Chapter 1 Vocab Flashcards
Overconfidence
The tendency to be more confident, than correct-to overestimate the accuracy of ones beliefs and judgements
Hindsight Bias
The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.
Critical Thinking
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. It examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence,and assess conclusions.
Scientific Method
Explains through an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts behaviors or events.
Theory
Aims to explain some phenomenon and allows researchers to generate testable hypotheses with the hope of collecting data that support the theory.
An explanation of using an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations
Hypothesis
A statement that expresses a relationship between two variables.
A testable prediction, often implied by a theory
Operational Definitions
An explanation of how variables are measured
A statement of the procedures(operations) used to define research variables. It allows us to measure variables
Replicate
Repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances
Case Study
A research method used to get a full, detailed picture of one participant or a small group of participants
An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
Survey
Involves asking people to fill out surveys
A technique for ascertaining the self reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them
False Consensus Effect
The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors
Population
The group from which a sample is selected
All the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study
Random Sample
A method of seeking a sample from a population
A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
Naturalistic Observations
Research method that involves observing participants in their natural habitats without interacting with them
Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation
Correlation
A statistical measure of a relationship between two variables
A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of how well either factor predicts the other
Scatterplots
A graph of correlated data
A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables
Illusory Correlation
The perception of a relationship where none exists
Experiment
The only research method that can show a casual relationship
When an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process
Double-Blind Procedure
Method followed such that neither the participants nor the researcher are aware of who is in the experimental or control groups while the experiment is going on
the participant and the staff are ignorant about whether the participant has received the treatment or a placebo
Placebo Effect
Any effect on behaviors by expectations; any affect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which is assumed to be an active agent
Experimental Condition
The participants who are exposed to the independent variable
Control Condition
The participants that serve as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment
Random Assignment
The process by which participants are put into either an experimental or a control group
Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, thus minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups
Independent variable
The experimental factor that is manipulated
Dependent variable
The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable
Mode
The most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution
Mean
The arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores
Median
The middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half 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
5% is the cutoff for statistically significant results. In a statistically significant experimental result, the is less than a 5% chance that the results occurred by chance
A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance
Culture
The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
Experimenter Bias
The unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of the experimental and control groups differently to increase the chance of confirming their hypothesis
