CH01_Experimental Psychology and the Scientific Method

Question 1

THINK! What is the process (as opposed to the facts in content) in science?

Answer 1

An activity that includes the systematic ways in which we go about gathering data, noting relationships, and offering explanations.

Question 2

What is the term for the scientific techniques used to collect and evaluate psychological data (the facts and figures gathered in research studies)?

Answer 2

Methodology.

Question 3

What is the term for overlooking instances that might disconfirm our beliefs, and when we seek confirmatory instances instead of behavior?

Answer 3

Confirmation bias.

Question 4

TRUE OR FALSE: The inferential strategies we use with “commonsense psychology” when we process data are sometimes too simple to be completely accurate.

Answer 4

TRUE.

Question 5

The psychologist’s goal of prediction rests on a simple, but important assumption: Behavior follows a natural order; therefore, it can be predicted.

Answer 5

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Question 6

What is the belief research psychologists hold that there are specifiable (though not necessarily simple or obvious) causes for the way people behave and that these causes can be discovered through research?

Answer 6

Determinism.

Question 7

What is the term for data that is observable or experienced?

Answer 7

Empirical data.

Question 8

TRUE OR FALSE: Gathering empirical data in a systematic or orderly way will ALWAYS guarantee that the correct conclusions will be reached.

Answer 8

FALSE.

Take Aristotle, who gathered data in such a way and ended up with the wrong conclusion about objects with more weight and how they fall faster than light objects. (Spoiler alert: They don’t, as proven by Galileo later on)

Question 9

When principles have the generality to apply to all situations, what are they called?

Answer 9

Laws.

Question 10

Usually, we have enough information to advance understand by devising and testing an interim explanation, commonly called a…

Answer 10

Theory.

Question 11

What is the term for a testable prediction?

Answer 11

A hypothesis.

Question 12

Old theories are replaced by new theories with greater explanatory power. Laws are seldom determined outside the physical sciences, so the behavioral sciences like psychology largely progress by developing better and better theories.

Answer 12

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Question 13

Which central feature of the scientific method refers to the approach to the collection and interpretation of data to be systematic, objective, and rational?

Answer 13

Good thinking.

This also includes parsimony, which states that we must avoid making unnecessary assumptions to support and argument or explanation. (When two explanations are equally defensible, the simplest explanation is preferred until it is ruled out by conflicting data)

Question 14

Which central feature of the scientific approach refers to being able to repeat our procedures and get the same results again if we have gathered data objectively and followed good thinking?

Answer 14

Replication.

Question 15

The content of science changes as we acquire new scientific information, and old information is evaluated in light of new facts.

Answer 15

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As a scientist, you need to accept the uncertainty of your own conclusions and you have to be open-minded to self-correction.

Question 16

TRUE OR FALSE: Findings that are obtainable by one researcher have a large scientific value.

Answer 16

FALSE.

Replication of research findings by others can be important; we have a great deal more confidence that we have explained something if the predicted effects are repeatable by other researchers.

Question 17

What are four major objectives of research conducted in psychology?

Answer 17

Description, prediction, explanation, control

Question 18

Case studies and field studies are examples of what types of research designs?

Answer 18

Descriptive research designs.

Question 19

Which type of descriptive research design involves an outside observer recording the behaviors or experiences, or both, of a single individual?

Answer 19

Case studies.

These are common in clinical, organizational, and forensic psychology and are used to make inferences about the origins of psychological disorders, developmental processes, and the influence of life events.

Question 20

Which type of descriptive research design involves observational studies of groups of people (or animals) in real-life settings?

Answer 20

Field studies.

Here, observers are able to gather descriptive data about many kinds of social and cultural experiences, including child development, organizational structure and function, and social customs.

Question 21

Correlational and quasi-experimental designs fall under what types of research design?

Answer 21

The research designs for prediction.

Question 22

Which research design has researchers look for a statistical relationship between different events, behaviors, or experiences?

Answer 22

Correlational designs.

Question 23

In some quasi-experimental designs, researchers look for systematic differences among groups of people and use the results to make predictions.

Answer 23

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Question 24

When we have /explained/ a behavior, we also understand what causes it to occur. Explanation includes knowledge of the conditions that reliable produce the occurrence of a behavior.

Answer 24

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Question 25

Many times, a true experimental research method is the preferred (or only) option.

Answer 25

FALSE.

It is not always feasible or desirable to conduct an experiment, even if this will allow us to make inferences about cause and effect. Many times, a nonexperimental or quasi-experimental research method is the preferred (or only) option.