AP Psych Unit 0 Vocab
Psychodynamic/psychoanalytic perspective – Focuses on unconscious processes and childhood experiences affecting behavior.
Evolutionary perspective – Examines how natural selection of traits promotes survival of genes.
Behavioral perspective – Studies observable behavior and explains it through principles of learning.
Biological perspective – Investigates how biological structures and processes impact behavior.
Cognitive perspective – Explores how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information.
Socio-cultural perspective – Looks at how social and cultural environments influence behavior.
Biopsychosocial perspective – Considers combined influences of biological, psychological, and social factors.
Confirmation bias – Tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms one’s beliefs.
Hindsight bias – Belief that one could have predicted an outcome after knowing it occurred.
Overconfidence – Tendency to overestimate one’s abilities and knowledge.
Theory – Explanation of phenomena based on observations and reasoning.
Hypothesis – Testable prediction derived from a theory.
Falsifiability – Ability of a hypothesis to be proven false.
Operational definition – Precise description of how variables are measured or manipulated.
Replication – Repeating a study to see if the results can be duplicated.
Variable – Any factor that can change and is measurable.
Sample – Subset of individuals selected from a population for a study.
Population – Entire group of individuals a researcher is interested in.
Representative sample – Sample that accurately reflects the characteristics of a population.
Random sampling – Every member of a population has an equal chance of being selected.
Convenience sampling – Selecting participants based on availability and convenience.
Sampling bias – Systematic error due to a non-random sample of a population.
Survey – Research method that involves asking people questions.
Self-report bias – Participants may not provide accurate or truthful responses.
Social desirability bias – Tendency to respond in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others.
Generalizability – Extent to which research findings apply to settings or groups beyond the sample studied.
Case study – In-depth analysis of a single individual or group.
Naturalistic observation – Observing subjects in their natural environment without interference.
Experiment – Research method involving manipulation of variables to establish cause and effect.
Random assignment – Assigning participants to experimental or control groups by chance.
Correlation – Measure of the relationship between two variables.
Correlation coefficient – Numerical representation of the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables.
Scatterplot – Graph that shows the relationship between two variables using dots.
Independent variable – Variable that is manipulated by the researcher.
Dependent variable – Variable that is measured and affected in an experiment.
Confounding variable – Variable other than the independent variable that could influence results.
Random assignment – Assigning participants to groups by chance to minimize preexisting differences.
Experimental group – Group that receives the treatment in an experiment.
Control group – Group that does not receive the treatment; used for comparison.
Placebo – Inactive substance or treatment given to the control group.
Single-blind – Participants do not know if they are in the experimental or control group.
Double-blind – Both researchers and participants do not know who is in the experimental or control group.
Control – Group used as a baseline to compare results.
Experimenter bias – Unconscious influence of researchers’ expectations on the study’s outcome.
Institutional Review Board (IRB) – Committee that reviews and approves research involving human participants.
Informed consent – Participants’ agreement to take part in a study after being informed of its purpose and procedures.
Informed assent – Agreement from a minor to participate in research, in addition to parental consent.
Protection from harm – Ensuring participants are not harmed physically or psychologically.
Confidentiality – Keeping participants’ data and identity private.
Deception – Misleading participants about the true purpose of a study.
Debriefing – Informing participants about the true purpose of the study after it concludes.
Descriptive statistics – Methods used to summarize and describe main features of a data set.
Histogram – Bar graph that represents the frequency distribution of a data set.
Mode – Most frequently occurring score in a data set.
Mean – Average of a data set.
Median – Middle score in a data set.
Percentile rank – Percentage of scores in its frequency distribution that are equal to or lower than it.
Skewed distribution – Distribution that is not symmetrical and has scores clustered to one side.
Range – Difference between the highest and lowest scores in a data set.
Standard deviation – Measure of how spread out the scores are in a data set.
Normal curve – Bell-shaped curve representing a distribution of scores.
Inferential statistics – Techniques used to determine if results can be generalized to a larger population.
Meta-analysis – Combining data from multiple studies to draw a broader conclusion.
Statistical significance – Likelihood that a result is not due to chance.
Effect size – Magnitude of a relationship or effect in a study.