Unit 0 Vocabulary

AP Psychology Unit 0 Vocabulary

Cultural Norms

The unwritten rules of a society which dictate how people act in situations if you were to go against these it would be unaccepted.

Confirmation Bias

A tendency to search for information that supports our pre-existing belief or opinions instead of objectively evaluating info.

Hindsight Bias, “I knew it all along”

The tendency to believe after learning an outcome that you knew it from the beginning.

Occurs when, after an event has occurred, we believe we predicted the outcome beforehand.

Overconfidence

The tendency to be more confident than correct.

Overestimating ourselves

Experimental Research Design

How participants are distributed to different groups in an experiment. (Repeated measures, independent groups, matched pairs)

Case Study

An individual or group is studied thoroughly to attempt to reveal universal principles.

Correlation

A measure of the extent of how two factors vary together, or how well one factor predicts the other.

Meta-analysis

A procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction about the behavior or relationship between variables.

Falsifiable

The logical possibility that an assertion, hypothesis, or theory can be proven incorrect through observation or experiment.

Operational Definitions

A carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in research studies.

Independent Variable(s)

The thing that is changed or manipulated by you in an experiment to see its effect.

Dependent Variable(s)

What is measured, changes when the independent variable is manipulated.

Confounding Variables

A factor other than the factor being studied that might influence a study’s results.

Sample

A portion of a population that is selected to help make inferences about the population.

Population

Everyone in a group that is being studied

Representative Sample

A group that matches the characteristics of the population as a whole.

Random Sampling

A sample that fairly represents the population because each member has an equal chance of incluson.

Convenience Sampling

Selecting a group of people/cases in no particular way but rather by who gets there first/is readily available.

Sampling Bias

A flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample.

Generalizabilty

The extent to which results or findings from a group is able to be applied to the general population.

Experimental Group

The group exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable

Control group

In an experiment, the group not exposed to the treatment. Used as a comparison to evaluate the effect of the treatment.

Placebo “I shall please”

Any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent.

Single-blind

Being unaware of the experimental conditions that you (a participant) are put under.

Double-blind

Both the research participants and staff are ignorant(blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. Drug Evalutions

Social Desirability Bias

The extent to which a trait/attribute is considered valuable within a social group.

Qualitative Data

The recorded descriptions such as behavior, thoughts, attitudes, and experiences.

Quantitative Data

The numerical data, such as measurements or test scores.

Peer Review

The evaluation of work by qualified professionals in the same field.

Replication

Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations to see whether basic findings can be reproduced.