exam I Flashcards
what is psychology?
the scientific study of behavior and mental processes, relies on scientific method
what is research methods?
ways to answer questions about people’s behavior and mental processes
illusory correlation
focus on two events that occur together and assume they are causally related
intuition and authority are…
limited
empiricism
knowledge is based on observation, data plays central role
adversarial
competing hypotheses/predictions are tested to move us closer to the truth
how to be skilled consumer of research
what was measured/how, how do they know one thing caused another, to what/whom can we generalize the results, have other researchers found same results?
4 goals of science
- describe behavior
- predict behavior
- determine the causes of behavior
- explain behavior
describing behavior
describing systematic relationships between events/variables
predicting behavior
when two events co-vary systematically, we can start to predict the likelihood of one event from another
determining causes of behavior (factors)
temporal precedence, covariation of cause and effect, elimination of alternative explanations
understanding/explaining behavior
answering the “why?” questions
applied research
use of research psychology theories and methods to address practical problems and propose potential solutions
basic research
tries to answer fundamental questions about nature of behavior
program evaluation
assesses social reforms and innovations occurring in government, education, criminal justice system, industry, etc.
theories
systematic body of ideas about a particular topic
functions: organize/explain and generate new ideas
common sense
adages or sayings, commonly held beliefs
5 research sources of ideas
theories, common sense, observation, past research, practical problems
abstract
research summary in 120 words
introduction
what are you studying? how does past research lead logically to current study hypotheses?
methods
overview, participants, measures, procedure
results
statistical analysis and findings
discussion
discuss findings in context of current literature, limitations, future directions, concluding thoughts
milgram’s obedience experiment
very strong shock, how far will go to obey authority figure
tuskegee syphilis experiment
U.S. public health service on 399 black men in late stages of syphilis (effects of untreated)
belmont report main principles
beneficence, respect for persons, justice
beneficence
risk-benefits analysis (harm/stress vs treatment/educational benefits or application)
compensation is…
NOT a benefit in beneficence
autonomy
ability to make deliberate decisions about participation, informed consent process
issues w autonomy
vulnerable populations, coercion, info issues, debriefing
justice
selection of participants must be just
equity
scientific rationale for including/excluding populations
exempt from IRB oversight
no more than minimal risk AND edu research, surveys/interviews/observations, analysis of previous data, etc
non-exempt research (expedited review)
no more than minimal risk AND some clinical/drug studies, noninvasive blood/biological specimens, recordings, etc
full board review
more than minimal risk, new treatments, invasive procedures, collecting sensitive data with identifiers
what is a variable
any event, situation, behavior, individual characteristic, response that varies
situational variable
ex temperature, light, rejection
participant variable
self-esteem, height, reading level
response variable
reaction time, cortisol levels, performance, helping behavior
mediating variable
explains how/why two variables are related
moderating variable
a variable that changes the way one variable (IV) affects another variable (DV)
operational definition
defining a variable in terms of the techniques used to measure or manipulate it
variables must be measured on…
numeric/continuous scale (not categories)
non-experimental method
observing/measuring all variables of interest
experimental method
manipulating IV to see its effect on DV, experimental control
non-experimental method two problems
direction of cause+effect and third variable effect (extranous/confounding)
experimental method 3 factors
manipulation of independent variable, experimental control, randomization
manipulation of independent variable establishes…
temporal precedence + co-variation of cause and effect
construct validity
operational definition reflect the theoretical meaning of the variable
internal validity
ability to draw conclusions about causal relationships
changes in IV caused DV changes
based on: temporal precedence, covariation of c+e, elimination of alt. explanations/confounds
external validity
generalizability! field experiments, diff. operational definitions, participants, settings
