Psychology Research Foundations and Process

An empirical process to find accurate answers to questions, avoiding intuition.

The factor the researcher changes to see its effect on another factor.

The factor that is observed and measured to see how it changes in response to the independent variable.

A variable that could influence the results, making it hard to know what truly caused a change.

Selecting participants randomly to ensure the group represents the broader population accurately.

Placing individuals into groups randomly to minimize biases and ensure groups are similar.

Research design where each participant experiences all conditions.

Evidence based on personal stories or observations, not research.

Learning the connection between voluntary actions and their consequences. It's about understanding how our actions influence the world around us.

Behaviors followed by positive outcomes are likely to repeat, while behaviors with negative outcomes are less likely to be repeated.

Voluntary actions that have an impact on the environment and produce a specific consequence. It's what we do to change things.

Using positive reinforcement to increase the frequency of a desired behavior. You reward the behavior to make it happen more often.

Removing a negative consequence to increase a desired behavior. You remove something unpleasant to get the behavior more often.

Presenting a negative consequence to reduce the frequency of an undesired behavior. You discourage the behavior with something unpleasant.

Removing a positive consequence to reduce an undesired behavior. You take away something good to make the behavior less likely to happen.

Gradually reinforcing steps towards a complex target behavior. You break down a large task into smaller, achievable steps.

Language follows rules (grammar) that determine how words and sounds are combined.

No inherent relationship between words and their meanings.

Infinite combinations of words and phrases are possible.

Language influences thought and perception.

Children learning grammatical rules apply them incorrectly to exceptions. Example: 'goed' instead of 'went'.

Smallest unit of meaning in language, like 'un-', 'happy', or '-ness'.

Infants struggle to separate continuous speech into individual words.

Adults use higher pitch and exaggerated tones to help infants learn language.

The earliest sounds infants make, typically around 12 weeks, using sounds like 'oo' and 'ah'.

A stage of language development where infants make repetitive sounds, which helps them learn the structure of language.

The stage where toddlers use single words to express complete ideas, like 'milk' meaning 'I want milk'.

A rapid increase in vocabulary development in toddlers, usually between 18 and 24 months.

The ability of toddlers to learn new words quickly, often after just one or two encounters.

Chomsky's theory that humans are born with an innate ability to learn language.

Infants' ability to distinguish sounds from multiple languages, which decreases as they focus on their native language.

The process where infants lose the ability to distinguish phonemes not used in their native language.

Early speech (around 18-24 months) characterized by short phrases that convey essential information, like "Want milk" or "Go park."

Communication found in animals like bees, birds, and primates, but it lacks the complexity and flexibility of human language.

A group of things in the real world that share common features, like all types of fruits.

A mental representation of a category, like understanding what a 'fruit' is in general.

We categorize new items by comparing them to a 'typical' example (prototype) of that category. Some members fit better than others.

We remember all past examples of items (exemplars) and categorize new things by comparing them to these experiences.

How representative an item is within its category. A robin is a very typical bird, while an ostrich is less typical.

When someone who is skilled at a task forgets how challenging it was to learn, making them underestimate the difficulty for beginners.

A category without strict rules, relying on common features rather than precise definitions. For example, 'furniture' can include tables, chairs, and more.

A category with clear rules and definitions, like 'bachelor' meaning an unmarried man. It may still have exceptions.

The belief that categories have hidden, unchanging properties that make them what they are, even if they change outwardly.

A language disorder where people can recognize objects but struggle to name them, often affecting specific categories.

A mental representation of a typical or ideal category member that helps us categorize new things.

The idea that we react faster to typical category members than atypical ones, like saying 'a dog is a mammal' faster than 'a whale is a mammal.'

Applying assumptions about a whole group of people based on their category membership, often leading to prejudice.