Psychology 101 Final Exam
The Purpose of Research - ✔️✔️-To find ways to measure and describe behavior
-To understand why, when, and how events occur
-To apply this knowledge to solving real-world problems
Weber's Law - ✔️✔️a principle demonstrating the fact that we can't detect the
difference between two stimuli unless they differ by a certain proportion and that this
proportion is constant.
subject or participant - ✔️✔️an individual person or animal a researcher studies.
Sample - ✔️✔️a collection of subjects researchers study. Researchers use samples
because they cannot study the entire population.
Population - ✔️✔️the collection of people or animals from which researchers draw a
sample. Researchers study the sample and generalize their results to the population.
The scientific method - ✔️✔️a standardized way of making observations, gathering
data, forming theories, testing predictions, and interpreting results.
A theory - ✔️✔️an explanation that organizes separate pieces of information in a
coherent way.
replicable - ✔️✔️when others can repeat an experiment and get the same results.
hypothesis - ✔️✔️a testable prediction of what will happen given a certain set of
conditions.
Variables - ✔️✔️the events, characteristics, behaviors, or conditions that researchers
measure and study.
naturalistic observation - ✔️✔️researchers collect information about subjects by
observing them unobtrusively, without interfering with them in any way.
case study - ✔️✔️The researcher collects data about the subject through interviews,
direct observation, psychological testing, or examination of documents and records
about the subject.
survey - ✔️✔️a way of getting information about a specific type of behavior,
experience, or event. When using this method, researchers give people questionnaires
or interview them to obtain information.
, experiment - ✔️✔️a researcher manipulates or changes a particular variable under
controlled conditions while observing resulting changes in another variable or variables.
Occam's razor - ✔️✔️maintains that researchers should apply the simplest explanation
possible to any set of observations.
correlation - ✔️✔️measurement of the strength of the relationship between two
variables
reliability - ✔️✔️if a test produces the same result when researchers administer it to the
same group of people at different times, it has reliability.
Validity - ✔️✔️A test is valid if it actually measures the quality it claims to measure.
Bias - ✔️✔️the distortion of results by a variable. Common types of bias include
sampling bias, subject bias, and experimenter bias.
Sensation - ✔️✔️the process by which physical energy from objects in the world or in
the body stimulates the sense organs
absolute threshold - ✔️✔️the minimum amount of stimulation required for a person to
detect the stimulus 50 percent of the time.
difference threshold - ✔️✔️the smallest difference in stimulation that can be detected
50 percent of the time. sometimes called the just noticeable difference (jnd).
Sensory Adaptation - ✔️✔️the decrease in sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus.
Rods - ✔️✔️The long, narrow cells, called rods, are highly sensitive to light and allow
vision even in dim conditions
Cones - ✔️✔️cone-shaped cells that can distinguish between different wavelengths of
light, allowing people to see in color. Remember (C)ones, (C)olor.
papillae - ✔️✔️receptors that are inside taste buds, which in turn are inside little bumps
on the skin called Papillae. Used to taste
Kinesthesis - ✔️✔️the sense of the position and movement of body parts.
Gate-control theory - ✔️✔️states that pain signals traveling from the body to the brain
must go through a gate in the spinal cord. If the gate is closed, pain signals can't reach
the brain. The gate isn't a physical structure like a fence gate, but rather a pattern of
neural activity that either stops pain signals or allows them to pass. Signals from the
The Purpose of Research - ✔️✔️-To find ways to measure and describe behavior
-To understand why, when, and how events occur
-To apply this knowledge to solving real-world problems
Weber's Law - ✔️✔️a principle demonstrating the fact that we can't detect the
difference between two stimuli unless they differ by a certain proportion and that this
proportion is constant.
subject or participant - ✔️✔️an individual person or animal a researcher studies.
Sample - ✔️✔️a collection of subjects researchers study. Researchers use samples
because they cannot study the entire population.
Population - ✔️✔️the collection of people or animals from which researchers draw a
sample. Researchers study the sample and generalize their results to the population.
The scientific method - ✔️✔️a standardized way of making observations, gathering
data, forming theories, testing predictions, and interpreting results.
A theory - ✔️✔️an explanation that organizes separate pieces of information in a
coherent way.
replicable - ✔️✔️when others can repeat an experiment and get the same results.
hypothesis - ✔️✔️a testable prediction of what will happen given a certain set of
conditions.
Variables - ✔️✔️the events, characteristics, behaviors, or conditions that researchers
measure and study.
naturalistic observation - ✔️✔️researchers collect information about subjects by
observing them unobtrusively, without interfering with them in any way.
case study - ✔️✔️The researcher collects data about the subject through interviews,
direct observation, psychological testing, or examination of documents and records
about the subject.
survey - ✔️✔️a way of getting information about a specific type of behavior,
experience, or event. When using this method, researchers give people questionnaires
or interview them to obtain information.
, experiment - ✔️✔️a researcher manipulates or changes a particular variable under
controlled conditions while observing resulting changes in another variable or variables.
Occam's razor - ✔️✔️maintains that researchers should apply the simplest explanation
possible to any set of observations.
correlation - ✔️✔️measurement of the strength of the relationship between two
variables
reliability - ✔️✔️if a test produces the same result when researchers administer it to the
same group of people at different times, it has reliability.
Validity - ✔️✔️A test is valid if it actually measures the quality it claims to measure.
Bias - ✔️✔️the distortion of results by a variable. Common types of bias include
sampling bias, subject bias, and experimenter bias.
Sensation - ✔️✔️the process by which physical energy from objects in the world or in
the body stimulates the sense organs
absolute threshold - ✔️✔️the minimum amount of stimulation required for a person to
detect the stimulus 50 percent of the time.
difference threshold - ✔️✔️the smallest difference in stimulation that can be detected
50 percent of the time. sometimes called the just noticeable difference (jnd).
Sensory Adaptation - ✔️✔️the decrease in sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus.
Rods - ✔️✔️The long, narrow cells, called rods, are highly sensitive to light and allow
vision even in dim conditions
Cones - ✔️✔️cone-shaped cells that can distinguish between different wavelengths of
light, allowing people to see in color. Remember (C)ones, (C)olor.
papillae - ✔️✔️receptors that are inside taste buds, which in turn are inside little bumps
on the skin called Papillae. Used to taste
Kinesthesis - ✔️✔️the sense of the position and movement of body parts.
Gate-control theory - ✔️✔️states that pain signals traveling from the body to the brain
must go through a gate in the spinal cord. If the gate is closed, pain signals can't reach
the brain. The gate isn't a physical structure like a fence gate, but rather a pattern of
neural activity that either stops pain signals or allows them to pass. Signals from the
