UNIT: 0 AP PSYCH (cognitive biases and stats)

critical thinking

thinking that does not automatically accept arguments and conclusions

cognitive biases

• roadblocks to critical thinking

  • some things which might seem as “common sense” are usually wrong

hindsight bias

The tendency to believe after learning the outcome that one would have foreseen it.

• “I knew it all along”

• cognitive inputs, metacognitive inputs and motivational inputs

Overconfidence

Overestimation of one’s actual ability to perform a task successfully

• quick thinking

• one’s belief that they are better than others or excessive certainty in the accuracy of one’s belief.

perceiving patterns

brain doesn’t make sense of random things or events so it finds patterns to relieve stress

confirmation bias

A tendency to search for information that supports our perceptions and to ignore or distrot contradictory evidence

effortful processing

processing information that requires attention and conscious effort

• psych concepts, personal events

Automatic processing

processing that is done unconsciously

• classical conditioning, passage of time

Deep processing

Elaborative rehearsal with meaningful analysis of ideas and words being learned

• applying concepts to yourself, connecting ideas to things that you already know

• easier to recall when connected to other memories

Shallow processing

Trying to learn ideas on a superficial level (only memorizing)

• things you interact with everyday

• leads to weaker memories

ethics in psychology research

All research must pass a review conducted by an institutional review board (IRB)

• criteria set by American Psychological Association must be followed

goals

• ensure the benefits outweigh the costs

• maintain concern and respect for the wellbeing of participants

  • ensure fair procedures are in place

Ethical codes

1. obtain voluntary, informed consent from all participants

2. protect participants from unnecessary harm or discomfort

3. maintain confidentiality of all participants

4. debriefing individuals afterwards

   • including deception

Ethics for animal experiments

• must provide humane care and healthful conditions

• minimize the pain and discomfort

• use anesthesia whenever possible

• veterinarians must be consulted

• benefits outweigh the cost

• planned end date for the study

qualitative research

relies on in-depth narrative data that are not translated into numbers

Quantitative research

Relies on quantifiable, numerical data

Likert scale

• uses a linear or continuum scale to measure attitudes in a study

• helps to better quantify concepts and improve operational definitions of varaibles

Standard deviation

looks at how much scores can vary from each other

• how spread out data is from the mean

• 68% of scores must always be within 1 standard deviation

• scores closer in range, the curve would be taller and will have smaller standard deviation

• scores spread out make the curve look shorter or fatter and will have a larger standard deviation

normal distribution

mean median and mode are all the same values

skewed distribution

When there are extreme scores or when the mean median and mode are not the same value

• in this case the median is a better measure of central tendency than the mean

positive skew

if group has one highscores and contain majority low scores

negative skew

if group has one low outlier and contains mostly high scores

how is it graphed?

• typically for correlation studies

• measure of central tendency

• bell curves and standard deviations

• histograms

• scatterplots

Descriptive statistics

numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups or a situation

• measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion (range variance frequency distribution)

Regression toward the mean

Outliers have a tendency to become more moderate with retesting

• less extreme and move towards the mean of the data

Third variable

refers to the fact that two variables that are correlated may not be directly related, rather a third variable might be affecting them both (confounding variable)

Inferential statistics

numerical data that allow one to generalize findings to a whole population

• to infer from the sample data the probability of something being true of a population

• compares tests and predicts data

• includes methods like testing a hypothesis

inference

A general statement based on limited data or information

Statistical significance

A statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance

• your sample averages are reliable and the differences between the experimental and control groups are big enough to not be random or by chance.

p value

Calculated number indicating the probability of results being due to chance

• goal value: .05 or lower

• means that there is less than 5% chance the results occurred by chance

effect size

determines the practical significance of your statistically significant experiment by determining how much the independent variable had an affect on the dependent variable

• how meaningful or impactful the effect of a statistically significant study is