Psychology Chapter 1 Vocabulary
operational definition
definition of a variable of interest that allows it to be directly measured
objective introspection
the process of examining and measuring one's own thoughts and mental activities
behaviorism
the science of behavior that focuses on observable behavior only
independent variable
variable in an experiment that is manipulated by the experimenter
dependent variable
variable in an experiment that represents the measurable response or behavior of the subjects in the experiment
experiment
a deliberate manipulation of a variable to see if corresponding changes in behavior result, allowing the determination of cause-and-effect relationships
correlation
a measure of the relationship between two variables
psychiatrist
a medical doctor who has specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
participant observation
a naturalistic observation in which the observer becomes a participant in the group being observed
correlation coefficient
a number derived from the formula for measuring a correlation and indicating the strength and direction of a correlation
psychologist
a professional with an academic degree and specialized training one or more areas of psychology
psychiatric social worker
a social worker with some training in therapy methods who focuses on the environmental conditions that can have an impact on mental disorders, such as poverty, over-crowding, stress, and drug abuse
structuralism
early perspective in psychology associated with Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchner, in which the focus of study is the structure or basic elements of the mind
functionalism
early perspective in psychology associated with William James, in which the focus of study is how the mind allows people to adapt, live, work, and play
Gestalt psychology
early perspective in psychology focusing on perception and sensation, particularly the perception of patterns and whole figures
replicate
in research, repeating a study or experiment to see if the same results will be obtained in an effort to demonstrate reliability of results
critical thinking
making reasoned judgements about claims
cognitive perspective
modern perspective that focuses on memory intelligence, perception, problem solving, and learning
psychodynamic perspective
modern version of psychoanalysis that is more focused on the development of a sense of self and the discovery of motivations behind a person's behaviors other than sexual motivations
biopsychological perspective
perspective that attributes human and animal behavior to biological events occurring in the body, such as genetic influences, hormones, and the activity of the nervous system
evolutionary perspective
perspective that focuses on the biological bases of universal mental characteristics that all humans share
sociocultural perspective
perspective that focuses on the relationship between social behavior and culture
random assignment
process of assigning subjects to the experimental or control groups randomly, so that each subject has an equal chance of being in either group
representative sample
randomly selected sample of subjects from a larger population of subjects
double-blind study
study in which neither the experimenter nor the subjects know if the subjects are in the experimental or control group
single-blind study
study in which the subjects do not know if they are in the experimental or the control group
case study
study of one individual in great detail
cognitive neuroscience
study of the physical changes in the brain and nervous system during thinking
control group
subjects in an experiment who are not subjected to the independent variable and who may receive a placebo treatment
experimental group
subjects in an experiment who are subjected to the independent variable
scientific method
system of gathering data so that bias and error in measurement are reduced
observer bias
tendency of observers to see what they expect to see
observer effect
tendency of people or animals to behave differently from normal when the know they are being observed
experimenter effect
tendency of the experimenter's expectations for a study to unintentionally influence the results of the study
hypothesis
tentative explanation of a phenomenon based on observations; an educated guess
population
the entire group of people or animals in which the researcher is interested
placebo effect
the phenomenon in which the expectations of the participants in a study can influence their behavior
psychology
the scientific study of behavior and mental processes
psychoanalysis
the theory and therapy based on the work of Sigmund Freud
