Midterm 2 Flashcards
What are the goals of scientific research? (Hint: E, P, C)
- explanation: explain properties or relationships
- prediction: predict events
- control: solve problems and gain understanding
What is an operational definition, or operationalization?
Operational definition tells us how to recognize and measure a concept. This is done by stating precisely what you plan on measuring and how.
What is a hypothesis (in the scientific sense)?
A hypothesis is usually a belief about a relationship between two or more variables.
What is the difference between independent variables and dependent variables?
Independent variable: variable that is selected by the experimenter who is testing a hypothesis to see if changes in the independent variable will result in changes in the dependent variable
Dependent variable: variable that is measured in an experiment to determine if its value depends on the independent variable
How can samples be biased? and How can this affect the interpretation of research
They don’t represent the population in which they were drawn from.
You would be unable to draw conclusions from the samples
What are the two main types of error (type 1 and type 2) in research?
Type 1 - false positive, incorrect rejection of the null hypothesis
Type 2 - false negative, failure to reject a false null
What is the purpose of a control group or control variable?
Compare results of an experiment to a controlled setting, to see how results differ from normal conditions
What does the reductive approach entail?
Attempting to understand a complex system by looking at its parts and their interactions
What is meant by ‘levels of analysis’?
the scale or the arena of analysis
The differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social cultural, for analyzing any given problem
What is a confound?
An additional variable that changes or varies with the independent variable
What is the difference between prospective and retrospective research?
Prospective: A method of conducting research in which possible causative factors of an event are identified before the event occurs.
Retrospective: After an event has occurred, the experimenter looks backward in time to determine the cause.
What is ‘expected value’?
The amount of money you would expect to win in the long run in a betting situation.
What is meant by ‘base-rate neglect’?
Ignoring important information about the prevalence of a phenomenon
What is the gambler’s fallacy?
Belief that a streak will continue to occur *or stop
What biases can affect our judgment of likelihood and probability?
Motivated reasoning: · “ends-driven” · Emotional influences—disgust, attraction, taboo · Dishonesty · Active avoidance · Dissonance reduction · Self-serving biases
Limited perspectives & cognition:
· Perception
· Memory
· Attention
· Follow-through, avoidance of effort
· Self-centeredness of experience
Bad Data and Problems Evaluating Evidence
How does overconfidence affect decision-making?
Overconfidence causes a mismatch between estimation of risks and the actual risks
How does confirmation bias affect decision-making?
The tendency to seek out remember and evaluate information that confirms existing beliefs.
What is the Pollyanna principle?
The idea that if we want something to happen, it will. It is the tendency to believe that pleasant events are more likely to happen than unpleasant ones.
What is ‘psychological reactance’?
Resistance arising from restrictions of freedom. Some people will select a less preferred alternative if they are told they must select the preferred alternative.
(IE: Most people don’t like being told what to do. Example: Because you told me not to push the red button, I’m gonna push it…)
What are the stages of problem solving?
Preparation of familiarization - understanding the nature of the problem
Production stage - producing solution pathways
Judgement stage - evaluates solution paths in order to pick one
What is the difference between an ill-defined problem and a well-defined one?
Ill defined problems - many possible solutions
Well defined problems - clear defined answer
What is the anatomy of a problem?
initial state, goal state, and solution pathways
What is meant by problem-space?
All possible paths from the initial state to the goal state
What is means-ends analysis?
Reduces the difference between current state and the nearest subgoal or goal
(When a goal is broken up into subgoals, the progress from one subgoal to another and eventually to the main goal is called means-ends analysis)