psy chapter 1

Question 1

psychology

Answer 1

the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour

Question 2

levels of analysis

Answer 2

rungs on a ladder of analysis, with lower levels tied most closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences

Question 3

multiply determined

Answer 3

caused by many factors

Question 4

individual differences

Answer 4

variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behaviour

Question 5

naive realism

Answer 5

belief that we see the world precisely as it is

Question 6

scientific theory

Answer 6

explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world

Question 7

hypothesis

Answer 7

testable prediction derived from a specific theory

Question 8

confirmation bias

Answer 8

tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypotheses and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them

Question 9

belief perseverence

Answer 9

tendency to stick o our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them

Question 10

metaphysical claim

Answer 10

assertion about the world that is not testable

Question 11

pseudoscience

Answer 11

set of claims that seems scientific, but aren’t

Question 12

ad hoc immunizing hypothesis

Answer 12

escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification

Question 13

apophenia

Answer 13

tendency to perceive meaningful connections among unrelated phenomena

Question 14

pareidolia

Answer 14

tendency to perceive meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli

Question 15

terror management theory

Answer 15

theory proposing that our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror with which we cope by adopting reassuring cultural worldviews

Question 16

scientific skepticism

Answer 16

approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them

Question 17

critical thinking

Answer 17

set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open minded and careful fashion

Question 18

correlation-causation fallacy

Answer 18

error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other

Question 19

variable

Answer 19

anything that can vary

Question 20

falsifiable

Answer 20

capable of being disproved

Question 21

replicability

Answer 21

when a study’s findings are able to be duplicated, ideally by independent investigators

Question 22

introspection

Answer 22

method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences

Question 23

structuralism

Answer 23

school of psychology that aimed to identify the basic elements of psychological experience

Question 24

functionalism

Answer 24

school of psychology that aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics

Question 25

natural selection

Answer 25

principle that organisms that possess adaptations survive and reproduce at a higher rate than other organisms

Question 26

behaviourism

Answer 26

school of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking at observable behaviour

Question 27

cognitive psychology

Answer 27

school of psychology that proposes that thinking is central to understanding behaviour

Question 28

cognitive neuroscience

Answer 28

relatively new field of psychology that examines the relation between brain functioning and thinking

Question 29

psychoanalysis

Answer 29

school of psychology founded by Sigmund Freud that focuses on internal psychological processes of which we’re unaware

Question 30

evolutionary psychology

Answer 30

discipline that applied Darwin’s theory of natural selection to human and animal behaviour

Question 31

basic research

Answer 31

research examining how the mind works

Question 32

applied research

Answer 32

research examining how we can use basic research to solve real world problems