The term absolute threshold is often used in psychology research yet students are often confused about what it means. Let’s take a closer look at the definition of the absolute threshold and explore some examples of how it is used…
Have you ever noticed how horoscopes tend to be so general that their predictions could apply to almost anyone? In psychology, this is an example of the Forer effect (also known as the Barnum effect), which refers to the tendency…
According to humanist psychologist Carl Rogers, human beings have an innate drive to grow as individuals and to achieve their full potential. He referred to this desire as the actualizing tendency. Self-Actualization and the Actualizing Tendency Rogers believe that the…
In the simplest psychology experiments, researchers look at how one independent variable affects one dependent variable. But what happens if researchers want to look at the effects of multiple independent variables? This type of study that involve the manipulation of…
The serial position effect refers to our tendency to be able to recall the first and last items on a list better and the middle items worse. Psychology Hermann Ebbinghaus noted during his research that his ability to remember the…
In psychology research, an institutional review board (also known as an IRB) is a group of individuals designated to review and monitor research that involves human subjects. IRB’s help ensure that the rights, welfare, and safety of participants are protected.…
Extraneous variables are anything in a psychology experiment other than the independent and dependent variables. The variables can present challenges and introduce errors, so it is important for experiments to control these extraneous factors. How do researchers do this? By…
The ingroup bias is the tendency that people have to favor their own group above that of others. This bias can have a powerful influence on both individual and group behavior. It may be as simple as favoring your own…
A sensory receptor is a type of specialized cell that responds to a specific type of sense stimulation. Each type of sensory receptor is unique to the organ system it is associated with. For example, visual sensory receptors are different…
In Carl Rogers’s theory of personality, the organismic valuing process refers to evaluating subjective experiences in order to determine the possible impact they will have on self-improvement. According to Rogers, the underlying motive that drives behavior is the need for…