Science Practices Flashcards
Biological/Neuroscience Perspective
Focuses on brain and body chemistry and how messages are transmitted through the body.
Ex - Some individuals are more likely to experience PTSD after a traumatic experience than others because of brain chemistry.
Evolutionary Perspective
Applies the principles of evolution to explain psychological processes and phenomena.
Ex - Humans have difficulty resisting un-healthy food options because genes that encourage the consumption of high-fat and high-calorie foods helped early humans survive.
Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic Perspective
Focuses on the role of the unconscious in driving behavior.
Ex - phobias have unconscious origins.
Behavioral Perspective
Focuses on observable behaviors and sets feelings and emotions aside.
Ex - Children who misbehave at dinner are more likely to repeat this action in the future because it serves as reinforcement.
Humanistic Perspective
Focuses on teaching people to grow psychologically by focusing on one’s self-concept.
- Emphasizes the importance of choice and self-direction.
Ex - Individuals who have a self-concept that is not consistent with reality may be more suspectable to depression.
Cognitive Perspective
Focuses on how we encode, process, store, and retrieve information.
Ex - Feeding and eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa are primarily the result of distorted though processes and irrational beliefs.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Proposed by Leon Festinger in 1957, this theory suggests that individuals experience discomfort when they hold conflicting beliefs or attitudes.
Social Learning Theory
Developed by Albert Bandura in 1970s, emphasized the role of observational learning and modeling in shaping behavior.
Attachment Theory
Originated from John Bowlby in the 1950s, this theory explores the bonds formed between infants and caregivers and their impact on emotional development.
Dual Process Theory
Proposes that human cognition operates through two distinct systems - one fast, intuitive, and automatic, and the other slow, deliberate, and analytical.
Hindsight Bias
The tendency to believe that we knew the outcome of an event all along, especially after learning the actual result.
Overconfidence
Occurs when we believe we know more or are more capable than we truly are.
Ex - Overestimating our ability to accurately predict the weather forecast can result in being unprepared for sudden changes in weather conditions.
Perceiving Order in Random Events
Arises because our brains are wired to seek connections and make sense of the world around us, even when no real connections are present.
“Third Time is The Charm”, “Winning Streak”
Case Study
Focuses on analyzing one individual or group in-depth to uncover universal truths.
Not reliable enough to represent general population.
Naturalistic Observation
Involves recording responses in natural settings to identify purposes, strengths, and limitations.
Ex - Bird migration or social interactions.
Survey
Involves asking participants a set of structured questions, allowing data to be collected from large groups efficiently
Meta-analysis
Involves analyzing and combining data from multiple studies to draw more accurate and reliable conclusions.
Random Sampling
Selecting participants randomly where every individual in the population has an equal chance of being included.
Convenience Sampling
Surveying the people who are the easiest to reach.
Independent Variable
The thing that is being manipulated in the experiment.
Dependent Variable
The behavior change that results from manipulating the independent variable.
Experimental Group
Exposed to the independent variable.
Control Group
Not exposed to an independent variable. Serves as a baseline for comparison.
Confounding Variables
External factors that can influence the dependent variable.
Random Assignment
Ensures that participant are assigned to groups unbiasedly.
Placebo Effect
In which participants’ behavior changes after receiving a fake treatment.
Double Blind Study
Participants and administration staff are kept unaware of who is receiving the treatment.
Quasi-Experiment
Resembles an actual experiment but lacks random assignment to groups.
Ex- Studying the impact of trauma on individuals.
Correlation Studies
Identifies natural relationships and predict how one variable affects another without manipulation (Non experimental).
Cannot establish causation
Longitudinal Studies
Examine changes over an extended period without manipulation (Non experimental).
Risk of participants dropping out.
Cross-Sectional Studies
Comparison of different groups at a single time point. Cannot determine causation.
Ethics
Ensures the well being of both human and animal subjects.
- Clear purpose for research must be valid in animals and treated humanely.
- Humans can’t be forced and no psychological or physical harm must be done. - Personal info must be kept private.
Pearson Correlation Coefficient
Range from -1.00 to +1.00. Further from 0 is a stronger correlation
Effect Size
Indicates the magnitude of the relationship between variables.
Illusory Correlations
Can create a false sense of control by linking personal actions to chance events, influenced by the statistical concept of regression toward the mean.
Descriptive Statistics
Tools used to organize and summarize data to identify patterns and trends within a set of information.
Central Tendency
Provides a single reference point representing a set of scores.
Mean
Median
Mode
Average
Average of middle scores in ascending order
Most frequent
Normal Distribution
The median, mean, and mode are all the same and fall at the highest peak of the curve of a bell-shaped polygon.
Range
Describes the distance from the highest to lowest scores on a data set.
Standard Deviation
Another measure of variance that describes the distance of scores around the mean.
Inferential Statistics
The practice of using sampled data to draw conclusions or make predictions about a larger sample data sample or population.
T-Test
A hypothesis test used to determine if there is a significant difference between the means of two groups.
Independent Samples T-Test
Used when comparing the means of two independent groups.
Paired Samples T-Test
Used when comparing the means of two related groups.
One-Sample T-Test
Used when comparing the mean of a single group to a known value.
