Learning objectives for this review:

• Evaluate how major historical figures in psychology have influenced the development of diverse psychological theories and practices across various domains.
• Differentiate between key psychological research methods—experiments, correlational studies, surveys, naturalistic observations, case studies, longitudinal, and cross-sectional studies—by assessing their purposes, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Identify independent, dependent, confounding, and control variables in experimental designs, emphasizing how these elements affect the validity of conclusions and distinguish experimental from correlational research
• Evaluate the validity of behavioral explanations by assessing the quality of research designs, with a focus on how confounding variables can impact the reliability of research conclusions.
• Analyze psychological data using basic statistics, including measures of central tendency, variation, correlation, and frequency distributions, while distinguishing between descriptive and inferential statistics.
• Evaluate the influence of ethical and legal guidelines on the conduct of research, emphasizing how these standards protect participants and ensure responsible scientific practices.