Psychology Chapter Two Terms DUMBED DOWN

Power

Ability to measure and detect concrete conditions.

Informed Consent

Agreement between participant and researcher that includes all the risk the experiment may entail.

Manipulation

Artificial pattern of variation in a variable in order to determine causal powers.

Random Assignment

Assigning random people to an experimental or control group.

Internal Validity

Characteristics of experiment that relates variables.

Random Sampling

Choosing participants randomly.

Sample

Collection of people drawn from a population.

Operational Definition

Description of a property in concrete terms.

Debriefing

Description of the true nature and purpose of study.

Measure

Device that can detect concrete terms.

Electromyograph (EMG)

Device that measures muscle contractions of a person's skin.

Experiment

Establishing the casual relationship between variables.

Theory

Explanation of natural phenomenon.

Validity

Extent to which measurement and property are related.

Naturalistic Observation

Gathering scientific information of people in their natural environments.

Control Group

Group of people who aren't treated in an experiment.

Empiricism

Knowledge cans be acquired through observation.

Double-Blind

Observation where the purpose is hidden from both the observer and the people being observed.

Natural Correlation

Observations of the world around us.

Population

Participants who might possibly be measured.

Hypothesis

Prediction that can be proved false by a theory.

Scientific Method

Principles about the relationship between ideas and evidence.

Empirical Method

Rules and techniques for observation.

Demand Characteristics

Settings that cause people to behave the way they think they should.

Case Method

The gathering of scientific stuff by studying a single individual.

Dependent Variable

The variable that measured in a study.

Variable

Value can vary across individuals over time.

Independent Variable

Variable manipulated in an experiment.

Self-Selection

When a person tries to volunteer for and experiment and they try to change the result just to be helpful.

Third-Variable Correlation

When two variables are the same only because the third variable is related.

Correlation

When variables are synchronized with variations of the other value.

External Validity

When variables of an experiment are defined in normal, typical, and realistic ways.