Unit 2 History & Perspectives of Psychology Key Terms

Question 1

behavior genetics

Answer 1

The branch of genetics that examines the genetic and environmental contributions to personality characteristics and behavior.

Question 2

behaviorism

Answer 2

A theoretical perspective that focuses on observable, quantifiable behavior and the relationships between behavior and environmental variables.

Question 3

cognitive perspective

Answer 3

The branch of psychology that deals with thought processes such as memory and language.

Question 4

evolutionary perspective

Answer 4

The study of the evolution of behavior using the principles of natural selection.

Question 5

functionalism

Answer 5

A movement in psychology led by William James in which consciousness was studied according to the functions it serves, rather than its structures.

Question 6

Gestalt

Answer 6

A school of psychology that believes individuals perceive objects and patterns as whole units and that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. They believed that behavior, perception, and all elements of the self must be viewed as a whole.

Question 7

psychiatrist

Answer 7

Psychiatrists attend medical school first, then specialize in the mind, and often deal with the most serious mental disorders. They can prescribe drugs and are MDs.

Question 8

psychodynamic perspective

Answer 8

A neo-Freudian theoretical perspective that focuses on unconscious mental processes and the impact of early childhood experiences on later personality and behavior.

Question 9

psychologist

Answer 9

Psychologists may be involved in therapy, experimentation, or many other fields. They do graduate work in psychology and have master’s or doctoral degrees. Excepting some special cases, they cannot prescribe medication.

Question 10

psychology

Answer 10

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Question 11

structuralism

Answer 11

A movement in psychology, led by Wilhelm Wundt, that focused on analyzing conscious experience in terms of its fundamental structures.

Question 12

basic research

Answer 12

Research that is conducted for the sake of knowledge itself, rather than to solve a specific or practical problem.

Question 13

case study

Answer 13

An in-depth study of a single person who has unusual characteristics. Case studies are often useful when a condition or characteristic is so rare that group experiments are not feasible.

Question 14

clinical

Answer 14

The branch of psychology that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.

Question 15

confounding variable

Answer 15

In an experiment, any variable other than the independent variable that creates differences between the experimental and control groups.

Question 16

control group

Answer 16

In an experiment, the group that does not receive the experimental treatment but is identical to that group in all other respects. Results from the experimental group are typically compared to those of the control group.

Question 17

correlation

Answer 17

The degree of relatedness between two sets of data.

Question 18

data

Answer 18

Information gathered in the course of scientific study.

Question 19

dependent variable

Answer 19

In an experiment, the variable that is measured to determine whether the independent variable had an effect.

Question 20

double blind

Answer 20

A research design in which participants are given either the experimental treatment or a placebo, and neither the participants nor those administering the treatments know which participants are receiving which condition. This is commonly done in drug studies.

Question 21

ethic

Answer 21

In general, the scientific study of morality. In psychology, it refers to the codes of conduct for the profession, including research, teaching, and clinical work

Question 22

experiment

Answer 22

A research design that features random assignment of subjects to experimental and control groups, at least one independent variable that is manipulated, and at least one dependent variable that is measured. It is the only research design in which cause-and-effect relationships can legitimately be determined.

Question 23

experimental condition or group

Answer 23

In an experiment, the group that is exposed to the independent variable.

Question 24

independent variable

Answer 24

The variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter to determine whether it has an effect on the dependent variable.

Question 25

informed consent

Answer 25

A procedure in which a potential research participant is fully informed of all the risks and benefits of participating in the study before consenting to do so.

Question 26

observational research

Answer 26

A way to do research in which careful, systematic observation in a natural environment is the main tool for data collection.

Question 27

operational definition

Answer 27

A concrete definition of a variable for the purposes of a particular experiment.

Question 28

placebo

Answer 28

A treatment that resembles the experimental condition, but is intended to have no effect on the dependent variable. The most common example of this is a sugar pill used as a placebo in a drug study.

Question 29

population

Answer 29

The group of all possible individuals from which a sample could be chosen.

Question 30

pseudoscience

Answer 30

An activity that closely resembles science, but does not follow the principles of the scientific method.

Question 31

random assignment

Answer 31

In an experiment, every participant has an equal opportunity to be assigned to a particular group. Random assignment to groups is the hallmark of a “true experiment.”

Question 32

random selection

Answer 32

A method of sampling in which every member of a population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample.

Question 33

representative

Answer 33

A sample that resembles the population of interest on variables that are identified as important.

Question 34

research design

Answer 34

A plan for how to conduct the scientific investigation, how the variables will be manipulated and/or measured, as well as how the data will be collected and analyzed.

Question 35

science

Answer 35

The pursuit of knowledge and understanding, using systematic methods of inquiry.

Question 36

skepticism

Answer 36

A philosophical approach that says that nothing can be known with absolute certainty. In general, it refers to a doubting or questioning attitude.

Question 37

survey

Answer 37

A method of research in which information is systematically gathered from a representative sample of a group on some variable of interest. The information can be gathered through interviews and/or the administration of questionnaires.

Question 38

theory

Answer 38

A coherent set of explanations for a phenomenon.

Question 39

third variable

Answer 39

A situation in which two variables are correlated, but neither one of them caused the other. They were both caused by another, different variable. If A and B are correlated, then C caused A and B.

Question 40

bell curve

Answer 40

Also called the normal curve. Many traits, including intellectual abilities, are said to be normally distributed, with roughly 68 percent of the distribution being within one standard deviation of the mean, and more than 90 percent being within two standard deviations of the mean.

Question 41

central tendency

Answer 41

A general term for the midpoint, or center, of a distribution. Central tendency can be measured through the mean, median, or mode.

Question 42

descriptive statistics

Answer 42

Statistics that provide information about the features of a particular sample.

Question 43

mean

Answer 43

The arithmetic average of all of the scores in a distribution.

Question 44

median

Answer 44

The middlemost score in a distribution.

Question 45

mode

Answer 45

The most frequent score in a distribution.

Question 46

negative (inverse) correlation

Answer 46

A relationship between two variables in which the values of one variable increase as the values of the other variable decrease.

Question 47

percentile

Answer 47

The percentage of scores in a distribution that are below a particular score.

Question 48

positive (direct) correlation

Answer 48

A relationship between two variables in which the values of one variable increase as the values of the other variable increase.

Question 49

standard deviation

Answer 49

A statistic that measures the variability, or degree of spread, of a distribution. It is calculated by taking the square root of the variance, or the average squared deviation of scores from the mean.

Question 50

statistical significance

Answer 50

A condition in which the difference between the experimental and control groups is so large that it is unlikely to have occurred by chance alone.

Question 51

variable

Answer 51

Anything that can take on any of a number of values.

Question 52

variance

Answer 52

A statistic that measures the variability, or degree of spread, in the distribution. It is calculated by taking the average squared deviation of scores from the mean.

Question 53

z-score

Answer 53

A standardized score with a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1. Scores in the distributions of two different measures, such as a measure of IQ and a measure of reading comprehension, are often converted to z-scores so that the distributions can be easily compared with one another.