Intuitive Thinking
This type of thinking is quick and reflexive, and its output consists mostly of “gut hunches.” This mode of thinking also doesn’t require much mental effort.
-Often involves Heuristics
Analytical Thinking
Slow and reflective. It takes mental effort.
-Involves strategic problem solving
Heuristics
Mental shortcut or rule
A rule of thumb that helps us streamline our thinking and make sense of our world
-. But intuitive thinking, which often relies on these heuristics, occasionally leads us to make mistakes, because our gut hunches and snap judgments aren’t always right
Implicit Learning
The unconscious acquisition of complex patterns, rules, or skills from experience, without intent or awareness of the learning process.
Explicit Learning
A conscious, intentional process where learners actively seek to acquire knowledge or skills, often through direct instruction,, study, or hypothesis testing.
Naturalistic Observation
Watching behaviour in real-world settings without trying to manipulate the situation
-High external validity; findings are generalizable to the real world
Low internal validity; cannot draw cause-and-effect inferences. No control over these variables and need to wait for behaviour to unfold before our eyes.
Case Studies
Research design that examines one person or a small number of people in depth, often over an extended time period
-In depth studies
-Generates Hypothesis
-Anecdotal does not equal proof
-Can be misleading
Self-Report Measures
Research methods where psychologists ask people directly—usually through questionnaires or surveys—to report their own thoughts, feelings, traits, or attitudes.
-Easy to administer
-That person frequently has access to subtle information regarding their emotional states, like anxiety or guilt, about which outside observers aren’t aware
- First, they typically assume that respondents possess enough insight into their personality characteristics to report on them accurately
-Second, self-report questionnaires typically assume that participants are honest in their responses
response set
The tendency of research participants to distort their responses to questionnaire items
(disadvantage of self report measures)
Halo and Horn effect
Halo Effect: This is the tendency of ratings of one positive characteristic to “spill over” to influence the ratings of other positive characteristics
Horns Effect: In this effect, the ratings of one negative trait, such as arrogance, spill over to influence the ratings of other negative traits
Disadvantages of Surveys
Response Bias and lack of insight
Random Selection
procedure that ensures every person in a population has an equal chance of being chosen to participate
Reliability
consistency of measurement
Test-Retest
To which a test gives consistent results when the same people take it more than once over time.
In short: same test, same people, different times → similar scores.
Interrater reliability
How much different observers or interviewers agree when measuring or judging the same behavior or outcome.
Validity
The extent to which a measure assesses what it claims to measure
Internal Validity
The extent to which we can draw cause-and-effect inferences from a study
External Validity
extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings
Correlational Design
research design that examines the extent to which two variables are associated
Between-Subject design
in an experiment, researchers assign different groups to
the control or experimental condition
Within-Subject Design
In an experiment, each participant acts as their own control
Independent variable
variable that an experimenter manipulates
dependent variable
A variable that an experimenter measures to see whether the manipulation has had an effect
operational definition
a working definition of what a researcher is measuring
