Week 6

Question 1

Phenomenon

Answer 1

A general result that has been observed reliably in systematic empirical research i.e. women do not talk more than men

Question 2

Blindsight

Answer 2

People with damage to their visual cortex are often able to respond to visual stimuli that they do not consciously see

Question 3

Bystander Effect

Answer 3

The more people who are present at an emergency situation, the less likely it is that any one of them will help

Question 4

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 4

People tend to explain others behaviour in terms of their personal characteristics in opposed to the situation that they are in

Question 5

McGurk Effect

Answer 5

When audio of a basic speech sound is combined with a video of a person making mouth movements for a different speech sound, people often perceive a sound that is intermediate between the two

Question 6

Other- Race Effect

Answer 6

People recognise faces of their own race more accurately than faces of people of other races

Question 7

Placebo Effect

Answer 7

Placebos often lead to improvements in people’s functioning and symptoms

Question 8

Mere Exposure Effect

Answer 8

The more often that people have been exposed to a stimulus, the more they like it

Question 9

Serial Position Effect

Answer 9

Stimuli presented near the beginning and end of a list are remembered better than stimuli presented in the middle

Question 10

Spontaneous Recovery

Answer 10

A conditioned response that has been extinguished often returns with no further training after a passage of time

Question 11

Replication

Answer 11

Conducting a study again, either exactly as it was originally conducted or with modifications, to ensure it will produce the same results
- Individual researchers often replicate studies prior to publication

Question 12

Differences in Replicated studies

Answer 12

• Results of the initial study or the replication were fluke
• Replication differed in some important way to the initial study

Question 13

Laws

Answer 13

-Imply that a phenomenon is universally true
- There are no laws in psychology

Question 14

Theory

Answer 14

-A coherent explanation or interpretation of one or more phenomena
- Explain by including variables, structures, processes and functions that have not been observed directly
- Can be untested or extensively tested i.e. theory of evolution or gravity

Question 15

Perspective

Answer 15

-A broad approach to explaining and interpreting phenomena
- i.e. behavioral personality psychologists explain behaviour in terms of reinforcement, punishment etc.

Question 16

Model

Answer 16

A precise explanation or interpretation of a specific phenomenon; expressed in terms of equations, computer programs or biological structures and processes

Question 17

Hypothesis

Answer 17

A prediction about a new phenomenon based on a theory; can also be an explanation that relies on just a few key concepts

Question 18

Theoretical Framework

Answer 18

The established context applied to understanding a phenomenon

Question 19

Purposes of Theories

Answer 19

• The organisation of known phenomena
• The prediction on outcomes in new situations
• The generation of new research

Question 20

Organisation of known phenomena

Answer 20

• Organise phenomena with greater clarity and efficiency
  -i.e. The theory of social facilitation and social inhibition helps to organise and make sense of a large number of seemingly contradictory results

Question 21

Parsimony

Answer 21

A principle which holds that a theory should only include as many concepts as are necessary to explain or interpret the phenomena of interest

Question 22

Occam’s Razor

Answer 22

Another term for parsimony

Question 23

Prediction

Answer 23

• What will happen in new situations?
  i.e. will a gymnast perform better in competition than when practicing alone?

Question 24

Generation of new Research

Answer 24

• Raising new questions
• A theory can generate new questions regardless of accuracy
• I.e. in a theory that claim that people self harm to reduce negative emotions, one could ask if it is the pain or the sight of injury that calms emotions

Question 25

Formality

Answer 25

The extent to which the components of the theory and the relationships among them are specified clearly and in detail

Question 26

Informal Theories

Answer 26

- Simple verbal descriptions of a few important components and relationships - Easier to understand but less precise in predictions - i.e. theory that emotional writing makes one healthier

Question 27

Formal Theories

Answer 27

- Expressed in term of mathematical equations and computer programs - More difficult to understand but are more precise in predictions and easier to test -i.e. the Rescorla- Wagner model of classical conditioning

Question 28

Scope

Answer 28

-The number and diversity of the phenomena a theory explains or interprets - i.e. how many different aspects of the world that the theory is exploring or related to

Question 29

Broad Theories

Answer 29

-Organise more phenomena but tend to be less formal and less precise in predictions - i.e. Freud applied his theory to slips of the tongue, art, sexuality, dreaming and politics

Question 30

Narrow Theories

Answer 30

- Organise fewer phenomena but tend to be more formal and more precise in their predictions - i.e. subitizing

Question 31

Theoretical Approach

Answer 31

The way in which theories in psychology vary widely in the kind of theoretical ideas that they were derived from

Question 32

Functional Theories

Answer 32

-Explains psychological phenomena in terms of their function or purpose - It focuses on what occurs in opposed to how it is occurring - i.e. A functional theory for self injury would be to temporarily reduce the negative emotions experienced by the individual

Question 33

Mechanistic Theories

Answer 33

-Focus on specific variables, structures and processes as well as how these factors interact to produce a particular phenomena - Provides context for when/ how intense the phenomenon happens - i.e. explaining hypochondrium with high levels of neuroticism and childhood trauma of a severely ill parent

Question 34

Stage Theories

Answer 34

-Specify a series of stages that people pass through as they develop or adapt to their environment - One can not revert to previous stages - i.e. Piaget's theory of cognitive development

Question 35

Typologies

Answer 35

Groups organised by the distinct type of person or behaviour being categorised - i.e. Type A/ Type B personality

Question 36

Primary Way Researchers use Theories

Answer 36

Hypothetico- deductive model

Question 37

Deduction

Answer 37

-A 'top-down' or "theory driven" approach applies it to a specific case - If the general rule is true, the conclusion must be true -i.e. all birds fly. Thus, as a sparrow is a bird, it too must fly - Reliable as long as the general theory is true

Question 38

Induction

Answer 38

-A "bottom up" or "data driven" approach in which researchers begin by making general observations that lead to patterns from which they formulate hypotheses that make testable predictions, leading to the development of a new theory - Starts with specific observations and use them to form general rules. - The conclusion is likely but not always guaranteed - i.e. you see 100 white swans, therefore all swans must be white. NOT TRUE

Question 39

Falsifiability

Answer 39

- Can something be proven false? - A scientific statement is one that could possibly be proven wrong - i.e. theory that all swans are white can be falsifiable by testing all swans to check for a different colour

Question 40

Principle of Falsifiability

Answer 40

A hypothesis can only be considered a scientific theory if it can be disproven

Question 41

Karl Popper

Answer 41

Principle of Falsifiability - All scientific theories must have the capacity to be proven false - In his view, when we retest a theory; in pseudoscience we are looking to confirm a theory as in real science, we are are looking to disconfirm the theory i.e. if we are looking to prove Santa's existence, we should go about looking to disproving his existence - All theories should be testable, refutable and falsifiable

Question 42

Characteristics of Theories

Answer 42

- Formality - Scope - Philosophy - Evidence

Question 43

Philosophy of a Theory

Answer 43

- The assumptions and ways of looking at the world that underly the theory - Realist theories i.e. Piaget's theory Social Constructivism i.e. Vygotsky's theory of social interaction

Question 44

Evidence of a theory

Answer 44

- The extent to which a theory has and can be stringently tested and supported

Question 45

Features of Good Theories

Answer 45

-Accuracy - Consistency - Broad Scope - Simplicity - Fruitfulness

Question 46

Accuracy in Theories

Answer 46

Predictions can be derived from the theory which are in agreement with the results observed in studies

Question 47

Consistency in Theories

Answer 47

Does not contradict itself or other accepted theories

Question 48

Broad Scope

Answer 48

Consequences should extend far beyond the particular observations it was originally designed to explain

Question 49

Simplicity

Answer 49

"Things should be as simple as possible but no simpler"

Question 50

Fruitfulness

Answer 50

Leading to new phenomena or previously unnoted relationships among those already known