Unit 1 (Scientific Foundations of Psych) Review Flashcards
what is psychology?
the science of behavior and mental processes
why is psychology considered a science?
uses empirical evidence and the scientific method
how did psychology get its start?
the foundational principles of psychology are rooted in philosophy and physiology
what was structuralism?
an early approach focused on the structure of the mind (introspection) (Edward Titchner)
what was functionalism?
focused on the purpose of the mind (William James)
what is basic research?
builds on psychology’s knowledge
what is applied research?
the application of existing knowledge in the real world
what is an operational definition?
the way of measuring or quantifying a variable.
example of an operational definition
variable: happiness
operational definition: the number of smiles a person emits during an observational period of specified length
what is replication?
repeating an experiment with different participants. This will determine if the results can be generalized to other participants and other situations.
what is a Case Study?
examining one person or group in depth. (cannot be repeated) Example: Phineas Gage
What is Naturalistic Observation?
describes a behavior in its most natural state without interference or intervention
what is a survey?
self report date questions influenced by wording
What is random sampling?
gives every member of a population an equal chance of being selected for the sample. (uses a random generator)
What is random assignment?
randomly assigning participants to the control group or the experimental group to help establish cause and effect. Eliminates confounding variables. (Meredith and Adele in the Alzheimer’s study (Grey’s Anatomy))
What is a confounding variable?
a factor other than the factor being studied that might influence a studies results
what is an experimental group?
the treatment group
what is the control group?
the comparison group (no treatment)
what is a placebo?
seems to be real medical treatment but it isn’t (ie a sugar pill)
what is a single blind procedure
when participant don’t know if they get the treatment of placebo, but the researchers do know
what is a double blind procedure?
neither the participant nor the researchers know who got treatment and who didn’t
what do experiments establish?
cause and effect
what are descriptive statistics?
they describe sets of data
what are inferential statistics?
they draw conclusions about the sets of data
what is a standard deviation?
how many scores vary around the mean score
what is statistical significance?
how likely that a result has occurred by chance (p value less that .05
who establishes ethics codes in Psychology?
the APA establishes ethic codes
what is the institutional review board?
a board that reviews proposals for research, approval, and needed for experiments (they dictate whether an experiment is safe to complete)
what is informed consent?
all subjects are given necessary information to decide to participate in a study or not.
what is confidentiality?
any data collected in the experiment should remain confidential
what is debriefing?
the experimenter tells the subject more information about the study’s purpose and procedures after the study is completed
