Chapter two Flashcards
Zimbardo’s study
Zimbardo’s study
Prisoners and guards started to act like real prisoners and guards after 6 days and the study had to stop
Hindsight bias
“I-knew-it-all-along”, overestimating your ability to predict an event, after the event outcome is known
The limits of observation
Our sense can be fooled
Generalizing observations, assume one situation applies to them all if you’ve observed it
The Scientific method:
OPTIC Observe Predict Test Interpret Communicate
Pseudoscience:
Pseudoscience: What science is not
Lacks the cumulative progress seen in science
Disregards real world observations and established results
Lacks internal skepticism
Vaguely explains how conclusions are reached
Uses loose and distorted logic
Findings cannot be replicated
Strategy is conformational, very easy to prove the can rather than cannot
Based on testimonials
Non-peer reviewed journals
Intellectual Integrity
every so often you hear of scientists who have faked studies. We know this because other scientists have tried to replicate their experiment and did not have similar findings
Theory:
a set of related assumptions from which a scientist can make testable predictions
Variable
Variable: anything that varies or changes between subjects
Ex: age, weight, extraversion, gender
Sample
subset of population being sudied
population
: the entire group the researcher is interested in
A single event can inspire new ideas and new lines of research:
Woman was attacked, stabbed and later died in an apartment complex, later 38 ppl confessed they heard or saw the attack and did nothing
This sparked two researchers interest and now research in on the “bystander effect” happens all the time today
Descriptive studies
Don’t make any predictions and do not manipulate or control variables
Researchers simply define a problem and describe very carefully the variables of interest
Basic question of descriptive studies: What is the nature of this phenomenon
Researchers make careful observations a lot of time in the real world
Descriptive designs often occur in the exploratory phase of research
Possible relationships and patterns are noted and can be used in other designs as the basis for testable predictions
Three most common types of descriptive studies
case studies
naturalistic observation
interview and survey
Case study
Observation of one person over long period of time
Use detailed descriptions to describe remarkable and rare events
Do not test hypotheses, but can be a source for hypotheses
Allow researchers to study things that are impractical to study any other way
case study example: case of D.S.
Example: case of DS
Man suffered head injury in traffic accident
He recovered cognitive abilities
Bu insisted his parents were replaced by doubles - rare symptom of Capgras condition
Interestingly- didn’t treat them as imposters when talking on phone to them, but only when he saw them in person
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naturalistic observation
Where a researcher unobtrusively observes and records behavior in the real world
Social desirability bias
The tendency towards favourable self-presentation that could lead to unreliable data
Correlation designs
Is x related to y
We cannot establish whether one variable causes another or vice versa
These different variables could be influenced by a number of things other than the other variable measured
Correlation coefficients
Stat that goes from -1 to 1
Asses the strength and direction of the relationship between the variables being measured
0 means no relationship
Close to -1 or 1 means relationship strength increases
Experimental studies
A research design
Two crucial characteristics
Manipulation of predicted cause (independent variable), the measurement of response (dependant variable)
Random asissgnamet of participants to control and experimental group
Placebo
A substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance
Confounding variable
An additional variable whose influence cannot be separated from the independent variable being examined (cannot be separated from the variable being manipulated)
Single Blind studies
When the participants knowledge of the experimental condition affects their behaviours or responses
Double-blind studies
Double-blind studies
Studies where the participant and the researcher who is administering the study don’t know who has been assigned to which condition (which person in control group and which in experimental group
Experimenter expectancy effects
Experimenter expectancy effects
When the knowledge of the experimenter of who is in which condition influences the behaviour of the participants
Meta-analysis
A technique where you combine all research results together and draw one conclusion from them all
Effect size
A measure of the strength of the relationship of two variables or the magnitude of the experimental effect
Operation definitions
Researchers specific definitions of how measure or manipulate variables
Measures
Tools or techniques used to assess thought and behavior
Measurement scale
Measurement scale
The categories or numbers assigned to each level of a variable
Nominal scale
Scale of measurement where the levels of a variable are represented by categories
Ordinal scale
Ordinal scale
Numbers are used to rank order levels of a variable
Interval scales
Interval scales
The different levels of a variable are assumed to have equal intervals
Ratio scale
Ratio scale
Variable represented by a numeric scale that has equal intervals and an absolute zero point
Goal of physiological data
Goal of physiological data: reliable and valid data
Reliability
Reliable: consistency of results
Validity
how well/ accurately your measure assesses the psychological quality you’re trying to measure
Psychological measure fall into three categories:
self report, behavioral (systematic observation of organisms actions or activities in their normal or laboratory environment) and physiological (provides data on bodily responses)
Descriptive statistics:
Descriptive statistics: methods used to describe and summarize research data
Frequency distribution:
Frequency distribution: a graph of how many times a variable was scores
Inferential statistics:
stats calculated on sample data to make conclusions about populations
T-test:
T-test: type of inferential statistic that tests for differences between means
Statistical significance:
what we call the result when the t-test says our findings are real, not just random
Significance level:
the standard used to determine statistical significance
Ethics:
standards of right and wrong…. Or …..the rules governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation
Milgram’s experiment:
Milgram’s experiment:
Milgram was interested with the war
Wondered to what extend psychological factors influenced people’s willingness to to carry out orders made by the nazi regime
Testing whether decent people could be made to inflict harm on other people
Mislead participants about true nature of experiment, they thought it was about learning
Participants administers electric shocks to “learner” in other room
Shock strength went up but the participants/ “teachers” were pressured to continue shocking the “learners”
Most people continued shocking.
Afterwards we find out no one was shocked or harmed
Proved how easily good people could be persuaded to hurt others
But was it ethical????
Ethical research with humans
1) Informed consent
2) Respect for persons (safeguard the dignity and autonomy of people and take extra precautions when dealing with people, ex: children, who don’t understand as clearly that their participation is voluntary
3) Beneficence (inform participants of cost and benefits of study)
4) Privacy and confidentiality
5) Justice (benefits and cost must be distributed equally among participants. Participants should come from wide variety of social groups. Groups should only be excluded where scientifically justifiable
Is deception in a study ethical?
- Always avoidable but can be permitted if it meets certain conditions
- 1) Justified by its scientific potential
- 2) Part of research design
- 3) No alternative to deception
- 4) Full debriefing afterwards
What makes sure ethic guidelines are followed?
Research ethics board
Ethical research with animals:
In Canada, all research involving animals must pass the guidelines made by the Canadian council on Animal care
