Psychology And Life Ch. 2

Front 1

an organized set of concepts that explains a phenomenon or set of phenomena.

Back 1

theory

Front 2

the idea that all events - physical, mental, and behavioral - are the result of, or determined by, specific causal factors.

Back 2

determinism

Front 3

patterns that can be discovered and revealed through research

Back 3

lawful patterns of relationships

Front 4

a tentative and testable statement about the relationship between causes and consequences.

Back 4

hypothesis

Front 5

a general set of procedures for gathering and interpreting evidence in ways that limit sources of errors and yield dependable conclusions

Back 5

scientific method

Front 6

other researchers must have the opportunity to inspect, criticize, replicate, or disprove the data and methods

Back 6

public verifiability

Front 7

a set of uniform procedures for treathing each participant in a test, interview, or experiment, or for recording data

Back 7

stadardization

Front 8

a definition of a varible or condition in terms of the specific operation or procedure used to determine its presence

Back 8

operational definition

Front 9

in an experimental seting, a factor that varies in amount and kind

Back 9

variable

Front 10

in an experimental setting, a variable that the researcher manipulates with the expectation of having an impact on values of the dependent variable

Back 10

independent variable

Front 11

in an experimental setting, a variable that he researcher measures to assess the impact of a variation in an independent variable

Back 11

dependent variable

Front 12

research methodology that involves the manipulation of independent vaariables to determine their effects on the dependent variables

Back 12

experimental method

Front 13

a stimulus other than the variable an experimenter explicity introduces into a research setting that affects a participant's behavior.

Back 13

confounding variable

Front 14

result that occurs when a researcher or observer subtly communicates to participants the kind of behavior he or she expects to find, thereby creating that expected reaction

Back 14

expectancy effects

Front 15

a change in behavior in the absence of an experimental manipulation

Back 15

placebo effect

Front 16

an experimental technique in which biased expectations of experimenters are eliminated by keeping both participants and experimental assistants unaware of which participants have received which treatment

Back 16

double-blind control

Front 17

consistent procedure for giving instructions, scoring responses, and holding all other variables constant except those being systematically varied.

Back 17

control procedure

Front 18

an experimental condition on which treatment is not administered; it is used in cases where a placebo effect might occur

Back 18

placebo control

Front 19

a research design in which different groups of participants are randomly assigned to exerimental conditions or to control conditions.

Back 19

between-subjects design

Front 20

a procedure by which participants have an equal likelihood of being assigned to any condition within an experiment

Back 20

random assignment

Front 21

a group in an experiment that is exposed to a treatment or experiences a manipulation of the independent variable

Back 21

experimental group

Front 22

a group in an experiment that is not exposed to a treatment or does not experience a manipulation of the independent variable

Back 22

control group

Front 23

a subset of a population selected as participants in an experiment

Back 23

sample

Front 24

a subset of a population that closely matches the overall characteristics of the population with respect to the distribution of males and females, racial and ethnic groups, and so on.

Back 24

representative sample

Front 25

a procedure that ensures that every member of a population has an equal likelihood of participating in an experiment

Back 25

random sampling

Front 26

a research design that uses each participant as his or her own control; for example, the behavior of an experimental participant before receiving treatment might be compared to his or her behavior after receiving treatment

Back 26

within-subjects design

Front 27

Research methodology that determines to what extent two variables, traits, or attributes are related

Back 27

correlational method

Front 28

a statistic that indicates the degree of relationship between two variables

Back 28

correlation coefficient

Front 29

the degree to which a test produces similar cores each time it is used; stability or consistency of the scores produced by an instument

Back 29

reliability

Front 30

the extent to which a test measures what it was intended to measure

Back 30

validity

Front 31

a self behavior that is identified through a participants own observations and reports

Back 31

self report measure

Front 32

overt actions or reaction that is observed and recorded, exclusive of self reported behavior

Back 32

behavioral measure

Front 33

a research technique in which unobtrusive observations are made of behaviors that occur in natural environments

Back 33

naturalistic observation

Front 34

intensive observation of a particular individual or small group of individuals

Back 34

case study

Front 35

the process through which individuals are informed about experimental procedures, risks, and benefits before they provide formal consent to become research participants

Back 35

informed consent

Front 36

a proceddure conducted at the end of an experiment in which the researcher provides the participant with as much information about the study as possible and makes sure that no participant leaves feeling confused, upset, or embarrassed

Back 36

debriefing