Research Methods
A correlational study can identify a relationship between two variables but cannot establish this.
What is causation?
This measure of variability indicates how much scores in a data set deviate from the mean.
What is standard deviation?
The process of converting sensory stimuli into neural signals is called this.
What is transduction?
This type of intelligence, part of the Cattell-Horn theory, refers to problem-solving and reasoning ability independent of prior knowledge.
What is fluid intelligence?
This cognitive bias occurs when people tend to search for, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms their preexisting beliefs or theories.
What is confirmation bias?
This experimental method ensures that participants are randomly assigned to groups.
What is random assignment.
This ethical principle requires researchers to obtain participants’ voluntary agreement to take part in a study.
What is informed consent?
This phenomenon explains why we stop noticing a strong smell after being in the room for a while.
What is sensory adaptation?
This type of intelligence, also in the Cattell-Horn theory, refers to accumulated knowledge and skills from experience.
What is crystalized intelligence?
This heuristic leads people to overestimate the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind, such as thinking airplane crashes are common after hearing about one on the news.
What is the availability heuristic?
This statistic quantifies the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables.
What is correlation coefficient.
Correlation coefficients range between these two numbers.
What are -1 and 1?
This type of processing relies on prior experience and expectations to interpret sensory information.
What is top-down processing?
The SAT is often considered an example of this type of test.
What is an aptitude test?
This bias refers to the tendency to favor information that supports one's existing view of a situation, even when contradictory evidence is presented.
What is the perseverance effect?
This principle states that the just noticeable difference is proportional to the size of the original stimulus.
What is Weber's Law?
A high positive correlation between ice cream sales and drowning deaths does not imply causation because of this type of variable.
What is a confounding variable?
This Gestalt principle explains why we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object.
Critics of multiple intelligences argue that some of Gardner’s intelligences are better described as these.
In this type of bias, a person makes judgments about others based on limited information, often relying on stereotypes or first impressions.
What is representative heuristic?
The threshold at which a result is considered statistically significant is typically set at this p-value.
What is .05?
This threshold describes the minimum intensity at which a participant detects a stimulus 50% of the time.
What is absolute threshold?
Gestalt principles emphasize this phrase, indicating how we perceive organized wholes.
What is "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts"?
This term refers to the unfair advantage or disadvantage that arises in intelligence tests when cultural, socioeconomic, or language differences are not accounted for.
What is cultural bias?
This bias occurs when individuals believe they are less susceptible to biases and errors in judgment compared to others.
What is the bias blindsight?