Midterm 1 Flashcards
Intuition
When you rely on intuition, you accept unquestioningly what your personal judgment or a single story about one person’s experience tells you about the world.
illusory correlation
occurs when we focus on two events that stand out and occur together.
scientific skepticism
Recognizing that our own ideas are just as likely to be as wrong as anyone else’s, and question other people’s pronouncements of truth, regardless of their prestige or authority.
empiricism
knowledge is based on structured, systematic observations
Universalism (1/4 norms)
Scientific observations are systematically structured and evaluated objectively using accepted methods of the discipline. By relying on empiricism in this way, we expect that scientists can conduct research to test any idea, other scientists can disagree, and the research reponed from both sides can be objectively evaluated by others to find truth.
Communality (2/4 norms)
Methods and results are to be shared openly. One major benefit to open reporting is that others can replicate the methods used to check whether they obtain the same results (see Chapter 14 and Collaboration, 2013). Replications help to ensure that effects are not just false positives or random flukes (see Chapter 13). Another major benefit to open reporting is that the results of many studies can be combined in meta-analyses, which are studies that combine results from many studies of the same phenomenon to examine the overall effect (see Chapter 14). No single study provides a perfectly accurate answer to a complex question; a meta-analysis is an important tool in the search for knowledge that relies crucially on communality (see Braver, Thoemmes, & Rosenthal, 2014; Cumming, 2014). Some researchers have begun posting data sets and full study procedures online after a study is published for others to use.
Disinterestedness (3/4 norms)
Scientists are expected to search for observations that will help them make accurate discoveries about the world. They develop theories, argue that existing data support their theories, conduct research to evaluate propositions of their theories, and revise their theories as needed to more accurately account for new data. Scientists should be rewarded for their honest and careful quest for truth, and ideally are not motivated primarily for personal gain.
Organized skepticism (4/4 norms)
All new evidence and theories should be evaluated based on scientific merit, even those that challenge one’s own
work or prior beliefs. Science exists in a free market of ideas in which the best ideas are supported by research, and scientists can build upon the research of others to make further advances. Of all the ideals, organized skepticism is the one that most directly underlies the practice of peer review. Before a study is published in a scientific journal, it must be reviewed by other scientists who have the expertise to carefully evaluate the research and recommend whether the research should be published. This review process, although imperfect, helps to ensure that research with major flaws in theory, methodology, analyses, or conclusions will not become part of the scientific literature.
Falsifiable ideas
it can be either supported or refuted using empirical data
○ If an idea is falsified when it is tested, science is also advanced because this result will spur the development of new and better ideas.
pseudoscience
which uses scientific terms to make claims look compelling, but without using scientific data.
Four general goals of scientific research
(1) to describe behaviour, (2) to predict behaviour, (3) to determine the causes of behaviour, and (4) to understand or explain behaviour.
Criteria for causal claims
- When the cause is present, the effect occurs; when the cause is not present, the effect does not occur - covariation of cause and effect
- There is a temporal order of events in which the cause precedes the effect. This is called temporal precedence
- Nothing other than a causal variable could be responsible for the observed effect. This is called elimination of alternative explanations.
- There should be no other plausible alternative explanation for the relationship.
basic research
attempts to answer fundamental questions about the nature of behaviour.
Applied research
conducted to address practical problems and potential solutions.
Program evaluation research
tests the efficacy of social reforms and innovations that occur in government, education, the criminal justice system, industry, health care, and mental health institutions.
classical conditioning
a neutral stimulus (such as a tone), if paired repeatedly with an unconditioned stimulus (food) that produces a reflex response (salivation), will eventually produce the response when presented alone.
theory
a system of logical ideas that are proposed to explain a particular phenomenon and its relationship to other phenomena
○ theories organize and explain a variety of specific facts or descriptions of behaviour.
○ theories generate new knowledge by focusing our thinking so that we notice new aspects of behaviour.
parsimony
the least complex theory is most desirable, because it is easiest to entirely falsify
abstract
summary of the research report.
introduction
outlines the problem that has been investigated.
method
provides information about exactly how the study was conducted, including any details necessary for the reader to replicate (repeat) the study.
results
presents the findings, which have been based on statistical analyses.
discussion
reviews the current study from various perspectives.
literature review
article using narrative techniques
research hypothesis
- an assertion of one possible state of the phenomenon or relationship under investigation
- statement about something that may or may not be true, is informed by past research or derived from a broader theory, and is waiting for evidence to support or refute it.
prediction
After designing the study, the researcher would translate the more general hypothesis into a specific prediction concerning the outcome of this particular experiment. Predictions are stated in terms of the specific method chosen for the study.
falsifiability
data could show that a hypothesis is false, if in fact it is false.
variable
any event, situation, behaviour, or individual characteristic that can take more than one value (i.e., it varies).
non-experimental method/correlational method
- relationships studied by observing or otherwise measuring the variables of interest. Examine whether variables correlate or vary together, but cannot make statements of causation
- both variables are measured
experimental method
involves direct manipulation and control of variables. The researcher manipulates the first variable of interest and then observes the response.
operational definition
- a definition of the variable in terms of the operations or techniques used to measure or manipulate it in a specific study.
