Psychology 10
Terms
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- empiricism
- the view that (a) knowledge comes from experience via the senses, and (b) science flourishes through observation and experiment.
- structuralism
- an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind
- functionalism
- a school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function- how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish
- psychology
- the science of behavior and mental processes
- nature-nurture issue
- the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behavior
- natural selection
- the principle that, amont the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations
- basic research
- pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
- applied research
- scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
- clinical psychology
- a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders
- psychiatry
- a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (ex: drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy
- hindsight bias
- the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that on would have forseen it (AKA knew-it-all-along phenomenon)
- critical thinking
- thinking that does not blindly accept arguements and conclusions. Rather examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
- theory
- an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations
- hypothesis
- a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
- operational definition
- a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables. Ex: intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures
- replication
- repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances
- case study
- an observation technique in which on person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
- survey
- a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them
- false consensus effect
- the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors
- population
- all cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study
- random sample
- a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
- naturalistic observation
- observing and recording behavior in naturally occuring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
- correlation coefficient
- a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other
- illusory correlation
- the perception of a relationship where none exists
- experiment
- research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on behavior or mental process (the dependent variable). By random assignment of participants, the experiment controls other releveant factors
- double-bind procedure
- an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. commonly used in drug evaluation studies
- placebo effect
- experimental results coused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by administration of an inert substance or condiditon, which is assumed to be an active agent
- experimental condition
- the condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment
- control condition
- the condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment
- random assignment
- assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups