Gender Psychological Perspectives (5Th Ed.) Linda Brannonfrom Ch.1 And Ch.2 Glossary

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Behaviorism

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The school of psych. that emphasizes the importance of observable behavior as the subject matter of psychology and discounts the utility of unobservable mental events.

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Essentialist View

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View that gender differences are biologically determined.

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Functionalism

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a school of psychology arising in the United States in the late 1800s that attempted to understand how the mind functions. Functionalists held a practical, applied orientation, including an interest in mental abilities and in gender differences in those abilities.

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Gender

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the term used by some researchers to describe the traits and behaviors that are regarded by the culture as appropriate to men and women.

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maximalist view

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the view that many important differences exist between the sexes.

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minimalist view

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the view that few important differences exist between the sexes.

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Sex differences

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the term used by some researchers (and considered to be inclusive by others) to describe the differences between male and female research participants.

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structuralist

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a school of psychology arising in Europe in the 1880s that attempted to understand the workings of the conscious mind by dividing the mind into component parts and analyzing the structure of the mind.

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Case Study

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A qualitative method that focuses on gathering extensive info about a single person or small group

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Constructionists

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a group of critics of science who argue that reality is constructed through perception and is inevitably subject to bias. Included in this bias is all scientific observation, thus excluding science from its claim of objectivity.

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Correlational Studies

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a descriptive research method that requires researchers to measure two factors known to occur within a group of people to determine the degree of relationship between the two factors.

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Data

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representations, usually in numerical form, of some facet of the phenomenon that the researcher observes.

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dependent variable

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the factor in an experiment that the experimenter measures to determine whether the manipulation of the independent variable has an effect.

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descriptive research methods

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a group of research methods, including naturalistic observation, surveys, and correlational studies, that yield descriptions of the observed phenomena.

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empirical observation

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collecting information through direct observation.

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ethnography

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a type of qualitative research in which the researcher becomes immersed in a situation in order to make observations and interpretations of that situation.

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experiment

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a type of study in which a researcher manipulates an independent variable and observes the changes in a dependent variable; only through experiments can researchers learn about cause-and-effect relationships.

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ex-post facto study

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a type of nonexperimental research design that involves the comparison of subjects, who are placed in contrast groups, on the basis of some pre-existing characteristic of the subjects.

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focus group

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a qualitative research method consisting of a discussion involving a group of people centered around a specific topic. hypothesis a statement about the expected outcome of a study.

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independent variable

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the factor in an experiment that the experimenter manipulates to create a difference that did not previously exist in the participants.

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interview

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a type of qualitative study in which respondents are interviewed in order to determine patterns or commonalities among their responses.

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meta-analysis

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a statistical analysis that allows the evaluation of many studies simultaneously.

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objectivity

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the notion that observation is free of bias by the observer.

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operational definition

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a definition of a variable in terms of operations used to obtain information on that variable, rather than in terms of concepts underlying that variable.

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practical significance

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an important result with practical implications; different from statistical significance.

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qualitative research

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research that focuses on understanding complexity and context rather than distilling situations to sets of numbers.

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quantification

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the process of turning observations into numerical data.

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quantitative research

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research that uses numerical data and statistical analysis.

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statistically significant result

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a result obtained by analysis with statistical tests and found unlikely to have been obtained on the basis of chance alone.

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subject variable

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a characteristic of the subjects, such as gender, that allows researchers to form contrast groups in quasi-experimental studies.

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survey

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a descriptive research method involving the measurement of attitudes through the administration and interpretation of questionnaires.

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variable

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a factor of interest to researchers; something that can have more than one value, as opposed to a constant, which has only one constant value.