PSYCH 121 FINAL

Psychology

The scientific study of behaviour, thought, and experience, and how they can be affected by physical, mental, social, and environmental factors.

Scientific method

A way of learning about the world through collecting observations, developing theories to explain them, and using the theories to make predictions.

A set of procedures, guidelines, assumptions, and attitudes required for the organized and systematic collection, interpretation, and verification of data and the discovery of reproducible evidence, enabling laws and principles to be stated or modified.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction about processes that can be observed and measured.

Cannot prove.

Falsifiable

The hypothesis is precise enough that it could be proven false.

Pseudoscience

An idea that is presented as science but does not actually utilize basic principles of scientific thinking or procedure.

Theory

An explanation for a broad range of observations that also generates new hypotheses and integrates numerous findings into a coherent whole.

Biopsychosocial model

A means of explaining behaviour as a product of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

Scientific literacy

The ability to understand, analyze, and apply scientific information.

Critical thinking

Involves exercising curiosity and skepticism when evaluating the claims of others, and with our own assumptions and beliefs. (intentional examination)

Principle of parsimony

The simplest of all competing explanations of a phenomenon should be the one we accept.

Empiricism

A philosophical tenet that knowledge comes through experience.

Determinism

The belief that all events are governed by lawful, cause-and-effect relationships.

Zeitgeist

Refers to a general set of beliefs of a particular culture at a specific time in history.

Dualism

The idea that there are properties of humans that are not material.

There is a mind or soul separate from the body.

Materialism

The belief that humans, and other living beings, are composed exclusively of physical matter.

Psychophysics

The field of study that explores how physical energy such as light and sound and their intensity relate to psychological experience.

Clinical psychology

The field of psychology that concentrates on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.

Localization of brain function

The idea that certain parts of the brain control specific mental abilities and personality characteristics.

Psychoanalysis

A psychological approach that attempts to explain how behaviour and personality are influenced by unconscious processes.

Eminence

A combination of ability, morality, and achievement.

Nature and nurture relationships

The inquiry into how heredity and the environment influence behaviour and mental processes.

Structuralism

An attempt to analyze conscious experience by breaking it down into basic elements, and to understand how these elements work together.

Functionalism

The study of the purpose and function of behaviour and conscious experience.

Behaviourism

An approach that dominated the first half of the 20th century of North American psychology and had a singular focus on studying only observable behaviour, with little to no reference to mental events or instincts as possible influences on behaviour.

Social psychology

The study of the influence of other people on our behaviour.

Personality psychology

The study of how different personality characteristics can influence how we think and act.

Gestalt psychology

An approach emphasizing that psychologists need to focus on the whole of perception and experience, rather than its parts.

Cognitive psychology

A modern psychological perspective that focuses on processes such as memory, thinking, and language.

Humanistic psychology

Focuses on the unique aspects of each individual human, each persons freedom to act, their rational thought, and the belief that humans are fundamentally different from other animals.

Intergenerational trauma

The transmission of the negative social and emotional consequences of oppression from one generation to the next.

What are the 5 pillars of psychology?

• biological

• cognitive

• developmental

• social and personality

• mental and physical health

Objectivity

Assumes that certain facts about the world can be observed and tested independently by the individual who describes them.

Lack of favouritism toward one side or another, freedom from bias.

5 characteristics of quality scientific research:

• based on measurements that are objective, valid, and reliable

• can be generalized

• uses techniques that reduce bias

• made public

• can be replicated

Objective measurements

The measure of an entity or behaviour that, within an allowed margin of error, is consistent across instruments and observers.

Variable

The object, concept, or event being controlled, manipulated, or measured by a scientist.

Operational definitions

Statements that describe the procedures or operations and specific measures that are used to record observations.

Validity

The degree to which an instrument or procedure actually measures what it claims to measure.

Reliability

When it provides consistent and stable answers across multiple observations and points in time.

Generalizability

Refers to the degree to which one set of results can be applied to other situations, individuals, or events.

Population

The group that researchers want to generalize about.

Sample

A select group of population members.

Random sample

A sampling technique in which every individual of a population has an equal chance of being included.

Convenience samples

Samples of individuals who are the most readily available.

Ecological validity

The results of a laboratory study can be applied to or repeated in the natural environment.

Hawthorne effect

A behaviour change that occurs as a result of being observed.

Social desirability

Research participants respond in ways that increase the chances they will be viewed favourably by the experimenter and/or other participants.

Placebo effect

A measurable and experienced improvement in health or behaviour that cannot be attributed to a medication or treatment.

Demand characteristics

Inadvertent cues given off by the experimenter or the experimental context that provide information about how participants are expected to behave.

Anonymity

Individual’s responses are recorded without any name or other personal information that could link a particular individual to specific results.

