Psych - 1/2 - Psychology's History and Approaches (2nd half)

Hindsight bias

The tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have forseen it

Theory

An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events

Hypotheses

Predictions and ideas that can be tested

Operational definitions

Carefully worded statements of the exact procedures used in a research study

Replication

Repeating the essence of a research study to see whether the basic finding can be reproduced

Descriptive experimentation

Observing and recording behavior

Case study

Form of descriptive experimentation

Deeply examines one individual or group to determine information about the population

Certain cases can be misleading or overly attention-grabbing

Naturalistic observation

Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate or control the situation

Mostly has been small science, but it’s growing with technology

Survey

Obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a random sample

Sampling bias

A flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample

Random sample

A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

Population

All those in a group being studied

Correlation

A measure of how much two factors vary together, and therefore how well one predicts the other

Cause and effect can be unclear

Correlation coefficient

A statistical measure of the relationship between two things (from -1.00 to 1.00)

Variable

Anything measurable that can vary

Scatterplot

Graphed cluster of dots representing two variables; the slope reflects their relationship

Perfect positive correlation: slope aligns

Perfect negative correlation: slopes intersect

Illusory correlation

Perceiving a relationship that doesn’t exist or one that is stronger than it actually is

Regression toward the mean

The tendency for extreme or unusual scores to regress toward the average

Experimenting

Manipulating the independent variable to observe the effect on the dependent variable

Random assignment

Assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance to minimize preexisting differences

Double-blind procedure

Neither researchers nor participants know which group is which

Prevents bias in experiments

Placebo effect

Experimental results caused by expectations alone

Independent variable

The variable whose effect is being studied

Dependent variable

The measured outcome; the variable that the independent variable impacts

Confounding variables

Other variables that could influence the study

(Experimental) validity

The extent to which a test or experiment measures or predicts what it should

Benefits of experimenting with animals

Understanding other species

Understanding human issues without factoring human complexities into experiments

Improving the lives of both humans and other animals

BPS

British Psychological Society

Informed consent

Giving enough information about an experiment so the participants can make an informed decision about whether or not to participate

Guidelines to ethical human experiments

1. Use informed consent

2. Protect people from unnecessary harm

3. Keep people’s information confidential

4. Debrief

Debriefing

Explaining the experiment (including possible deceptions and reasoning) afterward

Descriptive statistics

Numerical data used to describe and measure characteristics of groups

Skewed distribution

Lacking symmetry around the average value

Histogram

Bar graph depicting a frequency distribution

Range

Difference between lowest and highest scores in a distribution

Standard deviation

A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean

Inferential statistics

Numerical data that allow one to infer from simple data the probability of something being true of a population

Statistical significance

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

Different from practical significance