Introduction, History, Research Methods, and Statistics

151915509	psychology	the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
151915510	Wilhelm Wundt	set up the first psychological laboratory in an apartment near the University of Leipzig, Germany; trained subjects in introspection, subjects were asked to accurately record their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli
151915511	John Watson	1878-1958; Field: behaviorism; Contributions: generalization-inductive reasoning, emphasis on external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation; Studies: Little Albert
151915512	empiricism	the view that (a) knowledge comes from experience via the senses, and (b) science flourishes through observation and experiment.
151915513	behaviorism	looks at only behavior and causes of behavior - stimuli and responses - not concerning themselves with describing elements of consciousness
151915514	psychoanalysis	Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions
151915515	Sigmund Freud	believes he discovered the unconscious - examined through dream analysis and word association; has been criticized for being unscientific and creating unverifiable theories
151915516	biological approach	concerned with the links between biology and behavior
151915517	behavioral approach	emphasizes the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants.
151915518	cognitive approach	behavior is a result of information processing, such as perception, memory, thought, judgment, and decision making
151915519	psychoanalytic approach	psychological perspective concerned with how unconscious instincts, conflicts, motives, and defenses influence behavior
151915520	experimental psychology	the branch of psychology that uses experimental methods to study psychological issues
151915521	clinical psychology	a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psychological disorders
151915522	cognitive psychology	branch of psychology that focuses on such mental processes as thinking, problem solving, decision making, and use of language
151915523	school psychology	psychological testing, referrals, emotional and vocational counseling of students, detects and treats learning disabilities, improves classroom learning
151915524	counseling psychology	a branch of psychology that assists people with problems in living (often related to school, work, or marriage) and in achieving greater well-being
151915525	social psychology	the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another
151915526	industrial/organizational psychology	the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behavior in workplaces
151915527	developmental psychology	a branch of psychology that studies physical, cognitive, and social change throughout the life span
151915528	psychometric psychology	a way of studying intelligence that emphasizes analysis of the products of intelligence, especially scores on intelligence tests
151915529	experiment	only research method that can show a casual relationship; compare two groups - experimental and control group that differ based on the independent variable
151915530	hypothesis	a statement that expresses a relationship between two variables; experimental hypothesis - dependent depends on independent variable; testing a hypothesis - researchers manipulate the independent variable and measure the dependent
151915531	theory	aims to explain some phenomenon and allows researchers to generate testable hypothesis with the hope of collecting data that supports the theory; hypotheses often grow out of theories
151915532	sampling	process by which participants are selected; identify population from which sample will be selected, goal to represent larger population
151915533	population	group from which a sample is selected; includes anyone or anything that could possibly selected to be in the sample; goal in selecting sample is to represent the larger population
151915534	independent variable	the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied
151915535	dependent variable	the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable
151915536	operational definition	explanation of how variables are measured
151915537	experimental group	in an experiment, the group that is exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable.
151915538	control group	in an experiment, the group that is not exposed to the treatment; contrasts with the experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment.
151915539	placebo	results cause by expectations alone; recipient assumes it is an active agent; sugar pill
151915540	double-blind procedure	neither the participant nor the researcher are aware of who is in the experimental or control groups while the experiment is going on
151915541	random selection	method of selecting a sample from a population; increases the likelihood that the sample represents the population
151915542	case study method	used to get a full, detailed picture of one participant or small group of participants; focusing on a single individual or small group means that the findings cannot be generalized to a larger population
151915543	survey method	often used to gather opinions or attitudes and for correlational research; response rate refers to the proportion of a surveyed group who responded and returned a survey
151915544	naturalistic observation method	involves observing participants in their natural habitats without interacting with them; goal - realistic and rich picture of the participants behavior; cannot establish cause and effect relationship between variables
151915545	correlational study	a research project designed to discover the degree to which two variables are related to each other
151915546	ex post facto method	an experiment where the researcher examines the effect of a naturally occurring treatment after it has occurred
151915547	descriptive statistics	ways of describing a set of data; measure of central tendency are a common descriptive statistic: mean, median, mode
151915548	inferential statistics	numerical methods used to determine whether research data support a hypothesis or whether results were due to chance
151915549	central tendency measures	locate the center of a distribution of response (mean, median, mode)
151915550	mode	the most frequently occurring score in a distribution
151915551	median	the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it
151915552	mean	the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores.
151915553	measures of variability	in a set of numbers, how widely dispersed the values are from each other and from the mean
151915554	standard deviation	a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score
151915555	range	the difference between the highest and the lowest scores
151915556	frequency distribution	a chart or array of scores, usually arranged from highest to lowest, showing the number of instances for each score
151915557	normal distribution	bell-shaped curve that results when the values of a trait in a population are plotted against their frequency
151915558	skewed distribution	an asymmetrical but generally bell-shaped distribution of opinions; its mode, or most frequent response, lies off to one side.
151915559	statistical significance	a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance