Psyc205 Midterm #1

Concordia University Introductory Psychology Dr.Rebecca Achtman

Dogmatism

people’s tendencies to cling to their own beliefs and assumptions

Empiricism

the belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation

Empirical Method

a set of rules and techniques for observation

operational definition

a description of a property in measurable terms

Operational Definition

a description of a property in measurable terms

Construct Validity

the extent to which the thing being measured adequately characterizes the property

power

the detector’s ability to detect the presence of differences or changes in magnitude of a property

reliability

the detector’s ability to detect the absence of differences or changes in the magnitude of a property

demand characteristics

those aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think someone else wants or expects them to

naturalistic observation

a technique for gathering scientific information obtrusively by observing people in their natural environments

observer bias

the tendency for observers’ expectations to influence both what they believe they observed and what they actually observed

double blind study

a study in which neither the researcher nor the subject knows how the participants are meant to behave

variable

a property that can take on different values

correlation

the relationship that results when variations in one variable are synchronized with the variation in the value of another variable