Confidentiality

The results will be seen only by the researcher.

Single-blind study

The participants do not know the true purpose of the study, or else do not know which type of treatment they are receiving.

Double-blind study

A study in which neither the participant nor the experimenter knows the exact treatment for any individual.

Peer review

A process in which papers submitted for publication in scholarly journals are read and critiqued by experts in the specific field of study.

Replication

The process of repeating a study and finding a similar outcome each time.

5 characteristics of poor research:

• produces untestable hypothesis

• relies on anecdotes and personal experiences

• includes a biased selection of data

• makes appeals to authority rather than facts

• makes appeals to common sense

Anecdotal evidence

An individuals story or testimony about an observation or event that is used to make a claim as evidence.

Appeal to authority

The belief in an “experts” claim even when no supporting data or scientific evidence is present.

Appeal to common sense

A claim that appears to be sound but lacks supporting scientific evidence.

Research design

A set of methods that allows a hypothesis to be tested.

Qualitative research

Involves examining an issue or behaviour without performing numerical measurements of the variables.

Quantitative research

Involves examining an issue or behaviour by using numerical measurements and/or statistics.

Case study

An in-depth report about the details of a specific case.

Naturalistic observations

Unobtrusively observe and record behaviour as it occurs in the subjects natural environment.

Self-reporting

A method in which responses are provided directly by the people who are being studied, typically through face-to-face interviews, phone surveys, paper-and-pencil tests, and web-based questionnaires.

Correlational research

Measuring the degree of association between two or more variables.

Third-variable problem

The possibility that a third, unmeasured variable is responsible for a well-established correlation between two variables.

Illusory correlations

Relationships that exist only in the mind, rather than in reality.

Random assignment

A technique for dividing samples into two or more groups in which participants are equally likely to be placed in any condition of the experiment.

Confounding variable

A variable outside of the researchers control that might affect or provide an alternative explanation for the results.

Independent variable

The variable the experimenter manipulates to distinguish between two or more groups.

Dependent variable

The observation or measurement that is recorded during the experiment and subsequently compared across all groups.

Between-subjects design

An experimental design in which we compare the performance of participants who are in different groups.

Experimental group

The group in the experiment that receives a treatment or the stimuli targeting a specific behaviour.

Control group

The group that does not receive the treatment or stimuli targeting a specific behaviour.

Within-subjects designs

An experimental design in which the same participants respond to all types of stimuli or experience all experimental conditions.

Quasi-experimental research

A research technique in which the two or more groups that are compared are selected based on predetermined characteristics, rather than random assignment.

Descriptive statistics

A set of techniques used to organize, summarize, and interpret data.

Frequency

The number of observations that fall within a certain category or range of scores.

Normal distribution

Sometimes called the bell curve, a symmetrical distribution with values clustered around a central, mean value.

Skewed distribution

An asymmetrical distribution with a large cluster of scores on one side and a long “tail” on the other.

Central tendency

A measure of the central point of a distribution.

Mean

The arithmetic average of a set of numbers.

Median

The 50th percentile.

The point on the horizontal axis at which 50% of all observations are lower and 50% of all observations are higher.

Mode

The category with the highest frequency.

Variability

The degree to which scores are dispersed in a distribution.

Standard deviation

A measure of variability around the mean.

Hypothesis test

A statistical method of evaluating whether differences among groups are meaningful or could have been arrived at by chance alone.

Statistical significance

The means of the groups are farther apart than you would expect them to be by random assignment.

Null hypothesis

Assumes that any differences between groups or conditions are due to chance.

Experimental hypothesis

Assumes that any differences are due to a variable controlled by the experimenter.

Research ethics board (REB)

A committee of researchers and officials at an institution charged with the protection of human research participants.

Informed consent

A potential volunteer must be informed (know the purpose, tasks, and risks involved in the study) and give consent (agree to participate based on the information provided) without pressure.

Deception

Misleading or only partially informing participants of the true topic or hypothesis under investigation.

Debriefing

The researchers should explain the true nature of the study, and especially the nature of and reason for any deception.

Genes

The basic units of heredity.

Responsible for guiding the process of creating the proteins that make up our physical structures and regulate development and physiological processes throughout the lifespan.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)

A molecule formed in a double-helix shape that contains four nucleotides: adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine.

Genotype

The genetic makeup of an organism.

The unique set of genes that comprises that individuals genetic code.

Phenotype

The physical traits and behavioural characteristics that show genetic variation, such as eye colour, the shape and size of facial features, intelligence, and even personality.

Chromosomes

Structures in the cellular nucleus that are lined with all of the genes an individual inherits.

Homozygous

If two corresponding genes at a given location on a pair of chromosomes are the same.