Chapter 2: Psychological Research Flashcards
hindsight bias
tendency to believe we should have forseen an outcome after we learn what happened
- gives a sense a control
overconfidence
tend to think we know more more than we do
apophenia
perception that unrelated events are related
- gamblers believe they have a system to beat the house
pareidolia
perception of significant patterns/images
- ex: seeing faces in inanimate objects
empirical
based on systematic observations
what are the goals of psych?
to describe, explain, predict, influence mental processes/behaviors
deductive reasoning
begins w/ hypothesis and is then used to reach logical conclusions abour real world
(start w/ hypo, end with conclusion)
inductive reasoning
empirical observations lead to new ideas (conclusion may not be right)
(start w/ conclusion, end w/ hypo)
theory
set of statements used to describe a phenomenon, suggests future research
- used to provide a model for understanding human thoughts/emotions /behs
hypothesis
testable prediction; implied by theory
falsifiable
capable of being shown to be incorrect
(denial)
case/clinical study
in depth study of one person/small group
- (rare: like alien-limb syndrome)
generalizing
ability to apply findings of a research project to larger groups
naturalistic observation
observing people in natural environments
hawthorne effect
people m ay change their beh simply because they know their being observed
observer bias
observers closely involved in research project; may unconsicously skew observations to fit expectations
inter-rater reliability
access consistency of observation by diff. observers
- need to verify diff. observers are recording same data
survey research
answering questions
wording effects
questions should be written in a way where theyre clear/concise
sampling effects
dont just apply surveys (anytime we do research)
population
everyone in group being studied
sample
subset of population (specific group)
representative sample
has the same characteristics as the population as a whole
- has to have the same ratio of men-woman/same demographics
random assignment
random
convenience sample
people who happen to be on hand
archival research
use of existing records, newspapers, diaries, etc…
longitudinal designs
study same group of participants for an extended period of time
-benefits: individual/developmental trends
-downfalls: long time to run/costly/attrition
attrion
loss of participants over time
cross-sectional designs
compare several age groups to eavh other
-benefits: cost/time/developmental trends/limited dropouts
-downfalls: no indivual trends/cohort effects
cohort effects
changes in results dur to when someone is born/not developmental process
sequential designs
study people of diff. ages over a extended period of time
-combination of longitudinal/cross-sectional design
correlation research
measure of the xtent to which 2 factors vary together
-enables prediction of one from the other
correlation
a relationship among 2 or more variables
correlation coefficient
from -1 to 1 that indicates strength/direction of relationship b/w variables
negative correlation
closer to 0 (weaker)
- variables change in opp directions
positive correlation
closer to -1/1
- variables change in same direction
correlation doesnt indicate…
causation
confounding variable
something othet than variable of interest cuases changes
illusory correlations
ppl. believe that relationships exist between 2 things when no such relationship exists
- ex: moon effects beh
confirmation bias
we accept evidence that fits out belief and ignore that which diesnt
experimental method
manipulating one variabke ti determine if changes to one variable will change another
independet variable
variable thats manipulatede
ex: IV = drug/DV: effects on depression
dependent variable
shows any effects of the manipulation of the IV
ex: IV = drug/DV: effects on depression
operational definition
descrbes diff. varibales and how they are measured
replicaion
repetition of a resaerch study (diff. situations/subjects) to determine of basic findings can be generalized
experimental groups
expoed to IV
control group
not exposed to IV
- need a control group to see whatg happens to people over time
random assignment
random assignmen t of people to groups by chance
confounding variables
anything other than the IV that cuases chnaged in the DV
placebo effect
changes in results cuased by expectations (not IV)
double-blind study
neither participanmts/experimenter know which group participants are in
single-blind study
participants dont know, but researcher does
principles
not specific findings that help exlain everyday beh
reliability
measure gives consistne tresultsl
validity
meaures meaure what it cklaims to measure
informed consent
told enought to decide if they want to participate
consetn forms
documented written consent
deception
participants are misled about purp;ose; aims of research
debreifing
at end of study/ review experiemtt/ answer questions
confidentiality
essential part of ethical psych research
institutional research board
reviews proposals for research that involves human participants
