Fall Flashcards
Empirical Methods
Approaches to inquiry that are tied to actual measurement and observation
Ethics
Professional guidelines that offer researchers a temple for making decisions that protect participants from harm
Help steer scientists away from conflicts of interest or other situations that might compromise the integrity of their research
Hypotheses
A logical idea that can be tested
Systematic observation
A careful observation of the natural world with the aim of better understanding it,
observations provide the basic data that allow scientists to track, tally or otherwise organization about the natural world
Theories
groups of closely related phenomena or observations
Causality
The determination that one variable causes - is responsible for an effect
Anecdotal evidence
a piece of biased evidence, usually drawn from personal experience, used to support a conclusion that may or may not be correct
Correlation
The measure of relatedness of two or more variables
Data
information systematically collected for analysis and interpretation
Deductive reasoning
A form of reasoning in which a premise determines the interpretation of specific observations
Distribution
The relative frequency that a particular value occurs for each possible value of a given variable
Empirical
concerned with observation and/or the ability to verify a claim
Falsify
the ability of a claim to be tested and possibly refuted
Generalize
the degree to which one can extend conclusions drawn from the findings of a study to other groups or situations not included in the study
Induction
to draw conclusions from specific observations
Null hypothesis significance testing
a test created to determine the chances that an alternative hypothesis would produce a result as extreme as the one observed if the null hypothesis were actually true
Objective
being free of personal bias
Representative
the degree to which. sample is a typical example of the population from which it is drawn
Sample
a number of people selected from the population to serve as an example of that population
Scientific theory
an explanation for observed phenomena that is empirically well supported, consistent and predictive
Type I error
the error of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true
type II error
the error of failing to reject the null hypothesis when it is false
Behaviorism
the study of behavior
Cognitive psychology
the study of mental processes
Consciousness
awareness of ourselves and our environment
Empiricism
The belief that knowledge comes from experience
Eugenics
The practice of selective breeding to promote desired traits
Flashbulb memory
A highly detailed and vivid memory of an emotionally significant event
Functionalism
focus on the utility of consciousness
Gestalt psychology
an attempt to study the unity of experience
introspection
a method of focusing on internal processes
individual differences
ways in which people differ in terms of their behavior, emotion, cognition and development
Neural impulse
an electro chemical signal that enables neurons to communicate
Psychophysics
study of the relationships between physical stimuli and the perception of those stimuli
Realism
a pov that emphasizes the importance of the sense in providing knowledge of the external world
structuralism
describe the elements of a conscious experience
Cause and effect
related to whether we say on variable is causing changes in the other variable, versus other variables that may be related to these two variables
Confidence interval
an interval of plausible values of a population parameter, the interval of values within the margin of error of a statistic
Distribution
the pattern of variation in data
Margin of error
the expected amount of random variation in a stat, often defined for 95% confidence level
Parameter
a numerical result summarizing a population
P-value
the probability based method to divide a sample into treatment groups
Random assignment
using a probability based method to divide a sample into treatment groups
random sampling
using a probability based method to select a subset of individual for the sample from the population
Sample
the collection of individuals on which we collect data
Validity
the degree to which a measure is assessing what it is intended to measure
Daily diary method
a method where participants complete a questionnaire about their thoughts, feelings and behaviour of the day
day reconstruction method
a method where partcipants describe their experiences and behavior of a given day retrospectively upon a systematic reconstruction on the following day
Ecological momentary assessment
methods that repeatedly sample participants real world experiences behavior and physiology in real time
Ecological validity
the degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday
Experience sampling method
A methodology where participants report on their momentary thoughts, feelings, and behaviors at different points in time over the course of a day.
External validity
The degree to which a finding generalizes from the specific sample and context of a study to some larger population and broader settings
full cycle psychology
A scientific approach whereby researchers start with an observational field study to identify an effect in the real world, follow up with laboratory experimentation to verify the effect and isolate the causal mechanisms, and return to field research to corroborate their experimental findings.
Generalize
the ability to arrive at broad conclusions based on a smaller sample of observations. the sample should accurately represent the larger population from which it is drawn
internal validity
the degree to which a cause effect relationship between two variables has been unambiguously established
lived day analysis
a method where a research team follows an individual around with a video camera to document a persons daily life as it is lived
Confounds
factors that undermine the ability to draw casual infrences from an experiment
longitudinal study
a study that follows the same group of individuals over time
Operational definitions
how researchers specifically measure a concept
participant demand
when participants behave in a way they think the experimenter wants them to behave
placebo effect
when receiving special treatment or something new affects human behavior
Quasi experimental design
an experiment that does not require random assignment to conditions
