Psych 160 Midterm 1 UC Berkeley UPDATED ACTUAL
Questions and CORRECT Answers
social psychology the scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social
situations
dispositions internal factors, such as beliefs, values, personality traits, and abilities, that guide a
person's behavior
gestalt psychology the idea that objects are perceived not by means of some passive and unbiased
perception of objective reality, but by active nonconscious interpretation of what
the object represents
construal one's interpretation of or inference about the stimuli or situations that one
confronts
schema generalized knowledge about the physical and social world
stereotype a belief that certain attributes are characteristic of members of a particular group
automatic processing the ability to perform a task or activity in an effortless manner with almost no
conscious thought
controlled processing a detailed consideration of evidence and information relying on facts, figures, and
logic
natural selection an evolutionary process that molds animals and plants so that traits that enhance
survival are passed on
parental investment costs and benefits associated with reproduction and nurturing of offspring, so the
effort put in by males and females will be different
naturalistic fallacy the claim that the way things are is the way they should be
social neuroscience the study of the relationship between neural and social processes
independent (individualistic) culture a culture in which people tend to think of themselves as distinct social entities
interdependent (collectivist) culture a culture in which people think of themselves as inextricably linked to others
hindsight bias people's tendency to be overconfident about whether they could have predicted
a given outcome
hypothesis a prediction about what will happen under particular circumstances
, theory a set of related propositions intended to describe some phenomenon or aspect
of the world
observational research research that involves looking at a phenomenon in a systematic way with a view to
understanding what's going on and coming up with hypotheses about why things
are as they are
archival research research that involves looking at evidence found in previous sources like census
reports, police records, etc.
surveys research that involves asking people questions
random sample a sample in which everyone in a population is given an equal chance to be
chosen
convenience sample a sample which includes members of the population that are easily accessed, not
necessarily representative
correlational research research that involves measuring two are more variables and assessing whether
there is a relationship between them
reverse causation relationship in which the correlation between two things is due not to the first
thing causing the second, but to the second causing the first
self selection in correlationsl research, the situation in which the participant's (and not the
researcher) own dispositions determine their level of each variable (aka there
might be a 3rd variable at play)
third variable a variable, often unmeasured in correlational research, that can be the true
explanation for the relationship between two other variables
experimental research research that randomly assigns people to different conditions, and that enables
researchers to make strong inferences about why a relationship exists
longitudinal study a study conducted over a long period of time with the same participants
independent variable the variable that is manipulated; it is hypothesized to be the cause
dependent variable the variable that is measured; it is hypothesized to be affected by the ind var
random assignment assigning participants to different conditions randomly
control condition a condition comparable to the experimental condition in every way except that it
lacks the change of the ind variable
natural experiment a naturally occurring event having somewhat different conditions that can be
compared with almost the same rigor as in experimental research
Questions and CORRECT Answers
social psychology the scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social
situations
dispositions internal factors, such as beliefs, values, personality traits, and abilities, that guide a
person's behavior
gestalt psychology the idea that objects are perceived not by means of some passive and unbiased
perception of objective reality, but by active nonconscious interpretation of what
the object represents
construal one's interpretation of or inference about the stimuli or situations that one
confronts
schema generalized knowledge about the physical and social world
stereotype a belief that certain attributes are characteristic of members of a particular group
automatic processing the ability to perform a task or activity in an effortless manner with almost no
conscious thought
controlled processing a detailed consideration of evidence and information relying on facts, figures, and
logic
natural selection an evolutionary process that molds animals and plants so that traits that enhance
survival are passed on
parental investment costs and benefits associated with reproduction and nurturing of offspring, so the
effort put in by males and females will be different
naturalistic fallacy the claim that the way things are is the way they should be
social neuroscience the study of the relationship between neural and social processes
independent (individualistic) culture a culture in which people tend to think of themselves as distinct social entities
interdependent (collectivist) culture a culture in which people think of themselves as inextricably linked to others
hindsight bias people's tendency to be overconfident about whether they could have predicted
a given outcome
hypothesis a prediction about what will happen under particular circumstances
, theory a set of related propositions intended to describe some phenomenon or aspect
of the world
observational research research that involves looking at a phenomenon in a systematic way with a view to
understanding what's going on and coming up with hypotheses about why things
are as they are
archival research research that involves looking at evidence found in previous sources like census
reports, police records, etc.
surveys research that involves asking people questions
random sample a sample in which everyone in a population is given an equal chance to be
chosen
convenience sample a sample which includes members of the population that are easily accessed, not
necessarily representative
correlational research research that involves measuring two are more variables and assessing whether
there is a relationship between them
reverse causation relationship in which the correlation between two things is due not to the first
thing causing the second, but to the second causing the first
self selection in correlationsl research, the situation in which the participant's (and not the
researcher) own dispositions determine their level of each variable (aka there
might be a 3rd variable at play)
third variable a variable, often unmeasured in correlational research, that can be the true
explanation for the relationship between two other variables
experimental research research that randomly assigns people to different conditions, and that enables
researchers to make strong inferences about why a relationship exists
longitudinal study a study conducted over a long period of time with the same participants
independent variable the variable that is manipulated; it is hypothesized to be the cause
dependent variable the variable that is measured; it is hypothesized to be affected by the ind var
random assignment assigning participants to different conditions randomly
control condition a condition comparable to the experimental condition in every way except that it
lacks the change of the ind variable
natural experiment a naturally occurring event having somewhat different conditions that can be
compared with almost the same rigor as in experimental research
