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
Factor that is manipulated
IV
Factor that is measured
DV
Factors that affect DV, that are not IV….outside forces
cv
Group exposed to IV, receives treatment
experimental group
Group not exposed to IV, comparison group
control
Placebo: Inert substance that is in place of IV in Control
placebo
research measures what the researcher set out to measure; it is accurate.
valid
research can be replicated; it is consistent.
reliable
a process that allows a researcher to ensure that the sample represents the population on some criteria. (example, representation of different races, genders, etc.)
the researcher divides the population into separate groups, called strata. Then, a probability sample (often a simple random sample ) is drawn from each group.
stratified sampling
A confounding variable can
have a hidden effect on your experiment’s outcome.
Participants should not be able to choose their group because it is unlikely that the groups would be comprised of different people. The group would be too similar and therefore bias. Using random assignment limits the effect.
Participant-relevant confounding variable
The situations into which the different groups are put must be equivalent except for differences produced by the independent variable.
Ex. Watching a scary movie in a classroom, vs. watching in a theatre. Other examples-Time of day, other people in a room….may have an effect.
Situation-relevant confounding variable
Only _______ can identify cause-and-effect relationships.
experiments
a special kind of situation-relevant confounding variable. Experiment bias is the unconscious tendency for researchers to treat members of the experimental and control groups differently to increase the chance of confirming their hypothesis.
experimental bias
Bias can be eliminated using this; neither the participants nor the researcher are able to affect the outcome of the research. (have someone who is unfamiliar with the participant role to interact with the participant) Neither knows if they are in the treatment or control group.
double-blind procedure
participants do not know which group they have been assigned.
single blind
research shares similarities with the traditional experiments, but it specifically lacks the element of random assignment to treatment or control.
designs typically allow the researcher to control the assignment to the treatment condition, but using some criterion other than random assignment (e.g., an eligibility or cutoff mark).
Quasi experiment
Quasi experiment example
Researchers want to test hypothesis that a pregnant woman’s use of drugs will cause abnormalities in her developing baby.
Can you perform the baby experiment ethically
A quasi-experiment would be used in a case like this where researchers would not be able to do the experiment as normal. A researcher would never be allowed to administer drugs to a pregnant woman, just to test the effects on the baby. No IRB would allow it!
However, there are women who do drugs and are pregnant. If you were able to get them to join the experiment, you could then test the effects. These types of situations are what make these experiments “quasi” or a semblance of an experiment. It seems like an experiment, but lacks the normal controls.
Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life?
The principles, not the research findings, help explain behavior
Because labs are a controlled environment, we can generalize the results.
The principles help us predict group behavior.
There is always variance in individual behavior.
The measure of the relationship between two items or variables.
Does NOT say that one variable causes another. So correlation does NOT prove causation!!!
correltational research
Graph comprised of points generated by values of 2 variables.
The slope of points depicts the direction
The amount of scatter depicts the strength of relationship
scatter plots
Number will always fall between
-1.0 and +1.0.
The closer the number is to _ the stronger the relationship.
The closer the number is to _ the weaker the relationship.
1, 0
+ or - ONLY indicates the of the relationship.
direction
The _ itself indicates the strength of the relationship.
#
Perceived non-existent correlation- you perceive a relationship where it doesn’t exist
A random coincidence
llusory Correlations
correlation and causation
Low Self-Esteem – Could Cause –> DEPRESSION
or
DEPRESSION – Could Cause –> Low Self-Esteem
Use measures of central tendency:
mean, median, mode
Use measures of variation:
range, standard deviation
the “average” you’re used to, where you add up all the numbers and then divide by the number of numbers.
mean
The mean is NOT ALWAYS a good indicator.
If there are outliers, then the mean can be inflated and it doesn’t represent the data!!!
he middle value, When there are outliers, this is a better representation of the data.
I’ll have to rewrite the list in order: Half fall above and half fall below.
13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 16, 18, 21
There are nine numbers in the list, so the middle one will be the
(9 + 1) ÷ 2 = 10 ÷ 2 = 5th number:
13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 16, 18, 21 So the median is = 14
What if there is an even amount of numbers? Take the two numbers in the middle and average them.
median
the number that is repeated more often than any other, so the mode=
13
If no number is repeated, then there is no mode for the list.
mode
the “difference” between the largest and smallest values.
The largest value in the list is 21, and the smallest is 13, so the range is…
21 – 13 = 8.
range
In real life, suppose a company is considering expanding into an area and is studying the size of containers that competitors are offering.
