Psych 209: Chapter 1 Vocab Flashcards
Exam 1
Authority
A way of knowing, proposed by Charles Peirce, in which a person develops a belief by agreeing with someone perceived to be an expert
Priori Method
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
Empiricism
A way of knowing that relies on direct observation or experience
Belief Perseverance
Unwillingness to consider any evidence that contradicts a strongly held view; similar to Peirce’s principle of tenacity
Confirmation Bias
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
Availability Heuristic
Social cognition bias in which vivid or memorable events lead people to overestimate the frequency of occurrence of these events.
Determinism
An assumption made by scientists that all events have causes.
Discoverability
An assumption made by scientists that the causes of events can be discovered by applying scientific methods
Statistical Determinism
An assumption made be research psychologists that behavioral events can be predicted with a probability greater than chance
Objectivity
Said to exist when observations can be verified by more than one observer
Introspection
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
Data-Driven
Belief of research psychologists that conclusions about behavior should be supported by data collected scientifically
Empirical Questions
A questions that can be answered by making objective observations
Hypothesis
An educated guess about a relationship between variables that is then tested empirically
Theory
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
Falsification
Research strategy advocated by Popper that emphasizes putting theories to the test by trying to disprove or falsify them
Pseudoscience
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
Anecdotal Evidience
Evidence from a single case that illustrates a phenomenon; when relied on exclusively, as in pseudoscience, faulty conclusions can easily be drawn
Effort Justification
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.
Description
A goal of psychological science in which behaviors are accurately classified or sequences of environmental stimuli and behavioral events are accurately listed
Laws
Regular, predictable relationships between events
Predictions
A goal of psychological science in which statements about the future occurrence of some behavioral event are made, usually with some probability
Explaination
A goal of science in which the causes of events are sought
Application
A goal of science in which basic principles discovered through scientific methods are applied in order to solve problems
