Exam 2 Flashcards
What are the two ways to structure an experiment?
1) “after-only” or cross-sectional
2) “before-after” or longitudinal
Which structure is more complex?
before-after
Steps of the “after-only” design
1) randomly assign subjects to groups/conditions (experimental, control)
2) evaluate the results (compare the means between the two groups)
What is a potential problem with the after-only design?
the difference between the control and experimental groups could have been due to chance (ex: glucose study…randomization failed and one group could have started out stronger than the other group)
What are the 4 steps of the “before-after” design?
1) randomly assign subjects to groups
2) conduct a pre-test (baseline) to ensure groups are similar
3) administer the experiment treatment and retest the groups
4) evaluate the results (compare the pre-test vs. post-test)
What is another term for pre-test sensitization?
order effect
What is the order effect?
changes in before-after measures may be due to the inhibition (holding back) of initial performance
What are three examples of the order effect inhibition?
1) conscious inhibition: (sandbagging)
2) learning: (improvement due to knowledge acquired between the pre and post test
3) habituation: inhibition due to uncertainty with the procedure or environment
What is a solution to pre-test sensitization?
counterbalance or change the order of the treatments (first give A-B, then give B-A) (control =A, experimental condition = B) (if both experimental graph bars are higher, then there is no order effect and the experimental condition is higher)
When can you NOT use the counterbalance method?
when things are learned and their is permanent change. Example, you can unlearn how to read, so you can’t do A-B, then B-A
what is the rosenthal effect? (researcher caused)
contamination (in a study) that occurs because the experimenter actually knows or thinks they know something about the desired results
How can the rosenthal effect ruin well-planned studies?
1) the experimenter has expectations about the results of the study from the hypothesis
2) these expectations can cause DEMAND characteristics, which are cues or clues given y the experimenter to the participant that alert the participant to the expected results/hypothesis
3) participant changes behavior in order to fulfill the hypothesis
4) THE PACT OF IGNORANC
What is the pact of ignorance?
when asked, the participant does not admit to having any knowledge about the hypothesis or altering her behavior (and the researcher believes them)
Why does the researcher believe them?
because results show that even if a tester tattles, the participant will fake a learning curve
What is the horse example of the rosenthal effect?
hans the horse could count, make change, etc. the testers were unconsciously cuing the horse as hans could detech head movements as small as 1/5”
What is the halo effect? (also researcher caused)
contamination that occurs because the experimenter either actually knows or thinks they know something about the participant
what is the example of the halo effect with national vs. regional qualifiers tapes?
tape A is labeled national qualifiers, tape b is regional…regardless of if the tapes are labeled right or wrong, the judges will score the one with the supposed national qualifier higher because you expect they will receive higher scores
what is the example of the halo effect with the experimenter who conducts maximal fitness tests?
guy in IU athletics shirt vs. guy in metalica shirt…depending on what the participant wears or looks like, the tester will expect different results and thus change his or her behavior toward the subject (ex: encourage vs. ignore)
What is the solution for the rosenthal and halo effects?
conduct a single blind study (run by experimenters who are not told the purpose (hypothesis) of the study and not given info about participants)
What is the Hawthorne effect?
- example: lightbulb size and brightness vs. productively
- inert agents or procedures aimed at pleasing a patient rather than exhibiting a specific effect (simulated treatment and the surround psychosocial context on the patient)
- the improvements in experimental treatments/conditions may be partly or entirely due to the special attention associated with these treatments
- groups = control, experimental, placebo
what is the placebo effect? (very similar to hawthorne)
a substance or procedure that results in genuine psychological or physiological effects, but which lacks the active ingredients or therapeutic bases to cause those effects
what is the solution for the placebo/hawthorne effect?
conduct a double blind study (experimenters are not told purpose of study or any info about participants and participants don’t know which condition they are receiving)
what is influence of glucose on strength from glucose alone?
