Intro & Scientific Method Flashcards
structuralism
Uses the method of introspection to identify the basic elements or “structures” of psychological experience
main structuralists
Wundt, Titchener
functionalism
understand why animals and humans have developed the particular psychological aspects that they currently possess;
influenced by Darwinism - became evolutionary psychology
main functionalist
William James
psychodynamic psychology
approach to understanding human behavior that focuses on the role of unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories
behaviorism
based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore that psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behavior itself
main psychodynamics
Freud, Jung, Adler
main behaviorists
Pavlov (classical conditioning)
Watson (Locke’s tabula rosa)
Skinner (operant conditioning)
humanistic
reaction against psychoanalysis and behaviorism; uniquely positive human characteristics; understand from phenomenological perspective, individual perspective
main humanists
Rogers (getting in touch with self and personal growth)
Maslow (hierarchy of needs)
cognitive psychology
studies mental processes, including perception, thinking, memory, and judgment
when we take into consideration how stimuli are evaluated and interpreted, we understand behavior more deeply.
main cognitive psychologists
Ebbinghaus, Barlett, Piaget (memory is influenced by what we already know was also a major idea behind the cognitive-developmental stage model)
social-cultural psychology
study of how the social situations and the cultures in which people find themselves influence thinking and behavior
social norms
the ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that are shared by group members and perceived by them as appropriate
include customs, traditions, standards, and rules, as well as the general values of the group
culture
the common set of social norms, including religious and family values and other moral beliefs, shared by the people who live in a geographical region
personality psychoogy
These psychologists study people and the differences among them. The goal is to develop theories that explain the psychological processes of individuals, and to focus on individual differences.
Basic research
research that answers fundamental questions about behavior
Applied research
research that investigates issues that have implications for everyday life and provides solutions to everyday problems.
laws
Principles that are so general as to apply to all situations in a given domain of inquiry
theory
an integrated set of principles that explains and predicts many, but not all, observed relationships within a given domain of inquiry.
Qualities of a good theory
general, meaning they summarize many different outcomes.
parsimonious, meaning they provide the simplest possible account of those outcomes
falsifiablewhich meansthe variables of interest can be adequately measured and the relationships between the variables that are predicted by the theory can be shown through research to be incorrect
research hypothesis
a specific and falsifiable prediction about the relationship between or among two or more variables
variable
any attribute that can assume different values among different people or across different times or places
Conceptual variables
abstract ideas that form the basis of research hypotheses. Sometimes the conceptual variables are rather simple—for instance, “age,” “gender,” or “weight.” In other cases the conceptual variables represent more complex ideas, such as “anxiety,” “cognitive development,” “learning,” self-esteem,” or “sexism.”
measured variables
variables consisting of numbers that represent the conceptual variables.
first step in testing a hypothesis
e.g., he conceptual variable “participating in psychotherapy” could be represented as the measured variable “number of psychotherapy hours the patient has accrued”
operational definition
a precise statement of how a conceptual variable is turned into a measured variable
Research Designs
Descriptive
Correlational
Experimental
Descriptive Research
a snapshot of the current state of affairs
Provides a relatively complete picture of what is occurring at a given time. Allows the development of questions for further study.
Does not assess relationships among variables. May be unethical if participants do not know they are being observed.
Types of Descriptive Research
case studies—descriptive records of one or more individual’s experiences and behavior.
survey—a measure administered through either an interview or a written questionnaire to get a picture of the beliefs or behaviors of a sample of people of interest.The people chosen to participate in the research(known as thesample) are selected to be representative ofall the people that the researcher wishes to know about(thepopulation).
naturalistic observation—isresearch based on the observation of everyday events.
