Psychology Approaches, Scientific Method, and Research Types

Biological approach

Focus on the body especially the Brain and Nervous System.

Behavioral approach

Study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants.

Psychodynamic approach

Emphasizes unconscious thought, the conflict between biological drives and societal demands, and early childhood experiences.

Humanistic approach

Emphasizes a person's positive qualities, the capacity for growth, and the freedom to choose one's destiny.

Cognitive approach

Emphasizes the mental processes involved in knowing, including attention, perception, thinking, memory, and problem-solving.

Evolutionary approach

Uses evolutionary ideas such as adaptation, reproduction, and natural selection to explain specific human behaviors.

Sociocultural approach

Examines the influences of social and cultural environments on behavior.

Scientific method - Observe

Notice and describe something happening in the world using your senses or measurement tools.

Scientific method - Hypothesize

Create a proposed explanation or educated guess to answer your question.

Scientific method - Test

Test the hypothesis by conducting empirical research (collecting and analyzing data).

Scientific method - Conclude

Analyze testing data; if results support predictions, a theory may gain credibility.

Scientific method - Evaluate

Review the entire process, look for errors, and share your findings.

Operational definition

Eliminates fuzziness in thinking about a problem and provides an objective description of how a variable is going to be measured and observed.

Variable

Anything that can change.

Theory

Broad idea or set of closely related ideas that attempts to explain observations and make predictions about future observations.

Hypothesis

Testable prediction that derives logically from a theory.

Sample

Smaller, manageable subset of a larger group chosen to represent the entire population.

Descriptive research

Describes a phenomenon; cannot prove what causes some phenomenon.

Correlation research

Examines the relationship between variables; cannot prove cause and effect.

Correlation coefficients

Closer to +/- 1.00 indicates a stronger relationship.

Longitudinal designs

Systematic observation involving obtaining measures of variables of interest in multiple waves over time.

Cross-sectional design

All data from many different individuals collected at once.

Experimental research

Determines whether a causal relationship exists between variables; can prove cause and effect.