Introduction To Psychology

Front 1

Psuedoscience

Back 1

set of claims that seem scientific but isn't

Front 2

metaphysical claims

Back 2

assertion about the world that are unfalsifiable (outside the boundaries of science)

Front 3

Naive Realism

Back 3

belief we see world precisely as it exists (think optical illusions)

Front 4

Confirmation Bias

Back 4

tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypotheses and neglect or distort evidence that contradicts them

Front 5

Belief Perseverance

Back 5

tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them (dowsing example)

Front 6

Scientific Skepticism

Back 6

evaluating all claims with an open mind, but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them

Front 7

Pathological skepticism

Back 7

tendency to dismiss any claims that contradict our beliefs

Front 8

Oberg's Dictum

Back 8

Idea that we should keep our minds open, but not so open that we believe virtually everything

Front 9

Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence

Back 9

the more a claim contradicts what we already know, the more persuasive the evidence for it must be before we accept it

Front 10

Falsifiability

Back 10

for a claim to be meaningful, it must be falsifiable- capable of being disproved if there were certain types of evidence against it

Front 11

Occam's Razor

Back 11

if two explanations account equally well for a phenomenon, we should generally pick the more simple one

Front 12

Replicability

Back 12

a study's findings should be able to be duplicated consistently ideally by independent investigators (shows original happening was not a "fluke")

Front 13

Correlation-causation fallacy

Back 13

the fact that two variables are correlated doesn't mean that one causes another

Front 14

third-variable problem

Back 14

case in which a third variable causes the correlation between 2 other variables

Front 15

Heuristics

Back 15

mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that helps us streamline our thinking and make sense of our world

Front 16

Representativeness Heuristics

Back 16

judging the probability of an event by its superficial similarity to a prototype (ex. jurors and kidnapping)

Front 17

Base Rate

Back 17

How common a characteristics/behavior is in the general pop'n

Front 18

Availability Heuristic

Back 18

establish the likelihood of an occurrence based on the ease w which it comes to our minds (ex. sharks!!)

Front 19

Confirmation bias

Back 19

find support, shoot down contradictions

Front 20

Hindsight bias

Back 20

tendency to overestimate how well we could have successfully forecasted known outcomes

Front 21

Overconfidence

Back 21

tendency to overestimate our ability to make correct predictions

Front 22

Research studies

Back 22

Experiments are only studies that can determine cause

Front 23

Natural observation

Back 23

watching behavior in real-world settings

Front 24

External validity

Back 24

extent to which we can generate findings to real world settings

Front 25

Internal validity

Back 25

extent to which we can draw cause and effect inferences

Front 26

Case Study

Back 26

Examines one person/small group in depth, often over an extended period of time

Front 27

Existence proofs

Back 27

demonstrations that a given phenomenon can occur

Front 28

Pierre Paul Broca's Case Study

Back 28

Led to "Broca's Area" and "Broca's Aphasia"

Front 29

Correlational Design

Back 29

examines extent to which 2 variables are associated

Front 30

Correlation Coefficient

Back 30

Stat (r) that summarizes strength and direction of a relationship between 2 variables

Front 31

Absolute Value

Back 31

Key to det. strength of relationship

Front 32

Illusory Correlation

Back 32

perception of a stat association between two variables where none exists (ex. common superstitions)

Front 33

Self-Report Measures

Back 33

asking people to rate themselves on a variety of characteristics

Front 34

Survey Advantages

Back 34

cheap, easy to administer, gives insight

Front 35

Survey Disadvantages

Back 35

assumes people are insightful and honest in responses

Front 36

Response Sets

Back 36

Tendency of research portion to distort answers

Front 37

Rating Data

Back 37

asking people to provide ratings of others they know well

Front 38

Halo Effect

Back 38

tendency of ratings of one positive characteristic to "spill over" to influence ratings of other positive characteristics

Front 39

Horns Effect

Back 39

opposite of halo effect

Front 40

Error of central tendency

Back 40

unwillingness to provide extreme (very low/high) ratings

Front 41

Experiments

Back 41

Research designs characterized by random assignment of participants to conditions and manipulation of indpt. variable