Chapter 1 Flashcards
hindsight bias
the believe after learning an outcome that you would have known that.
overconfidence
thinking that you know more than you actually know
curiosity
passion for learning new things
skepticism
not accepting a fact until you know it is true by either challenging it or testing it
humility
being able to accept the fact that you are wrong
critical thinking
does not accept arguments, claims and conclusions blindly. it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values and evaluates evidence
James Randi
Tested Uri Geller to show that he could not read peoples minds when they were put in an unfamiliar situation.
theory
an explanation that uses principles to organize observation and predicts behaviours or events
hypothesis
a testable prediction prompted by a theory to enable us to accept reject or revise the theory
operational definitions
statement of procedures used to define research variables
research
is testing out the theory
replicate
redoing the original observations with different participants, materials and circumstances
descriptive research
a systematic, objective observation of people to get a clear picture of peoples behaviours, thoughts and attributes.
case study
examines one individual or group in depth, can’t be used to generalize
naturalistic observation
records behaviour in natural environment, describes behaviour but does not explain it
Survey
examines many cases less in depth to find the reported attitudes or behaviours of a group. uses random sampling of population for best results
correlation
the measure of how two things vary together
correlation coefficient
statistical measure of the relationship between two variables
scatterplot
graph compromised of points that are generated by values of two variables. slope is direction and amount of scatter points is the strength of the relationship
positive correlation
two variables change in the same direction either increasing or decreasing together
negative correlation
two variables change in opposite directions, one increasing and one decreasing
random assignment
controlling certain variables minimizing differences
random sampling
everyone in a population has an equal chance of being of being selected for the sample
independent variable
the factor that is manipulated by the experimenter. the effect of this is the focus of the study
dependent variable
factor that may change in response to the independent variable usually a behaviour or mental process.
intuition
an effortless and immediate feeling or thought as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning
illusory correlation
chance events are subject to our personal control
regression toward the mean
the tendency for extreme or unusual scores or events to fall back toward the average
experimental group
the group exposed to the treatment, that is, to one version of the independent variable
control group
the group not exposed to the treatment, contrasts with experimental group and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of treatment
double-blind assignment
an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the research staff are blind about whether the participants have received the treatment or a placebo
placebo effect
experimental results caused by expectations alone. any effect on behaviour cause by the administration of a substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent
confounding variable
a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect
mode
the most frequently occurring scores in a distribution
mean
the average of a distribution obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores
median
the middle score in a distibution, half the scores are above it and half the scores are below it.
range
the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution
standard deviation
a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score
statistical significance
a statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance
