CHAP 2: GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCI Flashcards
Goals of Psychological Science
Description
Prediction
Explanation
Control
a systematic and unbiased account of the
observed characteristics of behaviors.
Description
Why good description allow us greater knowledge of behaviors
they provide us with information about what the behavior will be like.
Understand what causes it to occur
Explanation
Refers to the capacity for knowing in
advance when certain behaviors would be
expected to occur
Prediction
Refers to the application of what has been
learned about behavior.
Control
Designed to test theories or to explain
psychological phenomena in humans and animals
Basic Research
Designed to solve real-
world problems
Applied Research
The Scientific Method: Tools of Psychological Science
Observation
Measurement
Experimentation
systematic noting and recording of events (observable signs)
Observation
assignment of numerical values to objects or
events in their characteristics according to conventional rules.
Measurement
Process undertaken to test a
hypothesis
Experimentation
Three minimum requirements under experimentation:
- have procedure of
manipulating the setting (treatment
conditions) - outcome must be
observable - outcome must be measurable
Antecedent Conditions
the circumstances that come
before the event or behavior
that we want to explain.
it means that we are treating subjects differently when we expose them to different sets of antecedents
Treatment
Is a controlled procedure in which at
least two different treatment
conditions are applied to subjects.
The Psychology Experiment
Successful experimentation relies
heavily on the
principle of control.
Control is most often achieved by :
- RANDOM ASSIGNMENTS of subjects
to different treatment conditions. - Presenting in an IDENTICAL MANNER to all subjects
- Keeping the environment, the
procedures CONSTANT
Treatment condition come
before the behavior,
True
As we seek cause and effect relationship in science and psychology, we try to identify the
conditions under which events will occur.
Necessary and sufficient conditions.
First experimental psychologist / (Father of Psychology as a Science)
Wilhelm Wundt
characterizes any field of study that
gives the appearance of being scientific but
has no true scientific basis and has not been
confirmed using the scientific methods.
Pseudoscience
Types of pseudosci
Phrenology, physiognomy, mesmerism, and spiritualism.
measuring the size and locations and
bumps on the skull.
Bumps
Dents
Phrenology
Overuse
Underuse
facial features, particularly the appearance of
the eyes, nose, chin, and forehead, to evaluate traits,
Physiognomy
Invented by Franz Mesmer who
believed that fluids in the body ebbed and flowed by magnetic principles and that both physical and mental illness could be cured by using magnets to realign these fluids.
Mesmerism
Contact with ghosts and spirit of the dead.
Spiritualism
