PSYC - Midterm 1 - Chapter 2, A2

What is a historical example of why treatments should not be accepted merely because professionals believe they work?

The prefrontal lobotomy

A treatment’s popularity or apparent success is not the same thing as what?

Strong evidence of effectiveness

What involves quick, automatic judgements?

Intuitive thinking

What are some examples of intuitive thinking?

• gut feelings

• first impressions

• snap judgements

What is the simple difference between a definition of intuitive thinking and a statement about its accuracy?

Intuitive thinking - is characteristically quick and automatic

Intuitive judgements - are not necessarily correct

What are heuristics? What do they reduce and produce?

1. Mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that allow us to make decisions quickly

2. Reduce mental effort but can produce systematic errors

What is a simple way to think about heuristics vs intuition?

Heuristic - shortcut

Intuition - quick/automatic thinking

What concerns helped inspire the Open Science movement?

Some published findings have been difficult to replicate

What does Open Science encourage? What is an important practice?

1. Greater transparency in scientific research

2. Preregistration

What is preregistration? What 2 things does it include?

Researchers publicly specify important aspects of a study before examining their results, including their:

1. hypotheses

2. planned analyses

Why do preregistration?

Makes it more difficult for researchers to change hypotheses or analyses after seeing their results

Reliability and validity. They are closely related but not what?

Interchangeable

What does reliability equal? What does a reliable measure produce?

1. consistency

2. reasonably consistent results

What does validity measure? A measure can be consistent without necessarily measuring what?

1. Whether the measure actually assesses what it is intended to assess

2. Measuring the correct construct

What is the polygraph example in relation to validity? Therefore?

1. A polygraph detects physiological arousal, but arousal is not identical to lying and there can be other reasons they are experiencing it such as being nervous

2. Detecting arousal is not directly detecting deception

What question can you ask for replicability?

Can the finding be obtained again through another study?

What question can you ask for reproducibility?

Can someone use the original data and analytical procedures and obtain the same statistical results?

What is a major clue for determining reproducibility?

Original/raw data + repeating analyses = reproducibility

What does correlation mean?

Indicates that two variables are related or change together

What 3 points can correlation be useful for?

• identifying relationships

• making predictions

• studying variables that cannot ethically or practically be manipulated

Does correlation equal causation? Why or why not?

No it does not

If A and B are correlated, you cannot automatically conclude:

A causes B

What is the third-variable problem in relation to correlation vs causation?

A third variable C, could influence both A and B

Be particularly cautious when media reports turn correlational findings into what? What can happen?

1. casual statements

2. the headline can incorrectly assume that correlation equals causation

What do self-report methods ask participants for? Can these methods be useful?

1. information about themselves

2. they can be, but responses can be affected by several factors

Question Wording in Surveys: The phrasing of questions can what? What do researchers therefore need to do?

1. Strongly influence survey responses

2. Construct questions carefully

Limits of Self-Knowledge in Surveys: Some psychological characteristics are particularly what?

Difficult to measure accurately through self-report

What is an example of limits of self-knowledge in surveys?

Asking someone to accurately evaluate their own narcissism may be more problematic than asking them to report a relatively straightforward behaviour or current state

Responding without knowledge in surveys: People sometimes provide answers even though what? What is the lesson?

1. They do not actually know enough about the subject

2. A survey topic does not necessarily mean the respondent has genuine knowledge of the topic

Responding without knowledge survey: What is an example the exam uses?

The exam uses the fictional “Agricultural Trade Act of 1978",” respondents still expressed opinions about legislation that did not exist

When does the halo effect occur?

When one positive characteristic influences our judgements about other, unrelated characteristics

An example of the halo effect would be if someone makes a very positive first impression we might also assume they are what? Even when we do not have what?

• more intelligent

• kinder

• more competent

• more trustworthy

2. Evidence supporting those conclusions

What are the parts of a correlational study

• measures relationships

• variables are measured

• Can support prediction

• Cannot by itself establish causation

What are the parts of an experimental study?

• tests casual hypotheses

• independent variable is manipulated

• can establish causation under appropriate conditions

• uses random assignment

What are the two important features of a true experiment?

1. Manipulation of the independent variable

2. Random assignment

What is manipulation of the independent variable?

The researcher changes or manipulates the variable believed to influence an outcome

What are the 3 points about random assignment?

1. participants are randomly assigned to experimental conditions

2. random assignment is NOT the same as random selection

3. random assignment concerns which condition participants enter

What is an independent variable (IV)?

The variable that the researcher manipulates

What is the dependent variable (DV)?

The outcome that the researcher measures

What is a useful question for determining IV and DV?

What did the researcher change, and what did they measure afterward?

What does a stronger design include? What does it allow researchers to do?

1. A placebo-control group

2. To distinguish effects of the active treatment from effects associated with receiving and expecting treatment

What is informed consent in ethics?

Participants should receive good information to make an informed decision about participating in research

What is an example of no informed consent?

The Tuskegee syphilis study

What is risk vs benefit in ethics, what must researchers weigh? A study is not automatically ethical simply because what?

1. Potential scientific benefits against potential risks or harm to participants

2. It might produce useful scientific knowledge

What is deception in ethics? Researchers should not use deception simply because what?

1. Can sometimes be used in psychological research, but it must be justified and must not improperly violate participants’ rights

2. It makes a study easier

When encountering reports about psychological research in the media make sure to consider the source info and do not rely solely on:

• common sense

• intuition

• personal experience

• popularity

• what you have previously heard