Chapter 1

Question 0

Scientific observation

Answer 0

An empirical investigation structured to answer questions about the world in systematic and inter subjective (observation can be reliably confirmed by multiple observers) fashion.

Question 1

Psychology

Answer 1

The scientific study of overt behavior and mental processes (COVERT behavior)

Question 2

Research Method

Answer 2

A systematic approach to answering scientific question.

Question 3

Description

Answer 3

In scientific research, the process of naming and classifying.

Question 4

Understanding

Answer 4

In psychology, understanding is achieved when the causes of a behavior can be started.

Question 5

Prediction

Answer 5

An ability to accurately forecast behavior.

Question 6

Control

Answer 6

Altering condition that influence behavior.

Question 7

Critical thinking (in psychology)

Answer 7

A type of reflection invoking the support of beliefs through scientific explanation and observation

Question 8

Pseudopsychology

Answer 8

Any false and unscientific system of beliefs and practices that is offered as an explanation of behavior.

Question 9

Superstition

Answer 9

unfounded belief held without evidence or in spite of falsifying evidence

Question 10

Uncritical acceptance

Answer 10

the tendency to believe claims because they seem true or because it would be nice if they were true

Question 11

Confirmation bias

Answer 11

The tendency to remember or notice information that fits one’s expectations, while forgetting discrepancies.

Question 12

Barnum effect

Answer 12

The tendency to consider a personal description accurate if it is stated in very general terms.

Question 13

Scientific method

Answer 13

A form of critical thinking based on careful measurement and controlled observation.

Question 14

Hypothesis

Answer 14

A statement of the predicted outcome of an experiment or an educated guess about the relationship between variables.

Question 15

Operational definition

Answer 15

Defining a scientific concept by stating the specific action or procedures used to measure it. FOR EXAMPLE, “hunger” might be defined as “the number of hours of food deprivation.”

Question 16

Theory

Answer 16

A system of ideas designed to interrelate concepts and facts in a way that summarizes existing data and predicts future observations.

Question 17

“Father of Psychology”

Answer 17

Wilhelm Wundt, 1832- 1920. Wundt is credited with making psychology an independent science, separate from philosophy. Wundt’s original training was in medicine, but he became deeply interested in psychology. in his laboratory, Wundt investigated how sensations, images and feeling combine to make up personal experience.

Question 18

Stimulus

Answer 18

Any physical energy sensed by an organism.

Question 19

Introspection

Answer 19

To look within; to examine one’s own thoughts, feelings, or sensations.

Question 20

Dependent variable

Answer 20

In an experiment, the condition (usually a behavior) that is affected by the independent variable.

Question 21

Independent variable

Answer 21

In an experiment, the condition being investigated as a possible cause of some change in behavior. The values that this variable takes are chosen by the experimenter.

Question 22

Behaviorism

Answer 22

The school of psychology that emphasizes the study of overt, observable behavior.

Question 23

Sigmund Freud

Answer 23

1856-1939. for more than 50 years, Freud probed the unconscious mind. In doing so, he altered modern views of human nature. His early experimentation with a “talking cure” for hysteria is regarded as the beginning of psychoanalysis. Through psychoanalysis, Freud added psychological treatment methods to psychiatry.

Question 24

B. F. Skinner

Answer 24

Believed mental events were unnecessary to study behavior
Studied relationship between actions, rewards, and punishments
Emphasized positive reinforcement vs. punishment
Worked with animals