AP Psychology ALL Terms
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1. psychology the science of behavior and mental processes
2. nature-nurture the long-standing controversy over the relative contributions that genes and
issue experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors
3. natural selection the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing
to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding genera-
tions
4. neuroscience the perspective of psychological science that deals with how the body and brain
create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
5. evolutionary the perspective of psychological science that deals with how nature selects traits
that promote the perpetuation of one's genes
6. behavior genet- the perspective of psychological science that deals with how much our genes, and
ics our environment, influence our individual differences
7. psychodynamic the perspective of psychological science that deals with how behavior springs
from unconscious drives and conflicts
8. behavioral the perspective of psychological science that deals with how we learn observable
responses
9. cognitive the perspective of psychological science that deals with how we encode, process,
store, and retrieve information
10. social-cultural the perspective of psychological science that deals with how behavior and thinking
vary across situations and cultures
11. basic research pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
12. applied research scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
13.
, AP Psychology ALL Terms
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clinical psycholo- a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psycholog-
gy ical disorders
14. psychiatry a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders, practiced by physi-
cians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as
psychological therapy
15. hindsight bias the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen
(I-knew-it-all-alongit
phenomenon)
16. critical thinking thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it ex-
amines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses
conclusions
17. theory an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts
observations
18. hypothesis a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
19. operational defi- a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables. For
nition example, intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test
measures
20. replication repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants
in different situations, to see whether the basic finding generalizes to other
participants and circumstances
21. case study an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of
revealing universal principles
22. survey a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people,
usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them
, AP Psychology ALL Terms
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23. false consensus the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and
effect behaviors
24. population all the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study
25. random sample a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal
chance of inclusion
26. naturalistic ob- observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying
servation to manipulate and control the situation
27. correlation coef- a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of
ficient how well either factor predicts the other
28. scatterplot a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables.
The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two
variables. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of correlation (little scatter
indicates high correlation).
29. illusory correla- the perception of a relationship where none exists
tion
30. experiment a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors
(independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process
(the dependent variable). By random assignment of participants the experi-
menter controls other relevant factors)
31. placebo an inert substance or condition that may be administered instead of a presumed
active agent, such as a drug, to see if it triggers the effects believed to characterize
the active agent
32. double-blind pro- an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the
cedure research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have
received the treatment or a placebo. Commonly used in drug-evaluation studies.
, AP Psychology ALL Terms
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33. placebo effect any effect on behavior caused by a placebo
34. experimental the condition of an experiment that exposes participants to the treatment, that is,
condition to one version of the independent variable
35. control condition the condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and
serves as a comparison for evaluation the effect of the treatment
36. random assign- assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus
ment minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different
groups
37. independent the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect if being
variable studied
38. dependent vari- the experimental factor--in psychology, the behavior or mental process--that is
able being measured; the variable that may change in response to the manipulations
of the independent variable
39. mode the most frequently occurring score in a distribution
40. mean the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then
dividing by the number of scores
41. median the middle score in a distribution; the scores are above it and half are below it
42. range the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution
43. standard devia- a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score
tion
44. statistical signifi- a statistical criterion for rejecting the assumption of no differences in a particular
cance study
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_154u8
1. psychology the science of behavior and mental processes
2. nature-nurture the long-standing controversy over the relative contributions that genes and
issue experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors
3. natural selection the principle that, among the range of inherited trait variations, those contributing
to reproduction and survival will most likely be passed on to succeeding genera-
tions
4. neuroscience the perspective of psychological science that deals with how the body and brain
create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences
5. evolutionary the perspective of psychological science that deals with how nature selects traits
that promote the perpetuation of one's genes
6. behavior genet- the perspective of psychological science that deals with how much our genes, and
ics our environment, influence our individual differences
7. psychodynamic the perspective of psychological science that deals with how behavior springs
from unconscious drives and conflicts
8. behavioral the perspective of psychological science that deals with how we learn observable
responses
9. cognitive the perspective of psychological science that deals with how we encode, process,
store, and retrieve information
10. social-cultural the perspective of psychological science that deals with how behavior and thinking
vary across situations and cultures
11. basic research pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base
12. applied research scientific study that aims to solve practical problems
13.
, AP Psychology ALL Terms
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_154u8
clinical psycholo- a branch of psychology that studies, assesses, and treats people with psycholog-
gy ical disorders
14. psychiatry a branch of medicine dealing with psychological disorders, practiced by physi-
cians who sometimes provide medical (for example, drug) treatments as well as
psychological therapy
15. hindsight bias the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen
(I-knew-it-all-alongit
phenomenon)
16. critical thinking thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it ex-
amines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses
conclusions
17. theory an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts
observations
18. hypothesis a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
19. operational defi- a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables. For
nition example, intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test
measures
20. replication repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants
in different situations, to see whether the basic finding generalizes to other
participants and circumstances
21. case study an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of
revealing universal principles
22. survey a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people,
usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them
, AP Psychology ALL Terms
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_154u8
23. false consensus the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and
effect behaviors
24. population all the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study
25. random sample a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal
chance of inclusion
26. naturalistic ob- observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying
servation to manipulate and control the situation
27. correlation coef- a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and thus of
ficient how well either factor predicts the other
28. scatterplot a graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables.
The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two
variables. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of correlation (little scatter
indicates high correlation).
29. illusory correla- the perception of a relationship where none exists
tion
30. experiment a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors
(independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process
(the dependent variable). By random assignment of participants the experi-
menter controls other relevant factors)
31. placebo an inert substance or condition that may be administered instead of a presumed
active agent, such as a drug, to see if it triggers the effects believed to characterize
the active agent
32. double-blind pro- an experimental procedure in which both the research participants and the
cedure research staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the research participants have
received the treatment or a placebo. Commonly used in drug-evaluation studies.
, AP Psychology ALL Terms
Study online at https://quizlet.com/_154u8
33. placebo effect any effect on behavior caused by a placebo
34. experimental the condition of an experiment that exposes participants to the treatment, that is,
condition to one version of the independent variable
35. control condition the condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental condition and
serves as a comparison for evaluation the effect of the treatment
36. random assign- assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance, thus
ment minimizing preexisting differences between those assigned to the different
groups
37. independent the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect if being
variable studied
38. dependent vari- the experimental factor--in psychology, the behavior or mental process--that is
able being measured; the variable that may change in response to the manipulations
of the independent variable
39. mode the most frequently occurring score in a distribution
40. mean the arithmetic average of a distribution, obtained by adding the scores and then
dividing by the number of scores
41. median the middle score in a distribution; the scores are above it and half are below it
42. range the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution
43. standard devia- a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score
tion
44. statistical signifi- a statistical criterion for rejecting the assumption of no differences in a particular
cance study
