Chapter 2 Flashcards
What makes Psychological research scientific?
- Precision2. Skepticism3. Reliance on empirical evidence4. Willingness to make “risky predictions” 5. Openness
What is a Theory?
An organized system of assumptions and principles that purports to explain a specified set of phenomena and their interrelations.
What is a Hypothesis?
A statement that attempts to predict or to account for a set of phenomena; scientific hypotheses specify relations among events or variables and are empirically tested.
What are Operational Definitions?
A precise definition of a term in a hypothesis, which specifies the operations for observing and measuring the process or phenomenon being defined. Used during predictions.
What is the Principle of Falsifiability?
The principle that a scientific theory must make predictions that are specific enough to expose the theory to the possibility of disconfirmation; that is, the theory must predict not only what will happen but what will not happen.
What is Confirmation Bias?
The tendency to look for or pay attention only to information that confirms one’s own belief.
What is an essential part of the scientific process?
Replication because sometimes a result will only have been a fluke.
What ensures that work lives up to scientific standards?
Peer reviewing.
What is a representative sample?
A group of individuals, selected from a population for a study, which matches the population on important characteristics such as age and sex.
Define descriptive methods.
Methods that yield descriptions of behaviour but not necessarily casual explanations.
What is a case study?
A detailed description of a particular individual being studied or treated. They illustrate psychological principles in a way that abstract generalizations and statistics cannot, and produce a more detailed picture of an individual. But information is often missing or hard to interpret, the observer may have biases, the subject may have selective/inaccurate memories, and the subject may be unrepresentative for a group.
What is an observational study?
A study in which the researcher carefully and systematically observes and records behaviour without interfering with the behaviour; it may involve either naturalistic or laboratory observation.
What is the purpose of naturalistic observation?
To find out how people or animals act in their normal social environments.
What is laboratory observation?
Where the researcher has more control over the situation. They have access to more sophisticated equipment, subjects, and precise situations. This can cause people to act differently.
What are psychological tests?
Procedures used to measure and evaluate personality traits, emotional states, aptitudes, interests, abilities, and values. Sometimes called assessment instruments.
What do objective tests do?
Measure beliefs, feelings, or behaviours; also called inventories.
What do projective tests do?
Designed to tap unconscious feelings or motives.
What is Test-Retest Reliability?
Are scores similar from one session to another?
What is Alternate-Forms Reliability?
Are scores similar on different versions of the test?
What is Reliability?
The consistency of the test results.
Define Standardize.
In test construction, to develop uniform procedures for giving and scoring a test.
What does “norms” mean when evaluating a test?
Norms are established standards of performance that are referred to when scoring a test. They determine what is high, low, or average.