Psychodynamic Perspective:
Focuses on unconscious drives and childhood experiences, often emphasizing conflicts between biological drives and societal expectations.
- Behavioral Perspective
Examines observable behaviors and how they are learned through interactions with the environment, emphasizing conditioning.
- Humanistic Perspective:
- Stresses individual potential for growth, free will, and self-actualization, focusing on the inherent goodness of people.
- Cognitive Perspective:
Studies mental processes such as perception, memory, problem-solving, and decision-making, emphasizing how information is processed and stored.
- Biological Perspective:
Focuses on the influence of biology on behavior, examining brain structures, neurochemistry, genetics, and hormones.
- Evolutionary Perspective:
Explores how evolutionary principles like natural selection influence behaviors, explaining them in terms of survival and reproduction.
- Sociocultural Perspective:
Examines how society and culture influence behavior and thinking, considering norms, values, and social interactions.
- Biopsychosocial Perspective:
Integrates biological, psychological, and social factors to understand behavior and mental processes.
- Confirmation Bias
The tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms one's preexisting beliefs.
- Hindsight Bias
The tendency to believe, after an event has occurred, that it was predictable.
- Overconfidence:
The tendency to overestimate one’s abilities, knowledge, or accuracy of predictions.
- Likert Scales
: A psychometric scale commonly used in questionnaires to measure attitudes or opinions.
- Structured Interviews
: Interviews in which a set of predefined questions are asked in a specific order.
- Survey Technique
- A research method that collects data from respondents through questions to gather opinions, behaviors, or characteristics.
- Wording Effect
The influence that specific wording of survey questions can have on respondents’ answers.
- Social Desirability Bias:
The tendency for participants to give responses that are more socially acceptable rather than truthful.
- Correlational Research
A study that examines the relationship between two variables but does not imply causation.
- Third Variable Problem
: A situation in which an unaccounted-for variable influences the relationship between two studied variables.
- Scatterplot
: A graph that displays the relationship between two variables using dots to represent individual data points.
- Correlation Coefficient:
A statistical measure that indicates the extent of the relationship between two variables.
- Positive Correlation
: A relationship in which both variables move in the same direction.
- Negative Correlation:
A relationship in which one variable increases as the other decreases.
- Experimental Method:
- A research method where one or more variables are manipulated to observe their effect on a dependent variable.
- Representative Sample
A sample that accurately reflects the characteristics of the population from which it is drawn.
- Random Sample
: A sample in which every individual in the population has an equal chance of being selected.
- Sample Bias:
Bias introduced when a sample does not represent the population fairly.
- Generalizability:
The extent to which research findings can be applied to the broader population.
Statistics:
The field that involves the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of numerical data.
Descriptive Statistics:
Statistics that summarize and describe the features of a data set.
- Inferential Statistics:
- Statistics used to make generalizations from a sample to a population.
- Measure of Central Tendency:
- A statistical measure that identifies a single value as representative of a set of data (mean, median, mode).
Normal Curve:
A bell-shaped curve representing the distribution of data where most values cluster around the mean.
Regression to the Mean:
The tendency for extreme values to fall closer to the mean over time.
Falsifiable
: The ability of a hypothesis to be disproven by empirical evidence.
Peer Review:
The process of having research evaluated by other experts in the field before publication.
Replication
: Repeating a study to verify its results.
Reliability:
The consistency of research results over time.
Validity:
The degree to which a study measures what it claims to measure.
Informed Consent
: The process by which participants are informed of the study’s purpose, risks, and benefits before agreeing to participate.
Informed Assent
: Agreement to participate in research from individuals who cannot give legal consent, such as children, with permission from a guardian.
Confidentiality:
The principle of keeping participants’ information private.
Deception:
Misleading participants about the true purpose of the study, used only when necessary and ethically justified.
Confederates:
People who pretend to be participants but are working with the researcher.
Debriefing
: Informing participants of the true purpose and details of a study after it concludes.
Research Design:
The overall strategy and structure of a research study.
Methodology:
The specific procedures and techniques used to collect and analyze data.
Confounding Variable
: An outside influence that affects the dependent variable and potentially skews results.
Operational Definitions:
Specific definitions of variables in terms of how they are measured or manipulated.
Experimental Group
: The group in an experiment that receives the treatment or manipulation.
Random Assignment:
Assigning participants to experimental or control groups randomly to reduce bias.
Placebo Effect:
When participants experience effects from a treatment because they believe it will work, even if it's inactive.
Experimenter Bias:
When researchers’ expectations unintentionally influence participants or the results.
Single-Blind Study:
A study in which participants do not know whether they are receiving the treatment or placebo.
Double-Blind Study:
A study in which neither the participants nor the researchers know who is receiving the treatment or placebo.
Placebo Condition:
A control condition where participants receive an inert substance to measure psychological effects.
- Defensible Claim:
A statement that is supported by strong evidence and sound reasoning.