PSYC 100 Fall Exam Terms

Ethics

Professional guidelines that offer researchers a template for making decisions that protect research participants from potential harm and that help steer scientists away from conflicts of interest or other situations that might compromise the integrity of their research.

Hypotheses

A logical idea that can be tested.

Systematic observation

The careful observation of the natural world with the aim of better understanding it. Observations provide the basic data that allow scientists to track, tally, or otherwise organize information about the natural world.

Theories

Groups of closely related phenomena or observations.

Anecdotal evidence

A piece of biased evidence, usually drawn from personal experience, used to support a conclusion that may or may not be correct.

Causality

In research, the determination that one variable causes—is responsible for—an effect.

Correlation

In statistics, the measure of relatedness of two or more variables.

Data (also called observations)

In research, information systematically collected for analysis and interpretation.

Deductive reasoning

A form of reasoning in which a given premise determines the interpretation of specific observations (e.g., All birds have feathers; since a duck is a bird, it has feathers).

Distribution

In statistics, the relative frequency that a particular value occurs for each possible value of a given variable.

Empirical

Concerned with observation and/or the ability to verify a claim.

Fact

Objective information about the world.

Falsify

In science, the ability of a claim to be tested and—possibly—refuted; a defining feature of science.

Generalize

In research, the degree to which one can extend conclusions drawn from the findings of a study to other groups or situations not included in the study.

Hypothesis

A tentative explanation that is subject to testing.

Induction

To draw general conclusions from specific observations.

Inductive reasoning

A form of reasoning in which a general conclusion is inferred from a set of observations (e. g., noting that "the driver in that car was texting; he just cut me off then ran a red light!" (a specific observation), which leads to the general conclusion that texting while driving is dangerous).

Levels of analysis

In science, there are complementary understandings and explanations of phenomena.

Null-hypothesis significance testing (NHST)

In statistics, a test created to determine the chances that an alternative hypothesis would produce a result as extreme as the one observed if the null hypothesis were actually true.

Objective

Being free of personal bias.

Population

In research, all the people belonging to a particular group (e.g., the population of left handed people).

Probability

A measure of the degree of certainty of the occurrence of an event.

Probability values

In statistics, the established threshold for determining whether a given value occurs by chance.

Pseudoscience

Beliefs or practices that are presented as being scientific, or which are mistaken for being scientific, but which are not scientific (e.gAstrology, the use of celestial bodies to make predictions about human behaviours, and which presents itself as founded in astronomy, the actual scientific study of celestial objects. Astrology is a pseudoscience unable to be falsified, whereas astronomy is a legitimate scientific discipline).

Representative

In research, the degree to which a sample is a typical example of the population from which it is drawn.

Sample

In research, a number of people selected from a population to serve as an example of that population.

Scientific theory

An explanation for observed phenomena that is empirically well-supported, consistent, and fruitful (predictive).

Type I error

In statistics, the error of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true.

Type II error

In statistics, the error of failing to reject the null hypothesis when it is false.

Value

Belief about the way things should be.

Behaviorism

The study of behavior.

Cognitive psychology

The study of mental processes.

Consciousness

Awareness of ourselves and our environment.

Empiricism

The belief that knowledge comes from experience.

Eugenics

The practice of selective breeding to promote desired traits.

Flashbulb memory

A highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event.

Functionalism

A school of American psychology that focused on the utility of consciousness.

Gestalt psychology

An attempt to study the unity of experience.

Individual differences

Ways in which people differ in terms of their behavior, emotion, cognition, and development.

Introspection

A method of focusing on internal processes.

Neural impulse

An electro-chemical signal that enables neurons to communicate.

Practitioner-Scholar Model

A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes clinical practice.

Psychophysics

Study of the relationships between physical stimuli and the perception of those stimuli.

stimuli.

Realism

A point of view that emphasizes the importance of the senses in providing knowledge of the external world.

Scientist-practitioner model

A model of training of professional psychologists that emphasizes the development of both research and clinical skills.

Structuralism

A school of American psychology that sought to describe the elements of conscious experience.

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

The inability to pull a word from memory even though there is the sensation that that word is available.

Key components to a statistical investigation are:

Planning the study, Examining the data, Inferring from the data, Drawing conclusions

Cause-and-effect

Related to whether we say one variable is causing changes in the other variable, versus other variables that may be related to these two variables.

Confidence interval

An interval of plausible values for a population parameter; the interval of values within the margin of error of a statistic.

Distribution

The pattern of variation in data.

Generalizability

Related to whether the results from the sample can be generalized to a larger population.