- a description of how a concept will be measured
situational variable
describes characteristics of a situation or environment: the length of words that you read in a book, the credibility of a person who is trying to persuade you, the number of bystanders to an emergency. (can be measured in ANY design, or manipulated in experimental designs. )
Response variable
the responses or behaviours of individuals, such as reaction time, performance on a cognitive task, and degree of helping a victim in an emergency. (are measured in either experimental or non-experimental designs. )
Participant variable
describes a characteristic that individuals bring with them to a study, including cultural background, intelligence, and personality traits such as extraversion.
confounding variables
variables that are intertwined with another variable so that you cannot determine which of the variables is operating in a given situation
correlation coefficient
A numerical index of the strength of relationship between variables
positive linear relationship
increases in the values of one variable are accompanied by increases in the values of the second variable.
negative linear relationship
increases in the values of one variable are accompanied by decreases in the values of the other variable.
curvilinear relationship
increases in the values of one variable are accompanied by both increases and decreases in the values of the other variable (direction of relationship changes at least once)
inverted-U relationship
a curvilinear relationship that increases until a certain point and then decreases
mediating variable
a psychological process that occurs between two variables that helps to explain the relationship between them
random variability/error variability
randomness in events - research is aimed to reduce this by finding relationships between variables
third-variable problem
extraneous variables may be causing an observed relationship.
independent variable
the cause (manipulated)
dependent variable
the effect (observed)
Covariation
in experimental method - when participants in an experimental condition show a different effect relative to participants in a control condition
validity
- “truth” and the degree to which a claim is accurate
Internal validity
- the ability to draw accurate conclusions about causal relationships from our data.
- the degree to which all confounding variables have been controlled and causality can be inferred
- ability to have confidence that the result is because of the manipulated variable
Experimental control
treat participants in all groups in the experiment identically so the only difference between groups is the independent variable.
random assignment
ensures that extraneous variables are just as likely to affect one experimental group as they are to affect the other group, as long as there are enough participants in the study.
field experiment
the independent variable is manipulated in a natural setting.
reliability/precision
the consistency or stability of a measure of behaviour.
true score
the person’s real score on the variable
Measurement error
To the extent that a measure of intelligence is unreliable, it contains measurement error and so cannot provide an accurate indication of an individual’s true intelligence.
Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient.
most common correlation coefficient discussing reliability
- (symbolized as r) can range from 0.00 to +1.00 and 0.00 to - 1.00.
- correlation of 0.00 says two variables are not related at all.
- The closer a correlation is to either +1.00 or - 1.00, the stronger is the relationship.
- positive and negative signs provide info about direction of the relationship.
- When correlation coefficient is positive, there is a positive linear relationship - high scores on one variable are associated with high scores on the second variable.
- A negative linear relationship is when high scores on one variable are associated with low scores on the second variable
Test-retest reliability
assessed by giving many people the same measure twice.
Alternate forms reliability
administering two different forms of the same test to the same people at two points in time.
Internal consistency reliability
assesses how well a certain set of items relate to each other.
Cronbach’s alpha
- a value that is a common indicator of internal consistency
- how well each item correlates with every other item
Interrater reliability
the extent to which raters agree in their observations.
Construct validity
- the adequacy of a variable’s operational definition.
- must be based on relevant behaviours
face validity (construct validity)
the evidence for validity is that the measure appears “on the face of it” to measure what it is supposed to measure.
Content validity (construct validity)
based on comparing the content of the measure with the theoretical definition of the construct
predictive validity (construct validity)
- Using the measure to predict some future behaviour
- The criterion used to support construct validity is some future behaviour.
Concurrent validity (construct validity)
- assessed by research that examines the relationship between the measure and a criterion behaviour at the same time
- having the gold standard being compared to your measurements
- based on an established test (SAT or GPA for intelligence)
Convergent validity (construct validity)
- the extent to which scores on the target measure in question are related to scores on other measures of the same construct or similar constructs.
- comparing to other tests
- eg. new IQ test to correlate with old IQ tests
discriminant validity (construct validity)
- When the measure is not related to variables with which it should not be related
- measure should discriminate between the construct being measured and other unrelated constructs.
reactivity
awareness of being measured changes an individual’s behaviour
reactive measure tells what the person is like when they’re aware of being observed, but it doesn’t tell how the person would behave under natural circumstances.
Nominal scale
no numerical or quantitative properties. Categories or groups just differ from one another (also called categorical variables).(sex, colour)
Ordinal scale
allows us to rank order the levels of the variable being studied. (degrees of burn)
interval scale
- the difference between the numbers on the scale is equal in size.
- No absolute zero to indicate the absence of the variable (temperature in Celcius)
ratio scale
- the difference between the numbers on the scale is equal in size.
- has an absolute zero point that indicates the absence of the variable being measured (age)