Biological
This specific biological concept refers to the theory that certain parts of the brain are responsible for specific behaviors or cognitive processes.
What is localization of function?
This cognitive bias occurs when individuals rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered when making a decision.
What is Anchoring Bias?
This theory, often associated with the Bobo Doll study, suggests that behavior is learned through observation, imitation, and modeling.
What is Social Cognitive Theory?
When evaluating the study of the Challenger accident by Neisser & Harsch, researchers note that because it used a real-world event, it has a high level of this.
What is ecological validity?
This ethical consideration involves ensuring that participants are not identified by name in the final research report.
What is anonymity (or confidentiality)?
In Newcomer et al.'s study on this hormone, researchers found that high levels of it actually impaired the participants' ability to recall a prose paragraph, demonstrating its impact on verbal declarative memory.
What is cortisol?
This famous case study of a patient with amnesia is often used to illustrate how different memory models function when specific parts of the brain are damaged.
Who is H.M.? (Henry Molaison)
This is the specific term for an oversimplified and generalized set of beliefs about a group of people.
What is a stereotype?
This research design, used in some cognitive studies, involves using the same participants for both the control and experimental conditions.
What is a repeated measures design?
This occurs when a researcher provides false information to participants to prevent them from guessing the aim of the study.
What is Deception?
This specific biological process involves the elimination of extra synapses to increase the efficiency of neural transmissions.
What is neural pruning?
This term refers to the process of fitting new information into our existing mental frameworks.
What is assimilation?
This term describes the process by which people learn the dynamics of their surrounding culture to acquire its values and norms.
What is enculturation?
These are "hidden" variables that might unintentionally influence the results, making it unclear if the IV caused the change in the DV.
What are Confounding Variables?
This term describes a survey question that is phrased in a way that pushes the participant toward a specific answer.
What is a Leading Question?
This term describes the process of neurotransmitters being absorbed back into the terminal button after a message has been sent.
What is reuptake?
While Flashbulb Memories feel more accurate to the individual, research into the reliability of memory often finds they are prone to this, just like "normal" memories.
What is distortion (or reconstruction)?
This term refers to the phenomenon where being at risk of confirming a negative stereotype about one's group actually causes a person to change their behavior.
What is stereotype threat?
This term describes the tendency for participants to act in a way they think the researcher wants them to act, which is a major concern for the validity of the results.
What are demand characteristics?
To reduce "researcher bias," this procedure ensures that neither the participant nor the person collecting the data knows which group is the control.
What is a Double-Blind Study?
To investigate the role of inheritance in behavior, researchers look for high concordance rates between people in these types of studies.
What are twin studies (or kinship studies)?
According to the Dual Process Model, this specific type of error occurs when System 1 provides a quick, intuitive answer that System 2 fails to "double check" or override, often leading to a cognitive bias like the Anchoring Bias.
What is a heuristic?
This is the core motivation behind social comparison; it is the process by which an individual or group seeks to show that their "in-group" is better than an "out-group" on a specific dimension to boost the self-esteem of its members.
What is positive in-group distinctiveness?
To reduce "order effects" in a repeated measures design, researchers use this technique of varying the sequence of conditions.
What is Counterbalancing?
This problem occurs when a researcher’s own expectations or prejudices influence how they record the behaviors they are watching.
What is Researcher Bias or Observer Bias?