Tools of Psychological Science Flashcards
three main tools of the scientific method:
- observation
- measurement
- experimentation
The systematic noting and recording of events. Only events that are observable can be studied scientifically
Observation
The assignment of numerical values to objects or events or their characteristics according to conventional rules.
Measurement
a process undertaken to test a hypothesis that particular behavioral events will occur reliably in certain, specifiable situations.
Experimentation
an event or a circumstance that happens before another; are the circumstances that come before the event or behavior that we want to explain
Antecedent/Antecedent conditions
specific sets of antecedent conditions
Treatments
a controlled procedure in which at least two different treatment conditions are applied to subjects
Psychology experiment
An experimental design in which subjects receive only one kind of treatment
between-subject design
present all treatments to each subject and measure the effect of each treatment after it is presented
within-subjects design
The type of cause-and-effect relationship we establish through experiments, because a time difference occurs in the relationship.
temporal relationship
The Scottish philosopher who argued that we can never establish causality from temporal relationships.
David Hume
the first experimental psychologist
Wilhelm Wundt
Wundt employed the tools of the scientific method to study human sensory experience. What are those?
- observation
- measurement
- experimentation
included the study of consciousness and mental processes and was based on the premise that the human mind begins as a blank slate, gaining knowledge of the world through sensory experiences
Mental philosophy
Reporting our own thoughts and feelings is called?
Phenomenology
involved assessing traits and dispositions by measuring the size and location of bumps on the skull.
Phrenology
Individual traits that were believed to reside in specific areas in the brain.
Faculties
fluids in the body ebbed and flowed by magnetic principles and that both physical and mental illness could be cured by realigning these fluids using magnets, electrodes, or his hands passed across the patient’s body.
Mesmerism
involved purported contact with ghosts and spirits of the dead
Spiritualism
Greek for “false”-characterizes any field of the study that gives the appearance of being scientific but has no true scientific basis and has not been confirmed using the scientific method.
Pseudoscience-pseudo
