Chapter 2 Flashcards by Madi Hystad

What is science and the two essential beliefs

Solidarity beliefs. / principles
Rely on the scientific method

1- the universal operated according to certain natural laws
2- such laws are discoverable and testable

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Scientific Method

The process of objectively establishing facts through testing and experimentation - hypothesis

Deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning and hypothetical-deductive reasoning

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Deductive reasoning

Part of the scientific method

Starts with a big idea / theory/belief and trying to apply it to a specific situation
From big to small

Does not accurately describe behaviour

Can be subject to biases

Ex. I did bad on a math test- idea is that girls are bad at math so in this situation that’s why I didn bad on my math test. - you are trying to use this idea to explain a certain situation which can be a stereotype and too biasy

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Inductive Reasoning

Start from small specific situations and apply to more general ideas

Based on empirical observations that lead to the development of theories

From small to big

Ex. I did bad on my math test but before my math test I only studied for one hour and got four hours of sleep. But for my next test I studied five hours and got nine hours of sleep and did better - more sleep , more study upped my performance

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Hypothetically-Deductive Reasoning

Blending deductive and inductive reasoning together

Starting big with hypothesis and designing a 2y to measure it so we go small, then we go big again

Beginning with an educated guess about how the world works
design controlled observations to support or invalidate the hypothesis

Ex. Starting with the idea that boys score higher on math tests than girls . Then finding evidence to support this to validate or invalidate the hypothesis

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Hypothesis

A statement of how things relate to one another

Onbectivly falsified - needs to be something we can measure and test and say it can be true or false

Ex. Drinking an energy drink before bed will make you not fall asleep - can test this by drinking and not drinking an energy drink before

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Pseudopsycology (pop Psycology)

Not based on the scientific method
Ex. Crystal healing, personal measures (what pizza you are on buzzfeed) - these do not show any scientific based information

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Steps in how psychologist conduct research

Identify the questions and interests . Review the literature
Develop a testable hypothesis
Select a research method . Choose participants , and collect the data
Analyze the data and accept or regent the hypothesis
Seek scientific review, publish , and replicate
Build a theory

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Step 1 in how psychologists conduct research

Identify questions of interest and review the literature

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Step 2 in how psychologists conduct research

Develop a testable hypothesis

Saying one this affects another thing.
Variable - a condition, event, or situation studied in an experiment

I dependant variables, dependant variables, operational variables

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Dependant Variable

Part of step 2 in how psychologists conduct research

The thing we are measuring
It is what is expected to change when the independent variable is manipulated

Hypothesis: watching a crime documentary decreases stress level

Ex. The dependant variable is the stress level

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Independant Variable

Step 2 in how psychologists conduct research

The thing thought to be a factor in changing another condition or event

The one the researcher is setting up or manipulating

Ex. Hypothesis is watching crime documentaries will reduce stress level .

The independent variable is watching a crime documentary

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Operational Definition

Step 2 in how psychologists conduct research

Defining a variable in terms of methods or procedures used to measure/test the variable

Ex. Measures the heart rate, cortisol, asked to give a rating of how stressed they are, watching body language

Ex. Hypothesis is watching a crime documentary will lower stress level. We ask them to give a rating out of 10 on how stressed they are pre and post documentary

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Step 3 in psychologists conduct research

Select a research method , choose participants, and collect the data

Ex. Participants will watch a 1.5 hour crime documentary , then do a 1-10 survey on their stress

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Population

The entire group you are interested in

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Sample

A group of participants representative of the population

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Random selection

Every person in the population has an equal chance of being chosen

Sampling Bias

Occurs when a sample is not representative of the population from which it was drawn

Experimental groups

Group Exposed to the independent variable

Ex. Half the people come in for an experiment, we take their stress levels in the 1-10 survey, then they watch a crime documentary

Why do we conduct Experiments

To identify cause and affect relationships
Manipulate the independent variable

Ex. Does watching a crime documentary make stress go up or down ?

Control group

The group not exposed to the independent variable

Ex. The other half of the group come in for an experiment , we talk their stress level survey , then they may watch something else other than a crime documentary

Extraneous variables

Any other variables other than the independent variable that could possibly influence the dependant variable

Ex. Person may be stressed because of a test, or another might always watch crime documentary’s verses never watching one at all.

Try to reduce this with random assignment or good experimental design

Ex. Would probably ask people if they regularly watch crime documentary’s or not

Descriptive methods

Methods that allow us to determine a relationship between variables without identifying a causal relationship

Case studies, naturalistic observations, surveys

Case study

In depth analysis on an individual , group, or event

A particular case we are studying in detail of an individual, group, or event

Note you don’t control anything in case studies, you simply are just looking in detail .

Can’t make casual claims .

Can help with informing future hypothesis and studies
Look at others with similar things that we could make put together and compare

Naturalistic observation

Observe behaviours / events obtrusively Observing people in their natural environment Can make any conclusions of what exactly is causing something since we are just observing and now experimenting

Surveys

Ask a series of questions about attitudes, behaviours, experiences Not an experiment , it is its own descriptive method - can be made an experiment if wanted Easy, quick, get lots of info we can observe. Just doing a survey in its own will not tell us cause and effect

Researchers Bias

Avoid this A researchers expectations about the results may influence their findings To avoid you can use multiple observers to minizmise or researchers who don’t know the hypothesis Ex. Playground study where boys are more aggressive than girls. Many observers will go out to the playground and watch then come together and see what aligns or not. Can do the double blind technique

Double blind technique

Neither the experiment or or the participant know who is the control group or the experiment group

Participant bias

People act a certain was because they are taking part in research that may reflect true mental processes or behaviours Social desire bias

Social desire bias

Tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself

Hawthorne effect

People behave differently when they know they are being observed

Step 4 in how psychologists conduct research

Analyze the data and support or reflect the hypothesis Find correlations / relationships between the variables - correlation coefficient

Correlation coefficient

Number that indicates the relationship between two variables Ranges from -1.00 to +1.00 Indicates the stength and direction of this relationship - when looking at strength only look at number and ignore the sign in front of The closer to 1.00 the stronger the relationship If it is positive it means both variables are increasing In negative, it means opposite directions, and one variable goes up other one goes down If -1 it shows nothing is going on

Descriptive statistics

Used to organize and summarize data Ex. You either watch a crime documentary or you didn’t, then did the survey after Take the average of the results

Inferential statistics

Used to interpret data and draw conclusions after researches summarized their data Allow you to make inferences, statement, or draw conclusions Significance tests

Significance test

Part of inferential statistics - in step 4 Comparing all the scores from one group to another group and seeing how different they are Significant - lots of variables between the two Insignificant- not lots of variability

Effect size

A statistic that tells you how strong a relationship is between two variables The bigger the effect size, the stronger the relationship

Step 5 of how researchers conduct experiments

Seek scientific review, publish, and replicate Need to be reviewed before publishing

Step 6 of how researchers conduct experiments

Build a theory Infortwnce of scientific review Importance of replication Repeated testing by hypothesis- people from around the world do the same study to see if it applied for all people ink general

Ethics

The rules concerning proper and acceptable conduct that investigators use to guide their research Informed consent Protect from harm Condifentiality Voluntary participation Debriefing Minimize deletions (if used )