Chapter 1 Critical Thinking Flashcards
The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most Psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).
Behaviorism
Emphasized the growth potential of healthy people.
Humanistic Psychology
The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with mental activity (including perception, thinking, memory, and language).
Cognitive Neuroscience
The science of behavior and mental processes.
Psychology
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. It examines assumptions, uncovers hidden values, weighs evidence, and assesses conclusions.
Critical Thinking
An approach that integrates different but complementary views from biological, psychological and social-cultural viewpoints.
Biopsychosocial Approach
The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and handed down from one generation to the next.
Culture
The age-old controversy over the relative influence if genes and experience in the development of psychological traits and behaviors.
Nature-Nurture Issue
The principle that, at the same time, our mind processes information on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.
Dual Processing
The scientific study of human functioning, with the goals discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive.
Positive Psychology
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that we could have predicted it. (I-Knew-it-all-along phenomenon)
Hindsight Bias
An explanation using principles that organize observations and predict behaviors or events.
Theory
A testable prediction, often implied by a theory.
Hypothesis
A carefully worded statement of the exact procedures.
Operational Definition
Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants.
Replication
A descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in great depth.
Case Study
A descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations.
Naturalistic Observation
A descriptive technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a group. Usually questioning a representative (random).
Survey
All those in a group being studied.
Population
A sample that fairly represents the population because each member has an equal chance.
Random Sample
Two events vary together.
Correlation
A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two factors.
Scatterplot
A method in which in which researchers vary one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process. (One of the variables is altered.
Experiment
Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance.
Random Assignment
In an experiment, the group exposed to the treatment.
Control Group
An inactive substance that is sometimes given to those in a control group.
Placebo
A procedure in which participants and research staff are ignorant about who has received the treatment or the placebo.
Double-Blind-Procedure
Results caused by expectations alone.
Placebo Effect
In an experiment, the factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.
Independent Variable
In an experiment, a factor other than the independent variable that might produce an effect.
Confounding Variable
The factor that is measured; the variable that may change when the independent variable is manipulated.
Dependent Variable
Giving people enough information about a study to enable them to decide whether they wish to participate.
Informed Consent
After an experiment ends, explaining to participants the study’s purpose and any deceptions researchers used.
Debriefing
Enhanced memory after retrieving, rather than simply rereading information.
Testing Effect
A study method incorporating five steps: Survey, Question, Read, Retrieve, Review.
SQ3R
