Chapter 2 - Section 1 Lessons from Clever Hans, and 2

Question 1

What is science?

Answer 1

Science is the attempt to answer questions through the systematic collection and analysis of objective, publicly observable data (data that all observers can agree on).

Science attempts not only to describe behavior but also to explain it in natural cause-and-effect terms. (p. 29)

Question 2

What was the mystery of Clever Hans?

Answer 2

Mr. von Osten believed that his horse was intellectually gifted, and so did many other people until the psychologist Oskar Pfungst performed some simple experiments. (near the beginning of the twentieth century) (p. 30)

Question 3

What was the solution to Clever Hans’s mystery?

Answer 3

Cues from the audience. When members of the audience knew the answer to a question asked of Clever Hans, they inadvertently signaled the horse as to when to start and stop tapping, or which way to shake his head, through their own movements. (p. 31)

Question 4

How are facts, theories, and hypotheses related to one another in scientific research?

Answer 4

A fact, also referred to as an observation, is an objective statement, usually based on direct observation, that reasonable observers agree is true. In psychology, facts are usually particular behaviors, or reliable patterns of behaviors, of persons or animals.

A theory is an idea, or a conceptual model, that is designed to explain existing facts and make predictions about new facts that might be discovered.

Any prediction about new facts that is made from a theory is called a hypothesis.

Facts lead to theories, which lead to hypotheses, which are tested. (p. 31) (On the same page is explained how the story of Clever Hans illustrates the roles of facts, theories and hypotheses)

Question 5

How does the Clever Hans story illustrate the value of skepticism?

Answer 5

His skepticism led him to look more carefully; to notice what others had missed; to think of an alternative, more mundane explanation; and to pit the mundane explanation against the astonishing one in controlled tests. (p. 32)

Question 6

What is parsimony, or Occam’s razor?

Answer 6

The simpler the explanation is, the better it tends to be.

Basically, when there are two or more explanations that are equally able to account for a phenomenon, the simplest explanation is usually preferred. (p. 32)

Question 7

How does the Clever Hans story illustrate the value of controlled experimentation?

Answer 7

Pfungst solved the mystery of Clever Hans by identifying the conditions under which the horse could and could not respond correctly to questions. (p. 32)

Question 8

How does the Clever Hans story illustrate the need for researchers to avoid communicating their expectations to subjects?

Answer 8

In studies of humans and other sentient animals, the observers (the people conducting the research) may unintentionally communicate to subjects (the individuals being studied) their expectations about how they “should” behave, and the subjects, intentionally or not, may respond by doing just what the researchers expect.

Clever Hans’s entire ability depended on picking up cues. (p. 32)

Question 9

What are different types of research studies?

Answer 9

A useful way to categorize the various research strategies used by psychologists is to think of them as varying along the following three dimensions:

1 The research design, of which there are three basic types: experiments, correlational studies, and descriptive studies. (Researchers design a study to test a hypothesis, choosing the design that best fits the conditions the researchers want to control.)

2 The setting in which the study is conducted, of which there are two basic types: field and laboratory.

3 The data-collection method, of which there are two basic types: self-report and observation.

Each of these dimensions can vary independently from the others. (p. 33)

Question 10

What is an experiment?

Answer 10

The most direct and conclusive approach to testing a hypothesis about a cause-effect relationship between two variables.

More specifically, an experiment can be defined as a procedure in which a researcher systematically manipulates (varies) one or more independent variables and looks for changes in one or more dependent variables while keeping all other variables constant. (p. 34)

Question 11

What is a variable?

Answer 11

Simply anything that can vary. (p. 34)

Question 12

What is an independent variable?

Answer 12

The variable that is hypothesized to cause some effect on another variable, the dependent variable. (p. 34)

Question 13

What is a dependent variable?

Answer 13

The variable (in psychology usually measures of behavior) that is hypothesized to be affected by the independent variable. (p. 34)

Question 14

What are within-subject (or repeated-measures) experiments?

Answer 14

Each subject is tested in each of the different conditions of the independent variable (that is, the subject is repeatedly tested). (p. 34)

Question 15

What are between-groups (or between-subjects) experiments?

Answer 15

There is a separate group of subjects for each different condition of the independent variable. (p. 34)

Question 16

What us a random method?

Answer 16

A method relying only on chance. (p. 35)

Question 17

What is a correlational study?

Answer 17

A study in which the researcher does not manipulate any variable, but observes or measures two or more already existing variables to find relationships between them.

These studies do allow us to make predictions about one variable based on knowledge of another, but they do not tell us in any direct way whether change in one variable is the cause of change in another. (p. 35)

Correlation does not imply causality! (p. 36)

Question 18

What is a descriptive study?

Answer 18

When the aim of research is to describe the behavior of an individual or set of individuals without assessing relationships between different variables.

Descriptives studies may or may not make use of numbers. (p. 37)

Question 19

What is a laboratory study?

Answer 19

Any research study in which the subjects are brought to a specially designated area that has been set up to facilitate the researcher’s collection of data or control over environmental conditions. (p. 38)

Question 20

What is a field study?

Answer 20

Any research study conducted in a setting in which the researcher does not have control over the experiences that a subject has.

Question 21

How do research settings relate to the three kinds of research designs?

Answer 21

Experiments are most often conducted in the laboratory, because greater control of variables is possible in that setting, and correlational and descriptive studies are more often conducted in the field. (p. 38)

Question 22

What are self-report methods?

Answer 22

Procedures (such as interviews) in which people are asked to rate or describe their own behavior or mental state in some way. (p. 38)

Question 23

What is introspection?

Answer 23

One form of self-report, the personal observations of one’s thoughts, perceptions, and feelings.

Question 24

What are observational methods?

Answer 24

They include all procedures by which researchers observe and record the behavior of interest rather than relying on subjects’ self-reports. (p. 39)

Question 25

What are subcategories of observational methods?

Answer 25

1 Tests: the researcher deliberately presents problems, tasks, or situations to which the subject responds.

2 Naturalistic observation: the researcher avoids interfering with the subjects’ behavior.

Question 26

What is the Hawthorne effect?

Answer 26

A type of reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed. (p. 40 and Wikipedia)

Question 27

What is habituation?

Answer 27

A decline in response when a stimulus is repeatedly or continuously present.