Psychological Research Practices Vocabulary

Flashcards for Psychological Research Practices

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Psychodynamic Perspective

Behavior comes from unresolved child conflicts and unconscious drives and desires

Behavioral Perspective

Behavior results from past experiences, conditioning, rewards and punishments

Humanistic Perspective

Focuses on the need for belonging, love and acceptance as well as the individual's freedom to choose with free will, self actualization, and the capacity for personal growth

Cognitive Perspective

Focuses on how we encode, store, process and interpret information.

Biological Perspective

Behavior and mental processes result from the interaction of physical body such as brain structures, hormones and neurotransmitters

Sociocultural Perspective

Emphasizes that behavior and thinking differ according to culture and the social context

Evolutionary Perspective

Focuses on traits that have been evolutionarily selected for based on what allowed our ancestors to survive and reproduce successfully

Biopsychosocial Model

Idea that multiple perspectives combine and contribute to almost every psychological phenomenon

Critical Thinking

Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions, and examines assumptions, assesses the credibility of a source, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.

Theory

An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events.

Hindsight Bias

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen or known it all along.

Overconfidence

Tending to think we know more than we do by being very sure of a fact and later finding that the objective reality was different.

Gambler’s Fallacy

Tendency for people to form a mistaken belief that outcomes of past random events will determine the outcomes of future random events.

Descriptive Method

Types of research method that describes behavior; includes: case studies, surveys, or naturalistic observation.

Case Study

A descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles. Major criticism: findings may not generalize to the whole population.

Survey

A technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.

Population

All those in the group being studied, from which samples may be drawn.

Sample

A relatively small number of participants drawn from an entire population that represent the population.

Random Sample

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

Sampling bias

A flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample.

Response / Survey Bias

Tendency for participants to respond inaccurately or falsely to questions.

Undercoverage

Occurs when some members of the population are inadequately represented or not included in the sample.

Nonresponse bias

When some respondents included in the sample do not respond, and can occur from an absence of respondents through refusals to participate or the inability to reach some respondents.

Voluntary Response Bias

When the participants voluntarily choose to participate in a survey; Often oversample people who have strong opinions and undersample people who don't care much about the topic of the survey.

Convenience Sample

A statistical method of drawing representative data by selecting people because of the ease of their volunteering or selecting them because of their availability or easy access. Produces a non-representative sample.

False Consensus Effect

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

Wording Effects

The possible effects on participants caused by the order of presented words or even the choice of the words themselves.

Social Desirability Bias

A cognitive bias in which people respond to questioning in ways that make them seem more favorable or appealing to others.

Naturalistic Observation

Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.

Hawthorne Effect

Changes in behavior resulting from participants acting differently because they know they are being observed.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A belief that leads to its own fulfillment because our beliefs influence our actions.

Pygmalion Effect

The phenomenon of people having high expectations of others can influence them to improve their performance due to expectations and beliefs influencing our actions.

Golem Effect

When people have low expectations for a person which can influence them to perform poorly, thus meeting the low expectations others have.

Correlation

A measure of the extent to which two variables change together, and thus of how well either variable predicts the other. Can NOT determine the cause!

Correlation Coefficient

Denoted by, "r" -- A statistical index of the relationship between two variables, measuring from -1.0 to 1.0

Scatterplots

A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables.

Positive Correlation

A steady relationship between two variables in the same direction, meaning that as the value of one variable increases, the value of the other increases as well. r = 1.0 means there is a perfect positive correlation.

Negative Correlation

An inverse relationship between two variables, meaning that as the value of one variable increases, the value of the other decreases. r = -1.0 means there is a perfect negative correlation.

Illusory correlations

The perception of a relationship where none exists due random coincidences.

Experimentation

A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more variables to observe the effect on another variable relating to behavior and mental process.

Lab Experiment

Experiments that take place in controlled environments and are the main method used in the natural sciences to test numerous scientific theories.

Field Experiment

Experiments that occur in the real world and naturally occurring environments.

Natural Experiment

Experiments in which the control and experimental variables of interest are not artificially manipulated by researchers but instead are allowed to be influenced by nature or factors outside of the researchers' control.

