Research Methods
This numerical value indicates the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables, ranging from -1.00 to +1.00.
What is a correlation coefficient?
Removing an unpleasant stimulus to increase a behavior, such as stopping nagging when a task is completed.
What is negative reinforcement?
The tendency to attribute others' behavior to their personal characteristics rather than situational factors.
What is the fundamental attribution error?
A person holds contradictory beliefs and experiences discomfort, leading them to change one belief to reduce this discomfort.
What is cognitive dissonance?
Addressing the source of stress directly by taking action to solve the problem.
What is problem-focused coping?
The major limitation of a case study design is that findings cannot be _____ to larger populations.
What is generalized?
Reinforcement occurs after unpredictable amounts of time in this schedule, unlike a fixed-interval schedule where reinforcement occurs at set times.
What is a variable-interval schedule?
The tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors and our failures to external factors.
What is the self-serving bias?
People judge the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind—media coverage of violent crimes leads people to overestimate crime rates.
What is the availability heuristic?
Coping by managing emotional responses to stress rather than addressing the stressor itself.
What is emotion-focused coping?
This research design measures variables at a single point in time, rather than following participants over time.
What is a cross-sectional design?
Reinforcement occurs after a set number of responses in this schedule.
What is a fixed-ratio schedule?
Making a small initial request to increase the likelihood that a person will comply with a larger request later.
What is the foot-in-the-door technique?
The tendency to see past events as more predictable than they actually were."
What is hindsight bias?
A person's belief about the degree to which they can control events that affect them.
What is locus of control?
A research design that manipulates an independent variable and randomly assigns participants to conditions.
What is an experiment?
A person experiences anxiety at the sound of a particular noise on days when there is no actual threat—this is their _____ response.
What is the conditioned response (CR)?
The expectation that people should return favors and treat others as they've been treated.
What is the social reciprocity norm?
The tendency to search for information that confirms what we already believe."
What is confirmation bias?
A therapeutic approach focusing on changing irrational thoughts and beliefs to improve emotional well-being.
What is cognitive therapy?
The specific way a researcher measures or defines a variable in a study.
What is an operational definition?
A neutral stimulus that has become associated with an unconditioned stimulus through repeated pairing.
What is the conditioned stimulus (CS)?
The tendency to adopt the behaviors and beliefs of a group, especially when observing group members engage in those behaviors.
What is normative social influence?
A conflict where a goal has both positive and negative qualities, creating conflicting motivations.
What is an approach-avoidance conflict?
A humanistic therapy concept developed by Carl Rogers where the therapist accepts and values the client without judgment.
What is unconditional positive regard?