Search results
- n. the tendency to accept risk, a dimension of temperament observed in both humans and nonhuman animals. Thus, a bold preschooler may freely engage with unfamiliar classmates, and a bold rat may explore all available areas during an open-field test.
dictionary.apa.org/boldness
Aug 17, 2019 · When you are reading informational text, you will notice that authors use many different text structures or organizational patterns to organize their information. The following chart lists signal words, definitions, and examples of some of the most common text structures you will encounter when reading informational text:
boldness. n. the tendency to accept risk, a dimension of temperament observed in both humans and nonhuman animals. Thus, a bold preschooler may freely engage with unfamiliar classmates, and a bold rat may explore all available areas during an open-field test.
- Broad Affect. Broad affect refers to the ability of someone to experience the typical range of affective states, from happiness and bliss to sadness, melancholy, and temporary depression (Videbeck, 2019).
- Restricted Affect. Restricted affect, also known as constricted affect, is when an individual experiences a reduced range of emotional expression, often finding it difficult to reach emotional expression on the extreme ends of negative and positive affect.
- Blunted Affect. Blunted affect implies a significant reduction in the intensity of affective responses (Kaufmann et al., 2020). When a person has blunted affect, emotional reactions become less noticeable.
- Flat Affect. Flat affect refers to a sitaution where an individual does not show any significant signs of emotional response at all, positive or negative.
Feb 25, 2012 · Psychology Jargon Made Simple. Psychology's most confusing terms and how to keep them straight. Posted February 25, 2012. Don't you wish psychology jargon wasn't so confusing? How can you...
- Overview
- Applied Research
- Baseline
- Basic Research
- Case Study
- Causation
- Correlational Research
- Cross-Sectional Research
- Demand Characteristic
- Dependent Variable
Trending Videos
At a Glance
There are specific terms and phrases that researchers use when they do psychological studies. Knowing the definitions of these words will help you understand how psychology research is done.
Psychologists use different research methods to investigate the human mind and behavior. The words that they use to design and report their studies can be very complex. You’ll find it easier to understand research papers if you know some key terms used in psychology.
Applied research focuses on solving practical problems. Rather than focusing on developing or investigating theoretical questions, researchers are interested in finding solutions to problems that impact daily life.
For example, researchers could investigate which treatments for a mental health condition led to the best outcomes. This research is directly applicable and can help people improve their day-to-day lives.
A baseline is the starting point of a study. It gives the researchers something to compare the results of their study to.
For example, if researchers are going to be testing a new therapy, they need to establish a baseline for the participants before the study starts.
They might do this by asking participants to fill out a questionnaire about their symptoms before they do the treatment. At the end of the study, the participants can be asked about their symptoms again.
By comparing participant responses before and after the study, the researchers could get an idea of whether the treatment was effective.
Basic research explores theories to expand the scientific knowledge base on a psychological subject. While this type of research contributes to our understanding of the human mind and behavior, it does not necessarily help solve immediate practical problems as applied research does.
How to Become a Research Psychologist
A case study is an in-depth narrative about a single person or group. In a case study, nearly every aspect of the subject’s life and history is analyzed to look for patterns and causes for their behavior.
Ideas for Psychology Case Studies
Causation is when there is a clear, direct cause-and-effect relationship between two things. When one variable in a study is changed, it changes another.
To establish causation between variables, researchers have to make sure that other variables could not have been responsible for the change they observed (confounding variable).
Correlational studies are used to look for relationships between variables. There are three possible results of a correlational study: a positive correlation, a negative correlation, and no correlation.
The correlation coefficient is a measure of correlation strength and can range from -1.00 to +1.00.
Cross-sectional research is often used in developmental psychology but can also be used in social science, education, and other branches of science.
This type of study examines a "cross-section" of a population (for example, first through fifth graders) at a single point in time.
A demand characteristic is a cue that makes participants aware of what the experimenter expects to find out in the study or how participants are expected to behave.
These cues can be subtle—for example, a survey that asks participants if a particular piece of music they’re listening to during the study made them feel calm could suggest to them that the researchers expect the music to be calming.
To avoid these cues, the question could have been “How did the music make you feel?” which would not have led the participants toward making a specific response.
Types of Variables Used in Psychology Research
The dependent variable is the variable that is being measured in an experiment. Researchers alter one or more independent variables and then measure the dependent variable(s) to see if there are any changes.
Feb 3, 2015 · Are you open to ideas, or do you like to play word games, learn new words, and solve problems just for the sake of keeping your mind active? Openness to actions. Are you willing to try new...
Psychology is the systematic, orderly pursuit of answers to questions about the causes and drivers of human (and animal) behavior. As we will see in this article, the causes of human behavior can be found on several different levels: biology, the environment, mental processes, social structures, and more.
