Gen Pysch Flashcards
Psychology
The scientific study of overt behavior and mental processes (covert behavior).
Scientific observation
An empirical investigation structured to answer questions about the world in a systematic and intersubjective fashion (observations can be reliably confirmed by multiple observers).
Research method
A systematic approach to answering scientific questions.
Pseudopsychology
Any false and unscientific system of beliefs and practices that is offered as an explanation of behavior.
Uncritical acceptance
The tendency to believe generally positive or flattering descriptions of oneself.
Confirmation bias
The tendency to remember or notice information that fits one’s expectations, while forgetting discrepancies.
Barnum effect
The tendency to consider a personal description accurate if it is stated in general terms.
Scientific method
- Making observations
- Defining a problem
- Proposing a hypothesis
- Gathering evidence/testing the hypothesis
- Building a theory
- Publishing results
Operational Definition
Defining a scientific concept by stating the specific actions or procedures used to measure it. For example, hunger might be defined as the number of hours of food deprivation.
Stimulus
Any physical energy an organism senses.
Introspection
To look within; to examine one’s own thoughts, feelings, or sensations.
Structuralism
The school of thought concerned with analyzing sensations and personal experience into basic elements.
Functionalism
The school of psychology concerned with how behavior and mental abilities help people adapt to their environments.
Natural Selection
Darwin’s theory that evolution favors those plants and animals best suited to their living conditions.
Behaviorism
The school of psychology that emphasizes the study of overt, observable behavior
Response
Any muscular action, glandular activity, or other identifiable aspect of behavior.
Cognitive Behaviorism
An approach that combines behavioral principles with cognition (e.g. perception, thinking, anticipation) to explain behavior.
Gestalt Psychology
A school of psychology emphasizing the study of thinking, learning, and perception in whole units, not by analysis into parts. (Max Wertheimer)
Unconscious
Contents of the mind that are beyond awareness, especially impulses and desires not directly known to a person.
Psychoanalysis
A Freudian approach to psychotherapy that emphasizes exploring unconscious conflicts.
Neo-Freudian
A psychologist who accepts the broad features of Freud’s theory but has revised the theory to fit his or her own concepts.
Psychodynamic theory
Any theory of behavior that emphasizes internal conflicts, motives, and unconscious forces.
Humanism
An approach to psychology that focuses on human experience, problems, potentials, and ideals.
Determinism
The idea that all behavior has prior causes that would completely explain one’s choices and actions if all such causes were known.
Free will
The idea that human beings are capable of freely making choices or decisions.
Self-actualization
The ongoing process of fully developing one’s personal potential.
Biological Perspective
The attempt to explain behavior in terms of underlying biological principles.
Neuroscience
The broader field of of biopsychologists and others who study the brain and nervous system, such as biologists and biochemists.
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology The study of how human evolution and genetics might explain our current behavior.
Psychological perspective
The traditional view that behavior is shaped by psychological processes occurring at the level of the individual.
Positive psychology
The study of human strengths, virtues, and effective functioning.
Sociocultural perspective
The focus on the importance of social and cultural contexts in influencing the behavior of individuals.
Cultural Relativity
The idea that behavior must be judged relative to the values of the culture in which it occurs.
Social Norms
Rules that define acceptable and expected behavior for members of a group.
Psychologist
A person highly trained in the methods, factual knowledge and theories of psychology.
Animal Model
In research, an animal whose behavior is studied to derive principles that may apply to human behavior.
Clinical Psychologist
A psychologist who specializes in the treatment of psychological and behavioral disturbances or ho does research on such disturbances.
Counseling Psychologist
A psychologist who specializes in the treatment of milder emotional and behavioral disturbances.
Psychiatrist
A medical doctor with additional training in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders.
Psychoanalyst
A mental health professional (usually a medical doctor) trained to practice psychoanalysis.
Counselor
A mental health professional who specializes in helping people with problems that do not involve serious mental disorders; for example, marriage counselors, career counselors, or school counselors.
Psychiatric social worker
A mental health professional trained to apply social science principles to help patients in clinics and hospitals.
Experiment
A formal trail undertaken to confirm or disconfirm a hypothesis about cause and effect.
Experimental subjects
Humans (also referred to as participants) or animals whose behavior is investigated in an experiment.
Participants
Humans whose behavior is investigated in an experiment.
Variable
Any condition that changes or can be made to change; a measure, event, or state that may vary.
Independent variable
In an experiment, the condition being investigated as a possible cause of some change in behavior. The experimenter chooses the values that this variable takes.
Dependent variable
In an experiment, the condition (usually a behavior) that is affected by the independent variable.
Extraneous variable
Condition or factor excluded from influencing the outcome of an experiment.
Experimental group
In a controlled experiment, the group of subjects exposed to the independent variable or experimental condition.
Control group
In a controlled experiment, the group of subjects exposed to all experimental conditions or variables except the independent variable.
Random assignment
The use of chance (for example, flipping a coin) to assign subjects to experimental and control groups.
Statistically significant
Experimental results that would rarely occur by chance alone.
Research participant bias
Changes in the behavior of research participants caused by the unintended influence of their own expectations.
Placebo effect
Changes in behavior due to participants’ expectations that a drug (or other treatment) will have some effect.
Single-blind experiment
An arrangement in which participants remain unaware of whether they are in the experimental group or the control group.
Researcher bias
Changes in participants’ behavior caused by the unintended influence of a researcher’s actions.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
A prediction that prompts people to act in ways that make the prediction come true.
Double-blind experiment
An arrangement in which both participants and experimenters are unaware of whether participants are in the experimental group or the control group, including who might have been administered a drug or a placebo.
Naturalistic observation
Observing behavior as it unfolds in natural settings.
Observer effect
Changes in an organism’s behavior brought about by an awareness of being observed.
Observer bias
The tendency of an observer to distort observations or perceptions to match his or her expectations.
Anthropomorphic error
The error of attributing human thoughts, feelings, or motives to animals, especially as a way to explain their behavior.
Observational record
A detailed summary of observed events or a videotape of observed behavior.
Correlation
The existence of a consistent, systematic relationship between two events, measures, or variables.
Correlational study
A nonexperimental study designed to measure the degree of relationship (if any) between two or more events, measures, or variables.
Coefficient of correlation
A statistical index ranging from −1.00 to +1.00 that indicates the direction and degree of correlation.
Causation
The act of causing some effect
Cause Study
An in-depth focus on all aspects of a single person.
Survey
In psychology, a public polling technique used to answer psychological questions.
Representative sample
A small, randomly selected part of a larger population that accurately reflects characteristics of the whole population.
Population
An entire group of animals or people belonging to a particular category (for example, all college students or all married women).
