graph made up of points generated by two variables and designed to show the direction and strength of their relationship

illusory correlation

the belief of a relationship where there is no relationship

experiment

isolate causes and their effects to research

double-blind procedure

when neither the experimenter nor the patient know who’s in the control group and who’s not

placebo

a substance used in a control group; such as a sugar pill

experimental condition

a type of independent variable manipulated to assess the change on/in the dependent variable

control condition

a condition that is not exposed to or influenced by the treatment being studied

random assignment

randomly choosing who is in the control or experimental group of the experiment

independent variable

the factor being manipulated by the experimenter

dependent variable

the factor that may change as a result of the experiment

mode

the score that occurs the most

mean

the average score

median

the middle score

range

the difference between the highest and lowest scores

standard deviation

a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean

statistical significance

the degree to which a research outcome cannot be attributed to random chance

culture

characteristic attitudes and behaviors of a group in society