PSYCH

Sample

Part of Population

Applied Research

Research conducted in an effort to find solutions to particular problems

Pure Research

Research conducted without concern for immediate applications

Psychology

Scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Educational psychologists

research theoretical issues related to learning, measurement, and child development.

Experimental psychologists

specialize in basic processes such as the nervous system, sensation and perception, learning and memory, thought, motivation, and emotion.

Debriefed

To explain the purposes and methods of a completed procedure to a participant

Consumer psychologists

study the behavior of people in organizations such as businesses.

Organizational psychologists

study the behavior of people in organizations such as businesses.

Hypothesis

a specific statement about behavior or mental processes that is tested through research

Forensic psychologists

apply principles of psychology to the criminal justice system.

Industrial psychologists

focus on the relationships between people and work.

Control Groups

groups whose members do not obtain the treatment, while other conditions are held constant

Experimental Groups

groups whose members obtain the treatment

Scientific Method

organized way of using experience and testing ideas to expand and refine knowledge.

Counseling psychologists

typically see clients with adjustment problems but not serious psychological disorders.

Blind

unaware of whether or not one has received a treatment

Placebos

A bogus treatment that has the appearance of being genuine

Population

A complete group of interest to researchers, from which a sample is drawn

Independent Variable

A condition in a scientific study that is manipulated so that its effects may be observed

Correlational Method

A mathematical method of determining whether one variable increases or decreases as another variable increases or decreases

Dependent Variable

A measure of an assumed effect of an independent variable

Surveys

A method of scientific investigation in which a large sample of people answer questions about their attitudes or behavior

Correlation Coefficient

A number between +1.00 and −1.00 that expresses the strength and direction (positive or negative) of the relationship between two variables

Informed Consent

A participant's agreement to participate in research after receiving information about the purposes of the study and the nature of the treatments

Random Sample

A sample drawn so that each member of a population has an equal chance of being selected to participate

Stratified Sample

A sample drawn so that identified subgroups in the population are represented proportionately in the sample

social-cognitive theorists

A school of psychology in the behaviorist tradition that includes cognitive factors in the explanation and prediction of behavior; formerly termed social learning theory

Naturalistic Observation

A scientific method in which organisms are observed in their natural environments

Experiment

A scientific method that seeks to confirm cause-and-effect relationships by introducing independent variables and observing their effects on dependent variables

Theories

A set of hypothesized statements about the relationships among events

Volunteer Bias

A source of bias or error in research reflecting the prospect that people who offer to participate in research studies differ systematically from people who do not

Selection Factor

A source of bias that may occur in research findings when participants are allowed to choose for themselves a certain treatment in a scientific study

reinforced

A stimulus that follows a response and increases the frequency of the response

Double Blind Studies

A study in which neither the subjects nor the observers know who has received the treatment

Critical thinking

A way of evaluating the claims and comments of other people that involves skepticism and examination of evidence

Introspection

Deliberate looking into one's own cognitive processes to examine one's thoughts and feelings

Cognitive

Having to do with mental processes such as sensation and perception, memory, intelligence, language, thought, and problem solving

Biological Perspective

The approach to psychology that seeks to understand the nature of the links between biological processes and structures such as the functioning of the brain, the endocrine system, and heredity, on the one hand, and behavior and mental processes, on the other

Sociocultural Perspective

The view that focuses on the roles of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status in behavior and mental processes

Correlations

association or relationship among variables, as we might find between height and weight or between study habits and school grades

Case Studies

collect information about individuals and small groups. through interviews, questionnaires, and psychological tests

Gender

concepts of masculinity and femininity

Social psychologists

concerned with the nature and causes of individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behavior in social situations.

Behaviorism

defines psychology as the study of observable behavior and studies relationships between stimuli and responses

Psychoanalysis

emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and conflicts as determinants of human behavior

Gestalt Psychology

emphasizes the tendency to organize perceptions into wholes and to integrate separate stimuli into meaningful patterns

Clinical Pyschologists

help people with psychological disorders adjust to the demands of life.

School psychologists

help school systems identify and assist students who have problems that interfere with learning.

Personality psychologists

identify and measure human traits and determine influences on human thought processes, feelings, and behavior.

Sport psychologists

improve their performance in sports.

Developmental psychologists

study the changes—physical, cognitive, social, and emotional—that occur throughout the life span.

Health psychologists

study the effects of stress on health problems such as headaches, cardiovascular disease, and cancer

Environmental psychologists

study the ways that people and the environment influence one another.

Human factors psychologists

technical systems more user-friendly.

Structuralism

that argues that the mind consists of three basic elements—sensations, feelings, and images—that combine to form experience

Functionalism

that emphasizes the uses or functions of the mind rather than the elements of experience