Paper 3 key vocab

• Psychology


  The scientific study of the mind and behaviour.
• Scientific'


  A systematic and controlled study of human behaviour, establishing correlational or cause and effect relationships to describe behaviour.
• The mind


  The part of humans that reasons, thinks, feels, perceives, and judges.
• Behaviour


  The coordinated response of living organisms to internal or external stimuli.
• Nurture


  Environmental.
• Nature


  Biological.
• Cognitive processes


  Explanation of how the mind works. Includes memory, perception, attention, decision-making, and thinking/reasoning. It is how existing knowledge is used to create new knowledge.
• Physiology


  Biological systems. Psychology focuses on the brain, the nervous system, hormones and genetics in regards to behaviour.
• Attitudes


  Feelings of like or dislike. These can influence behaviour.
• Emotions


  A combination of both psychological and cognitive processes. The seven basic ones are happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, and contempt.
• Aviation psychologists


  Study the behaviour of pilots and flight crew, and how to improve airline safety.
• Clinical psychologists


  Assess, diagnose, and treat individuals suffering from psychological distress and mental illness.
• Cognitive psychologists


  Investigate how people think, such as decision-making and problem-solving.
• Consumer psychologists


  Research consumer behaviour and develop marketing strategies to promote businesses.
• Developmental Psychologists


  Research human development across the entire lifespan - from infancy to old age.
• Educational psychologists


  Study how people learn and develop instructional strategies and teaching techniques.
• Forensic psychologists


  Study the origins of criminal behaviour as well as how psychological research can be applied to improve the justice system.
• Health psychologists


  Conduct research on community health issues. They also seek to educate the community and develop prevention programs.
• Industrial-Organizational psychologists


  Study workplace behaviour such as how to select the best employees for particular jobs and how to increase worker productivity.
• Military psychologists


  Apply psychological theory to improve the military - for example, treating soldiers suffering from mental illness or emotional distress, researching different aspects of military life, and helping soldiers transition back to civilian life.
• Sports psychologists


  Study how psychological factors affect performance and how participation in sports and exercise affect psychological and physical factors.
• Theory


  Explanation for a psychological phenomenon. It summarises, organises and explains observations (never proves!)
• Concepts


  Hypothetical constructs.
• Self efficacy


  One's own belief as to whether they will succeed based on previous experiences.
• Testable theory


  Able to prove wrong.
• Unfalsifiable theory


  Not able to test the validity.
• Anecdotal data


  Personal experience that supports or challenges a theory.
• Empirical evidence


  Information acquired by observation or experimentation that is used to test a theory.
• High heuristic ability


  When a theory is able to be applied in many different and practical ways.
• * Reductionism*When a complex phenomenon is described in simple terms or with a single set of variables.
• * Independent variable*What changes
• **Dependant variable


  ** What is measured
• **Extraneous variable


  ** A variable that is not intentionally studied that may effect the dependant variable in some way.
• **Ecological validity


  ** How accurately the research can be applied to a real-world situation, and how closely the experiment reflects the individuals in their natural environment.
• **Operationalise


  ** To turn abstract concepts into measurable observations
• **Control variable


  ** What stays the same (is controlled)
• **Reliability


  ** Consistency
• **Validity


  ** Accuracy
• **Internal validity


  ** the studies results are based purely on the independent variable and not other factors.
• **External validity


  ** The extent in which you can apply the results to other situations