Chapter 2: conducting research in psychology Flashcards
True or false? Psychology is not science
False: psychologists often use the scientific method to test hypotheses; therefore psychology is a science
Scientific thinking
The process of using the cognitive skills required to generate, test, and revise theories
True or false? Doubt and skepticism activate the same brain region as disgust.
True: when we disbelieve a statement, the same region of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) also involved in perceptions of taste and disgust, is activated.
Scientific method
The procedures by which scientists conduct research, consisting of the five basic processes of observation, prediction, testing, interpretation, and communication.
Theory
A set of related assumptions from which scientists can make testable predictions.
Hypothesis
A specific, informed, and testable predication of the outcome of a particular set of conditions in a research design.
The scientific methon and how it works.
The scientific method consists of an ongoing cycle of observation, prediction, testing interpretation, and communication (OPTIC). Research begins with observation, but it doesn’t end with communication. Publishing the results of a study allows other researchers to repeat the procedure and confirm the results.
Replication
The repetition of a study to confirm the results; it is essential to the scientific process.
pseudoscience
claims presented as scientific that are not supported by evidence obtained with the scientific method.
The scientific method consists of
a. observing, predicting, and testing
b. observing, predicting, trying.
c. observing, predicting, testing, communicating
d. observing, predicting, testing, interpreting, communication
d. observing, predicting, testing, interpreting, communication
Which of the following is not a characteristic of science?
a. it is cumulative.
b. it is a search for truth
c. it is an attitude
d. it require intellectual honesty.
b. it is a search for truth
Scientific theories are
a. a set of related assumptions that guide and explain observations and allow testable predictions to be made.
b. educated guesses
c. hunches
d. hypotheses.
a. a set of related assumptions that guide and explain observations and allow testable predictions to be made.
what distinguishes science from pseudoscience?
a. the use of statistics
b. the content area studied.
c. open skepticism
d. the search for the truth
c. open skepticism
Research designs
Plans of action for how to conduct a scientific study.
Variable
a characteristic that changes or “varies” such as age, gender, weight, intelligence, anxiety, and extra-version
populations
The entire group a researcher is interesting in-for example, all humans, all adolescents, all boys, all girls, or all college students
samples
Subsets of the population studied in a research project.
Descriptive designs
study designs in which the researcher defines a problem variable of interest but makes no prediction and does not control or manipulate anything.
Case study
A study design in which a psychologist, often a therapist, observes one person over a long period of time.
Naturalistic observation
A study in which the researcher unobtrusively observes and records behavior in the real world.
representative sample
a research sample that accurately reflects the population of people on is studying.
meta-analysis
A research technique for combining all research results on one question and drawing a conclusion.
effect size
A measure of the strength of the relationship between two variables or the extent of an experimental effect.
correlation designs
studies that measure two or more variables and their relationship to one another; they are not designed to show causation.
correlation coefficients
statistics that range from -1.00 to +1.00 and assess the strength and direction of associations between two variables.
experiment
A research design that includes independent and dependent variables and random assignments of participants to control and experimental groups or conditions.
Independent Variable
A property that is manipulated by an experimenter under controlled conditions to determine whether it caused the predicted outcome of an experiment.
Dependent variable
In an experiment, the outcome of or response to an experimental manipulation.
Random Assignment
The method used to assign participants to different research conditions, so that all participants have the same chance of being in any specific group.
Experimental group
A group consisting of those participants who will receive the treatment or whatever is predicted to change behavior
control group
a group of research participants who are treated exactly in the same manner as the experimental group, except that they do not receive the independent variable or treatment.
placebo
a substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance.
confounding variable
a variable whose influence on the dependent variable cannot be separated from the independent variable being examined.
single-blind studies
studies in which participants do not know that experimental condition (group) to which they have been assigned.
double-blind studies
studies in which neither the participants nor the researchers administering the treatment know who has been assigned to the experimental or control group.
experimenter expectancy affects
results that occur when the behavior of the participants is influenced by the experimenter’s knowledge of who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group.
One explanation for experimenter expectancy effect is
a. double-blind studies
b. self-fulfilling prophecy
c. cofounding variables
d. experimental manipulation
b. self-fulling prophecy
The best way to lessen the effects of experimenter expectancy is to design a study what uses
a. singl-blind methods
b. double-blind methods
c. triplee-blind methods
d. quasi-experimental methods.
b. double-blind methods
