Key Words

• Objectivity


  The researcher should remain value-free and unbiased when conducting investigations.
• Empirical method


  Procedures where you are only measuring what can be directly observed. 
• Replicability


  To be able to replicate research and get the same findings. Achieved by controlled, standardised approach (control of variables). Helps us to determine causation.
• Falsifiability


  Where a theory can only be considered scientific if it is possible to establish it as false. The strongest/most valid scientific theories are the ones that survive the attempts to falsify.
• Theory construction


  An explanation for the causes of behaviour developed through observations/research.
• Hypothesis testing


  Hypotheses should be operationalised, testable predictions. If research fails to support the hypothesis, then this suggests that the theory needs to be modified.
• Paradigm


  Basic assumptions, agreed ways of thinking, and methods of study that are commonly accepted by members of a discipline or group. ​
• Paradigm shift


  is when a significant change in the basic claims and methods of investigation of a scientific discipline occurs
• Introspection


  the process of conscious self-reflection on present experience. A mental and purposeful process
• Imitation


  copying or recreation of another's behaviour, attitude or emotional expression
• Identification


  a process where a person aligns themselves with qualities/ beliefs of another person or group
• Mediational processes - attention


  The individual needs to pay attention to the behavior and its consequences and form a mental representation of the behavior.
• mediational processes - memory/ retention 


  individuals symbolically store a model’s behaviour in their minds. For successful imitation, observers must save these behaviours in symbolic forms, actively organizing them into easily recalled templates (Bandura, 1972)
• meditational processes - motor reproduction


  This is the ability to perform the behaviour that the model has just demonstrated. Motor reproduction processes use internal symbolic images of observed behaviours to guide actions (Bandura, 1972). 
• meditational processes - motivation


  refer to the perceived favourable or unfavourable consequences of mimicking the model’s actions that are likely to increase or decrease the likelihood of imitation.
• role models


  Individuals that are observed are called models. These models provide examples of behaviour to observe and imitate. Children may copy them.
• self-efficacy


  A person's belief that they can be successful when carrying out a particular task. The degree of one's feelings about one's ability to accomplish goals.