Would the company be more interested in the
mean, the median, or the mode of their containers?
mode - what size sells the most often
Average difference between each score and the mean.
standard deviation
More spread out scores are from the mean.
large sd
More scores bunch together around the mean.
small sd
A distribution of scores that produces a bell-shaped symmetrical curve.
normal distribution
the mean, median, and mode fall exactly at the same point.
normal curve
The span of ONE SD on either side of the mean covers approximately _____% of the scores in a normal distribution.
68.2
Majority of scores above the mean. One or few extremely LOW scores force the mean to be less than the median score.
+ Majority of scores below the mean. One or few extremely HIGH scores force the mean to be greater than median score.
skewed deviation; neg vs pos
The consistency of scores- will the same measurement give the same or close to the same results for the data every time?
Test-retest reliability: give the same test to the same group more than once
Split half reliability- compare two halves of the same test to each other
relabiltiy
he extent to which the content of a test actually measures the knowledge and skills that it is supposed to cover.
Construct validity: the extent to which the test completely and accurately captures the attribute that it is supposed to cover.
validity
Determines whether research can be generalized to a larger population from which the sample was picked. Inferential statistics assess how strong the relationship is between the independent and dependent variables.
inferential stats
infer stats example
“If it worked for this population, we can estimate it will work for the rest of the population.”
ie - Drug Testing -- if the meds worked for the sample, we estimate they will have the same effect on the rest of the population
There is always a chance for error in whatever the findings may be, so the hypothesis & results must be tested for
significance.
Statistical Significance
difference observed between 2 groups is probably NOT due to chance. The difference instead is likely due to a real difference between the samples. (Cause = effect)
Data is “significant” when the likelihood of a difference being due to chance is less than 5 times out of 100.
The odds of the result occuring by chance should be less than 5% (p value) to be considered statistically significant.
Important because if research is statistically significant it means that the results are probably not a fluke or due to chance.
tates that there is NO difference between 2 sets of data. (basically the opposite of your hypothesis!)
Null Hypothesis = Opposite Hypothesis
Purpose…
null hypothesis
Purpose of null hypothesis
Until the research SHOWS (by proving the original/alternative hypothesis) that there is a difference, the researcher must assume that any difference present is due to chance. In other words, not due to statistical significance.
Null Hypothesis Example -
Original Hypothesis: “A bomb threat was called into the front office, so we need to evacuate the school.”
Null Hypothesis: “There is no bomb in the school, so we do not need to evacuate.”
What you need to know…
The Belmont Report (1970s) identified 3 core ethical principles for research
Respect for persons
Beneficence- no harm done
Justice- reasonable, fair, equal treatment
Purpose of review process:
Assure, both in advance & by periodic review, that appropriate steps are taken to protect the rights & welfare of humans participating as subjects in a research study.
Goal of IRBs:
Protect human subjects from physical or psychological harm, which they attempt to do by reviewing research protocols & related materials.
Ethical Animal Research
Must have a clear scientific purpose.
Research must answer a specific, important scientific question.
Animals chosen must be best-suited to answer question at hand.
Must care for the animals in a humane way.
Must acquire animal subjects legally.
Must design experimental procedures that employ the least amount of suffering feasible.
Reasons for using animals in research
Understand animal behavior
Understand the psychological and physiological process that we share
Safeguards for animal use There are standards for animal care and housing, Safeguards for their well-being
Ethical research involving human subjects must meet the following requirements.
No coercion Informed consent Anonymity or confidentiality Risk Debriefing
Participants must know that they are involved in research and give their consent.
Limited deception: If the participants are deceived in any way about the nature of the study, the deception must not be so extreme as to invalidate the informed consent.
Participation is voluntary.
no coercton
The research the participants thought they were consenting to must be similar enough to the actual study to give the informed consent meaning.
Also, researchers must be very careful about the trauma deception may cause.
informed conscent
Participants’ privacy must be protected. Their identities and actions must not be revealed by the researcher.
No data matched with person’s name.
If an ‘interview study’ could not guarantee perfect anonymity, it should guarantee confidentiality. Researcher will not identify the source of the data.
anominity
Participants cannot be placed at significant mental or physical risk. Typically, it is considered permissible for participants to experience temporary discomfort or stress but activities that might cause someone long-term mental or physical harm must be avoided.
This clause requires interpretation by the review board.
This consideration was highlighted by Stanley Milgram’s obedience studies in the 1970s in which participants thought they were causing significant harm to other participants (Social Psych chapter).
risk
After the study, participants should be told the purpose of the study and provided with ways to contact the researchers about the results.
When research involves deception, it is particularly important to conduct a thorough debriefing.
debriefing
