Shared Flashcard Set

Details

Basic Psychology
Chapter 2:The Science of Mind and Behavior
44
Psychology
Undergraduate 1
02/17/2009

Additional Psychology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Hypothesis
Definition
specific prediction about some phenomenon
Term
theory
Definition
set of formal statements that explains how and why certain events are related
Term
variable
Definition
characteristic or factor that can vary
Term
operational definition
Definition
defines a variable in terms of the specific procedures used to produce or measure it
Term
social desirability bias
Definition
tendency to respond in a socially acceptable manner rather than how one truly feels
Term
unobtrusive measures
Definition
recording behavior while participants are unaware they are being observed
Term
archival measures
Definition
records or documents that already exist
Term
descriptive research
Definition
identifies how humans and animals behave, particularly in natural settings
Term
case study
Definition
in depth analysis of an individual, group, or event
Term
naturalistic observation
Definition
observing behavior in a natural setting while not influencing the behavior
Term
survey research
Definition
information obtained from many people through interviews or questionnaires
Term
population
Definition
all the individuals we are interested in drawing a conclusion about
Term
sample
Definition
subset of individuals from the larger population
Term
representative sample
Definition
reflects the important characteristics of the population
Term
random sampling
Definition
every member of the population has an equal probability of being chosen for the survey
Term
correlational research
Definition
examining associations between naturally occurring events or variables
Term
correlation coefficient
Definition
statistic that indicates the direction and strength of the relation between two variables
Term
positive correlation
Definition
higher scores on one variable are associated with higher scores on a second variable
Term
negative correlation
Definition
higher scores on one variable are associated with lower scores on a second variable
Term
scatterplots
Definition
graphs that show the correlation between two variables
Term
experiment
Definition
powerful tool for examining cause-and-effect relationships
Term
independent variable
Definition
factor that is manipulated or controlled by the experimenter
Term
dependent variable
Definition
factor that is measured by the experimenter. may be influenced by the independent variable
Term
experimental group
Definition
group that receives a treatment or active level of the independent variable
Term
control group
Definition
not exposed to the treatment or receives zero-level of the independent variable
Term
random assignment
Definition
each participant has an equal likelihood of being assigned to any one group within an experiment
Term
counterbalancing
Definition
order of conditions is varied so no condition has an overall advantage relative to the others
Term
internal validity
Definition
the degree to which an experiment supports clear causal conclusions
Term
confounding of variables
Definition
two variables are intertwined and it cannot be determined which one has influenced a dependent variable
Term
placebo
Definition
a substance that has no pharmacological effect
Term
placebo effect
Definition
change in behavior based on expectations, not the treatment itself
Term
experimenter expectancy effects
Definition
ways researchers influence participants to respond in a manner consistent with the researcher's hypothesis
Term
double-blind procedure
Definition
the participant and the experimenter do not know which experimental condition the participant is in
Term
external validity
Definition
degree to which results of a study can be generalized to other populations, settings, and conditions
Term
replication
Definition
repeating a study to determine whether the original findings can be duplicated
Term
descriptive statistics
Definition
they summarize and describe the characteristics of a set of data
Term
mode
Definition
most frequently occurring score in a distribution
Term
median
Definition
point that divides a distribution of scores in half when the scores are arranged from lowest to highest
Term
mean
Definition
average of a set of scores
Term
range
Definition
difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution
Term
standard deviation
Definition
how much each score in a distribution differs from the mean
Term
inferential statistics
Definition
tell us how confident we can be making inferences about a population based on findings obtained from a sample
Term
statistical significance
Definition
very unlikely that a finding occurred by chance alone
Term
meta-analysis
Definition
combining the results of different studies that examine the same topic
Supporting users have an ad free experience!