Positive Psychology: WJEC: As Psychology Terms Part 3
This deck covers key psychology terms and concepts from laboratory experiments to personality traits, providing a comprehensive overview for students studying psychology.
Why do psychologists use laboratory experiments?
Because there they can better control any independent variable they wish to test.
Typically for psychologist this is a quiet room where external noise and light distractions (extraneous variables) can be minimised.
Key Terms
Why do psychologists use laboratory experiments?
Because there they can better control any independent variable they wish to test.
Typically for psychologist this is a quiet room where exter...
What is a legitimate authority?
Somebody having a perceived higher social status that means other people may obey them more readily.
E.g. police officers but also doctors or...
Related Flashcard Decks
Study Tips
- Press F to enter focus mode for distraction-free studying
- Review cards regularly to improve retention
- Try to recall the answer before flipping the card
- Share this deck with friends to study together
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Why do psychologists use laboratory experiments? | Because there they can better control any independent variable they wish to test. Typically for psychologist this is a quiet room where external noise and light distractions (extraneous variables) can be minimised. |
What is a legitimate authority? | Somebody having a perceived higher social status that means other people may obey them more readily. E.g. police officers but also doctors or scientists. Note the word 'perceived' - we may be wrong about their expertise or authority - experts and people in authority positions can get things wrong! |
Briefly explain localisation of brain function. | This is a theory that particular areas of the brain are specialised for certain functions or tasks, such as memory visualisation, and analytical thinking. |
What are matched pairs in research? | This is the use of different but similar participants in research - for instance keeping the same number of specific ages, professions, religion, race, profiles et cetera. |
Define the mean in statistics. | The main is a measure of central tendency - often referred to as the average. But recall that there are two other averages, for median and the mode. |
What is a measure of dispersion? | The measure of dispersion reflects how to spread out the dates are around a central tendency, such as the mean. |
What is the median? | A measure of central tendency - The middle value in a range of data. |
What did Stanley Milgram research? | Milgram (1963) was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person. He was interested in why so many people had committed atrocities in the Nazi regime. |
Briefly explain mindfulness (and which approach uses it). | From the POSITIVE APPROACH. Idea is to develop a sense of the 'here and now', to raise a person's consciousness and awareness of the present - and hence their focus. |
Explain 'misleading information'. | The use of information to encourage WITNESSES to recall events that did not happen or that did not happen in real sequence. Also known as 'priming' the mind or 'leading questions'. |
What is a 'mode' in statistics? | A measure of central tendency - the most common frequency. |
Describe 'natural experiment'. | More of a survey than an experiment because the researchers do not control or cannot control any IVs (independent variables); instead they observe and take data. If a comparison is desired than a review of behaviour before and after an event may be useful (e.g., how does a by-pass affect town life), or pursue LONGITUDINAL studies - following ppts over a long period of time. |
Describe 'natural selection'. | The main mechanism in the theory of EVOLUTION: the weak or non-adaptive members of a species do not thrive and do not reproduce, while the stronger and more adaptive do. |
What is naturalistic observation? | Observing the behaviour of people in their natural environment. That is outside of laboratories or psychology departments! |
What is a negative correlation? | A correlation that shows one variable rising while the other falls. e.g, rising temperature and ability to focus. |
What is neuroscience? | The scientific study of the brain and nervous system. Typically used by the biological approach, which assumes that the brain is the mind and the mind is the brain. |
What is a neurotransmitter? | This is a chemical that transmits signals between neurons In the brain, such as dopamine and serotonin. Imbalances may cause abnormal feelings or behaviour. |
Explain nominal data. | NOMinal data is NAMED data which can be separated into discrete categories which do not overlap. A common example of nominal data is gender; male and female. |
What is a non-directional hypothesis? | This is a hypothesis for which the researcher does not have a precise prediction. The researcher may be looking for a difference or correlation but does not know which way it will go. |
What is a non-participant observation? | This is when a researcher remains outside and unobserved during an experiment for observation. |
What is the null hypothesis? | The null hypothesis is a generally accepted statement or notion, which researchers try to nullify by offering an alternate hypothesis. E.g., 'young people are bad drivers' is a generalisation that can be tested for its robustness and may be found wanting - perhaps because young drivers are recently trained, have higher insurance premiums that they wish to reduce, have a black box, are more careful. The null hypothesis (Ho) may be accepted of course, but a researcher's job is to TEST the obvious at times! |
Define obedience. | A form of social influence in which people do as they're told by an authority figure. |
What is an observational method? | This is a research method in which the researcher observes people usually in their NATURAL ENVIRONMENT recording what they do and say. |
Name some observational techniques. |
|
What is operant conditioning and which approach is it associated with? |
"Good boy! Good girl!" primary school teacher psychology :) or smarties for doing good work. For adults - bonuses and 'employee of the month' schemes. It is associated with behaviourism. Positive reinforcement to increase frequency of behaviour. |
Describe the term, 'operationalise'. | This is to make something measurable. E.g. to give a score on an experiment or survey, such as this beautiful person scores an 8. |
What is opportunity sampling? | This is when the researcher chooses people close to where he or she works or socialises to ask them questions for a survey. It is done because it is convenient. |
What is ordinal data compare to cardinal data? | Ordinal data on numbers that are given an order or rank = ORDER. Cardinal data are given an actual numbers =HOW MANY. |
Describe participant observation. | This is when the researcher is directly involved in the situation been survey aid or observed. |
What is a personality in basic psychology? | The collection of common traits that make us who we are. |