Glossary Items Starting with "B"

balanced placebo design: A 2 X 2 research design developed in alcohol research in which the factors are (1) what participants actually consumes (alcohol or no alcohol) and (2) what participants are told they are consuming (alcohol or no alcohol). This design permits the separation of the pharmacological from the expectation effects of alcohol. See deception.
Barnum statement: Any statement that appears to be insightful but is actually true only because is true for almost all issues, situations, or people. For example, telling someone that he or she has difficulty at times maintaining a focus on their long-term goals is a Barnum statement.
baseline period: Time from initial monitoring of target behavior until the start of the manipulation.
base rates: Naturally occurring frequency of events (i.e., before any manipulations to alter the rates have been carried out).
basic research: Fundamental or pure research. Basic research is carried out to add to knowledge but without obvious applied or practical goals. Basic research is often contrasted with applied research.
behavior: Any observable act from an organism. Behavior is the subject matter of psychology.
behavior modification: A set of teaching/therapeutic procedures, used primarily in education and clinical practice, which are based on laboratory-derived principles of learning. Also known as behavior therapy.
behavioral medicine: See health psychology.
behavioral neuroscience: A field of study that relates the behavior of an organism to the brain mechanisms contributing to that behavior.
behavioral variable: Variable representing an organism's behavior.
behaviorism: A philosophical perspective in psychology that argues that a scientific psychology should base its theories on observable events only. This perspective challenged the introspective methodologies that dominated early psychology.
beta: The probability of making a Type II error. See Type II error.
between-conditions sum of squares: The sum of squares used in a repeated-measures ANOVA to compute the between-conditions variance, which is also known as the between-conditions mean square.
between-groups sum of squares: The sum of squares used in a one-way ANOVA to compute the between-groups variance, which is also known as the between-groups mean square.
between-groups variance: Index of the variability among group means.
between-subjects design: Research design using two or more groups in which each participant appears in only one of the groups.
between-subjects factors: Independent variables in factorial designs in which participants are assigned to conditions so that each participant appears in only one condition.
between sum of squares: A generic term that usually refers to the between-conditions sum of squares in a repeated-measures ANOVA, but may also refer to the between-groups sum of squares in a one-way ANOVA.
bimodal: A distribution of scores that has two modes.
Biomedical Programs (BMDP): Computer package for statistical data analyses.
blind: When the researcher and/or participant is not aware of information that would, if available, increase the likelihood of biasing the experimental results. See single-blind procedure and double-blind procedure.