Experimental Psychology and the Scientific Method Flashcards
connotes content and process.
Science
consists of the scientific techniques we use to collect and evaluate data.
Methodology
consists of the scientific techniques we use to collect and evaluate data.
Methodology
are the facts we gather using scientific methods.
Data
Heider called nonscientific data gathering ______.
This approach uses nonscientific sources of data and nonscientific inference.An everyday example is believing that “opposites attract.”
is the kind of everyday, nonscientific gathering that shapes
our expectations and beliefs and directs our behavior toward others.
commonsense psychology
the data we gather as commonsense psychologists
come from sources that seem credible and trustworthy- friends, relatives, people with authority
Sources of psychological information
is the nonscientific use of information to explain or predict behavior. The gambler’s fallacy, overuse of trait explanations, stereotyping,
Nonscientific inference
In the _____, people misuse data to estimate the probability of an event, like when a slot machine will pay off.
gambler’s fallacy
In ______, we falsely assume that specific behaviors cluster together. For example, since Imei is a Chinese-American student, she must study 10 hours a day and excel at math. In reality, she failed calculus. This ignore individual differences.
stereotyping
In _______, we feel more confident about our conclusions than is warranted by available data. This form of nonscientific inference can result in erroneous conclusions when we don’t recognize the limitations of supporting data.
overconfidence bias
_______ scientific mentality assumes that behavior follows a natural order and can be predicted. This assumption is essential to science. There is no point to using the scientific method to gather and analyze data if there is no implicit order. The principle of determinism is applied when we believe that the causes of human behavior can be researched.
Alfred North Whitehead’s
Data are empirical when observed or experienced, preferably in a systematic and orderly way. Galileo’s empirical approach was superior to Aristotle’s commonsense method. Galileo correctly concluded that light objects fall as rapidly as heavy ones in a vacuum.
Gathering Empirical Data
A law consists of statements generally expressed as equations with few variables that have overwhelming empirical support. Laws, like the Laws of Thermodynamics,
are useful in the physical sciences.
Seeking General Principles
This is an interim explanation; a set of related statements used explain and predict phenomena. This integrate diverse data, explain behavior, and predict new instances of behavior.
theory
is critical to the scientific method. We engage in this when data collection and interpretation are systematic, objective, and rational.
Good thinking
- this emphasizes to the basic
premise that entities should not be multiplied
without necessity.
Occam’s Razor
The ______ is that we prefer simplest useful explanation.
For example, Crandall (1988) showed that a social contagion model of bulimia was more parsimonious than competing
explanations.
principle of parsimony
Modern scientists accept the uncertainty of their
own conclusions. Changes in scientific explanations and theories are an extremely important part of scientific
progress.
Self-Correction
The number of scientific papers published each year in scientific journals is growing, and new journals are constantly being added in specialized disciplines. This continuous exchange of information is vital to the scientific
process.
Publicizing Results
We should be able to repeat our procedures and get the same results again if we have gathered data objectively and if we have followed good thinking.
Replication
In psychological science, we are referring to a systematic and unbiased account of the observed characteristics of behaviors. Good description allow us greater knowledge of
behaviors because they provide us with the information about what the behavior will be like.
Description
refers to the capacity for knowing in advance when certain behaviors would be expected to occur – to be able to predict them ahead of time – because we have identified other conditions with which the behaviors are linked or associated.
Prediction
When we have explained a behavior, we also understand what causes it to occur. Explanation includes knowledge of the conditions that reliably reproduce the occurrence of a behavior.
Explanation
refers to the application of what has been learned about behavior. Control is rarely the intent of experimentation,
but some research is conducted with the intent of producing behavioral change along with increasing knowledge.
Control
is research that is designed to solve real-world problems.
Applied Research
is research designed to test theories or to explain psychological phenomena in humans and animals.
Basic Research
is the systematic noting and recording of events. We can only make a scientific study of events that are observable. To make scientific study of internal process like feeling and thinking, we must able to define those events in terms of
observable signs.
Observation
is quantifying an event or behavior according to generally accepted rules. We try to measure in standardized units so that our measurements will be meaningful. We keep our measurements consistent.
Measurement
is a process undertaken to demonstrate that already observed events will occur consistently under a particular set of conditions. To conduct an experiment, the hypothesis must be testable; procedures must be available to test
it, and it must be ethical to do so.
Experimentation
– are the circumstances that come before the event or behavior that we want to explain.
Antecedent Condition
- a specific set of antecedent conditions created by the experimenter and presented to subjects to test its effect on
behavior.
Treatment Condition
- is a controlled procedure in which at least two different
treatment conditions are applied to subjects. The subjects’ behaviors are then measured and compared to test a hypothesis about the effects of those treatments on behavior.
Psychology Experiment
An experiment requires that we create at least two treatment conditions and randomly assign subjects to these conditions. In psychology experiments, we control _____ so we that we can measure “what we intend to measure.”
extraneous variables
Experiments establish a ______, because causes must precede effects. However, not all prior events are causes.
temporal relationship
A _____ is any field of study that gives the appearance of being scientific, but has no true scientific basis and has not
been confirmed using the scientific method. Modern pseudosciences include past life regression, reparenting, and rebirthing.
pseudoscience
A _____ is any field of study that gives the appearance of being scientific, but has no true scientific basis and has not
been confirmed using the scientific method. Modern pseudosciences include past life regression, reparenting, and rebirthing.
pseudoscience