Chapter 2 - Section 1 Lessons from Clever Hans, and 2 Flashcards
What is science?
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)
What was the mystery of Clever Hans?
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)
What was the solution to Clever Hans’s mystery?
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)
How are facts, theories, and hypotheses related to one another in scientific research?
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)
How does the Clever Hans story illustrate the value of skepticism?
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)
What is parsimony, or Occam’s razor?
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)
How does the Clever Hans story illustrate the value of controlled experimentation?
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)
How does the Clever Hans story illustrate the need for researchers to avoid communicating their expectations to subjects?
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)
What are different types of research studies?
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)
What is an experiment?
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)
What is a variable?
Simply anything that can vary. (p. 34)
What is an independent variable?
The variable that is hypothesized to cause some effect on another variable, the dependent variable. (p. 34)
What is a dependent variable?
The variable (in psychology usually measures of behavior) that is hypothesized to be affected by the independent variable. (p. 34)
What are within-subject (or repeated-measures) experiments?
Each subject is tested in each of the different conditions of the independent variable (that is, the subject is repeatedly tested). (p. 34)
What are between-groups (or between-subjects) experiments?
There is a separate group of subjects for each different condition of the independent variable. (p. 34)