Chapter 2: Psychology as a Science

Question 1

What are the Scientific Principles built on?

Answer 1

The univerise operates according to certain natural laws, such laws are discoverable and testable

Question 2

What is deductive reasoning?

Answer 2

process that starts with broad basi cprinciples and applies them in specific situations

Question 3

What are biases?

Answer 3

distorted beliefs based on a prson’s subjective sense of reality

Question 4

What is inductive reasoning?

Answer 4

reasoning process proceeding from small specific situations to more general truths/ avoids biases

Question 5

What is the definition of empirical?

Answer 5

able to be tested in objective ways

Question 6

What are theories?

Answer 6

ideas about laws that govern phenomena

Question 7

What is the hypothetico-deductive reasoning?

Answer 7

scientists begin with an educated guess, then set about desighined small controlled obersvatioms to support their hypothesis

Question 8

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 8

a general statement about the way variables relate that is objectively failiifibale

Question 9

What are people doing when the misrepresting the since of psychology?

Answer 9

Pseidopyshcology

Question 10

What is a variable?

Answer 10

A condition, event or situation that is studied in an experiment; INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: the condition or event that is a factor in chaning another condition or event; what chages will it cause? DEPENDENT VARIABLE: the condition or event that changes in respond to the IV

Question 11

What does Operationalizing mean?

Answer 11

theIn addition to defining variable you also have to operationlize the variables- develop very precise definitions of the independent and dependent variables tat allow you to measure and test them. Sometimes it is hard to operationalize the dependent variable if it is something like aggressive behaviour; you could have participants fill out a questionnaire etc.

Question 12

What is the definition of a sample?

Answer 12

The group of people studied in an experiment used to stand in for an entire group of people; b/c researchers cannot study an entire population

Question 13

What is the definition of random selection?

Answer 13

Most of the time researchers prefer to obtain their samples through random selection; choosing participants in a way that everybody in the population of interest has an equal chance of becoming part of the sample; you can minimize SAMPLING BIASES; you will not inadvertently select a group that is especially likely to confirm your hypothesis

Question 14

What are the different types of Research Methods?

Answer 14

Descriptive: studies the allow researchers to demonstrate a relationship between the variables of interest, without specifying a casual relationship
Experimental: experiments which allow researchers to explain the causes of behaviour

Question 15

What are the different descriptive research methods?

Answer 15

Case Studies, Naturalistic Observation, Surveys, and (Correlation)

Question 16

Describe Case Studies

Answer 16

A case study focuses on a single person; medical practitioners who treat people with problems often conduct case studies to help determine a therapeutic intervention; it can be a good resource for developing early ideas about phenomena; but it can be affected greatly by researcher biases ( when researchers see only what they expect to see) another disadvantage is that researchers cannot generalize to other situations from the study of one single person

Question 17

Describe Naturalistic Observation

Answer 17

Researchers watch as unobtrusively as possible while people behave as they normally do; children in schools or daycare is an example; they are more reflective of actual human behaviour then most other research designs; can be subject to researcher biases; mere presence of a reacher can change behaviour of participants

Question 18

What is the Hawthorne Effect?

Answer 18

People who are being observed will improve behaviour because they know they are being watched or guided, not in response to an experimental manipulation

Question 19

Describe Surveys

Answer 19

Researchers ask people a series of questions, different ways to ask; surveys allow researchers to obtain information the they may not be able to gather otherwise; provide data that enable researchers to measure how strong the relationship is between two variables of interest; data can be unreliable because people often answer surveys in ways that are socially acceptable rather than how they actually feel

Question 20

Describe Experiments

Answer 20

To now what causes what; controlled observation in which researchers manipulate levels of one variable

Question 21

What is the Experimental group?

Answer 21

The group that is exposed to the IV

Question 22

What is the control group?

Answer 22

The group that has not been or will not be exposed to the IV

Question 23

What are demand characteristics?

Answer 23

Researchers must set up their studies so that they do not unintentionally convert to participants the outcome that they expect to see

Question 24

What is a double-blind procedure?

Answer 24

It is when neither the participant or the researcher knows which group the participant is in

Question 25

What is a Corrleation?

Answer 25

a predictable relationship between two or more variables

Question 26

What is a Coreelation coefficient?

Answer 26

A statstic expressing the strength and nature of a realshonship between two variables; it can range from -1.00 to +1.00; the positive or negative tells you the direction of the relationship; when scores on both variables get bigger together POSITIVE CORRELATION; when variables are NEGATIVELY CORRELATED higher scores on one variable are relate to lower scores on another variable; the number tells us the size or strength of the realshonship between variables, the larger the number the STRONGER the relationship, a correlation coefficient of 0 means that there is no linear relationship between the two variables; a correlation of -1.00 or +1.00 is known as a perfect correlation the variable scores are aways perfectly related; one score always rises or falls in direct proportion to the changes in the other variable; corrleations offer lots of useful info when we are interested in the scientific goal of prediction

Question 27

What does correlation not tell you?

Answer 27

Causation! whether or not a change in one variable actually causes the change in the other/ only experimental studies and experimental analyses can tell us weheterh casualty is at work

Question 28

What is Corrlational Research?

Answer 28

The descriptive approach to psychological research; often involves looking at the realshhonships among variables using correlation statistics

Question 29

What are descriptive statistics?

Answer 29

describe or summarize the data gathered from a study

Question 30

What are inferential statistics?

Answer 30

tell researchers what they can conclude, more broadly from their results

Question 31

What is the standard deviation?

Answer 31

index of how mucht he participants score vary from oner another within each group

Question 32

What is replication?

Answer 32

repeated testing of a hypothesis to ensure that the results you achieve in one expiermtn are not due to chance

Question 33

What is the REB?

Answer 33

research oversight group that evaluates research to protect the rights of participants in the study

Question 34

What do the REB do?

Answer 34

Obtain informed consent; gives info on purpose, procedures, risks, benefits, of the study etc; protect participants from harm, protect confidentiality, voluntary participation, complete debriefing,