Chapter 1

Question 1

Psychology

Answer 1

the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior

Question 2

levels of analysis

Answer 2

rungs on a ladder of analysis, with lower levels tied most closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences

Question 3

multiply determined

Answer 3

caused by many factors

Question 4

anorexia nervosa

Answer 4

psychiatric condition marked by extreme weight loss and the perception that one is overweight even when one is massively underweight

Question 5

individual differences

Answer 5

variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior

Question 6

reciprocal determinism

Answer 6

the fact that we mutually influence each other’s behavior

Question 7

naive realism

Answer 7

belief that we see the world precisely as it is

Question 8

empiricism

Answer 8

the premise that knowledge should initially be acquired through observation

Question 9

science

Answer 9

a systematic approach to evidence

Question 10

scientific theory

Answer 10

explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world

Question 11

hypothesis

Answer 11

testable prediction derived from a scientific theory

Question 12

confirmation bias

Answer 12

tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them

Question 13

belief perseverance

Answer 13

tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them

Question 14

metaphysical claim

Answer 14

assertion about the world that’s not testable

Question 15

pseudoscience

Answer 15

set of claims that seems scientific but isnt

Question 16

ad hoc immunizing hypothesis

Answer 16

escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification

Question 17

patternicity

Answer 17

our tendency to see patterns in meaningless data

Question 18

terror management theory

Answer 18

theory proposing that our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror with which we cope by adopting reassuring cultural worldviews

Question 19

emotional reasoning fallacy

Answer 19

the error of using our emotions as guides for evaluating the validity of a claim

Question 20

bandwagon fallacy

Answer 20

the error of assuming that a claim is correct just because many people believe it

Question 21

not me fallacy

Answer 21

the error of believing that we are immune from errors in thinking that afflict other people

Question 22

bias blind spot

Answer 22

most people are unaware of their biases but keenly aware of them in others

Question 23

scientific skeptism

Answer 23

approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them

Question 24

critical thinking

Answer 24

set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and careful fashion

Question 25

correlation-causation fallacy

Answer 25

error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other

Question 26

variable

Answer 26

anything that can vary

Question 27

falsifiable

Answer 27

capable of being disproved

Question 28

replicability

Answer 28

when a study’s findings are able to be duplicated, ideally by independent investigators

Question 29

decline effect

Answer 29

fact that the size of certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time

Question 30

parsimony

Answer 30

logical simplicity

Question 31

introspection

Answer 31

method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences

Question 32

functionalism

Answer 32

school of psychology that aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics

Question 33

behaviorism

Answer 33

school of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking largely at observable behavior

Question 34

cognitive psychology

Answer 34

school of psychology that proposes that thinking is central to understanding behavior

Question 35

natural selection

Answer 35

principle that organisms that possess adaptations survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do other organisms

Question 36

cognitive neuroscience

Answer 36

relatively new field of psychology that examines the relation between brain functioning and thinking

Question 37

psychoanalysis

Answer 37

school of psychology, founded by Sigmund Freud, that focuses on internal psychological processes of which we’re unaware

Question 38

evolutionary psychology

Answer 38

discipline that applies Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection to human and animal behavior

Question 39

basic research

Answer 39

research examining how the mind works

Question 40

applied research

Answer 40

research examining how we can use basic research