Psychological Perspectives, Biases, and Research Methods

Psychology: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.
Psychodynamic Perspective: Proposes that unconscious thoughts and experiences, often developed during childhood, drive personality and are the focus of mental disorder causes.
Biological Perspective: Proposes that the causes of mental disorders focus on physiological or genetic issues.
Behavioral Perspective: Evolved from theories about learning via conditioning, focusing on observable behavior to the exclusion of mental processes.
Evolutionary Perspective: Explores how natural selection affects the expression of behavior and mental processes to increase survival and reproductive success.
Humanistic Perspective: Focuses on unconditional regard and the self-actualizing tendency as primary motivating factors.
Sociocultural Perspective: Proposes that the causes of mental disorders focus on maladaptive social and cultural relationships and dynamics.
Cognitive Perspective: Proposes that the causes of mental disorders focus on maladaptive thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, or emotions.
Biopsychosocial Perspective: An interaction model assuming that any psychological problem potentially involves a combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

Confirmation Bias: Described as a process where people experiencing belief perseverance cling to an attitude or belief regardless of the evidence for or against it.
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).
Overconfidence: The tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one's own beliefs, judgments, and abilities.

Empirical Evidence: Information acquired by observation or experimentation that is used to validate or invalidate a hypothesis.
Scientific Method: A systematic procedure for acquiring knowledge through observation, forming hypotheses, empirical testing, and data analysis.
Hypothesis: A testable prediction, often implied by a theory.
Falsifiable: The possibility that an idea, hypothesis, or theory can be disproven by observation or experiment.
Peer Review: Scientific experts who evaluate a research article's theory, originality, and accuracy.
Replication: Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding can be reproduced.

Quantitative Data: A research method that relies on quantifiable, numerical data.
Qualitative Data: A research method that relies on in-depth, narrative data that are not translated into numbers.
Likert Scales: A psychometric scale commonly involved in research questionnaires that asks respondents to specify their level of agreement to a statement.
Structured Interviews: A standardized quantitative research method where every participant is asked the exact same predetermined questions in the same order.
Survey Technique: A data collection method used to gather self-reported attitudes, opinions, or behaviors from a specific sample of people.
Wording Effect: The phenomenon where the specific phrasing or order of questions significantly alters how respondents answer.
Social Desirability Bias: Responding in ways that participants presume a researcher expects or wishes.
Naturalistic Observation: A non-experimental technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.
Case Study: 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.