Psychology 2

Front 1

Empiricism

Back 1

the belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation

Front 2

Dogmatism

Back 2

the tendency for people to cling to their assumptions

Front 3

scientific method

Back 3

a procedure for finding truth by using empirical evidence

Front 4

theory

Back 4

a hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon

Front 5

Rule of Parsimony

Back 5

the simplest theory that explains all the evidence is the best one (William Ockham credited with this)

Front 6

Hypothesis

Back 6

a falsifiable prediction made by a theory

Front 7

Empirical method

Back 7

a set of rules and techniques for observation

Front 8

Complexity

Back 8

the human brain is super complicated

(difficult to study humans)

Front 9

Variability

Back 9

no two individuals ever do, say, think, or feel exactly the same thing under exactly the same circumstances (difficult to study humans)

Front 10

Reactivity

Back 10

people often think, feel, and act one way when they are being observed and a different way when they are not (difficult to study humans)

Front 11

Operational Definition

Back 11

a description of a property in concrete, measurable terms (key to scientific measurement)

Front 12

Instrument

Back 12

anything that can detect the condition to which an operational definition refers (key to scientific measurement)

Front 13

Validity

Back 13

the goodness with which a concrete event defines a property (most important feature of an operational definition)

Front 14

Reliability

Back 14

the tendency for an instrument to produce the same measurement whenever it is used to measure the same thing (most important feature of an instrument)

Front 15

Power

Back 15

an instrument's ability to detect small magnitudes of the property (most important feature of an instrument)

Front 16

Demand Characteristics

Back 16

those aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think someone else wants

Front 17

Naturalistic Observation

Back 17

a technique for gathering scientific information by unobtrusively observing people in their natural environments (one way to avoid the problems of demand characteristics)

Front 18

Double-blind observation

Back 18

an observation whose true purpose is hidden from both the observer and the person being observed

Front 19

Frequency Distribution

Back 19

a graphic representation of measurements arranged by the number of times each measurement was made

Front 20

Normal Distribution

Back 20

frequency distributions often have the bell curve shape

Front 21

Descriptive Statistics

Back 21

brief summary statements that capture the essential info from a frequency distribution (central tendency and variability)

Front 22

Central Tendency

Back 22

statements about the value of the measurements that tend to lie near the center of the distribution (mode, mean, and median)

Front 23

Mode

Back 23

the value of the most frequently observed measurement

Front 24

Mean

Back 24

the average value of all the measurements

Front 25

Median

Back 25

the value that is in the middle

Front 26

descriptions of variablity

Back 26

statements about the extent to which the measurements differ from each other

Front 27

Range

Back 27

the largest measurement minus the smallest

Front 28

Standard Deviation

Back 28

a statistic that describes the average difference between the measurements in a frequency distribution and the mean of that distribution

Front 29

Variables

Back 29

properties whose values can vary across individuals or over time

Front 30

Correlation

Back 30

variations in the value of one variable are synchronized with variations in the value of the other

Front 31

Correlation Coefficient

Back 31

a mathematical measure of both the direction and strength of a correlation

Front 32

Positive Correlation

Back 32

one variable increases and another variable increases as well by a fixed amount (rare)

Front 33

Negative Correlation

Back 33

one variable increases and another variable decreases by a fixed amount

Front 34

Uncorrelated

Back 34

one variable increases by a fixed amount and the second variable neither increases nor decreases

Front 35

Natural Correlations

Back 35

the correlations observed in the world around us

Front 36

Third-Variable Correlation

Back 36

two variables are correlated only because each is casually related to a third variable

Front 37

Matched Samples Technique

Back 37

a technique whereby the participants in two groups are identical in terms of a third variable

Front 38

Matched Pairs Technique

Back 38

a technique whereby each participant is identical to one other participant in terms of a third variable

Front 39

Third-Variable Problem

Back 39

a casual relationship between two variables cannot be inferred from the naturally occurring correlation between them because of the ever-present possibility of third-variable correlation

Front 40

Experiment

Back 40

a technique for establishing the casual relationship between variables (two key features: manipulation and random assignment)

Front 41

Manipulation

Back 41

changing a variable in order to determine its causal power

Front 42

Experimentation (three steps)

Back 42

manipulation, measure another variable, and results

Front 43

Independent Variable

Back 43

the variable that is manipulated

Front 44

Experimental Group

Back 44

the group of people who are exposed to a particular manipulation

Front 45

Control Group

Back 45

the group of people who are not exposed to a particular manipulation

Front 46

Dependent Variable

Back 46

variable that is measured

Front 47

Self-Selection

Back 47

a problem that occurs when anything about a person determines whether he or she will be included in the experimental or control group

Front 48

Random Assignment

Back 48

a procedure that lets chance assign people to the experimental or the control group

Front 49

Internal Validity

Back 49

an attribute of an experiment that allows it to establish causal relationships (in other words, everything inside the experiment is working exactly as it must in order for us to draw conclusions about causal relationships)

Front 50

External Validity

Back 50

an attribute of an experiment in which variables have been defined in a normal, typical, or realistic way

Front 51

Population

Back 51

a complete collection of people

Front 52

Sample

Back 52

a partial collection of people drawn from a population

Front 53

Case Method

Back 53

a procedure for gathering scientific information by studying a single individual

Front 54

Informed Consent

Back 54

a written agreement to participate in a study made by an adult who has been informed of all the risks that participation may entail

Front 55

Freedom from Coercion

Back 55

cannot persuade or bribe a person do something

Front 56

Protection from harm

Back 56

must protect the participant

Front 57

Risk Benefit Analysis

Back 57

do the risks outweigh the benefits? psychologists must prove that the benefits are worth it

Front 58

Deception

Back 58

cannot deceive patients

Front 59

Debriefing

Back 59

a verbal description of the true nature and purpose of a study