AP Psychology- Unit 0

Psychology

The scientific study of mental processes and behaviors.

Confirmation Bias

Where people only look at the evidence that confirms their bias. Ignoring things that can disprove it.

Hindsight Bias

People claim they knew something would happen when they didn’t state it would before the something happened.

Overconfidence

People who believe in their own judgements or abilities to much.

Empirical Evidence

Information that you get through observation, experiments, or measurements

The Scientific Method

A systematic approach that is used to study the behaviors and mental processes of the human mind.

Hypothesis

A prediction or educated guess from the relationship between variables or the outcome.

Falsifiable

A hypothesis that is proven to be wrong.

Peer review

An expert or peer overviewing you’re work.

Replication

The process where something must be repeated to reproducing a research study in order to confirm its results

Reliability

Produces consistent results when done over and over again.

Validity

The extent to which a research study or measurement tool accurately measures what it intends to measure.

The American Psychological Association (APA)

A leading professional organization dedicated to advancing the field of psychology and promoting the application of psychological knowledge to improve human welfare

Research Design- Overall Structure

The overall plan or strategy that outlines how a research study will be conducted to address specific research questions or adjectives

Methodology- Specific Techniques

The systematic procedures and techniques used to conduct research within a specific research design.

Quantitative Data(Numerical)

Number based information gathered from surveys, test, or experiments.

Qualitative Data

Not about numbers but gives deeper insights into complex topics. Information given through methods like interviews and observations.

Likert scales

A measurement tool used in surveys and questionnaires to assess peoples attitudes, opinions, or perceptions.

Structures Interviews

Research method where predetermined questions are asked to all participants in the same order.

Survey Technique

Research method used to collect data from a sample of individuals through self-report measures.

Wording effect

Subtle changes in the phrasing or wording of survey questions can influence respondents responses

Social Desirability bias

The tendency of people to respond in a manner that is more favored by others rather than being honest.

Naturalistic Observation

Researchers observe and record behaviors without letting the participants know

Case study

Involves an in depth examination of a single individual, group, or phenomenon (Focuses on specific cases)

Correlation research

Identifying patterns and making a prediction.

Third Variable Problem

Possibility that a unmeasured variable may be influencing variables of interest.

Scatterplot

Visual representation used in correlation research to display the relationship between 2 variables.

Correlation Coefficient

Statistical measure used in correlational research to quantify the strength and direction of the relationship between two variable

No correlation

Correlation coefficient of 0

Positive Correlation

+1 One decreases which causes the other to decrease and vice versa with increase.

Negative Correlation

-1 One increases the other decreases and vice versa

Experimental Method

A research technique used to investigate cause and effect relationship between variables.

Independent Variable

Variable that the researcher deliberately changes or manipulates in an experiment.

Dependent Variable

Variable that is observed and measured for changes in an in an experiment.

Confounding Variable

Variable that wasn’t accounted for or controlled but affects the results of the study.

Operational Definition

Specifies how a researcher will measure and manipulate variables in a study .

Experimental group

Participants who are exposed to the independent variable to observe the effect on the dependent variable.

Control group

Participants who are not exposed to the independent variable for a baseline.

Random assignment

Research method used to assign participants to different groups in an experiment randomly.

Placebo effect

The phenomenon where individuals experience improvements in their condition solely because they believe they are receiving a beneficial treatment.

Experimental Bias

The researchers expectations or beliefs about the outcome of a study influence the results .

Single blind study

Research design where participants are unaware of whether they belong to the experimental or control group, but the researchers know.

Double blind study

Where neither the participants or the researcher know where each belongs.

Sample

Refers to a subset of individuals or cases selected from a larger population

Representative sample

A subset of individuals selected from a larger population in such a way that accurately reflects the demographics, characteristics and diversity of that population

Random Sample

Ensures that each participant in the study has an equal opportunity to be included (Minimizes influence of researcher bias and increases generalization)

Sample bias

Occurs when the sample is not representative of the larger population, which causes inaccurate or misleading results.

Generalizability

The extent to which research findings obtained from a sample can be applied or generalized to a larger population.

Statistics

A large amount of data can be collected in research studies. Psychologists use this in order to make sense of the data

Descriptive Statistics

Refers to numerical measures used to summarize and describe the characteristics of a dataset.

Inferential Statistics

Involves using data from a sample to make inferences or predictions about a larger population

Measures of Central Tendency

Statistical tools used to describe the central or average value of a set of data.

Mean

A measure of central tendency that represents the average value of a set of data

Median

Measure of central tendency represents the middle value.

Mode

Measure of central tendency represents the most occurring value.

Range

The difference between the highest and lowest values.

Normal Curve or Bell curve

Majority of the data falls near the center or mean

Regression in the mean

A statistical phenomenon describing how variables much higher or lower than the mean are often much closer to the mean when measured a second time.

Positive Skew

Majority of the data clusters on the left side

Negative Skew

Majority of the data clusters to the right side

Standard Deviation

A way to measure how spread out or close together numbers are in a group

Percentile Rank

A statistical measure that indicates the percentage of scores in a distribution that are equal to or below a particular value.

Biomodal Distribution

Occurs when two different values appear most frequently (modes) in the data set.

Statistical Significance

The likelihood that observed results in a research study are not due to chance.

Effect sizes

Tells you how meaningful the relationship between variables or the difference between groups is.

Meta Analysis

The statistical analysis of multiple research studies on the same topic to draw overall conclusions.