Ch.1- Thinking Critically with Psychological Science

Question 1

hindsight bias

Answer 1

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it. Also known as the I-knew it all along phenomenon

Question 2

critical thinking

Answer 2

thinking that doesn’t blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluate evidence, and assesses conclusions

Question 3

theory

Answer 3

an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors of events

Question 4

hypothesis

Answer 4

a testable prediction, often implied by a theory

Question 5

operational definition

Answer 5

a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables. For example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures

Question 6

replication

Answer 6

repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants sf circumstances

Question 7

case study

Answer 7

an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

Question 8

survey

Answer 8

a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.

Question 9

population

Answer 9

all the cases in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn.

Question 10

random sample

Answer 10

a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

Question 11

naturalistic observation

Answer 11

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

Question 12

correlation

Answer 12

a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus how well either factor predicts the other

Question 13

correlation coefficient

Answer 13

a statistical index of the relationship between two things (from -1 to 1)

Question 14

scatterplots

Answer 14

a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of 2 variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the 2 variables. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation(little scatter indicates high correlation)

Question 15

illusory correlation

Answer 15

the perception of a relationship where none exists

Question 16

random assignment

Answer 16

assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance

Question 17

placebo effect

Answer 17

experimental results caused by expectations alone

Question 18

standard deviation

Answer 18

measure of how much scores vary around the mean

Question 19

statistical significance

Answer 19

a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance