Unit 2: Psychological Science

Question 1

Hindsight bias

Answer 1

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it

Question 2

Why can’t we rely on common sense? (3 things)

Answer 2

1) Hindsight bias
2) Overconfidence
3) Perceiving order in random events

Question 3

What helps us seperate the facts from fictional perceptions?

Answer 3

1) Curious eagerness
2) Scrutiny
3) Open minded humility

Question 4

theory

Answer 4

an explanation using principles that organizes observations and predicts behavior

Question 5

hypothesis

Answer 5

a testable prediction, often implied by a theory

Question 6

operational definition and its importance

Answer 6

a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in a research study, and helps to make precise standards to prevent bias

Question 7

What makes a theory useful?

Answer 7

1) Organizes observations
2) Implies predictions
3) Stimulates further research

Question 8

Theory types

Answer 8

1) Descriptive methods –> describe behaviors
2) Correlational methods –> Associated diff. variables
3) Experimental methods –> manipulate variables to discover effects

Question 9

Case study

Answer 9

a descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

Question 10

Naturalistic observation

Answer 10

A descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without controlling the situation.

Question 11

What makes naturalistic observation important, and what limits them?

Answer 11

They can be predictors of future actions and illuminate human behavior without controlling factors, but they don’t EXPLAIN behavior.

Question 12

Survey

Answer 12

Descriptive technique for obtaining self reported attitudes/behaviors of a group

Question 13

Sampling bias

Answer 13

A flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample[

Question 14

What prevents sampling bias?

Answer 14

Random samples

Question 15

What are the description methods of theories?

Answer 15

1) Case studies
2) Naturalistic observations
3) Surveys

Question 16

Correlate

Answer 16

A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and of how well one factor predicts the other

Question 17

Correlation coefficient

Answer 17

A statistical measure, figures out how closely two things vary together

Question 18

What determines close correlation?

Answer 18

The closer to either extreme (-1.0 to +1.0)

Question 19

What restricts the importance of correlations?

Answer 19

Doesn’t explain relations, doesn’t prove causation

Question 20

Illusory correlation

Answer 20

Perceiving a relationship where none exists, or perceiving an abnormally strong relation

Question 21

Regression towards the mean

Answer 21

The tendency for extreme or unusual scores to regress to average
–> Often attributed to direct action

Question 22

Experiments enable researchers to isolate the effects of one or more factors by…

Answer 22

1) Manipulating the factors of interest
2) Holding other factors constant

Question 23

What must researchers control for to determine the effectiveness of a possible treatment?

Answer 23

Placebo effect

Question 24

What do experiments examine?

Answer 24

The effect of one or more independent variables on some measurable behavior

Question 25

Confounding variables

Answer 25

Other factors that can potentially influence a study’s results

Question 26

How do researchers set up a research study?

Answer 26

1) They pose a question
2) They select the most appropriate research design and determine how to set it up
3) They decide on an operational definition
4) They consider possible conflicting values/factors

Question 27

What illuminates everyday behavior?

Answer 27

Resulting principles

Question 28

Why do psychologists study non humans?

Answer 28

Because our processes align somewhat with specific species of the animal kingdom

Question 29

Informed consent

Answer 29

Giving potential participants enough information to enable them to select participation

Question 30

Debrief

Answer 30

Post experimental explanation of a study

Question 31

Descriptive statistics

Answer 31

Numerical data used to measure/describe characteristics of groups

Question 32

What does summarizing data with a measure of central tendency do?

Answer 32

Pinpoints a single score to represent other scores

Question 33

What does variation point to in a study?

Answer 33

High/low variability

Question 34

Ways to tell variation

Answer 34

Range, standard deviation

Question 35

Inferential statistics

Answer 35

Numerical data that allows one to generalize from sample data the probability of something being true of a population

Question 36

Ways to tell if it’s safe to generalize from a sample

Answer 36

1) Representative samples are better than biased samples
2) Less variable observations are more reliable that those that vary more
3) More cases are better than a few

Question 37

How can I tell if an observed difference is significant?

Answer 37

if p < 0.05, results are statistically significant.
if p > 0.05, results are not statistically significant.

Question 38

What can a statistical significance measure?

Answer 38

The likelihood of a significance, not the importance