Final Exam Flashcards
What is intuition based on?
Personal feelings (subjective), knowledge, BUT emerges without reason so it may be difficult to state why you feel the way you do
What is the difference between superstition and intuition?
Intuition may come without the use of reason but it can’t be contrary to reason, superstition is contrary to existing laws of nature and physics, intuition CAN be true, few life decisions should be made on superstition but intuition can be useful
What does intuition suffer from?
Confirmation bias, which is the remembrance of times your intuition was right while forgetting times it was wrong
When can intuition be useful?
Picking from a group of good choices, fast decisions
What is superstition?
Belief that violates known laws of nature, false association of causation
When is superstition a problem?
When people base their whole lives on it
What are examples of superstition?
Wishing, knocking on wood, good luck charms, lucky numbers
Where do superstitions come from?
Subjective feelings, cultural/learned, personal experiences
Can superstitions change outcomes?
Yes
Do people know their superstitions are irrational?
Yes
What is authority?
Information derived from sources one deems trustworthy, critically thinking about your sources
What are some questions to consider with authority?
Are all sources trustworthy?
Are trustworthy sources good across the board?
How do we determine who is trustworthy?
Who is deemed trustworthy?
Friends, relatives, specialists, teachers, newscasters
What are some examples of authority? (They will be listed but you can do your own)
Child believes in the tooth fairy because their parents say it is real
Sick cat needs a blood test because the vet says so.
50 states in the US because the teacher said so
How does the authority figure come by this knowledge?
Experience, another authority, direct observation
What is rational-inductive argument?
Use of previous knowledge and experience, logic, and reasoning, can be objective but vulnerable to subjectivity, it is used in academic fields such as literature, history, and philosophy
Do all rational-inductive argument have research behind them?
No
Ex: why do you like the music you like? Why is it your favorite restaurant the best? Why is a sports player underrated?
Do sources matter with rational-inductive arguments?
Yes! Because these arguments are only as good as the information they are based off of so good sources matter
What is the scientific method?
Used to acquire knowledge, info is collected objectively and systematically, allows information to be unambiguous and reduces bias
What is a hypothesis?
Testable explanation for how or why something occurs
Can we prove our hypothesis?
No
What can we do since we can’t prove our hypothesis?
Our data can support the hypothesis but it also can fail to support it
What counts as supporting vs failing to support a hypothesis?
95% confident
5% probability effect was due to random chance
What is a vehicle?
Everything but active ingredient (drug) of interest, given to people in control to account for admin effects as well as effects of ingredients themselves
What is the IV?
Condition researcher manipulates to observe potential impact on specified outcome measure (DV), minimum of 2 levels of IV to make any comparisons
What are levels/conditions of the IV?
Different ways IV is altered
What is the experimental group?
Group of participants that is given treatment of interest
What is the control group?
Participants that do not receive treatment of interest, shows differences between groups as result of IV and not other explanation
What is the DV?
Observable and measurable outcome of interest, believed to be dependent on conditions of IV
What is the purpose of a study?
To see if IV will have an effect on DV
What is a subject variable?
Measurable characteristic of participants that CANNOT be manipulated by researcher
What are examples of subject variables?
Substance use history, medical conditions, age, height, weight, gender identity, marital status, religion, income, education level
What kind of information do subject variables provide?
Correlational but not causal information
Why do we need subject variables?
Because there are a lot of conditions we care about that are things the research can’t manipulate or assign
What is causal information?
Manipulation of IV, X caused Y, some areas of science lend themselves to higher levels of experimenter control
Ex: rats given injection of cocaine had higher levels of activity than rats given a vehicle
What is correlational information?
No manipulation of IV, used when subject variables are of interest, CAN’T use causal language, correlation/association/relationship between X and Y
Ex: smoking associated with increased risk of lung cancer
What are multiple theories of parsimony?
Simplicity, support, and assumptions
Ex: I stick my key in lock it won’t turn
I have the wrong key
I have the wrong office
Department moved office and all belongings without telling me
All theories and deciding the best explanation with the simplest explanation
Why do we have statistics?
We can’t study every individual in a population, samples, generalization
What is a population?
Age, education level, SES, region/state, medical condition, substance use, occupation
What are scientific ways of knowing?
Scientific method
What are non-scientific ways of knowing?
Intuition, superstition, rational-inductive, and argument
When does superstition become a problem?
When it impacts peoples ability to function in society
What purpose should research have?
Understanding and predicting behavior, improving efficiency, disease treatment, aging, basic function
What are review papers?
No new original studies, cover scope of existing literature, good source for reference material, check primary sources