module 1 Flashcards
psychology is
the science of behaviors and mental processes
behavior is
any action that can be directly observed
examples of a behavior
walking, talking
mental processes are
psychological phenomena that cannot be directly observed
examples of mental processes
happiness, sadness
biological processes are
nervous and endocrine systems
a visual of psychology is
an onion
basic science
understanding the underlying principles, theories, and concepts in psychology (how does child development work?)
applied science
solves real world problems by applying the principles and theories gain through basic science (how can we identify and help children?)
prior observations
things you know before hand
scientific process
prior observations, theory, hypothesis, study/expirement , results
theory
general explanation
hypothesis
testable prediction derived from theory
study
expirement
results question
do they support hypothesis
a valid hypothesis
is testable
there is no ___ in science
proof
the goal of science is to
reduce uncertainty
mean
average of numbers
median
middle number
mode
most common
range
difference between highest and lowest number
variance
the sum of deviation
standard deviation
reverses the squaring done in the calculation to bring back to metric (square root, hours rather than hours squared)
statistical outliers
numbers that lie farther out from main group
negative skew
to the left , mode-median-mean
positive skew
the right mean-median-mode
normal skew
symmetrical
correlation
two variables correlate when they change or vary as a function of one another
upward of x and y is
positive correlation
downward of x and upward of y is
negative correlation
correlation _ causation
does NOT equal
correlation coefficient
a statistical measure of the strength of a linear relationship between two variables. Its values can range from -1 to 1.
-0.6 is what level of correlation
moderate
0.2 is a
weak correlation
the closer to 0 the
weaker the correlation
a confound is
anything that makes a study confusing
correlational studies inherently confounded because of the way they are done
true
in correlational studies the variables are
measured and allowed to freely vary , no attempt is made to control either of them
when variables are free they
are more realistic and have a higher external validity
experimental studies attempt to address some of the major confounds in correlational research by
establishing and order to the variables (x comes before y which rules out the y causes x correlation)
experimental studies attempt to address some of the major confounds in correlational research by (2)
use of random assignment to rule out 3rd party variable explanations
if done correctly experimentation can
sometimes produce strong evidence of causal relationships
order of events is critical
true
in correlational cases what is measured first matters
false
all experiments have at least one variable that is
manipulated and one that is measured after the iv is manipulated
independent variables are what we expect…
to influence dependent variables
dependent happens as
a result
demand characteristics can
lead participants to change their behaviors or responses based on what they think the research is about
what is experimental blinding
when info is withheld from all that could be affected
