psych notes

Uncritical acceptance

The tendency to believe claims because they seem true or because it would be nice if they were true.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to remember or notice information that fits one’s expectations, while forgetting or ignoring discrepancies.

Superstition

Unfounded belief held without evidence or in spite of falsifying evidence.

Pseudoscience

Unfounded belief system that seems to be based on science.

Science

An objective approach to answering questions that relies on careful observations and experiments.

Psychologist

A person highly trained in the methods, factual knowledge, and theories of psychology.

Animal model

An animal whose behavior is studied to derive principles that may apply to human behavior.

Clinical psychologist

A psychologist who specializes in the treatment of psychological and behavioral disturbances or who does research on such disturbances.

Counseling psychologist

A psychologist who specializes in the treatment of milder emotional and behavioral disturbances.

Psychiatrist

A medical doctor with additional training in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders.

Psychoanalyst

A mental health professional (usually a medical doctor) trained to practice psychoanalysis.

Counselor

A mental health professional who specializes in helping people with problems that do not involve serious mental disorders.

Scientific observation

An empirical investigation structured to answer questions about the world in a systematic and intersubjective fashion.

Stimulus

Any physical energy that an organism senses.

Introspection

Personal observation of your own thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Structuralism

Study of sensations and personal experience analyzed as basic elements.

Imageless thought

An early term describing the cognitive unconscious.

Cognitive unconscious

The part of the mind of which we are subjectively unaware and that is not open to introspection.

Gestalt psychology

Study of thinking, learning, and perception in whole units, not by analysis into parts.

Functionalism

School of psychology that considers behaviors in terms of active adaptations.

Natural selection

Darwin’s theory that evolution favors those plants and animals best suited to their living conditions.

Behaviorism

School of thought in psychology that emphasizes the study of observable actions over the study of the mind.

Response

Any muscular action, glandular activity, or other identifiable aspect of behavior.

Radical behaviorism

A behaviorist approach that rejects both introspection and any study of mental events as inappropriate topics for scientific psychology.

Dynamic unconscious

Parts of the mind that are beyond awareness, especially conflicts and impulses.

Psychoanalysis

Freudian approach to psychotherapy emphasizing the exploration of the unconscious.

Neo-Freudians

Psychologists who accept the broad features of Freud’s theory but have revised it to include cultural and social factors.

Psychodynamic theory

Any theory of behavior that emphasizes internal conflicts and unconscious forces.

Cognitive psychology

Study of information processing, thinking, reasoning, and problem solving.

Operational definition

Defining a scientific concept by stating the specific actions or procedures used to measure it.

Determinism

The idea that all behavior has prior causes that would completely explain one’s choices.

Free will

The ability to freely make choices that are not controlled by genetics, learning, or unconscious forces.

Humanistic psychology

Study of people as inherently good and motivated to learn and improve.

Self-actualization

The process of fully developing personal potentials.

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Biopsychosocial model

An approach acknowledging the interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors.

Biological perspective

The attempt to explain behavior in terms of biological principles.

Evolutionary psychology

Approach that emphasizes inherited, adaptive aspects of behavior.

Neuroscience

Field studying the brain and nervous system.

Psychological perspective

View that behavior is shaped by individual psychological processes.

Social perspective

Focus on the importance of social contexts in influencing behavior.

Social norms

Rules defining acceptable behavior for group members.

Gender bias in research

A tendency for females and female-related issues to be underrepresented in research.

Cultural relativity

The idea that behavior must be judged relative to cultural values.

Description

The process of naming and classifying in scientific research.

Understanding

The ability to state the causes of a behavior in psychology.

Prediction

An ability to accurately forecast behavior in psychology.

Control

Altering conditions that influence behavior in psychology.

Critical thinking

Reflection involving the support of beliefs through scientific explanation.

Falsification

The deliberate attempt to challenge the validity of a belief or theory.

Scientific method

Critical thinking based on careful measurement and controlled observation.

Hypothesis

Predicted outcome of an experiment.

Theory

Comprehensive explanation of observable events.

Self-report data

Information provided by participants about their own thoughts or behaviors.

Survey

Descriptive research method where participants answer the same questions.

Population

The entire group people from which a sample is drawn.

Sample

Subset of a population being studied.

Representative sample

Small, randomly selected part of a larger population.

Biased sample

Subpart of a population that does not accurately reflect the whole.

Social desirability

Tendency to give socially acceptable responses.

Observational data

Data that come from watching and recording behavior.

Naturalistic observation

Observing behavior as it unfolds in natural settings.

Structured observation

Observing behavior in researcher-set up situations.

Observer effect

Changes in behavior due to awareness of being observed.

Observer bias

Distorted observations to match expectations.

Physiological data

Data from participants’ physiological processes.

Variable

Factor manipulated or measured in research.

Experiment

Study where the investigator manipulates at least one variable.

Independent variable

Variable manipulated by the researcher.

Dependent variable

Element of an experiment measuring effects of manipulation.

Extraneous variable

Condition that may change but is excluded from influencing the outcome.

Experimental subjects

Humans or animals whose behavior is studied in an experiment.

Participants

Humans whose behavior is investigated in an experiment.

Experimental group

Group receiving the treatment in an experiment.

Control group

Subjects in a study not receiving the treatment.

Random assignment

Using chance to place subjects in groups.

Statistically significant

Experimental results unlikely to occur by chance.

Meta-analysis

Statistical technique combining results of many studies.

Research participant bias

Changes in participant behavior from their own expectations.

Placebo effect

Changes in behavior due to expectations of treatment effects.

Placebo

Inactive substance or treatment used in experiments.

Single-blind study

Research where subjects do not know their treatment.

Researcher bias

Changes in behavior caused by the researcher’s influence.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Prediction that causes people to act in ways that confirm it.

Double-blind study

Research where neither observers nor subjects know treatment assignments.

Quasi-experimental study

Descriptive study comparing groups without random assignment.

Correlational research

Study quantifying the relationship between variables.

Correlation

Consistent, systematic relationship between two events.

Correlation coefficient

Statistical index indicating the direction and degree of correlation.

Causation

The act of causing an effect.

Case study (clinical method)

In-depth analysis of the behavior of one or few individuals.

Central nervous system (CNS)

The brain and spinal cord.

Spinal cord

Column of nerves transmitting information between the brain and PNS.

Spinal nerves

Major nerves carrying sensory messages in and out of the spinal cord.

Peripheral nervous system (PNS)

Parts of the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord.

Neuron

Cell in the nervous system that transmits information.

Nerve

Bundle of neuron axons.

Cranial nerves

Major nerves leaving the brain without passing through the spinal cord.

Somatic nervous system (SNS)

Network linking the spinal cord with the body and sense organs.

Autonomic nervous system (ANS)

Axons carrying information to and from internal organs and glands.