Unit Zero

• Psychology


  the scientific study of mental processes and behavior.
• Mental Processes


  Thoughts, feelings, and motives that each of us experiences privately but that cannot be directly observed.
• Behavior


  Any action that people can observe or measure
• Confirmation Bias


  The tendency to favor information that confirms your existing beliefs.
• Hindsight Bias


  The feeling after something happens that you knew it was going to happen.
• Overconfidence


  Being more confident than correct; overestimating the accuracy of your beliefs.
• Empirical Evidence


  Information from experiments or observations rather than theories.
• Scientific Method


  A step-by-step method for conducting research.
• Hypothesis


  A prediction that you can test through study and experimentation.
• Falsifiable


  Something that can be proven wrong through tests.
• Peer Review


  The process of having other experts examine your work to check its validity.
• Replication


  Repeating a study to see if the same results are obtained.
• Reliability


  The consistency of a research study or measuring test.
• Validity


  The accuracy of a test or research to measure what it claims to measure.
• The American Psychological Association (APA)

  A major organization for psychologists in the United States.
• Research Design


  The plan for a research study, determining how to collect and analyze data.
• Methodology


  The specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select, process, and analyze information about a topic.
• Quantitative Data


  Data that can be counted or measured and given a numerical value.
• Qualitative Data


  Data that describes qualities or characteristics.
• Likert Scales


  A scale used to represent people's attitudes or feelings; respondents specify their level of agreement to a statement.
• Structured Interviews


  Interviews where everyone is asked the same questions in the same way.
• Survey Technique


  A method of gathering information by asking questions to people.
• Wording Effect


  How the way a question is phrased can influence the answers given.
• Social Desirability Bias:


  The tendency of respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others.
• Naturalistic Observation


  Watching behaviors occur naturally without interfering.
• Case Study


  A detailed examination of a single subject or group.
• Correlational Research


  A study that investigates the relationship between two variables to determine if they vary together.
• Third Variable Problem


  A situation where an unseen variable affects the results of a study.
• Scatterplot


  A graph in which the values of two variables are plotted along two axes, the pattern of the resulting points revealing any correlation present.
• Correlation Coefficient


  A number between -1 and 1 that describes the strength and direction of a relationship between variables.
• Positive Correlation


  A relationship where if one variable increases, the other does too.
• Negative Correlation


  A relationship where if one variable increases, the other decreases.
• Experimental Method:


  A method where the researcher manipulates one variable to see if it affects another.
• Independent Variable


  The variable that is changed or controlled in a scientific experiment.
• Dependent Variable


  The variable that is tested and measured in a scientific experiment.
• Confounding Variable


  An extra variable that wasn't accounted for that could affect the results of an experiment.
• Operational Definitions


  Clearly defining how you will measure your variables in research.
• Experimental Group


  The group in an experiment that receives the variable being tested.
• Control Group


  The group in an experiment that does not receive the test variable.
• Random Assignment


  Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance, which helps ensure that any differences observed after the treatment are due to the treatment and not a preexisting difference.