Ch 1: Thinking Critically with Psychological Science Flashcards
Normal Distribution
bell curve
Skewed curve
doesn’t fit the noemal bell curve
Outliers (Atypical Examples)
Data that is very different than the rest
messes up averages
Hindsight Bias
“I knew it all along” phenomenon
Overconfidence
When asked a question, people are usually overconfident about their answer
Random Streak
random number keeps coming up
1234567 is a possible outcome of random numbers
Correlation Research
Shows if one kind of behavior is related to another
useful for prediction
Correlation Cooeficient
single number that shows the strength of a correlation
a number between -1 and 1
Illusory Correlations
correlations that you think are there, but don’t exist
Placebo Effect
body tricked into thinking it has the treatment
a sugar pill
Blind Experiment
participants don’t know which group they’re in in the experiment
Double Blind Experiment
both the participants nor the experimenters know what group the subjects are in
prevents experimental bias
potential confounding variable
anything that can mess up an experiment
Critical Thinking
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions
Operational Definition
A statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables.
e.g. “Human Intelligence” may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures
