Unit 1 Review:
Psychology - the science of behavior and mental processes.
Nature nurture issue - The Longstanding controversy over the relative contribution that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors.
Levels of analysis - the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon.
Biopsychosocial approach - an integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis.
Behavior - the way in which an animal or person acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus.
Mental processes - the internal, often unconscious cognitive activities and operations of the mind, such as thinking, memory, perception, and emotion, which transform input from the environment into, action, experience, and knowledge
Hindsight bias - the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. (Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.)
Critical thinking - thinking that does not automatically accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, appraises the source, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
Theory - an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events.
Hypothesis - a testable prediction, often implied by a theory.
Operational definition - a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures (operations) used in a research study. For example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures. (Also known as ope rationalization.)
Replication - repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding can be reproduced.
Case study - a non-experimental technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
Naturalistic observation - a non-experimental technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.
Survey - a non-experimental technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.
Sampling bias - a flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample.
Random sample - a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.
Correlation - is the degree to which two variables are related, and how well one predicts the other.
Correlation coefficient - a statistical index of the relationship between two things (from −1.00 to +1.00).
Illusory correlation - perceiving a relationship where none exists, or perceiving a stronger-than-actual relationship.
Experiment - has validity if it tests what it is supposed to test.
Random assignment -assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between the different groups.
Independent variable - in an experiment, the factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.
Dependent variable - in an experiment, the outcome that is measured; the variable that may change when the independent variable is manipulated.
Confounding variable - in an experiment, a factor other than the factor being studied that might influence a study’s results.
Placebo effect - experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent.
Double blind procedure - an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. Commonly used in drug-evaluation studies.
Statistical significance - a statistical statement of how likely it is that a result (such as a difference between samples) occurred by chance, assuming there is no difference between the populations being studied.
Descriptive statistics - numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups; include measures of central tendency and measures of variation.
Inferential statistics - numerical data that allow one to generalize — to infer from sample data the probability of something being true of a population.
Empiricism - the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation.
Structuralism - an early school of thought promoted by Wundt and Titchener used introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind.
Functionalism 0 early school of thought promoted by James and influenced by Darwin; explored how mental and behavioral processes function and how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
Experimental psychology - the study of behavior and thinking using the experimental method.
Behaviorism - the view that psychology (10) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental process. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not (2)
Humanistic psychology - a historical perspective that emphasized the growth of healthy people
Natural selection - the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variation, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.
Behavioral psychology - the scientific study of observable behavior, and its explanation by principles of learning.
Biological psychology - the scientific study of the links between biological and psychological processes.
Social-cultural psychology - the scientific study of how situations and cultures affect our behavior and thinking.
Cognitive psychology - the scientific study of all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.
Evolutionary psychology - the scientific study of the evolution of behavior and mind, using principles of natural selection.
Psychodynamic psychology is a branch of psychology that studies how unconscious drives and conflicts influence behavior, and uses that information to treat people with psychological disorders.
Basic research - pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base.