Chapter 1: The Evolution of Psychology (22 terms)
pages 0 to 35;
Chapter 2: The Research Enterprise in Psychology (40 terms)
pages 36 to 71;
Transcribed by alexwyllie
Terms : Hide Images
| 1618583485 | Structuralism | A school of psychology based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and to investigate how these elements are related. | 0 | |
| 1618583486 | Introspection | Careful, systematic observation of one's own conscious experience. | 1 | |
| 1618583487 | Functionalism | A school of psychology based on the belief that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness, rather than its structure. | 2 | |
| 1618583488 | Natural selection | Principle stating that heritable characteristics that provide a survival reproductive advantage are more likely than alternate characteristics to be passed on to subsequent generations and thus come to be "selected" over time. | 3 | |
| 1618583489 | Unconscious | According to Freud, thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of unconscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior. | 4 | |
| 1618583490 | Psychoanalytic theory | A theory developed by Freud that attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants of behavior. | 5 | |
| 1618583491 | Behaviorism | A theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior. | 6 | |
| 1618583492 | Behavior | Any overt (observable) response or activity by an organism. | 7 | |
| 1618583493 | Humanism | A theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth. | 8 | |
| 1618583494 | Applied Psychology | The Branch of psychology concerned with everyday, practical problems. | 9 | |
| 1618583495 | Clinical psychology | The branch of psychology concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders. | 10 | |
| 1618583496 | Cognition | The mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge. | 11 | |
| 1618583497 | Ethnocentrism | The tendency to view one's own group as superior to others and as the standard for judging the worth of foreign ways. | 12 | |
| 1618583498 | Evolutionary psychology | Theoretical perspective that examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for a species over the course of many generations. | 13 | |
| 1618583499 | Positive psychology | Approach to psychology that uses theory and research to better understand the positive, adaptive, creative, and fulfilling aspects of human existence. | 14 | |
| 1618583500 | Psychology | The science that studies behavior and the psychological and cognitive processes that underlie it, and the profession that applies the accumulated knowledge of this science to practical problems. | 15 | |
| 1618583501 | Psychiatry | A branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems and disorders. | 16 | |
| 1618583502 | Empiricism | The premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation. | 17 | |
| 1618583503 | Theory | A system of interrelated ideas that is used to explain a set of observations. | 18 | |
| 1618583504 | Culture | The widely shared customs, beliefs, values, norms, institutions, and any other products of a community that are transmitted socially across generations. | 19 | |
| 1618583505 | SQ3R | A study system designed to promote effective reading by means of five steps: survey, question, read, recite, review. | 20 | |
| 1618583506 | Critical thinking | The use of cognitive skills and strategies that increase the probability of a desired outcome. | 21 | |
| 1618583507 | Hypothesis | A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. | 22 | |
| 1618583508 | Variables | Any measurable conditions, events, characters, or behaviors that are controlled or observed in a study. | 23 | |
| 1618583509 | Theory | A system of interrelated ideas that is used to explain a set of observations. | 24 | |
| 1618583510 | Operational definition | A definition that describes the actions or operations that will be made to measure or control a variable. | 25 | |
| 1618583511 | Participants | The persons or animals whose behavior is being systematically observed in a study. | 26 | |
| 1618583512 | Subjects | The persons or animals whose behavior is being systematically observed in a study. | 27 | |
| 1618583513 | Data collection techniques | Procedures for making empirical observations and measurements. | 28 | |
| 1618583514 | Journal | A periodical that publishes technical and scholarly material, usually in a narrowly defined area of inquiry. | 29 | |
| 1618583515 | Research methods | Differing approaches to the manipulation and control of variables in empirical studies. | 30 | |
| 1618583516 | Experiment | A research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result. | 31 | |
| 1618583517 | Independent variable | In an experiment, a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see its impact on another variable. | 32 | |
| 1618583518 | Dependent variable | In an experiment, the variable that is thought to be affected by the manipulation of the independent variable. | 33 | |
| 1618583519 | Experimental group | The subjects in a study who receive some special treatment in regard to the independent variable. | 34 | |
| 1618583520 | Control group | Subjects in a study who do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group. | 35 | |
| 1618583521 | Extraneous variables | Any variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study. | 36 | |
| 1618583522 | Confounding of variables | A condition that exists whenever two variables are linked together in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their independent effects. | 37 | |
| 1618583523 | Random assignment | The constitution of groups in a study such that all subjects have an equal chance of being assigned to any group or condition. | 38 | |
| 1618583524 | Case study | An in-depth investigation of an individual subject. | 39 | |
| 1618583525 | Survey | A descriptive research method in which researchers use questionnaires or interviews to gather information about specific aspects of subjects' behavior. | 40 | |
| 1618583526 | Statistics | The use of mathematics to organize, summarize, and interpret numerical data. | 41 | |
| 1618583527 | Descriptive statistics | Statistics that are used to organize and summarize data. | 42 | |
| 1618583528 | Median | The score that falls exactly in the center of a distribution of scores. | 43 | |
| 1618583529 | Mean | The arithmetic average of the scores in a distribution. | 44 | |
| 1618583530 | Mode | The score that occurs most frequently in a distribution. | 45 | |
| 1618583531 | Variability | The extent to which the scores in a data set tend to vary from each other and from the mean. | 46 | |
| 1618583532 | Standard deviation | An index in the amount of variability in a set of data. | 47 | |
| 1618583533 | Correlation | The extent to which two variables are related to each other. | 48 | |
| 1618583534 | Correlation coefficient | A numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables. | 49 | |
| 1618583535 | Inferential statistics. | Statistics that are used to interpret data and draw conclusions. | 50 | |
| 1618583536 | Statistical significance | The condition that exists when the probability that the observed findings are due to chance is very low. | 51 | |
| 1618583537 | Replication | The repetition of a study to see if the earlier results were duplicated. | 52 | |
| 1618583538 | Sample | The collection of subjects selected for observation in an empirical study. | 53 | |
| 1618583539 | Population | The larger collection of animals or people from which a sample is drawn and that researchers want to generalize about. | 54 | |
| 1618583540 | Sampling bias | A problem that occurs when a sample is not representative of the population from which it is drawn. | 55 | |
| 1618583541 | Placebo effects | The fact that subjects' expectations can lead them to experience changes even though they receive an empty, fake, or ineffectual treatment. | 56 | |
| 1618583542 | Social desirability bias | A tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself. | 57 | |
| 1618583543 | Response set | A tendency to respond to questions in a particular way that is unrelated to the content of the questions. | 58 | |
| 1618583544 | Experimenter bias | A phenomenon that occurs when a researcher's expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained. | 59 | |
| 1618583545 | Double-blind procedure | A research strategy in which neither subjects nor experimenters know which subjects are in the experimental or control groups. | 60 | |
| 1618583546 | Anecdotal evidence | Personal stories about specific incidents and experiences. | 61 |
