Introductory Terms Flashcards
Mental Process
The performance of cognitive activity
Cognition
The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understand through thought, experience, and the senses.
Behaviour
The way in which one acts and conducts oneself.
Empirical Evidence
Evidence acquired from observation and experimentation.
Independent variable
A variable that does not depend on another variable.
Dependent variable
A variable whose value depends on that of another variable.
Treatment group
A set of participants in a research study that are exposed to some manipulation or an intentional change (in the independent variable of the study).
Control group
A set of participants in a research study that receive standard treatment, not experimental treatment.
Causation
The empirical relation between two variables such that change in one brings about change in the other.
Correlation
A statistical measurement of a relationship between two variables.
Extraneous variable
Any variable that is not being investigated but potentially affects the outcome of the study.
Negative correlation
A relationship between two variables where an increase in one variable brings about a decrease in the other.
Positive correlation
A relationship between two variables where an increase in one variable brings about an increase in the other.
Phenomenon
An event that has been observed and considered factual, but whose cause is considered unknown or not well researched.
Bidirectional ambiguity
A situation where the direction of the correlation is unknown.
Laboratory experiment
An experiment conducted under highly controlled conditions where accurate measurements are possible.
Conformity
The process whereby people change their beliefs, attitudes, actions, or perceptions to more closely match those held by groups to which they belong.
Bystanderism
When an individual is less likely to help someone in an emergency situation when there are lots of other bystanders present.
Spurious correlation
A situation in which variables are associated. through their common relationship with one or more other variables but do not have a causal relationship with one another.
Illusory correlation
In psychology, illusory correlation isthe phenomenon of perceiving a relationship between variables (typically people, events, or behaviors) even when no such relationship exists.
Bidirectional Ambiguity
It is impossible to know if x causes y, y causes x, if they interact to cause behavior
High heuristic validity
Can be applied in many practical ways.
Participant Variable
When individual characteristics of the participant affect their behavior in an experiment.
Confounding variable
A variable that affected the research findings that the researchers find out about after the experiment.
