PSY 1300 Chapter 1 Vocabulary
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- scientific study of behavior and mental processes
- psychology
- process of objectively evaluating, comparing, analyzing, and synthesizing information
- critical thinking
- nature-nuture controversy
- ongoing dispute over the relative contributions of nature (heredity) and nurture (environment)
- process in which multiple factors mutually influence one another and the outcome-as in the interaction between heredity and environment
- interaction
- focuses on unconscious processes and unresolved past conflicts
- psychoanalytic/psychodynamic perspective
- emphasis objective, observable environmental influences on overt behavior
- behavior perspective
- emphasizes free will, self-actualization, and human nature as naturally positive and growthseeking
- human perspective
- focusses on thought, perception, and information processing
- cognitive psychology
- emphasizes genetics and other biological process in the brain and other parts of the nervous system
- neuroscience/biopsychology perspective
- focuses on natural selection, adaptation, and evolution of behavior and mental process
- evolutionary perspective
- emphasizes social interaction and cultural determinants of behavior and mental processes
- sociocultural perspective
- unifying theme of modern psycholoy that considers biological, psychological, and social processes
- biopsychosocial model
- research conducted to advance scientific knowledge
- basic research
- research designed to solve practical problems
- applied research
- specific prediction about how one variable relates to another
- hypothesis
- a precise description of how the variables in a study will be observed and measured
- operational definition
- statistical procedure for combining and analyzing data from many studies
- meta-analysis
- interrelated set of concepts that explain a body of data
- theory
- participant's agreement to take part in a study after being told what to expect
- informed consent
- informing participants after the research about the purpose of the study, the nature of the anticipated results, and any deceptions used
- debriefing
- carefully controlled scientific procedure that involves manipulation of variables to determine cause and effect
- experiment
- experimental factor manipulated to determine its causal effect on the dependent variable
- independent variable
- experimental factor that is measured; it is affected by, or dependent on, the independent variable
- dependent variable
- group receiving treatment in an experiment
- experimental group
- group receiving no treatment in an experiment
- control group
- occurs when researcher influences research results in the expected direction
- experimenter bias
- procedure in which both the researcher and the participants are unaware (blind) of who is in the experimental or control group
- double-blind study
- inactive substance or fake treatment used as a control technique or given by a medical practitioner to a patient
- placebo
- believing that one's culture is typical of all cultures; also, viewing one's own ethnic group, or culture, as central and "correct" and judging otheres according to this standard
- ethnocentrism
- occurs when research participants are not representative of the larger population
- sample bias
- using chance methods to assign participants to experimental or control conditions, thus minimizing the possibility of biases or preexisting diferences in the groups
- random assignment
- occurs when experimental conditions influence the participant's behavior or mental processes
- participant bias
- physiologically aroused individuals make mistaken inferences about what is causing the arousal
- misattribution of arousal
- research methods that observe and record behavior without producing causal explanations
- descriptive research
- observation and recording of behavior in the participant's natural state or habitat
- naturalistic observation
- research technique that questions a large sample of people to assess their behaviors and attitudes
- survey
- in-depth study of a single research participant
- case study
- scientific study in which the researcher observes or measures, w/out directly manipulating, two or more variables to find the relationships between them
- correlational research
- a number that indicates the degree and direction of the relationship between two variables
- correlation coefficient
- scientific studies of the brain and other parts of the nervous system
- biological research