Psych 209: Lectures For Exam 1

Question 1

Tenacity

Answer 1

ii. Believing something because it is what we have long believed/always believed

Resistant to change

Question 2

Authority

Answer 2

Relying on other people as our source of knowledge

Efficient

Passing down knowledge between generations

Tend to rely on “experts”

Issue of credibility

Trust

What do we judge their expertise to be?

Who do we believe when experts have different opinions

Question 3

Reason/Logic

Answer 3

The use of logic and rational (intellectually sound) argument to reach a conclusion about how things “must be”

Question 4

Empiricism

Answer 4

Knowledge that is gained through senses, observation, and experience

Key component in science

Question 5

Common Sense

Answer 5

A mixture of tenacity, authority, reason, and empiricism

Involves “after-the-fact” understanding

Anything can be explained if you’re given an answer/looking into the past

Question 6

Science

Answer 6

Systematic Empiricism

Question 7

Characteristics of Science

Answer 7

1. Science involves assumptions
2. Science is empirical
3. Science focuses on testable questions
4. Scientists strive for accurate, reliable, and valid measurements
5. Science requires clear definitions
6. Science involves public reporting
7. Scientific knowledge is tentative, not absolute
8. Science is “self-correcting”
9. Science has limitations

Question 8

Falsifiability

Answer 8

the ability to prove a hypothesis wrong

Question 9

Operationalism

Answer 9

Specify exactly what you’re going to measure and how you intend to measure it

Question 10

Conceptual Definitions

Answer 10

.

Question 11

Operational Definitions

Answer 11

defines concepts in terms of the procedures used to measure it (or manipulate it)

Question 12

The Research Process

Answer 12

1. Identify the question/problem (initial observation)
2. Gather background information (literature search) -> form a hypothesis
3. Conduct research
4. Analyze data, draw conclusions, and report the findings
5. Build a body of knowledge about a particular topic

Question 13

Basic Research

Answer 13

Primary goal: understand basic aspects of some phenomenon

Question 14

Applied Research

Answer 14

Primary goal: to solve/gather information about some practical problem

Question 15

Theory

Answer 15

an integrated set of concepts/principles

defines two or more concepts, explains how they are related and why they are related

goal: to increase our understanding of some phenomenon

Question 16

Hypothesis

Answer 16

informally, a “scientific hunch”

A statement about relationship between two variables or about the expected outcome

Hypothesis can be translated into an “if…then” statement

Question 17

Characteristics of a Good Theory

Answer 17

1. has to be consistent with known facts
2. logically consistent and clear
3. generates testable hypotheses
4. parsimonious
5. a good (successful) theory generates research

Question 18

Descriptive Research

Answer 18

goal is to describe events and relations between variables as they occur naturally

Question 19

Correlation Reserach

Answer 19

• researcher measures X
• researcher measures Y
• examines whether there is a statistical association between X and Y

Question 20

Positive Correlation

Answer 20

As scores on X go up, scores on Y go up

Question 21

Negative Correlatoin

Answer 21

As scores on X go up, scores on Y go down