Foundations Unit Review

Cultural norms

• shared beliefs, or values, and the human behaviors that support these values within a given society

Confirmation bias

• search for what you want to be right

Hindsight bias

• tendency to believe, once an outcome is already known of course, that you would have foreseen it

Overconfidence

• very sure of a fact although reality is different

Independent variables

• variable being manipulated

Confounding variables

• differences (other than independent variable) that arise due to poor planning, sloppy work or bias

  • variables that a researcher fails to control

Dependent variables

• variable that stays the same

Random assignment

• ensures all members of sample have equal chance of being in either group

Case study

• take advantage of unreplicable situation

• done on one person

Correlation

• a mutual relationship or connection between two or more things

Positive Correlation

• (r value = 0-1)

Negative Correlation

• (r value = -1 to 0)

Meta-analysis

• synthesizes results of several previous independent studies on topic

  • could summarize multiple correlational studies or experimental studies

Naturalistic observation

• observing something in natural environment instead of lab setting

Hypothesis

• if = independence variables

  • experimenter will change

  • cause

• then = dependent variable

  • variable measured

  • effect

  • depends on IV

Falsifiable (as it pertains to hypotheses)

• if can be proven wrong

Operational definitions

• statement of procedure / way in which a researcher is going to measure behaviors or qualities

Replication

• reproducing a study to see if you get the same results

Central tendency

• the statistical measure that identifies a single value as representative of an entire distribution

Variation

• the differences and diversity that exist within a population, specifically in terms of traits or characteristic

Percentile rank

• the percentage of people in a norm group who scored lower than a particular individual on a test or assessment

Mean

• average

Median

• middle number

Mode

• how often something appears

Range

• difference between max and min

Normal curve

• bell-shaped distribution

Positive skew

• a distribution of data where the majority of scores are on the lower side of the scale, with fewer scores on the higher side

Negative skew

• a distribution of data where the left side of the curve is longer than the right

Bimodal distribution

• types of probability distribution that has two distinct peaks or modes in a data set

Standard deviation

• a statistical measurement that shows how spread out a set of scores are around the mean

Regression toward the mean

• the statistical tendency for extremely high or low scores on a measurement to naturally move closer to the average (mean) when measured again

Sample

• small group of people being observed in experiment

Population

• all individuals who can participate

Representative sample

• sample that has characteristics similar to those in population, easy to generalize

Random sampling

• every member has same chance

Convenience sampling

• selects participants based on accessibility, can’t generalize

Generalizing

• the tendency to respond similarly to stimuli that are similar to an original stimulus

Experimental group

• has no independent variable manipulated

Control group

• comparison group, measures the dependent variable by not giving experimental treatment

Placebo

• a fake treatment that appears real but has no therapeutic benefit

Placebo effect

• real responses to an action or substance based solely on expectations, not actual properties of the action or substance

Single-blind study

• participants do not know which group they belong to

Double-blind study

• neither participant nor researcher knowns which group the participants belong to

Experimenter bias

• expectations that may influence outcome

Social desirability bias

• a type of response bias that occurs when people give answers that are socially acceptable instead of their true opinions

Qualitative research/measures

• a method of research that produces descriptive data

Structured interviews

• a research method that uses a set of predetermined questions to collect data from a subject

Likert scales

• a rating scale that measures attitudes, opinions, or behaviors

Representation of participants

• a sample that accurately represents the studied population

Peer review

• a quality control process used by publications to help ensure that only high quality, methodologically sound information is presented in the publication

Scatterplot

• visual representation of the relationships or associations between two numerical variables

Correlation coefficient

• indicates the strength of the relationship between two variables (r value)

Effect sizes

• quantitative measure of the strength of a relationship between variables or the difference between groups

Statistical significance

• way to determine if a difference between groups is due to chance or if it's the result of experimental influences

Directionality problem (in correlation)

• occurs when two variables are correlated but it not clear which causes the other

Third variable problem (in correlation)

• occurs when a correlation between two variables is influenced by an unseen third variable, leading to misleading interpretations of the relationship

Institutional review

• provide a core protection for human research participants through advance and periodic independent review of the ethical acceptability of proposals for human research

Informed consent

• a process that involves providing a client or research participant with all the necessary information about a service or study, and then getting their agreement to participate

Informed assent

• an agreement by an individual not competent to give legally-valid informed consent

Confidentiality

• the expectation that information shared with a psychologist will not be shared with others without the patient's consent

Deception

• the act of intentionally misleading someone with false information

Debriefing

• a conversation between a researcher and a participant after a study or experiment