Descriptive Statistics
numbers that summarize the distribution of scores on a measured variable - to describe the outcomes of descriptive research
central tendency
the point in the distribution around which the data are centered
mean, median, mode
mean is the most commonly used measure of central tendency. It is computed by calculating the sum of all the scores of the variable and dividing this sum by the number of participants in the distribution
medianisthe score in the center of the distribution, meaning that 50% of the scores are greater than the median and 50% of the scores are less than the median.
mode, representsthe value that occurs most frequently in the distribution.
dispersion
refers to the extent to which the scores are all tightly clustered around the central tendency
standard deviation
the most commonly used measure of dispersion
Distributions with a larger standard deviation have more spread.
correlational research
involves the measurement of two or more relevant variables and an assessment of the relationship between or among those variables
correlational variables and their relationships
one of them is called thepredictor variableand the other theoutcome variable
Positive Linear
Negative Linear
Independent
Curvilinear patterns of association in which, although there is an association, the points are not well described by a single straight line (Increases in anxiety from low to moderate levels are associated with performance increases, whereas increases in anxiety from moderate to high levels are associated with decreases in performance）
Pearson correlation coefficient
measurement of correlation: ranges fromr= –1.00 tor= +1.00; Positive values ofr(such asr= .54 orr= .67) indicate that the relationship is positive linear; negative values ofr(such asr= –.30 orr= –.72) indicate negative linear relationships
strength of the linear relationship is indexed by the distance of the correlation coefficient from zero (its absolute value). For instance,r= –.54 is a stronger relationship thanr= .30, andr= .72 is a stronger relationship thanr= –.57.
Multiple regression
statistical technique, based on correlation coefficients among variables, that allows predicting a single outcome variable from more than one predictor variable
predictor variables of salary, satisfaction and years employed with outcome of job performance
common-causal variable
a variable that is not part of the research hypothesis but that causes both the predictor and the outcome variable and thus produces the observed correlation between them.
spurious relationship
a relationship between two variables in which a common-causal variable produces and “explains away” the relationship.
experimental research
research hypothesis suggests that the manipulated independent variable or variables will cause changes in the measured dependent variables
independent variable
the causing variable that is created (manipulated) by the experimenter.
dependent variable
a measured variable that is expected to be influenced by the experimental manipulation.
Initial Equivalence among experimental conditions
e.g., random assignment to conditions,a procedure in which the condition that each participant is assigned to is determined through a random process, such as drawing numbers out of an envelope or using a random number table.
Threats to Research Validity
Construct validity
Statistical conclusion validity
Internal validity
Construct validity
the extent to which the variables used in the research adequately assess the conceptual variables they were designed to measure.
One requirement for construct validity is that the measure bereliable, wherereliabilityrefers tothe consistency of a measured variable.
Statistical conclusion validity
refers tothe extent to which we can be certain that the researcher has drawn accurate conclusions about the statistical significance of the research.
Statistical significance
the confidence with which a scientist can conclude that data are not due to chance or random error.
Internal validity
the extent to which we can trust the conclusions that have been drawn about the causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables
e.g.:
expectancy effects - telling the subjects that they are being given alcohol
experimenter bias - a situation in which the experimenter subtly treats the research participants in the various experimental conditions differently, resulting in an invalid confirmation of the research hypothesis.
double-blind experiment
both the researcher and the research participants are blind to condition.
external validity
the extent to which relationships among conceptual variables can be demonstrated in a wide variety of people and a wide variety of manipulated or measured variables, ie, generalized
Generalization
the extent to which relationships among conceptual variables can be demonstrated in a wide variety of people and a wide variety of manipulated or measured variables.
If generalization is not possible, then there is a limiting condition
meta-analysis
a statistical technique that uses the results of existing studies to integrate and draw conclusions about those studies.
longitudinal research designs
research designs in which individuals in the sample are followed and contacted over an extended period of time, often over multiple developmental stages.
Cross-sectional research designs
an alternative to longitudinal designs.
age comparisons are made between samples of different people at different ages at one time
Cohort effects
confounding principle referring to the possibility that differences in cognition or behavior at two points in time may be caused by differences that are unrelated to the changes in age. The differences might instead be due to environmental factors that affect an entire age group.
