Chapter 1Psychology The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviorLevels of analysis Rungs on a ladder of analysis, with lower levels tied more closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences:Social > Behavioral > Mental > Neurological > Neurochemical > MolecularMultiply determined Caused by many factorsNaïve realism Belief that we see the world precisely as it isScientific theory Explanation for a large number of findings in the natural worldHypothesis Testable prediction derived from a scientific theoryConfirmation bias Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypotheses and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts themBelief perseverance Tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts themMetaphysical claim Assertion about the world that is not testablePseudoscience Set of claims that seems scientific but aren’tPareidolia Tendency to perceive meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuliTerror management theory Theory proposing that our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror with which we cope by adopting reassuring cultural worldviewsScientific skepticism Approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting themCritical thinking Set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and careful fashionCorrelation-causation fallacy Error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the otherVariable Anything that can varyFalsifiable Capable of being disprovedReplicability When a study’s finding are able to be duplicated, ideally by independent investigatorsIntrospection Method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiencesStructuralism School of psychology that aimed to identify the basic elements of psychological experienceFunctionalism School of psychology that aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristicsNatural selection Principle that organisms that possess adaptations survive and reproduce at ahigher rate than other organismsBehaviorism School of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learningby looking at observable behaviorCognitive psychology School of psychology that proposes that thinking is central to understanding behaviorCognitive neuroscience New field of psychology that examines the relation between brain functioning and thinkingPsychoanalysis School of psychology, founded by Sigmund Freud, that focuses on internal psychological processes of which we’re unawareEvolutional Psychology Discipline that applies Darwin’s theory of natural selection to human and animal behaviorBasic research Research examining how the mind worksApplied research Research examining how we can use basic research to solve real-world problemsChapter 2Heuristic Mental shortcut that helps us to streamline our thinking and make sense of our worldRepresentativeness heuristic Heuristic that involves judging the probability of an event by its superficial similarity to a prototypeBase rate How common a characteristic or behavior is in the general populationAvailability heuristic Heuristic that involves estimating the likelihood of an occurrence based on the ease with which it comes to our mindsCognitive biases Systematic error in thinkingHindsight bas Tendency to overestimate how well wecould have successfully forecastedknown outcomesOverconfidence Tendency to overestimate our ability tomake correct predictionsNaturalistic observation Watching behavior in real-world settings without trying to manipulate the situationExternal validity Extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settingsInternal validity Extent to which we can draw cause andeffect inferences from a studyCase study Research design that examines one person or a small number of people in depth, often over an extended time periodExistence proof Demonstration that a given psychological phenomenon can occurRandom selection Procedure that ensures every person ina population has an equal chance of being chosen to participateReliability Consistency of measurementValidity Extent to which a measure assesses what it purports to measureResponse set Tendency of research participants to distort their responses to questionnaire itemsCorrelational design Research design that examines the extent to which two variables are associatedScatterplot Grouping of points on a two-dimensional graph in which each dot represents a single person’s dataIllusory correlation Perception of a statistical association between two variables where none existsExperiment Research design characterized by random assignment of participants to conditions and manipulation of an independent variableRandom assignment Randomly sorting participants into twogroupsExperimental group In an experiment, the group of participants that receives the manipulationControl group In an experiment, the group of participants that doesn’t receive the manipulationIndependent variable Variable that an experimenter manipulatesDependent variable Variable that an experimentermeasures to see whether the manipulation has an effect (IV)Operational definition A working definition of what a researcher is measuringPlacebo effect Improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvementInformed consent Informing research participants of what is involved in a study before asking them to participateChapter 7Memory Retention of information over timeMemory illusion False, but subjectively compelling memorySensory memory Brief storage of perceptual informationbefore it is passed to short-term memoryIconic memory Visual sensory memoryEchoic memory Auditory sensory memoryShort-term memory Memory system that retains information for limited durationsDecay Fading of information from memory over timeInterference Loss of information from memory because of competition from additionalincoming informationRetroactive interference Interference with retention of old information due to acquisition of new informationProactive interference Interference with acquisition of new information due to previous learning ofinformationMagic number Span of short-term memory, according to George miller: seven plus/minus twoChunking Organizing information into meaningful groupings, allowing us to extend the span of short-term memoryRehearsal Repeating information to extend the duration of retention in short-term
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