M05 Flashcards
What are common features of research methods
- empirical
- systematic.
- theoretical.
- public.
- self-reflective.
- open-ended.
What did the prefrontal lobotomy teach us
our impressions are often wrong
Concepts
Mental grouping of similar objects, people, ideas, or events. Simplify and speed thinking, but can also constrain it
prototypes
Mental images or pinnacle examples of a certain thing
Heuristics
Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that allow us to solve problems faster
* Reduce the cognitive energy required to solve problems
* Tend to oversimplify reality: error-prone
Algorithms
Logical, step-by-step procedure that eventually guarantees a solution but are slower
base rate
how common a characteristic or behaviour is in the general population
base rate fallacy
Neglecting to consider base rates
what are common heuristics
representativeness, availability
hindsight bias
“i knew it all long”
tendency to overestimate how well we could have successfully forecasted known outcomes(e.g., “I knew they were the perfect couple”)
overconfidence
tendency to overestimate our ability to make correct predictions
what does the scientific method allow
us to test specific hypotheses derived from broader theories of how things work
Case study designs
- Depth is traded for breadth (generalizability)
- Common with rare types of brain damage and other rare occurring cases
- Helpful in providing existence proofs, but can be misleading and anecdotal
Naturalistic Observation
watching behaviour in real-world settings
external (ecological) validity
extent to which we can generalize our findings to the real world
internal validity
extent to which we can draw cause-and-effect inferences
what are the advantages of interviews
More in-depth
High response rates
Nonverbals
what are the disadvantages of interviews
Cost
Interviewer bias
Interviewer effects
Self-report measures
questionnaires assessing a variety of characteristics (e.g., interests, traits)
what are the pros of self-report measures
Easy to administer
Direct (self) assessment of person’s state
what are the cons of self report measures
Accuracy is skewed for certain groups (narcissists)
Potential for dishonesty
what are response sets
tendencies of research subjects to distort their responses
random selection
key to generalizability; ensures every person in a population has an equal chance of being chosen to participate
what are the key parts of evaluating measures
reliability, validity
Test-retest Reliability
Similar scores over time
Inter-rater Reliability
Two raters should produce similar scores
how can we avoid the cons of self-reports
ask someone who knows the participation well to evaluate them
what new problems arises by asking someone who knows the participant well to evaluate them
Halo effect
Leniency effect
Error of central tendency
halo effect
tendency of ratings of one positive characteristic to spill over to influence the ratings of other positive characteristics
Leniency effect
tendency of raters to provide ratings that are overly generous
Error of central tendency
an unwillingness to provide extreme ratings (low or high)
Illusory Correlation
perception of a statistical association where none exists (e.g., crime and the full moon)
Confounds
any difference between the experimental and control groups, other than the independent variable; makes independent variable effects uninterpretable
Placebo effect
improvement resulting from the mere expectation of improvement
Nocebo effect
- harm resulting from the mere expectation of harm (e.g., voodoo doll phenomenon)
Experimenter expectancy effect
phenomenon in which researchers’ hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias a study outcome
Double-blind design
neither researchers nor subjects know who is in the experimental or control group
Hawthorne effect
phenomenon in which participants’ knowledge that they’re being studied can affect their behaviour
Demand characteristics
cues that participants pick up from a study that allow them to generate guesses regarding the researcher’s hypotheses
how to minimize hawthorne effect
- Covert observation
- Participant observation
Tuskegee Study (1932 - 1972)
- African American men living in rural Alabama diagnosed with syphilis
- U.S. Public Health Service never informed, or treated, the men
- Merely studied the course of the disease: 28 men died of syphilis, 100 of related complications, 40 wives were infected, 19 children were born with it
- In 1997, President Clinton offered a formal apology
Institutional Review Board (IRB):
examine proposals in light of ethical guidelines
Informed Consent
Agreement to participate in research after receiving adequate information
Exposure to harm
Confidentiality
Inferential statistics
mathematical methods that allow us to determine whether we can generalize findings from our sample to the population
sharpening
exaggerating the central message of the study
leveling
minimizing the less-central details
Pseudosymmetry
appearance of scientific controversy where none exists while purporting to provide “balanced coverage”
