Chapter 1 Psychology And Scientific Thinking

Question 1

Ad Hoc Immunizing Hypothesis

Answer 1

Escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification

Question 2

Applied Research

Answer 2

Research examining how we can use basic research to solve real work problems

Question 3

Basic research

Answer 3

Research examining how the mind works

Question 4

Behaviorism

Answer 4

School of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking largely at observable behavior.

Question 5

Belief perseverance

Answer 5

Tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them

Question 6

Cognitive psychology

Answer 6

School of psychology that proposes that thinking is central to understanding behavior

Question 7

Cognitive neuroscience

Answer 7

Relatively new field of psychology that examines the relation between brain functioning and thinking

Question 8

Correlation-Causation fallacy

Answer 8

Error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another it must cause the other

Question 9

Confirmation Bias

Answer 9

Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them

Question 10

Critical thinking

Answer 10

Set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open minded and careful fashion

Question 11

Decline effect

Answer 11

Fact that the size of certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time

Question 12

Evolutionary psychology

Answer 12

Discipline that applies Charles darwins theory of natural selection to human and animal behavior

Question 13

Falsifiable

Answer 13

Capable of being disproved

Question 14

Functionalism

Answer 14

School of psychology that aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics

Question 15

Hypothesis

Answer 15

Testable prediction derived from a scientific theory

Question 16

Individual differences

Answer 16

Variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior

Question 17

Introspection

Answer 17

Method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences

Question 18

Level of analysis

Answer 18

Rungs on a ladder of analysis, with lower levels tied most closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences

Question 19

Metaphysical claims

Answer 19

Assertion about the world that’s not testable

Question 20

Multiplied determined

Answer 20

Caused by many factors

Question 21

Natural selection

Answer 21

Principle that organisms that possess adaptations survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do other organisms

Question 22

Naive realism

Answer 22

Belief that we see the world precisely as it is

Question 23

Patternicity

Answer 23

The tendency to perceive meaningful patterns in their absence

Question 24

Pseudoscience

Answer 24

Set of claims that seem scientific but isn’t

Question 25

Psychoanalysis

Answer 25

School of psychology founded by signing Freud that focuses on internal psychological processes of which we are unaware

Question 26

Psychology

Answer 26

The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior

Question 27

Replicability

Answer 27

When a study's findings are able to be duplicated ideally by independent investigators

Question 28

Scientific skepticism

Answer 28

Approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them

Question 29

Scientific theory

Answer 29

Explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world

Question 30

Structuralism

Answer 30

Uses introspection to identify basic elements or structures of experience

Question 31

Terror management theory

Answer 31

Theory proposing that our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror with which we cope by adopting reassuring cultural worldviews

Question 32

Variable

Answer 32

Anything that can vary

Question 33

Blind

Answer 33

Unaware of whether one is in the experimental or control group

Question 34

Case study

Answer 34

Research design that examines one person or a small number of people in depth often over an extended time period

Question 35

Centers tendency

Answer 35

Measure of the central scores in a data set or where the group tends to cluster

Question 36

Control group

Answer 36

In an experiment the group of participants that does not receive the manipulation

Question 37

Correlational design

Answer 37

Research design that examines the extent to which two variables are associated

Question 38

Demand characteristics

Answer 38

Cues that participants pick up from a study that allow them to generate guesses regarding the researchers hypothesis

Question 39

Dependent variable

Answer 39

Variable that an experimenter measures to see whether the manipulation produces an effect

Question 40

Descriptive statistics

Answer 40

Numerical characterizations that describe data (pg. 71)

Question 41

Double blind

Answer 41

When neither the researchers nor participants are aware of who's in the experimental or control group

Question 42

Existence proofs

Answer 42

Demostration that a given psychological phenomenon can occur

Question 43

Experiment

Answer 43

Research design characterized by random assignment of participants to conditions and manipulation of an independent variable

Question 44

Experimenter expectancy effect

Answer 44

Phenomenon in which researchers hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias the outcome of the study

Question 45

Experimental group

Answer 45

The participants that receive the manipulation

Question 46

External validity

Answer 46

Extent to which we can generalize findings to real world settings

Question 47

Heuristics

Answer 47

Mental shortcut or rule of thumb that helps us to streamline our thinking and make sense of our world

Question 48

Illusory correlation

Answer 48

Perception of a statistical association between two variables where none exists

Question 49

Independent variable

Answer 49

Variable that an experimenter manipulates

Question 50

Inferential statistics

Answer 50

Mathematical methods that allow us to determine whether we can generalize findings from our sample to the full population

Question 51

Informed consent

Answer 51

Informing research participants of what's involved in a study before asking them to participate

Question 52

Internal validity

Answer 52

Extent to which we can draw cause and effect inferences from a study

Question 53

Naturalistic observation

Answer 53

Watching behavior in real world settings without trying to manipulate the situation

Question 54

Operational definition

Answer 54

A working defined what a researcher is measuring

Question 55

Placebo effect

Answer 55

Improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement

Question 56

Prefrontal lobotomy

Answer 56

Surgical procedure that severs fibers connecting the frontal lobes of the brain from the underlying thalamus

Question 57

Random assignment

Answer 57

Randomly sorting participants into two groups

Question 58

Random selection

Answer 58

Procedure that ensures every person in a population has an equal chance of being chosen to participate

Question 59

Reliability

Answer 59

Consistency of measurement

Question 60

Validity

Answer 60

Extent to which a measure assesses what it purports to measure

Question 61

Response set

Answer 61

Tendency of research participants to distort their responses to questionnaire items

Question 62

Scatter plot

Answer 62

Grouping of points on a two dimensional graph in which each dot represents a single persons data

Question 63

Standard deviation

Answer 63

Measure of variability that takes into account how far each data point is from the mean

Question 64

Statistics

Answer 64

Application of mathematics to describing and analyzing data

Question 65

Variability

Answer 65

Measure of how loosely or tightly bunched scores are