Artifacts are objects made, crafted, or shaped by humans such as tools, weapons, and pottery. The term is most commonly used in archaeology where old human artifacts from years past are retrieved during archaeological digs. Artifacts are distinct from ‘ecofacts’ and ‘features’, which are both also terms to refer to things revealed through archaeological endeavors: […]
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A lifestyle is a “way of life”, reflecting the range of habits, norms, rules, rituals, and behaviors that make up a person’s daily activities. While a mainstream lifestyle is dictated by dominant culture, cultural norms, and conveniences of modern living, many people choose alternative lifestyles. Alternative lifestyle choices can be as simple as the weekend
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Observation is the act of noting or detecting a phenomenon through the senses, often resulting in raw data or factual information. Inference is the process of drawing a conclusion or making a judgment based on those observations, often involving reasoning beyond the immediate data. So, while observations offer raw data, your inferences allow you to
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The arousal theory of motivation argues that people are highly motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal at all times. Individuals have differing preferences for their optimal level of arousal based on their general disposition, risk tolerance, the situation they find themselves in, and so on. Nevertheless, the theory holds that we are always
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The Yerkes-Dodson law posits that there’s an optimal level of arousal for peak performance on any task. According to Yerkes and Dodson, performance improves with increased arousal up to that optimal point, but further arousal can lead to diminished performance. As an example of the Yerkes-Dodson Law, we can all relate to instances where a
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Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) is a lifespan theory of motivation and ageing. The theory postulates that as people age, their priorities shift from long-term to short-term objectives that satisfy more immediate emotional needs. Key Points in this Article: Socioemotional Selectivity Theory Definition Socioemotional selectivity theory was developed primarily by Dr. Laura Carstensen (Carstensen et al.,
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Random assignment is a research procedure used to randomly assign participants to different experimental conditions (or ‘groups’). This introduces the element of chance, ensuring that each participant has an equal likelihood of being placed in any condition group for the study. It is absolutely essential that the treatment condition and the control condition are the
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In research, random assignment refers to the process of randomly assigning research participants into groups (conditions) in order to minimize the influence of confounding variables or extraneous factors. Ideally, through randomization, each research participant has an equal chance of ending up in either the control or treatment condition group. For example, consider the following two
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Sigmund Freud developed a theory of personality which postulates that each individual’s personality is comprised of three entities: the id, the ego, and the superego. Each of these entities can be thought of as psychological energies that operate within the human psyche. Each has its own objectives and ways of being expressed. An individual’s overt
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The term flashbulb memory (FBM) refers to the memory of when a person learned of an event that was shocking and of significant personal relevance. A flashbulb memory is extremely vivid and detailed, seemingly stored in long-term memory like a photograph, hence the term “flashbulb.” Key Points in this Article: Flashbulb Memory Definition Although Colegrove
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