Unit 1 - Scientific Foundations of Psychology Flashcards
What is the definition of psychology?
the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes
What do psychologists do?
seek to observe, describe, explain, predict, and modify behavior and mental processes, relying on research to learn whether certain methods will work before they use them to help people.
What are the goals of psychology?
- to explain observed behaviors
- to predict and control behavior
Compare psychology to false sciences.
psychology - social science based on verifiable evidence and theories that are tested according to the scientific method.
false sciences - don’t rely on verifiable evidence
false sciences - astrology & alchemy
Define behavior
any action that people can observe/ measure
Define cognitive activities.
mental processes
Define critical thinking.
process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, and analyzing info
doesn’t accept arguements & conclusions blindly
Define theory.
fact-based idea that describes a phenomenon of human behavior
Define principle.
fundamental rule, standard, or precept
hindsight bias
overestimation of one’s abilities to know outcomes of situations
“I knew it all along.”
after learning the outcome of an event, people believe they could have guessed the outcome if given the chance.
the three parts of the scientific attitude and their definition
- curiosity - passion for exploration
- skepticism - doubting & questioning
- humility - ability to accept responsibility when wrong
The Scientific Method
The first step
forming a research question - best focused on behvior rather than constructs that cannot be seen/ measured directly
The Scientific Method
The second step
forming a hypothesis - testable prediction; can’t be considered correct until scientifically tested & proved to be right
opinions can’t be considered
The Scientific Method
The third step
testing the hypothesis
The Scientific Method
The fourth step
analyzing the results - look for patterns & relationships in the data
The Scientific Method
The fifth step
Drawing conclusions - when observations do not support a hypothesis, they often must change the theories/ beliefs from which the hypothesis was derived
must keep an open mind
The Scientific Method
A further step
replication - to be confirmed, the study must be replicated, which means it must be repeated and produce the same results as before
The Scientific Method
A further step (2)
New questions - research findings usually lead to new questions and are tested using the same process
the 3 methods of research
- descriptive - seeks to predict what already exists in a group or population
- correlation - study that investigates connecton between two or more variables is considered rational research
- experimentation - investigate the effect of one or more variables onone or more outcome variables
Surveys
Definition
a series of questions people are asked to answer about a particular subject to gather raw data that needs to be processed before it can become useful information
Surverys
Advantages
- can gather large amounts of data very quickly and easily
- data can be processed easily into information
- it’s a good way to study sensitive topics
- allows for anonymity
Surveys
Disadvantages
- findings may not be completely accurate
- people may not be honest about their attitudes/ behavior (knowing or unknowing)
- people may limit their responses for privacy reasons
- people may say what they think the interviewer(s) want to hear
- can’t ask follow-up questions
Surveys
can change the entire objective
changing, adding, or removing certain words
Surveys
What you want to avoid when composing a survey
- unbalanced wording - Agree/ disagree (limits talking and reasoning)
- assume knowledge of a subject
- not using everyday/ plain language
- biased wording - “do you agree that…”
- being unspecific
Population and Sampling
Random sample
individuals have an equal chance to be selected by chance from the target population
Population and Sampling
Stratified Sample
consists of sub groups in the population that are represented proportionally
Population and Sampling
Representative sample
the group being studied “looks like” the larger population, meanig your findings might be generalizable
Population and Sampling
Random assignment
each participant has an equal chance of being put into either the experimental group or the placebo group.
Population and Sampling
Why samples are scientifically selected
to ensure that they accurately represent the population they’re supposed to represent
Population and Sampling
Target population
the whole group of relevant people they want to study/ describe
Population and Sampling
How psychologists accurately predict outcomes
psychologists study a group that represents the target population
case study
definition
a technique when one perso is studied in depth to reveal underlying behavioral principles
case study
advantages
- can provide a full picture of what happened
- chronological data (when did certain events happen)
- different views of the subject
case study
disadvantages
- time consuming to gather detailed data from a person’s life (time = money)
- after the fact (can’t predict a case study) (doesn’t mean one thing caused another - causality)
- may not be generalizable ( can’t apply to everyone)
case study
clinical study
a form of a case study when the therapist investigates the problems associated with a client
naturalistic observation
definiton
observing and recording the behavior of animals in the wild and recording self seating patterns in a multiracial achoool lunchroom constitute naturalistic observation
naturalistic observation
advantages
- allows for authentic data
- people and animals can’t react to the observers’ presence if they don’t know they’re being watched
naturalistic observation
disadvantages
- ethics of informed consent - have to give permission to be observed and watched
- lack of control - observer doesn’t know what they’re watching
- results can only be descriptions, not explanations
correlation
relationship of one thing to another
What happens in a positive and negative correlation
pos - both things go up
neg - one goes up, other goes down
Experimentation
experiments isolate causes and their effects
the backbone of psychology research
What are ways to do these methods: surveys, case study, naturalistic observation
- cross sectional studies
- longitudinal studies
What are longitudinal studies?