the amount that is contributing to the increase in strength above the place (essentially the difference between the post-test bar height between glucose condition and placebo condition)
What is the nocebo effect? (US athlete example)
ex: US speed skating athletes were given dimpled suits but did horrible with them because they didn’t believe they would work
if placebos sometimes work, then why not use them? (6 reasons)
- costly (time, resources, money)
- they do not help everyone (some people don’t respond to them while others do)
- replying on a placebo will not cure the problem and could inhibit the search for real solutions
- they promote a lack of credibility
- the effects of the placebo wear off (ex: mark spits sandpapering his skin…only works once)
- the use of placebos can indirectly promote ergogenic drug use
Are placebos effective for elite athletes?
Yes, increased their performance by 2-3%
3 medical examples placebos were used for in the movie
- Parkinson’s
- IBS
- Clinical pain
What evidence is there that placebos have direct effect on the brain?
Brain activity mimics what the actual drug would do
3 main questions asked regarding personality in sport
- are successful athletes psychologically different?
- can psychological factors distinguish winners from losers?
- If so, are they accurate enough to use to select athletes for teams?
Can users feel better from a placebo, even when they know its fake?
Yes. The patient began to suffer when they were no longer receiving their placebo
what is personality?
- mainly stable…how people respond to situations…related to cognition, emotions/feelings, and behavior
- stays the same throughout life
personality traits are not always expressed or evident because…
specific circumstances are needed to elicit a certain behavior
what 3 factors influence the development of personality?
- genetics (extroversion)
- environment (intelligence)
- developmental factors (growth, maturation)
how many major personality factors are there?
depends on theory…2-16…5 now…two main are extroversion and neuroticism (everything else is an expansion of these 2
what are the 5 major personality factors of current theory?
- openness to experience
- conscientiousness
- extraversion (sociability and positive affect/emotion)
- agreeableness
- neuroticism (emotional instability and negative affect)
what are the three “isms” that define what is most important in predicting and explaining human behavior/personality?
- personologism: (traits are most important)
- situationalism: (environment is most important)
- interactionalism: (traits and environment are equally important)
what are the two perspectives regarding personality theory?
- credulous perspective: traits are very useful and accurate predictors of behavior
- skeptical perspective: traits are not very useful or accurate predictors of behavior
what are the two types of ways to measure personality?
- projective measures: (one-on-one, must be trained to give it and interpret it) use to infer psychological traits from interpretations of ambiguous or unstructured stimuli
- non-projective/objective measures (scantron..given to a ton of people at once): questionaires developed to measure specific psychological variables, including personality traits
what is the wonderlic test?
given to NFL combine players (basic math/comprehension questions)
what is test validity?
the degree that a personality test measures what it purports/claims to measure
can personality tests be used to predict participation or success in sports? what about other settings?
we use them a lot because we assume they work
general validity =
predictive validity + content validity + construct validity
what is predictive validity?
a correlation between the test score and a behavior
- can be prospective (ex: SAT predicting college GPA)
- or can be retrospective (ex: SAT correlating to HS GPA)
what is content validity?
the content or items on the test must accurately reflect the behavior or skill of interest (ex: parallel parking on a driving test if you live in a cornfield is low content validity but high content validity if you live in the city!)
what is construct validity?
- the most important or highest form of test validity
- abstractions or artificial variables that cannot be directly measured, but are regarded as useful for understanding/explaining behavior
- ex: all psychological variables are constructs (anxiety, intelligence, personality, motivation, depression, etc)
what two forms of evidence establish construct validity?
- convergent evidence
2. discriminant evidence
what is convergent evidence?
the construct must be substantially related/correlated with other measures of the same construct (want scores correlated but not identical…or else you would be measuring the same thing)
-correlations should be between r=.5 to r=.7 (can be positive or negative
what is discriminant evidence?
the construct (test) must NOT be substantially correlated with measures that are logically dissimilar -ex: SAT and hand-eye coordination (R should be 0 to.1)
