PSYCH 102 MIDTERM 1

Evidence

The available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid.

Empirical

Based on astute observation and accurate measurement.

Critical thinking

The purposeful, reasoned, and goal-directed process of exploring a situation or problem; it is an essential component of psychological literacy.

Evolutionary perspective

The psychological perspective on behavior that seeks to identify how humans' evolutionary past shapes certain cultural universals that all human beings share, such as the preference for fairness.

Cultural perspective

The psychological perspective that seeks to understand how cultural context affects people's thoughts and preferences

Culture

The rules, values, customs, and beliefs that exist within a group of people who share a common language and environment; culture passes from generation to generation as children learn it from their parents, caregivers, and the larger society.

Cognitive perspective

The psychological perspective that studies the mental processes that underlie perception, thought, learning, memory, language, and creativity.

Emotional perspective

The psychological perspective that seeks to understand how the human capacity to feel, express, and perceive emotions plays an important role in decision making, behavior, and social relationships.

Unconscious

The part of our mental life that influences our thoughts, feelings, and actions that we cannot directly observe and of which we are unaware.

Biological-neuroscience perspective

The psychological perspective that seeks to understand the biological underpinnings of how humans think, act, and behave.

Developmental perspective

The psychological perspective that studies how people change physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally as they age.

Positive psychology

The scientific study of the factors that make people happy, keep them healthy, and help them manage stress; includes the study of important human experiences, such as hope, courage, and creativity.

Metacognition

An awareness and understanding of your own thought processes

Scientific method

The process of basing one's confidence in an idea on systematic, direct observations of the world, usually by setting up research studies to test ideas.

Theory data cycle

The process of the scientific method, in which scientists collect data that can either confirm or disconfirm a theory.

Measured variable

A variable whose values are simply recorded.

Descriptive research

A type of study in which researchers measure one variable at a time.

Naturalistic observation

An observational research method in which psychologists observe the behavior of animals and people in their normal, everyday worlds and environments.

Observational research

A descriptive research method in which psychologists measure their variable of interest by observing and recording what people are doing.

Case study

An observational research method in which researchers' study one or two individuals in-depth, often those who have a unique condition.

Correlational research

A type of study that measures two (or more) variables in the same sample of people and then observes the relationship between them.

Experimental research

A study in which one variable is manipulated, and the other is measured. Experimental research can provide evidence that one variable cause another.

Construct validity

The specific assessment of how accurately the operationalizations used in a study capture the variables of interest.

External validity

The degree to which it is reasonable to generalize from a study sample to its population of interest.

Internal validity

The ability of a study to rule out alternative explanations for a relationship between two variables; one of the criteria for supporting a causal claim.

Mean

A measure of central tendency that is the arithmetic average of a group of scores.

Mode

A measure of central tendency that is the most common score in a batch of scores.

Median

A measure of central tendency that is the middlemost score; it is obtained by lining up the scores from smallest to largest and identifying the middle score.

Standard deviation

A variability statistic that calculates how much, on average, a batch of scores varies around its mean

Inferential statistics

A set of procedures used to estimate whether a pattern of results represents a true relationship or difference in the population.

HARKing

A questionable research practice known as "hypothesizing after the results are known," in which researchers create an after-the-fact hypothesis about an unexpected research result, making it appear as if they predicted it all along.

p-hacking

A family of questionable data analysis techniques, such as adding participants after the results are initially analyzed, looking for outliers, or trying new analyses in order to obtain a p value of just under .05, which can lead to nonreplicable result

IRB

A local panel of researchers, teachers, citizens, and others who determine whether a research study lives up to the community's ethical standards.

Social psychology

The study of how the immediate social context as well as broader cultural environments influence people's thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Transference

The tendency to treat one person as if they possess the traits or characteristics of another more familiar person.

False consensus

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which other people's beliefs and attitudes are similar to our own.

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to assume that people's actions are more the result of their internal dispositions than of the situational context.

Self-serving attributions

The attributions people make for their own behaviors or outcomes

Implicit attitude

An automatically activated evaluation of a stimulus ranging from positive to negative.

Explicit attitude

The consciously reported evaluation a person has in response to a target stimulus.

