Probability in Psychology Flashcards
When you see a ‘p’ in any form, what does it mean?
Probability.
What des probability mean?
How likely something is to happen.
In what form will probability be in?
A number between 0 and 1.
What does a 0 mean when talking about probability?
Impossible, will never happen.
What does a 1 mean when talking about probability?
Certain, will always happen.
In psychology, how often will be get a 0 or a 1 as a probability?
Never.
Wha is the conventional probability we use in psychology?
p ≤ 0.05
In larger numbers, what is 0.05?
1 in 20.
What hypothesis do we use when talking about probability?
The null hypothesis.
Why do we always use the null hypothesis when talking about probability?
Because all experiments will have a null in the same form.
What does it mean to use the null hypothesis when talking about probability, using 0.05 as an example?
1 person in 20 people don’t do the expected behaviour.
When will a study be called significant if we are using the p≤0.05 significance level?
If only 1 persons in 20 people don’t do the expected behaviour then it will be considered significant.
How does the significance level change when challenging other research?
Tend to adopt tighter significance levels eg p≤0.02 or 0.01
What does a significance level of 0.01 mean in terms of performing a behaviour?
Only 1 in 100 people fail to do the behaviour.
Why can you never say a theory proves a study?
Because it would imply 100% accuracy, or a significance level of 0 which is impossbible.