- follows one group
- gathers date over a long time
- dont know if date can be generalized
- great for questions of development
What is a positive relationship?
0 through positive 1, meaning both variables are increasing/decreasing together
What is a scatter plot?
- a graph comprised of points that are generated b valuesof 2 variables
- the slope of points depict direction
- amount of scatter depicts strength of the relationship
- used to understand the relationship between two variables
what is a cross sectional study
study that compares different groups, gathers data at one point in time, gives a picture/ snapshot (doesnt give history/ full picture)
What does it mean when there’s no correlation
there’s not a relationship between the variables and the data points are scattered across the graph
What is illusory correlation? example?
perception of relationship where no relationship exists
yes
no
on time yes no
men
What is a negative relationship?
0 through negative 1, meaning one variable increases while the other decreases
what is an independent variable?
a factor manipulated by the experimenter
1. the effect of the independent variable is the focus of the study
2. what you give
what is a dependent variable?
a factor may change in response to the independent variable
1. in psychology, usually a behavior or mental process
2. what you get
What is the placebo effect?
change due to belief in the independent variable
What is a placebo?
something that is as close to the independent variable as possible, but is missing something important
Why would the experimenter give half of the participants a placebo?
to help reduce the chance that the placebo effect will change the dependent variable
describe the two groups in a good experiment
experimental group - gets independent variable
e.g. gets caffeinated coffee
control group - gets placebo
e.g. - gets decaff coffee in same cup, sugar, cream and temperature
what are examples of a confounding variable?
hours slept, health, last meal, room temperature
whats the relationship between control and confounding variables
as control increases, confounding variables decrease
what is a confounding variable?
factors which influence or interfere with a study not intended/ expected by researchers
what is the problem with introducing a confounding variable by putting people/ animals in an uncontrolled environment?
- may act differently
- more experimental control, less authentic behaviors
what is control in an experiment?
regulation of all extraneous conditions and variables in an experiment so any change inthe dependent vaiable can be attributed solely to manipulation of independent variable, not any other factors
what is a single-blind procedure?
- subjects are not aware if they are in the control grup (recieving the independent variable)
- avoids participant bias
*consiously/unconsciously behaving in a way to ensure research outcome fits his/her expectations or what he/she percieves the researcher wants to find
what is a double-blind procedure?
- both patients and experimenters should remain unaware of which patients had the real treatment and which patients had the placebo treatment
- avoids participant bias
*consciously/unconsciously conducts reseatch to ensure the outcome fits with the researcher’s expectations
define ethics
a theory/ system of moral values
what are the ethics?
- obtain consent
- protect from harm and be beneficial
- confidentiality
- explain research afterwards and need to trust procedure
- cultivate positive atmosphere for field of psychology and scientific envitonment built on trust, accountability, and ethical considerate
- prevent unjust procedures by being aware of your biases and be an expert on the study
- must acquire, care for, use, and dispose of animals i accordance with federal, state, and local laws
what is statistical reasoning?
statistical procedures analyze and interpret data allowing us to see what the unaided eye misses
*
what is statistical analysis?
when a researcher wants to look at the data they’ve collected and analyze it
what is quantitative data?
deals with numbers
what is qualitative data?
deals with descriptive data
* analyzes for open-ended and ivestigative in nature data
* places results into categories
what is descriptive analysis?
organizing and describing data (frequency charts and graphs)
what is inferential statistics?
making predictions about the data
* researchers can predict (generalize) how their data and the independent variable relates to the larger population
what are the types of data?
- discrete data
- continuous data
what is discrete data?
data which can be counted
number of people in a room
what is the ordinal scale of discrete data?
count and order but not measure
what is the nominal scale of discrete data?
data without any structure or order
what is continuous data?
data which can be measured
what is the interval scale of continuous data?
degrees of difference but not the ratio between them
1981-1982
what is the ratio scale of continuous data?
process of meaningful measurement with a zero value
weight, volume, distance
what is the dichotamy scale?
two categories when organizing data
what is the trichotomy scale?
3+ categories
what is central tendency?
- mode, median, mean
- identifying estimated center of the distribution of the data collected
what are ways to display data?
pie chart, frequency polygon, bar graph, histogram
what is the mean?
average of data set
what is the mode?
most occuring value in the data set
what is the median?
the score found at the exact middle of the data set
what does range and standard deviation do?
allows researchers to understand the variation between data points
what is range?
difference between the highest value point and the lowest value point