Quasi-Experiment

Involves the manipulation of an independent variable without the random assignment of participants to conditions or orders of conditions. (For instance 2 teachers who try different reading programs and see how it affects reading scores for their students)

Research Hypothesis

A specific, clear, and testable proposition or predictive statement about the possible outcome of a scientific research study that has to be falsifiable.

One-Tailed Hypothesis

Points to a specific direction of change of outcome for manipulating the variable.

Two-Tailed Hypothesis

Does not attempt to predict outcome through pointing to a specific direction, just says there will be a change.

Null Hypothesis

Says there will be little or no difference (change) between the samples tested in the experiment.

Operational Definition

Specific statement of procedures. Allow for replication and greater control of experiments.

Random Selection

Method for selecting subjects for an experiment so that every member of a population has equal chances of being chosen.

Representative Sample

A sample of the population that matches characteristics of the entire population.

Random Assignment

Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, Reduces differences between the experimental groups.

Independent Variable (the treatment)

What the experimenter is manipulating. The variable whose effect is being studied.

Levels of the Independent Variable

Refers to the number of experimental conditions (groups) in an experiment.

Dependent Variable (the result)

What the experimenter is measuring. Variable that may change as a result of the manipulation of the independent variable.

Type I Error

False positive, rejecting a true null hypothesis

Type II Error

False negative; accepting a false null hypothesis

Extraneous Variable

A factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect on the experiment and can become confounding when they can change the experiment.

Experimental Group

The group exposed to the treatment. (“gets” the IV)

Control Group

The group not exposed to the treatment (doesn’t “get the IV) and serves as a comparison to the experimental group for evaluating the effect of the treatment.

Single-Blind Procedure

Procedure in which subjects are unaware of whether or not they are assigned to experimental or control conditions. Purpose: reduce bias.

Double-Blind Procedure

An experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether the research participants have received the treatment or the placebo. Purpose: to reduce bias including experimenter bias.

Research Expectancy Bias

A phenomenon that can occur when a researcher's beliefs or expectations cause them to unconsciously influence the participants of an experiment. Reduced by double-blind procedure.

Placebo

Fake treatment given to control group. Any substance that is not known to have any pharmacological effects that is made to look like an active or real drug. Purpose: allows experimenters to measure and cancel out for placebo effect.

Placebo Effect

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

Replication

Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances. Aided and enhanced by tight operational definitions.

Counterbalancing

A type of experimental design in which all possible orders of presenting the variables are included, and different groups of subjects perform tasks at different times. Purpose: reduce bias due to ordering effects. Used in within-subject designs.

Between-Subject Design (independent groups)

Each subject is assigned to only one research condition (experimental OR control) and the different groups are measured against each other.

Within-Subject Design (repeated measures)

Each subject is exposed to all experimental conditions (control AND experimental) so that researchers can compare people to themselves. Reduces bias due to group differences.

Matched Pairs

Forced random assignment to put people with similar characteristics into opposite groups to match them against one another. Reduces bias due to group differences.

Descriptive Statistics

Numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups. Includes: mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation, variance, etc.

Measures of Central Tendency

A single score that represents a whole set of scores that neatly summarize data. Mean, median, mode.

Mean

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

Median

The middle score in a distribution in which half the scores are above it and half are below it.

Mode

The most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution.

Measures of Variation

Measures how far data is spread apart, and how similar or diverse data is. Range, Standard Deviation, Variance, etc.

Range

The difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution.

Standard Deviation

A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score. Is is the square root of variance.

Variance

A measure of how much values in a data set differ from the mean. It is the standard deviation squared.

z score

The number of standard deviations away from the mean.

Histogram

A bar graph depicting a frequency distribution.

Normal Curve

A symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data where most scores fall near the mean and then fewer and fewer on the outside.

Skewed Distribution

A representation of scores that lack symmetry around their average value, usually because of the presence of an outlier.

Outlier

A distribution point that is much further away from any other distribution points

Statistical Significance

A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance. Something is considered to be statistically significant with p value of .05 or less.

p-value

A value that tells you whether or not the results can be generalized to the whole population or not, and if the results are due to chance. P value is expressed as a decimal greater than 0 and less than 1

Informed Consent

An ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate.

Debriefing

Ethical consideration that the subject receives a post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants.

Confidentiality

Ethical consideration that a subject's responses or results within research be kept private.

Research committee

Examines a research team's experimental ideas to examine for ethical violations.