Margin of error

The expected amount of random variation in a statistic; often defined for 95% confidence level.

Parameter

A numerical result summarizing a population (e.g., mean, proportion).

Population

A larger collection of individuals that we would like to generalize our results to.

P-value

The probability of observing a particular outcome in a sample, or more extreme, under a conjecture about the larger population or process.

Random assignment

Using a probability-based method to divide a sample into treatment groups.

Random sampling

Using a probability-based method to select a subset of individuals for the sample from the population.

Reliability

The consistency of a measure.

Sample

The collection of individuals on which we collect data.

Statistic

A numerical result computed from a sample (e.g., mean, proportion).

Statistical significance

A result is statistically significant if it is unlikely to arise by chance alone.

Validity

The degree to which a measure is assessing what it is intended to measure.

Confounds

Factors that undermine the ability to draw causal inferences from an experiment.

Correlation

Measures the association between two variables, or how they go together.

Dependent variable

The variable the researcher measures but does not manipulate in an experiment.

Experimenter expectations

When the experimenter's expectations influence the outcome of a study.

Independent variable

The variable the researcher manipulates and controls in an experiment.

Longitudinal study

A study that follows the same group of individuals over time.

Operational definitions

How researchers specifically measure a concept.

Participant demand

When participants behave in a way that they think the experimenter wants them to behave.

Placebo effect

When receiving special treatment or something new affects human behavior.

Quasi-experimental design

An experiment that does not require random assignment to conditions.

Random assignment

Assigning participants to receive different conditions of an experiment by chance.

Ambulatory assessment

An overarching term to describe methodologies that assess the behavior, physiology, experience, and environments of humans in naturalistic settings.

Daily Diary method

A methodology where participants complete a questionnaire about their thoughts, feelings, and behavior of the day at the end of the day.

Day reconstruction method (DRM)

A methodology where participants describe their experiences and behavior of a given day retrospectively upon a systematic reconstruction on the following day.

Ecological momentary assessment

An overarching term to describe methodologies that repeatedly sample participants' real-world experiences, behavior, and physiology in real time.

Ecological validity

The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life.

Electronically activated recorder, or EAR

A methodology where participants wear a small, portable audio recorder that intermittently records snippets of ambient sounds around them.

Experience-sampling method

A methodology where participants report on their momentary thoughts, feelings, and behaviors at different points in time over the course of a day.

External validity

The degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific sample and context of a study to some larger population and broader settings.

Full-cycle psychology

A scientific approach whereby researchers start with an observational field study to identify an effect in the real world, follow up with laboratory experimentation to verify the effect and isolate the causal mechanisms, and return to field research to corroborate their experimental findings.

Generalize

Generalizing, in science, refers to the ability to arrive at broad conclusions based on a smaller sample of observations. For these conclusions to be true the sample should accurately represent the larger population from which it is drawn.

Internal validity

The degree to which a cause-effect relationship between two variables has been unambiguously established.

Linguistic inquiry and word count

A quantitative text analysis methodology that automatically extracts grammatical and psychological information from a text by counting word frequencies.

Lived day analysis

A methodology where a research team follows an individual around with a video camera to objectively document a person's daily life as it is lived.

White coat hypertension

A phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in the hospital or doctor's office but not in their everyday lives.

Adoption study

A behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of adopted children to their adoptive and biological parents.

Behavioral genetics

The empirical science of how genes and environments combine to generate behavior.

Heritability coefficient

An easily misinterpreted statistical construct that purports to measure the role of genetics in the explanation of differences among individuals.

Quantitative genetics

Scientific and mathematical methods for inferring genetic and environmental processes based on the degree of genetic and environmental similarity among organisms.

Twin studies

A behavior genetic research method that involves comparison of the similarity of identical (monozygotic; MZ) and fraternal (dizygotic; DZ) twins.

Adaptations

Evolved solutions to problems that historically contributed to reproductive success.

Error management theory (EMT)

A theory of selection under conditions of uncertainty in which recurrent cost asymmetries of judgment or inference favor the evolution of adaptive cognitive biases that function to minimize the more costly errors.

Evolution

Change over time. Is the definition changing?

Gene Selection Theory

The modern theory of evolution by selection by which differential gene replication is the defining process of evolutionary change.

Intersexual selection

A process of sexual selection by which evolution (change) occurs as a consequences of the mate preferences of one sex exerting selection pressure on members of the opposite sex.

Intrasexual competition

A process of sexual selection by which members of one sex compete with each other, and the victors gain preferential mating access to members of the opposite sex.