Test 1.2 Flashcards
What are the 3 basic goals of Science?
1) To determine behavior
2) To predict behavior
3) To explain behavior
Identifying the factors that indicate when an event or events will occur
Prediction
Carefully observing behavior in order to describe it.
Description
Allows us to identify the causes that determine when and why a behavior occurs.
Explanation
______ begins with careful observation.
Description.
Psychologists might describe patterns of ______, _______, or ______ in humans, or behaviors of animals.
behavior, thoughts, or emotions
Observing and describing the type of play behavior exhibited by children or the mating behavior of chimps would be an example of ________.
Description
Without descriptions as a first step, _______ cannot be made.
Predictions
Knowing the level of one variable allows us to predict the __________________.
approximate level of the other variable.
If we observed that men change channels with a greater frequency than women, we could then make the predictions about how often men and women might change channels when given the chance.
This is an example of _______.
Prediction
_________ Allows us to learn about behavior when it occurs.
Description
To explain a behavior, we need to demonstrate that we can manipulate the factors needed to ____________________.
produce or eliminate the behavior
If gender predicts channel changing, what might cause it? It could be genetic or environmental. Maybe men have less tolerance for commercials and thus change more often. Maybe women are more interested in content of commercials and are thus less likely to change channels. Maybe attention span is longer for women.
These are examples of ____________.
Explanation
As scientists, we test these possibilities to identify the best explanation of why a _____________.
behavior occurs.
To find the best explanation, we must systematically ________ any alternative explanations.
eliminate
To eliminate alternative explanations, we must ___________ over the research situation.
impose control
Allows us to observe that two events are systematically related to one another
Description
If one variable is present at a certain level, then it is likely that the other variable will present at a _______.
certain level
There are 3 research methods are:
1) Description
2) Predictive
3) Explanatory
The descriptive method include:
Observational, case study, and survey methods
The observational Method includes:
Naturalistic and Laboratory
What is the Advantage of the Descriptive Method?
It allows the description of behavior(s)
What is the disadvantage of the descriptive method?
- Does not support reliable predictions
- Does not support cause-and-effect explanations
Making observations of human or animal behavior.
Observational method
Observing the behavior of humans or animals in their natural habitat.
Naturalistic observation
observing behavior of humans or animals in a more contrived and controlled situation, usually the laboratory.
Laboratory observation
Bringing children to a laboratory playroom to observe play behavior.
This is an example of ________.
Laboratory observation
Observing the mating behaviors of chimpanzees in their natural setting.
This is an example of:
Naturalistic observation
Questioning individuals on a topic or topics and then describing their responses. This method can be administered by mail, over the phone, on the internet, or in a personal interview
Survey method
An in-depth study of one or more individuals. This method is descriptive in nature because it involves simply describing the individual(s) being studied.
Case study method
What is the advantage of the case study method?
It allows researchers to study larger groups of individuals more easily.
What is the disadvantage of the case study method?
There is concern over whether the group of people who participate in the study (the sample) is representative of all the people about whom the study is meant to generalize (the population). Can be overcome with random sampling, however.
All of the people about whom a study is meant to generalize.
Population
the group of people who participate in a study.
Sample
A sample achieved through random selection in which each member of the population is equally likely to be chosen.
Random Sample
Two methods allow researchers not only to describe behaviors but also to predict from on variable to another. _________ and ________ fall under the predictive method category.
Correlation method and quasi-experimental methods
What is the advantage of the Predictive methods?
Allows description of behaviors, supports reliable predictions from one variable to another.
What is the disadvantage of the predictive methods?
Does not support cause-and-effect explanations.
A method that assesses the degree of relationship between two variables.
Correlation method
If two variables are correlated with each other, then we can predict from one variable to the other with a certain degree of accuracy.
TRUE OR FALSE
TRUE
Height and weight are correlated. An increase in one variable will lead to _______________.
an increase in the other
Correlation does NOT imply _______.
causation
If violent television and displaying aggressive behavior are correlated, it does not mean that watching violent tv causes aggressive behavior. This is an example of ________.
correlation but not causation
The correlation between height and weigh, or violent television and aggressive behavior is a ____________.
positive relationship
A _________ is a relationship between two variables in which an increase in one variable is accompanied by a decrease in the other variable
negative correlation
A relationship between two variables in which an increase in one variable is accompanied by an increase in the other variable.
