5 Steps to a 5 AP Psychology, 2010-2011 Edition by Laura Lincoln Maitland

variable.
    Experimenter bias —a phenomenon that occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained.
    Demand characteristics —clues participants discover about the purpose of the study that suggest how they should respond.
    Single-blind procedure —research design in which participants don’t know whether they are in the experimental or control group.
    Double-blind procedure —research design in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group.
    Placebo —a physical or psychological treatment given to the control group that resembles the treatment given to the experimental group, but contains no active ingredient.
    Placebo effect —a response to the belief that the independent variable will have an effect, rather than the actual effect of the independent variable, which can be a confounding variable.
    Reliability —consistency or repeatability of results.
    Validity —the extent to which an instrument measures or predicts what it is supposed to measure or predict.
    Statistics —a field that involves the analysis of numerical data about representative samples of populations.
    • Descriptive statistics —numbers that summarize a set of research data obtained from a sample.
    • Frequency distribution —an orderly arrangement of scores indicating the frequency of each score or group of scores.
    • Central tendency —average or most typical scores of a set of research data or distribution.
    mode —most frequently occurring score in a set of research data (“quick and dirty”).
    median —the middle score when a set of data is ordered by size.
    mean —the arithmetic average of a set of scores.
    • Variability —the spread or dispersion of a set of research data or distribution.
    Range —the difference between the largest score and the smallest score (“quick and dirty”).
    Standard deviation (SD) —measures the average difference between each score and the mean of the data set.
    • Normal distribution —bell-shaped curve that represents data about how lots of human characteristics are dispersed in the population.
    • Percentile score —the percentage of scores at or below a particular score.
    • Correlation coefficient (
r )—a statistical measure of the degree of relatedness or association between two sets of data that ranges from −1 to +1.
    • Inferential statistics —statistics that are used to interpret data and draw conclusions.
    • Statistical significance (
p
) —the condition that exists when the probability that the observed findings are due to chance is less than 1 in 20 (
p
< .05) according to some psychologists, or less than 1 in 100 (
p
< .01) according to those with more stringent standards.
    • Ethical guidelines —suggested rules for acting responsibly and morally when conducting research or in clinical practice.

CHAPTER 7
Biological Bases of Behavior
    IN THIS CHAPTER
    Summary: As you read this page, lots of things are going through your mind. Your mind is what your brain does, according to many psychologists. The relationships of behavior, the mind, and the nervous system, especially the brain, have become increasingly clear as improvements in technology have enabled scientists to make better observations. In all areas of anatomy and physiology, structure is related to function. Specialized structures throughout your body enable regulatory function at all levels of organization from your neurotransmitter molecules to your nervous and endocrine systems.
    Neuropsychologists explore the relationships between brain/nervous systems and behavior. Neuropsychologists are also called biological psychologists or biopsychologists, behavioral geneticists, physiological psychologists, and behavioral neuroscientists.
    This chapter focuses on what we know about our nervous system and all of its parts at different levels of organization, and the tools