ELM

A theory of persuasion contending that attitudes can change by two different routes

Conformity

The process by which people implicitly mimic, adopt, or internalize the behaviors and preferences of those around them.

Normative social influence

Pressure to conform to others' actions or beliefs in order to gain approval from others or avoid social sanctions.

Social facilitation

An enhancement of the dominant behavioral response when performing a task in the mere presence of others

Social loafing

The tendency for individuals to spend less effort on a task when they are doing it with others rather than alone.

Group polarization

A tendency for people's attitudes to become more extreme after they discuss an issue with like-minded others.

General aggression model

An integrative framework of the various factors and psychological processes that contribute to an act of aggression.

Kin selection

An evolved or adaptive strategy of assisting those who share one's genes, even at personal cost, as a means of increasing the odds of genetic survival.

Empathy gap

The inability to accurately simulate the mental suffering of another person.

Bystander effect

The lower likelihood of people coming to the aid of a victim when in the presence of other observers than if they are alone.

Pluralistic ignorance

A situation that can occur when people are collectively unaware of each other's true attitudes or beliefs.

Stereotypes

Mental representations or schemas that summarize the beliefs and/or associations we have for a group of people.

Realistic group conflict theory

A theory asserting that negative intergroup attitudes develop whenever groups compete against one another for access to the same scarce resources.

Social identity theory

A theory that explains why people develop a more positive attitude toward their own ingroup than toward outgroups.

Personality

Patterns of thought and behavior that make a person react to certain situations in relatively consistent ways.

ID

consists of our innate biological drives

Ego

mediates between fulfilment of drives and idealized self, who we should be

Superego

contains learned rules and idealized self

Displacement

turning Id’s urges into unproductive, often socially unacceptable activity  

Lexical hypothesis

The hypothesis that the traits that provide useful ways to differentiate among people's personality characteristics are within the language used

Five factor model

The dominant model in the trait approach to personality, which posits five key dimensions along which humans vary

Behavioral genetics

An approach that estimates the heritability of a trait by statistically comparing patterns of similarity in the behavioral or personality profiles of people who differ in their genetic relatedness.

Social learning theory

A theory of how people's cognitions, behaviors, and dispositions are shaped by observing and imitating the actions of others.

Reciprocal determinism

The idea that personality guides cognition about the world in ways that can shape the environments people choose, serving to reinforce or amplify their personality.

Locus of control

A person's perception of what determines his or her outcomes

Outcome efficacy

The belief that if a person can perform a behavior, a desired outcome will result

Self-efficacy

The belief that one can successfully execute a behavior linked to a desired outcome.

Social role theory

A theory positing that the roles people find themselves in can profoundly shape their personality.

Self-determination theory

A theory positing that well-being and success are most likely to be achieved when a person's environments support three key motivations

Self-concept

The broad network of mental representations that a person has of him or herself.

Sociometer theory

A theory positing that people use self-esteem, a judgment of self-worth, to assess the degree to which they are accepted by others.

Factor analysis

A statistical technique that groups a large set of variables into a smaller set of constructs based on how they correlate with one another. 

Freuds psychodynamic approach

Personality develops because of unconscious intrapsychic conflicts 

rationalization

attempt to justify the less ideal behavior/thoughts 

repression

pushing down/squashing uncomfortable thoughts, anxiety, or trauma

regression

remember time before this conflict  

sublimation

turning Id’s urges into productive activity and actions

identification

pretend to be someone who doesn’t show this anxiety   

Humanistic-existential approach

Personality emerges out of our choices and our environment 

social cognitive approach

 

Personality is behavior within situations, and adaptable to situations

trait approach

Personality is stability in behavior across time and situation, it is adaptable but still very stable

freudian slip

a slip of the tounge freud considered to reveal unconscious desires

cardinal traits

traits that control almost all of a persons action, most people do not have a single cardinal trait

central traits

more general traits a person can posses, do not utterly describe a person

secondary traits

traits that only appear in very specific situations

number of words to describe personalities

~ 18,000

factor analysis

groups a large set of variables into smaller groups based on their correlations with each other

five factor model

the dominant in the trait approach for personality