Test 1 Chapter 1

Front 1

Definition of psychology?

Back 1

Psychology is a science- involved in description, observation, explanation, prediction, intercention.

Front 2

What is hindsight bias?

Back 2

Hindsight bias is the tendency of people to believe predictions are stronger then they actually are.

Front 3

What is arm-chair psychology and why is it unscientific?

Back 3

Arm-chair psychology is non-tested/not experimented theories. It is unscientific because there is no scientific proof.

Front 4

Who was Wundt? James?

Back 4

Wundt- structuralism: structure of the mind

James- functionalism- function of the mind

Front 5

Areas of specialization (behavioral, cognitive, biological, etc.)

Back 5

• Behavorial pscyh:
o Observable behavior, learning
• Cognitive psych:
o Mental processes, how thought influence behavior
• Humanistic/Phenomenological psych:
o Healthy people, love and acceptance. How environment affects behavior.
• Bilogical psych:
o Influence of biology on psych processes
• Developmental psych:
o Influnce of age
• Personality psych:
o Individual differences
• Clinical psych:
o Psychiatrists (MD) vs. Psychologists (PHD)
• School psych:
o Learning/behavior problems
• Industrial/Organization psych:
o Work setting

Front 6

What is the biopsychosocial approach? Why is it valuable?

Back 6

• Biopsychosocial approach is an approach that uses biological, psychological, and social factors that play a role in an illness.
• This is significant in the medical world.

Front 7

What is the nature or nurture debate? What is wrong with this debate? What is meant by nature and nurture?

Back 7

• Nature vs. Nurture is the debate over if himans are born with traits, personality (nature) or if himans devlop traits/personality due to their environmental (nurture).
• Many have found that it is not only 1, nature vs. nurture, but a combination of 2.

Front 8

Why is critical thinking important? What are some ways in which one can think critically?

Back 8

• Critical thinking is important in order to see how significant a study is.
• Examples:
o Examine how terms are defined. Look for potential bias, consider the source.
o Inspect the evidence, ask whether conclusions are oversimplified or over generalized
o Consider alternate interpretations, be cautious of pop media reports
o A single study is not defnative, personal examples vs. data
o The impact of beliefs graphical manipulations (scale)

Front 9

What is the scientific method?

Back 9

• Identify research question
o Hypothesis
o Theory
• Gather date/experiment/observation
• Analyze data
• Draw conclusions
• Communicate results
o For replication

Front 10

Know the different methods of testing hypotheses/gathering data, what kind of information they provide, and the problems associated with particular methods. For instance…

Back 10

• Case studies
o Observing one person or a small group of people in depth
o May not apply to others
• Naturalistic observation
o Observing people in their natural habitat
o Experimenter bias
• Survey method
o Questionnaires, interviews
o Volunteer bias, representative samples, wording, sample size (law of large numbers) random sampling

Front 11

What is a correlation? What kind of information does it provide? What is the difference between positive and negative correlations? – Be able to identify these in examples.

Back 11

• Correlation research
o Often from data from surveys
• Reveals: if variables relate, how strongly, direction of relationship
o Positive correlations
o Negative correlations

Front 12

What is a correlation coefficient and what does it indicate?

Back 12

Correlation coefficient ‘r’
• Absolute value of r=strength

Front 13

What are intervening variables?

Back 13

Intervening variables: other factors that may have influenced the correlation.

Front 14

What are illusory correlations?

Back 14

Illusory correlations: seeing the relationship one expects in a set of data even when no such relationship exists.

Front 15

What method allows one to assess cause-and-effect relationships between variables?

Back 15

Experimental Method- gauges cause-and-effect relationshops.

Front 16

What are independent and dependent variables? – be able to identify these in examples.

Back 16

Independent Variable- gets changes
Dependent Variable- gets measured

Front 17

What are operational definitions and why are they important?

Back 17

Operation definitions: demonstration of the process.

Front 18

What are confounding variables? What is random assignment?

Back 18

Confounding variables: other factors that may produce a change.
Random assignment: reduces amount/effects of confounding variables.

Front 19

What is the placebo effect? What is a double-blind design?

Back 19

Placebo effect:
Double blind experiment:
•Subjects and givers don’t know if they are getting/giving a placebo or the active ingredient.

Front 20

What is meant by statistical significance? How is it different from practical significance?

Back 20

Statistical significance is how likely results are due to change.
•P < .05 only 5% chance by random factors
Practical significance is whether the difference is large enough to be of value in a practical sense.