Unit 2 Flashcards
you have an answer revealed and you say or think….
“I knew it all along”
hindsight bias
People look for evidence that confirms their beliefs and ignore evidence that refutes their beliefs.
confirmation bias
What examples of confirmation bias have you experienced when dealing with people?
politics, climate change
can lead to overestimate our intuition
overconfidence
example of overconfidence
When taking a MC test, if you have 4 answers in a row that are the same (A), would you be more or less likely to pick A for #5?
We have a tendency to perceive order in random events.
- Helps us make sense of the world
Patterns and streaks do happen, so it doesn’t look random.
Result:
we over interperet info
The Scientific Attitude
Curiosity: eagerness to know
Skeptically scrutinize competing ideas
Open-minded humility before nature: You SHOULD change ideas in light of new evidence contradicting your beliefs (humble)
How Do Psychologists Ask and Answer Questions?
scientific method
an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events.
theory
a good theory is one that can be
tested
A statement of relationships between variables, generated after research
Can be confirmed or refuted
hypothesis
A good theory is useful if it:
Effectively organizes a range of self-reports and observations
Implies clear predictions that anyone can use to check the theory
a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables.
operational definiton
example of operation definition
i.e. Human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures.
operational definiton must be
MUST BE…
Measurable
Manageable
operational definition exact examples
popularity - ratings from peer groups
intelligence - score on IQ test
happiness - the number of smiles a person makes in a specific amount of time
good music - Number of weeks at the top of the charts, number of albums sold/ songs downloaded
order of research
theories lead to hypothesis which then leads to research/observation which rejects or confirms
to observe or record behavior (research)
descriptive
descriptive conducted
case studies, surveys, naturalistic observations
to detect naturally occurring relationships, to access how well one variable predicts another (research)
correlational
correlational conducted
stats, sometimes survey
to explore cause and effect (research)
experimental
experimental conducted
manipulating one or more factors using random assignment to eliminate preexisting differences among subjects
what form of research manipulates the independent variable
experiemental
person (or situation) is observed in depth.
is an intensive analysis or research of an individual unit (e.g., a person, group, or event) stressing developmental factors in relation to context.
case study
Nearly every aspect of the subject’s life & history is analyzed to seek patterns & causes for behavior.
Unfortunately, case studies tend to be highly subjective and it is difficult to ________ results to a larger population
generalize
use case studies to present information about a person. Case studies allow researchers to get the richest possible picture of what they are studying, there are limitations….
clinical psychologists
Case Study limitations
May contain evidence that a certain researcher thought to be important. Researchers may overinflate importance because it is a small sample.
Unlikely to be representative of people in general.
participants could exit & it is difficult to determine cause. (attrition) Participants who exit, may do so for significant reasons compared to those who do not exit the study.
longitudal case study
For ascertaining the self-reported attitudes, opinions or behaviors of people usually by questioning a representative, random sample of people. You give a survey when you want to know how people “feel.”
Both descriptive & correlational research. Interview, mail, phone, etc. Cheap, anonymous, diverse population, & easy to get
survey
A sampling that represents your population you want to study.
random sampling
Validity of survey data depends upon:
How questions are worded. -welfare vs. aid to needy
Who was surveyed? Did they represent the population?
limitations of survey
Willingness of people to complete survey
People may say what they ‘think’ others want them to say.
Still is a great way to gather data & look at raw numbers.
Low Response Rate
People Lie or just misinterpret.
Wording Effects
While surveys can be used as part of the experimental method, the survey method, as described, is a kind of correlational research in which the researcher does not manipulate the
Iv
Why do we sample?
False Consensus Effect: Tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs & behaviors. (others think the same way we do)
random sample vs random assignment
rs: the process of choosing the participants from pop, before test
ra: assigning people to experimental and control
The main benefit of the simple random sample is that each member of
the population has an equal chance of being chosen for the study.
This means that it guarantees that the sample chosen is representative of the population and that the sample is selected in an unbiased way.
In turn, the statistical conclusions drawn from the analysis of the sample will be valid and results can be generalized to the population.
bserving & recording behavior in natural environment.
No control or interaction:
Just observation.
Students often confuse this with field experiments.
Both involve doing research out in the world. However, N.O. does not impact behavior of participants
natural observation
example of naturalistic obsevation
The goal: get a realistic & rich picture of the participants’ behavior. To that end, control is sacrificed.
Drawbacks of NO
Valuable where other methods are likely to be disruptive or misleading, however if people know they are being observed, they tend to act differently than they normally would.
Also, observations can be distorted if observers expect to see certain types of behaviors. Can be fixed by having a group of observers.
Merely selecting individuals to participate can impact their behavior & performance alone.
Hawthorne Effect
Explores cause & effect relationships.
Like other sciences, experimentation forms the backbone of research in psychology.
Famous experiments in Psych:
Pavlov’s salivating dogs
Milgram’s obedience study
Asch’s conformity experiment
Experiments are the only research method that isolates cause and effect
Experimental research