Chapter 1 - Scientific Understanding of Behavior

Question 0

Applied Research

Answer 0

Applied research is research conducted to address issues in which there are practical problems and potential solutions.

Question 1

Alternative Explanations

Answer 1

Alternative explanations are part of casual inference; they are a potential alternative cause of an observed relationship between variables.

Question 2

Authority

Answer 2

The idea that people accept something as truth because a person with authority - a person perceived as being convincing and influential - said it. This is an acceptable source of ideas for research, but is not considered a scientific source of information.

Question 3

Basic Research

Answer 3

Basic research is research that tries to answer fundamental questions about the nature of behavior. Studies are often designed to address theoretical issues concerning phenomena such as cognition, emotion, motivation, learning, neuropsychology, personality development, and social behavior.

Question 4

Covariation of Cause and Effect

Answer 4

Covariation of cause and effect is part of casual inference; it is observing that a change in one variable is accompanied by a change in a second variable.

Question 5

Empiricism

Answer 5

Empiricism is the use of objective observations to answer a question about the nature of behavior.

Question 6

Falsifiability

Answer 6

Falsifiability is the principle that a good scientific idea or theory should be capable of being shown to be false when tested using scientific methods.

Question 7

Goals of Behavioral Science

Answer 7

Behavioral science has four goals: the description of behavior, the prediction of behavior, determining the causes of behavior, and explaining behavior.

Question 8

Intuition

Answer 8

Intuition is when one uses anecdotal evidence or personal experience combined with gut feelings to draw a conclusion. It is an acceptable source of ideas for scientific research, but is not an acceptable source of knowledge.

Question 9

Peer Review

Answer 9

Peer review is the process of judging the scientific merit of research through review by other scientists with the expertise to evaluate the research.

Question 10

Program Evaluation

Answer 10

Program evaluation is research designed to assess procedures (e.g., social reforms, innovations) that are designed to produce certain changes or outcomes in a target population.

Question 11

Pseudoscience

Answer 11

Pseudoscience is claims that are made on the basis of evidence that, despite appearances, is not based on the principles of the scientific method.

Question 12

Skepticism

Answer 12

Scientific skepticism means that ideas must be evaluated on the basis of careful logic and results from scientific investigations.

Question 13

Temporal Precedence

Answer 13

Temporal precedence is part of casual inference; it is the idea that the cause occurs before the effect.