Psychology

Define Psychology

Studying behavior and mental processes SCIENTIFICALLY

Self-report

participants provide information about themselves (emotions) ex: Q+A, survey or questionnaire

Measures of overt behavior scale

A tool for measuring challenging behaviors following the scale (Verbal aggression, Physical aggression against objects, Physical aggression against self, Physical aggression against other people)

Psychological Test

a systematic procedure or observing a person's behaviour or emotions. Ex: IQ test

Physiological Measures

Physical reactions or proccess like harmon level, sweating, HR and BP

Sample

A sample is a subset of the population that was used in the study. The findings from our sample will generalize to describe our population.

Representative Sample

The characteristics of the sample reflect the characteristics of the population proportionally

Random sampling

Way of disseminating the survey so that each member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen to participate

Stratify Sampling

researchers divide subjects into subgroups called strata based on characteristics that they share

Population

All the people we want to draw conclusions about

Surveys: Operational Definitions

The specific way we measure our variable

Survey: Social Desirability Tools

Tendency for subjects to over-report or under-report based on social expectations (make survey anonymous)

Survey: Non- Response Bias

A concern about who IS NOT responding to the survey (why?)

Case Study

In depth investigation of one person, thing, or event with lots of info and detail

Naturalistic Observation

Naturalistic observation is a way to collect data about a subject in their natural environment is NOT affected by artificial environments that can alter the subjects behavior.  

Phineas Gage

• Iron Rod in his head (frontal lobe)

• Purpose: how damage to the frontal lobes may alter personality, emotions, and social interaction

• Localization

Genie

• Isolated, Abused, not exposed to language

• Critical Period: ideal time frame during which language should be learned

Pros of Survey

Efficient: lots of data, good sample = good generalization

Cons of Survey

False generalizations, reliance of self-report, can’t explain why trends happen

Correlational Research

Seeks to identify a relationship between variables

Positive Correlation

When one variable goes up then the other variable goes up too (same direction)

Negative Correlation

When one variable goes up then the other goes down (different direction)

Correlation does NOT imply causation

Correlation does NOT imply causation