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Lancee Psych
Unit 1: History, Approaches & Research Methods (prologue/ch. 1)
43
Psychology
12th Grade
02/16/2012

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Term
Psychology
Definition
The scientific study of behavior and mental proceses
Term
Empiricism
Definition
The view that (a) knowledge comes from experience via the senses, and (b) science flourishes through observation and experiment
Term
Structuralism
Definition
an early school of psychology that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind
Term
Functionalism
Definition
a school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes funtion - how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and florish
Term
Humanistic Psychology
Definition
historically significant perspective that emphasized the growth potential of healthy people; used personalized methods to study personality in hopes of fostering personal growth.
Term
nature-nurture issue
Definition
the longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the developmet of psychological traits and behaviors
Term
natural selection
Definition
the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding generations
Term
levels of analysis
Definition
the differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon
Term
biopsychosoical approach
Definition
an integrated perspective that incorporates biological, psychological and social-cultural leves of analysis
Term
basic research
Definition
pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
Term
applied research
Definition
scientific study that aims to solve practical problems.
Term
counseling psychology
Definition
a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being
Term
clinical psychology
Definition
a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders
Term
Psychiatry
Definition
a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders; practiced by physicians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as psychological therapy
Term
hindsight bias
Definition
the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. (Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon)
Term
critical thinking
Definition
thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
Term
theory
Definition
an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes obervations and predicts behaviors or events.
Term
hypothesis
Definition
a testable prediction, ofter implied by a theory
Term
Operational definition
Definition
a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables. for example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures.
Term
replication
Definition
repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants indifferent situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances
Term
case study
Definition
an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
Term
survey
Definition
a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors or people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them.
Term
false consensus effect
Definition
the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors
Term
population
Definition
all the cases in a group, from which samples my be drawn for a study. (note: except for national studies, this does not refer to a country's whole population.)
Term
random sample
Definition
a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
Term
naturalistic obervation
Definition
ovserving and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
Term
correlation
Definition
a measure of the extent to which 2 factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other. the correlation coefficient is the mathematical expression of the relationship, ranging for -1 to +1.
Term
Scatterplot
Definition
a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values fo 2 variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the 2 varibles. the amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation (little scatter indicates high correlation.) (also called a scattergram or scatter diagram.)
Term
Illusory correlation
Definition
the perception of a relationship where none exists
Term
double-blind procedure
Definition
an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have recived the treatment or a placebo. Commonly used in drug-evaluation studies.
Term
placebo effect
Definition
(Placebo - Latin for "I Shall Please")Experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which is assumed to be an active agent.
Term
experimental condition
Definition
condition of an experiment that exposes participants to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable.
Term
control condition
Definition
condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and serves as a comparison for evaluation the effect of the treatment.
Term
random assignment
Definition
assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups.
Term
independent variable
Definition
the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied
Term
dependent variable
Definition
the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.
Term
mode
Definition
the most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution.
Term
mean
Definition
the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores.
Term
median
Definition
the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it.
Term
range
Definition
the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution
Term
standard deviation
Definition
a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score
Term
statistical significance
Definition
a statistical statement of how much scores vary around the mean score
Term
culture
Definition
the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
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