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Psychology
is the science of behavior and mental processes.
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biological perspective
a research perspective whose major explanatory focus is how the brain, nervous system, and other physiological mechanisms produce behavior and mental processes.
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Cognitive Perspective
a research perspective whose major explanatory focus is how mental processes, such as perception, memory, and problem solving, work and impact behavior.
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behavioral perspective
a research perspective whose major explanatory focus is how external environmental events condition observable behavior.
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sociocultural perspective
a research perspective whose major explantory focus is how other people and the cultrural context impact behavior and mental processes
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hindsight bias ( i knew it all along)
The tendency, after learning about an outcome, to be overconfident in one's ability to have predicited it.
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descriptive methods
research methods whose main purpose is to provide objective and detailed descriptions of behavior and mental processes
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naturalistic observation
a descriptive research method in which the behavior of interest is observed in its natural setting, and the researcher does not intervene in the behavior being observed.
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participant observation
a descriptive research method in which the observer becomes part of the group being observed.
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case study
a descriptive research method in which the researcher studies an individual in depth over an extended period of time
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survey research
a descriptive research method in which the researcher uses questionnaires and interviews to collect info about the behavior, beliefs, and attitudes of particular groups of people.
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population
the entire group of people that a researcher is studying
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sample
the subset of a population that actually particpates in a research study.
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random sampling
a sampling technique that obtains a represtative sample of a population by ensuring that each individual in a population has an equal opportuntiy to be in the sample
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correlational study
a research study in which two variables are measured to determine if they are related
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variable
any factor that can take on more than one value.
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correlation coefficient
a statistic that tells us the type and the strength of the relationship between two variable.
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positive correlation
a direct relationship between two variables
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negative correlation
an iverse relationship between two variables.
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scatterplot
a visual depiction of correlational data in which each data point represents the scores on the two variables for each participant
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third variable problem
an explanation of a correlatation between two variables in terms of another variable that could possibly be responsible for the observed relationship between the two variables.
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random assigment
a control measurue in which participants are randomly assigned to groups in order to equalize participant characteristics across the various groups in an experiment.
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independent variable
in an experiment, the variable that is a hypothesized cause and thus is manipulated by the experimenter.
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dependent variable
in an experimentt, a variable that is hypothesized to be affected by the indendent variable and thus is measured by the experimenter
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experiment
a research method in which the researcher manipulates one or more independent variables and measures their effect on one or more dependent variables while controlling other potentially reievent variables.
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experimental group
in an experiment the group exposed to the independent variable
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control group
in a experiment the group not exposed to the independent variable.
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operational definiton
a description of the operations or procedures that a reseacher uses to manipulate or measure a variable
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placebo effect
improvement due to the expectation of improving because of receiving treatment.
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placbebo group
a control group of participants who believe they are receiving trements, but who are only receiving a placebo.
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placebo
an inactive pill or a treatment that has no known effects.
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inferretial statistical analyses
statistical analyses that allow researches to draw conclusions about the results of a study by determining the probability the results are due to random variations. The results are statistically significant if this probability is .05 or less
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meta-analysis
a statistical technique that combines the results of a large number of studies on one experimental question into one analysis to arrive at an overall conclusion.
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