Unit 2: Psychological Science Flashcards
Hindsight bias
the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it
Why can’t we rely on common sense? (3 things)
1) Hindsight bias
2) Overconfidence
3) Perceiving order in random events
What helps us seperate the facts from fictional perceptions?
1) Curious eagerness
2) Scrutiny
3) Open minded humility
theory
an explanation using principles that organizes observations and predicts behavior
hypothesis
a testable prediction, often implied by a theory
operational definition and its importance
a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures used in a research study, and helps to make precise standards to prevent bias
What makes a theory useful?
1) Organizes observations
2) Implies predictions
3) Stimulates further research
Theory types
1) Descriptive methods –> describe behaviors
2) Correlational methods –> Associated diff. variables
3) Experimental methods –> manipulate variables to discover effects
Case study
a descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
Naturalistic observation
A descriptive technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without controlling the situation.
What makes naturalistic observation important, and what limits them?
They can be predictors of future actions and illuminate human behavior without controlling factors, but they don’t EXPLAIN behavior.
Survey
Descriptive technique for obtaining self reported attitudes/behaviors of a group
Sampling bias
A flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample[
What prevents sampling bias?
Random samples
What are the description methods of theories?
1) Case studies
2) Naturalistic observations
3) Surveys
Correlate
A measure of the extent to which two factors vary together, and of how well one factor predicts the other
Correlation coefficient
A statistical measure, figures out how closely two things vary together
What determines close correlation?
The closer to either extreme (-1.0 to +1.0)
What restricts the importance of correlations?
Doesn’t explain relations, doesn’t prove causation
Illusory correlation
Perceiving a relationship where none exists, or perceiving an abnormally strong relation
Regression towards the mean
The tendency for extreme or unusual scores to regress to average
–> Often attributed to direct action
Experiments enable researchers to isolate the effects of one or more factors by…
1) Manipulating the factors of interest
2) Holding other factors constant
What must researchers control for to determine the effectiveness of a possible treatment?
Placebo effect
What do experiments examine?
The effect of one or more independent variables on some measurable behavior
Confounding variables
Other factors that can potentially influence a study’s results
How do researchers set up a research study?
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
What illuminates everyday behavior?
Resulting principles
Why do psychologists study non humans?
Because our processes align somewhat with specific species of the animal kingdom
Informed consent
Giving potential participants enough information to enable them to select participation
Debrief
Post experimental explanation of a study
Descriptive statistics
Numerical data used to measure/describe characteristics of groups
What does summarizing data with a measure of central tendency do?
Pinpoints a single score to represent other scores
What does variation point to in a study?
High/low variability
Ways to tell variation
Range, standard deviation
Inferential statistics
Numerical data that allows one to generalize from sample data the probability of something being true of a population
Ways to tell if it’s safe to generalize from a sample
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
How can I tell if an observed difference is significant?
if p < 0.05, results are statistically significant.
if p > 0.05, results are not statistically significant.
What can a statistical significance measure?
The likelihood of a significance, not the importance
