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Unit 1: Introduction to Psychology

these games review vocabulary terms associated with unit 1: the history of psychology and the experimental design


AB
psychologystudy of behavior and thinking
psychiatristmedical doctor specializing in treating serious behavior disorders; can prescribe medicine
psychologistsomeone who treats others with mental disorders; has a degree; many varieties
Kaancient Eygptian god believed to control personality
hypothesiseducated guess based on research to est. an experiment
variablesfactors involved in an experiment
dependent variable"effect" variable; depends on the action of the independent variable
independent variable"causal" variable; is manipulated by the experimenter
confounding variablesfactors which affect an experiment but should not; uncontrolled
Stone Age manbelieved behavior/personality was caused by bad spirits
Platobelieved that the mind and body did not interact to affect one another
Aristotlebelieved that the mind and body worked together and affected one another
Hippocratesfather of medicine; believed that abnormal behavior was caused by a chemical imbalance of the "fluids/humors" of the body
Middle Agesbelieved that abnormal behavior was caused by witchcraft/evil spirits, etc
phrenologystudying the structure of the skull to determine personality traits
Wundtfather of psychology; brought the experimental approach to psych
introspectiontechnique in which the person examines their own thoughts and feelings to better understand themselves
structuralismWundt theory that used introspection to explore the elemental structure of the human mind
JamesAmerican psychologist who developed theory of functionalism
functionalismtheory that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function; how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish
Gestaltemphasizes the wholeness of the mind when studying personality
Galtonpsychologist who examined the heredity vs environment aspect of psychology
psychoanalysisFreudian theory that the unconscious mind determines behavior
Freudsignificant contributor to psychology who developed psychoanalytic theory
unconsciousthat aspect of the mind that houses our hidden wishes, thoughts, desires, etc. that we are not aware of at any given time
behaviorismschool of thought which emphasizes that personality/behavior is learned
humanismschool of thought that emphasizes free will in determining personality/behavior
cognitive psychologyschool of thought which emphasizes thought processes in determining personality/behavior
sociocultural psychologyemphasizes the environment in determining personality/behavior
psychobiologyemphasizes body chemistry and genetics in determining behavior
natural observationtechnique for studying behavior; watch the subject without his/her knowledge; a form of descriptive research
directed observationtechnique for studying behavior; experiment set up in a lab situation with subject's knowledge; a form of experimental research
case studytechnique for studying behavior where you gather as much background info on the subject as possible; fom of descriptive research
interviewtechnique for studying behavior where there is a question and answer session with the subject; a form of descriptive research
questionaire/survey/inventorytechnique for studying behavior; subject answers questions in a forced choice format; a form of descriptive or correlational research
testtechnique in studying behavior which assess the subjects knowledge or opinions on a topic
guidelines for studying behaviorrepeatable, measurable, communicable, set guidelines, objective
experimenter effectpresence of the experimenter affects the results
courtesy biasgiving agreeable or socially acceptable answers when being studied
placebo effectoffering a "fake drug"; subject convinces themselves that it is working
ex post facto methodsubjects selected based on conditions already being present; used because of ethical concerns; often used for correlational research
counterbalancingprocedure for eliminating confounding variable effects by presenting them in different order along with the independent variable
variablesany condition or behavior which can change in amount or quality
populationtotal from which you can select participants
samplerandom, representative group selected from the population
experimental groupsubjects which receive the changing independent variable
control groupsubjects in which the changing independent variable is not present;may receive a placebo; used as comparison
single blindexp. set up in which the subject does not know which group they are in
double blindexp. set up in which neither the subject nor experimenter know which group the subjects are in; commonly used in drug evaluation studies
theorysummation of data and what it means
correlation methodmeasures the relationship between 2 variables; does not show cause and effect
correlation coefficientnumerical value of the relationship between 2 variables; falls between -1.0 and +1.0
positive correlationsuggests that as one variable increases, so does the other
negative correlationsuggests that as one variable increases, the other similarly decreases
scatterplotputting the correlation on the x/y graph
experimental designshows a cause-effect relationship; research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process
inferential statisticstests differences between groups and draws conclusions; infer from the small group and apply to the larger group
central tendency#s which describe the middle score
descriptive statisticsmakes the data meaningful
meanaverage
medianscore in the exact middle of the range
modemost frequently occuring score
frequency distributionrange of scores into classes of equal size
variabilityhow data speads on the graph
rangedistance between highest and lowest score
standard deviationindex of how much data generally varies from mean
normal distributionbell shaped curve of data
statistical significance5% or less chance that the data occured by chance
interrater reliabilitycomparison of studies by other evaluators
humansparticipants
animalssubjects
APA ethical guidelinesright to decline participation, openness and honesty, info is confidential, examine all potential risks
anthropomorphismsattributing human characters to inanimate objects
applied psychologymake direct use of findings; real world; aims to solve practical problems
research(basic) psychologystudies the origins/cause of behavior;aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
between subject designwhen the experimental and control groups are different sets of people from the random, representative sample
within subject designwhen the experimental and control groups are the same set of people within the random, reprensentative sample
descriptive researchgoal is to observe and record data; no variables are manipulated; ex: case study, survey, natural obs