Introduction Flashcards
A branch of psychology that applies the principles of psychology to the workplace
Industrial-organizational
psychology
The field of study that concentrates on the selection and evaluation of employees
Personnel psychology
The field of study that investigates the behavior of employees within the context of an organization
Organizational
psychology
A field of study concentrating on the interaction between humans and machines
Human factors
An intelligence test developed during World War I and used by the army for soldiers who can read
Army Alpha
An intelligence test developed during World War I and used by the army for soldiers who cannot read
Army Beta
A series of studies, conducted at the Western Electric plant in Hawthorne, Illinois, that have come to represent any change in behavior when people react to a change in the environment
Hawthorne studies
When employees change their behavior due solely to the fact that they are receiving attention or are being observed
Hawthorne effect
A standardized admission test required by most psychology graduate schools
Graduate Record Exam
GRE
Graduate programs that offer a master’s degree but not a Ph.D.
Terminal master’s degree
programs
A situation in which a student works for an organization, either for pay or as a volunteer, to receive practical work experience
Internship
A paid or unpaid position with an organization that gives a student practical work experience
Practicum
A formal research paper required of most doctoral students in order to graduate
Dissertation
An educated prediction about the answer to a research question
Hypothesis
A systematic set of assumptions regarding the cause and nature of behavior
Theory
A written collection of articles describing the methods and results of new research
Journals
A collection of articles for those “in the biz,” about related professional topics, seldom directly reporting the methods and results of new research
Trade magazines
An unscientific collection of articles about a wide range of topics
Magazines
The extent to which research results can be expected to hold true outside the specific setting in which they were obtained
External validity
Like external validity, the extent to which research results hold true outside the specific setting in which they were obtained
Generalizability
Research conducted in a natural setting as opposed to a laboratory
Field research
The formal process by which subjects give permission to be included in a study
Informed consent
A committee designated to ensure the ethical treatment of research subjects
Institutional review
boards
The result of a well-controlled experiment about which the researcher can confidently state that the independent variable caused the change in the dependent variable
Cause-and-effect
relationships
A type of research study in which the independent variable is manipulated by the experimenter
Experiment
The alteration of a variable by an experimenter in expectation that the alteration will result in a change in the dependent variable
Manipulation
The manipulated variable in an experiment
Independent variable
The measure of behavior that is expected to change as a result of changes in the independent variable
Dependent variable
In an experiment, the group of subjects that receives the experimental treatment of interest to the experimenter
Experimental group
A group of employees who do not receive a particular type of training so that their performance can be compared with that of employees who do receive training
Control group
Research method in which the experimenter either does not manipulate the independent variable or in which subjects are not randomly assigned to conditions
Quasi-experiments
Research that involves the use of previously collected data
Archival research
Used in meta-analysis, a statistic that indicates the amount of change caused by an experimental manipulation
Effect size
Used in meta-analysis, a statistic that is the average of the effect sizes for all studies included in the analysis
Mean effect size
A statistic, resulting from performing a correlation, that indicates the magnitude and direction of a relationship
Correlation coefficients
A type of effect size used in meta-analysis that is signified by the letter d and indicates how many standard deviations separate the mean score for the experimental group from the control group
Difference score
The extent to which the results of a study have actual impact on human behavior
Practical significance
A sample in which every member of the relevant population had an equal chance of being chosen to participate in the study
Random sample
A nonrandom research sample that is used because it is easily available
Convenience sample
The random, unbiased assignment of subjects in a research sample to the various experimental and control conditions
Random assignment
Informing the subject in an experiment about the purpose of the study in which he or she was a participant and providing any other relevant information
Debriefed
A statistical procedure used to measure the relationship between two variables
Correlation
A third variable that can often explain the relationship between two other variables
Intervening variable
