All terms in this list:

Psychology: The study of the human mind.
The study of human behavior.

Structuralism: Early school of psychology that emphasized studying the most basic components or structures of conscious experience.

Functionalism: Early school of psychology that emphasized studying the purpose or function of behavior and mental experiences.

Psychoanalysis: Personality theory and form of psychotherapy that emphasizes the role of unconscious factors in personality and behavior.

Behaviorism: School of psychology and theoretical view point that emphasizes the study of observable behaviors especially as they pertain to the process of learning.

Humanistic Psychology: School of psychology and theoretical viewpoint that emphasizes each persons unique potential for psychological growth and self-direction

Neuroscience: The scientific study of the nervous system especially the brain.

Positive Psychology: The study of positive emotions and psychological states positive individual traits and the social institutions that foster positive individuals and communities.

Evolutionary Psychology: The application of principles of evolution including natural selection to explain psychological processes and phenomena.

Culture: The attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviors shared by a group of people and communicated from one generation to another.

Cross-cultural Psychology: Branch of Psychology that studies the effects of culture on behavior and mental processes.

Ethnocentrism: The beliefs of one's culture or ethnic group is superior to all others and the related tendency to use ones own culture as a standard by which to judge other cultures.

Individualistic Culture: Cultures that emphasize the needs and goals of the individual over the needs and goals of the group.

Collectivistic Cultures: Cultures that emphasize the needs and goals of the group over the needs and goals of the individual.

Psychiatry: The branch of medicine that subjectively diagnoses, treats, and studies mental illness and behavioural conditions.

Scientific Method: A set of assumptions attitudes and procedures that guide researchers in creating questions to investigate in generating evidence and in drawing conclusions.

Empirical Evidence: Verifiable evidence that is based upon objective observation measurement and/or experimentation.

Hypothesis: A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables a testable prediction or question.

Critical Thinking: The active process of minimizing preconceptions and biases while evaluating evidence, determining the conclusion that can reasonably be drawn from evidence and considering alternative explanations for research findings or other phenomena.

Variable: A factor that can vary or change in ways that can be observed, measured and verified.

Operational Definition: A precised description of how the variables in a study will be manipulated or measured.

Statistics: A branch of mathematics used by researchers to organize summarize and interpret data.

Statistically Significant: A mathematical indication that research results are not very likely to have occurred by chance.

Meta-analysis: A statistical technique that involves combining and analyzing the results of many research studies on a specific topic in order to identify over all trends.

Replicate: To repeat or duplicate a scientific study in order to increase confidence in the validity of the original findings.

Theory: A tentative explanation that tries to integrate and account for the relationship of various findings and observations.

Descriptive Research Methods: Scientific procedures that involve systematically observing behavior in order to describe the relationship among behaviors and events.

Naturalistic Observation: The systematic observation and recording of behaviors as they occur in their natural setting.

Pseudoscience: Fake or false science that makes claims based on little or no scientific evidence.

Case Study: An intensive study of a single individual or small group of individuals.

Survey: A questionnaire or interview designed to investigate the opinions, behaviors or characteristics of a particular group.

Sample: A selective segment of the population used to represent the group that is being studies.

Representative Sample: A selected segment that very closely parallels the larger population being studied on relevant characteristics.

Random Selection: It's a process in which subjects are selected randomly from a larger group such that every group member has an equal chance of being included in the study.

Correlational Study: A research strategy that allows the precise calculation of how strongly related two factors are to each other.

Correlation Coefficient: A numerical indication of the magnitude and direction of the relationship (the correlation) between two variables.

Positive Correlation: A finding that two factors very systematically in the same direction increasing or decreasing together.

Negative Correlation: A finding that two factors very systematically in opposite directions one increasing as the other decreases.

Experimental Method: A method of investigation used to demonstrate cause and effect relationships by purposely manipulating one factor thought to produce change in another factor.

Independent variable: The purposely manipulated factor thought to produce change in an experiment also called the treatment variable.

Dependent Variable: The factor that is observed and measured for change in an experiment thought to be influenced by the independent variable also called the outcome variable.

Extraneous Variable: A factor or variable other than the ones being studied that if not controlled could affect that outcome of an experiment also called a confounding variable.

Experimental group or Experimental Condition: In an experiment the group of participants who are exposed to all experimental conditions including the independent variable.

Placebo: A fake substance treatment or procedure that has no known direct effects.

Placebo Effect: Any change attributed to a person's beliefs and expectations rather than an actual drug, treatment, or procedure also called expectancy effect.

Random Assignment: The process of assigning participants to experimental conditions so that all participants have an equal chance of being assigned to any of the conditions or groups in the study.

Double-Blind Technique: An experimental control in which neither the participants nor the researcher interacting with the participants are aware of the group or condition to which the participants have been assigned.

Demand Characteristics: In a research study subtle cues or signals expressed by the researcher that communicate the kind of response or behavior that is expected from the participant.

Practice effect: Any change in performance that result from mere repetition of a task.

Main Effect: Any change that can be directly attributed to the independent or treatment variable after controlling for other possible influences.

Control group or Control Condition: In an experiment the group of participants who are exposed to all experimental conditions except the independent variable the group against which changes in the experimental group are compared.

Natural Experiment: A study investigating the effects of a naturally occurring event on the research participants.

Positron Emission Tomography (Pet Scan): An invasive imaging technique that provides color coded images of a brain activity by tracking the brains use of a radioactively tagged compound such as glucose, oxygen or a drug.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): A noninvasive imaging technique that produces highly detailed images of the bodies structure and tissues using electromagnetic signals generated by the body in response to magnetic fields.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI): A noninvasive imaging technique that used magnetic fields to map brain activity by measuring changes in the brain's blood flow and oxygen levels.

Comparative Psychology: Branch of psychology that studies the behavior of different animal species.