Psychology as a Science Flashcards
What are the 4 ways of acquiring knowledge?
Authority figures
Introspection
Experience
The scientific method
What is the scientific method?
Generate a hypothesis based on observation/theory
Generate testable predictions
Obtain data
Interpret data and come to conclusions
Relate findings back to the theory/generate more hypotheses
What are the characteristics of the scientific method?
Rational, systematic, critical, objective and open to scrutiny. It must be potentially falsifiable and ideally reproducible.
Define theory
An evidence based conceptual framework that tries to explain a set of facts/observations which can be used to make testable predictions.
What is a hypothesis?
A proposed explanation that comes from a theory.
What is a prediction?
A specific and testable prediction that stems from a hypothesis
Define operationalise
Defining variables in an objectively measurable way
What is a likert scale?
Strongly agree to strongly disagree in response to a statement
What is a visual analogue scale?
Pps asked to place a mark along a line with 0/agree on one end and 10/disagree in the other.
What are cohort effects?
Pre-existing differences in addition to the difference in independent variable.
What is a correlational analysis?
Assessing the strength and direction of a relationship between two co-variables.
What are Hume’s characteristics of cause and effect?
To say A causes B imples that
Change in A are ASSOCIATED with change in B
Change in A reliably PRECEDES change in B
without change in A, change in B does not occur (but only true if A is the SOLE cause of B)
What is J.S. Mill’s method of difference?
Observing the effects produced by 2 situations that are identical except in one respect, if the phenomenon occurs in one situation but not the other, then the difference between the two conditions is the cause. This is now known as the experimental method.
What is a null hypothesis?
Difference between groups occurred by chance
What is an alternative hypothesis?
The difference is so large that it is unlikely to have occurred by chance