Psych 209: Chapter 1 Vocab

Question 1

Authority

Answer 1

A way of knowing, proposed by Charles Peirce, in which a person develops a belief by agreeing with someone perceived to be an expert

Question 2

Priori Method

Answer 2

A way of knowing, proposed by Charles Peirce, in which a person develops a belief by reasoning and reaching agreement with others who are convinced of the merits of the reasoned argument

Question 3

Empiricism

Answer 3

A way of knowing that relies on direct observation or experience

Question 4

Belief Perseverance

Answer 4

Unwillingness to consider any evidence that contradicts a strongly held view; similar to Peirce’s principle of tenacity

Question 5

Confirmation Bias

Answer 5

Social cognition bias in which events that confirm a strongly held belief are more readily perceived and remembered; dis-confirming events are ignored or forgotten

Question 6

Availability Heuristic

Answer 6

Social cognition bias in which vivid or memorable events lead people to overestimate the frequency of occurrence of these events.

Question 7

Determinism

Answer 7

An assumption made by scientists that all events have causes.

Question 8

Discoverability

Answer 8

An assumption made by scientists that the causes of events can be discovered by applying scientific methods

Question 9

Statistical Determinism

Answer 9

An assumption made be research psychologists that behavioral events can be predicted with a probability greater than chance

Question 10

Objectivity

Answer 10

Said to exist when observations can be verified by more than one observer

Question 11

Introspection

Answer 11

Method used in the early years of psychological science in which an individual would complete some task and then describe the events occurring in the consciousness while performing the task

Question 12

Data-Driven

Answer 12

Belief of research psychologists that conclusions about behavior should be supported by data collected scientifically

Question 13

Empirical Questions

Answer 13

A questions that can be answered by making objective observations

Question 14

Hypothesis

Answer 14

An educated guess about a relationship between variables that is then tested empirically

Question 15

Theory

Answer 15

A set of statements that summarizes and organizes existing information about some phenomenon, provides an explanation for the phenomenon, and serves as a basis for making predictions to be tested empirically

Question 16

Falsification

Answer 16

Research strategy advocated by Popper that emphasizes putting theories to the test by trying to disprove or falsify them

Question 17

Pseudoscience

Answer 17

A field of inquiry that attempts to associate with true science, relies exclusively on selective anecdotal evidence, and is deliberately too vague to be adequately tested

Question 18

Anecdotal Evidience

Answer 18

Evidence from a single case that illustrates a phenomenon; when relied on exclusively, as in pseudoscience, faulty conclusions can easily be drawn

Question 19

Effort Justification

Answer 19

After expending a large amount of time or effort to obtain some goal, people giving the effort feel pressured to convince themselves that the effort was worthwhile, even if the resulting outcome is less positive than originally thought.

Question 20

Description

Answer 20

A goal of psychological science in which behaviors are accurately classified or sequences of environmental stimuli and behavioral events are accurately listed

Question 21

Laws

Answer 21

Regular, predictable relationships between events

Question 22

Predictions

Answer 22

A goal of psychological science in which statements about the future occurrence of some behavioral event are made, usually with some probability

Question 23

Explaination

Answer 23

A goal of science in which the causes of events are sought

Question 24

Application

Answer 24

A goal of science in which basic principles discovered through scientific methods are applied in order to solve problems