Chapter 1 - Introduction & Research Flashcards
What is psychology?
The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes
Steps of scientific methods:
- Describe
- Explain (hypothesis)
- Predict
- Control ➡️ manipulation
Types of research:
- Basic research: just to know
2. Applied research: solve a problem
Ethics (code of conduct):
Treating people fairly
Operational definition
Concrete definition
Experimental research:
A search for cause and effect
Experiment
Controlled scientific procedure that determines whether variables manipulated by the experiment have a causal effect on the experiment result
Independent variable:
Variable manipulated by researcher
Depended variable:
Variable that is measured depended on independent variable
Experimental group:
Group that gets manipulated
Control group
Does not receive experimental manipulations
Single blind:
The experimenter knows who is in the experimental vs. the control group and the participants do not
Double blind:
Neither experimenter or participants know which group is who
Survey:
Asking random people that make up the populations questions
Correlations (positive, negative and no correlation)
Positive: both factors move in one direction
Negative: both factors move in opposite directions
No correlation: zero correlation between both factors
Statistical significance
Unimportant
Not common
Rare occurrence
How to conduct an experiment:
Need to have representative random sample and you need to manipulate a sample of that population
Case study:
On one individual person
Inferences vs observations
Inferences
- Can be made at any time
- Can go well beyond observations to the limit of imagination
- Can be made by everyone
- Involves degrees of probability
Bias versus assumption
Bias
Occurs when a believe presents for judgment on the issue
Assumption
Is something taken for granted to be true
SQ4R
S: survey Q: question 4R: 1. Read (take notes) 2. Recite 3. Review 4. Reinforce yourself