Positive relationship
As mountain elevation increases, temperature decreases. This is an example of a __________.
negative correlation .
Research that compares naturally occurring groups of individuals; the variable of interest cannot be manipulated.
Quasi-experimental method
A characteristic inherent in the subjects that cannot be changed.
Subject (participant)
If you were to examine whether alcohol consumption by students in a fraternity or sorority differs from that of students not in such organizations, this would fall under the ___________ method. It differs from the experimental method because the groups studied occur naturally. (we can not control whether or not people join a Greek organization). The Greek organization would be the __________.
quasi-experimental method
subject (participant)
What is missing when we use predictive methods such as the correlational quasi-experimental methods is ________.
control
When using predictive methods, we do not systematically manipulate the variables of interest we only __________.
measure them
Although we may observe a relationship between variables (such as that described between drinking and Greek membership), we cannot conclude that it is a causal relationship because ___________________.
there could be other alternative explanations for this relationship
The idea that it is possible that some other, uncontrolled, extraneous variable may be responsible for the observed relationship
Alternative explanation
It is possible that those who choose to join Greek organizations come from higher-income families and have more money to spend on things like alcohol.
This is an example of an ________.
alternative explanation
Because these methods leave the possibility for alternative explanations, we cannot use them to establish ______________.
cause and effect relationships.
When using the ____________, researchers pay a great deal of attention to eliminating alternative explanations by using the proper controls.
explanatory method
What method falls under the explanatory method?
Experimental method
What are the advantages to the experimental method?
It allows descriptions of behaviors, supports reliable predictions from one variable to another, supports cause-and-affect explanations.
A research method that allows a researcher to establish a cause and effect relationship through manipulation of a variable and control of the situation.
Experimental method
The _________ method enables researchers to know when and why a behavior occurs.
Experimental method
Researchers pay a great deal of attention to ____________ by using the proper controls when using this method.
eliminating alternative explanations
The basic premise of experimentation:
the researcher controls as much as possible to determines whether a cause-and-effect relationship exists between the variables being studied.
The idea behind experimentation is that the researcher ___________________ and ___________________.
The idea behind experimentation is that the researcher manipulates at least one variable (independent variable) and measures at least on variable (dependent variable).
Name the IV and DV:
Does cell phone use affect driving?
IV = use of cell phones while driving DV = Driving performace
The independent variable has to have at least __________.
2 groups or conditions
The 2 groups that make up the independent variable are called the ________ and ________.
control group and experimental group
The group of subjects that does not receive any level of the independent variable and serves as the baseline in a study.
Control Group
The group of subjects that receives some level of the independent variable.
Experimental Group
In the cell phone use while driving experiment, which group would be the control group?
the group that did not have a cell phone while driving.
In the cell phone use while driving experiment, which group would be the experimental group?
the group that uses cell phones while driving
One thing in an experiment that we (the researcher) controls is the level of the ________________.
independent variable that the subjects receive
Researchers also need to control the type of subjects in each of the treatment conditions to help eliminate alternative explanations. This can be done by _________________.
drawing random samples of subjects from the population, and then using random assignment to assign them to the control or experimental group.
Assigning subjects to conditions in such a way that every participant has an equal probability of being placed in any condition.
random assignment
Random assignment helps us to gain control and eliminate alternative explanations by minimizing or eliminating _____________.
differences between the groups.
we want the two groups of participants to be as alike as possible.
TRUE OR FALSE
TRUE
The only difference we want between the groups is that of the __________.
independent variable we are manipulating.
Manipulating the independent variable in an experiment and controlling any other extraneous variables that could affect the results of a study is known as _________.
Control
We try to control as much as possible by manipulating the ____________ that could affect the results of the study
independent variable
What all do we try to control in a study?
- who is in the study (sample representative from population)
- who participates in each group (randomly assigned)
- the treatment each group receives (ex: cell phone, no cell phone while driving)
- other variables we need to control to complete the study (cell phone driving example: past driving record, age, how long they have been driving, etc)
A ________ is any factor, trait, or condition that can exist in differing amounts or types.
variable
Any condition that is capable of change
Variable
An experiment usually has three kinds of variables:
independent, dependent, and controlled
An experiment must have at least two different __________.
values or levels
If it does not have any arithmetic meaning it is a ___________.
string variable
helps identify or distinguish but has no arithmetic meaning.
string variable
A ___________ has arithmetic meaning
Numeric Variable
