AP Psychology Unit 0 extended

MIGHT BE COOKED??

Placebo effect

- causes experimental results from expectation and assumptions that medication is being taken

Experimental validity

- the extent to which a test/experiment measures and predicts what its supposed to

Third variable bias

- Situation where an association between 2 variables is better explained by relationship with a third variable that is not considered

Histogram

- a bar graph that shows frequency distribution
how they are constructed can impact how viewers see it -> can sometimes be misleading

Descriptive stats

- Numerical data used to measure and describe characteristics of groups
Measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode)
Measures of variation (range, standard deviation)

Describes population/data set

Inferential stats

- Numerical data that allow to generalize to a true population
Rep. samples are used
bigger samples
variability of data is low
more cases is better than fewer

Examines relationships between variables in samples
allows to infer trends

Skewed distribution

- Most data fall on one side, but there are very few scores of the other side that SKEWS THE MEAN
Median is better than mean -> more accurate

Percentile rank

- percentage of scores that are less than a given score

compared indiv. to larger group

Measures of variability

- gauge whether scores are packed together of dispersed

range: dif. between highest, lowest
standart deviation: computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean

Normal curve

- most in the mean
some outliers on both sides

Negatively skewed

- Mean pulled to negative side

Positively skewed

- Mean pulled to positive side

Bimodal distribution

- 2 frequencly occuring scores
2 clear peaks
separated by through/region of lower frequency

Statistical significance

- Statistical statement of how likely it is that a result occured by chance
-When the difference in DV results of control group indicated that IV caused change

• measure by P VALUE

Studying animals ethics

- Why?

• interest

• common biology and behaviours

IF WE ARE SO SIMILAR, HOW CAN WE JUSTIFY ANIMAL RESEARCH?

• priority: place human lives over animal lives?

• protection: protect well-being of animals used in research?

Studying and protecting humans

- RAPIDD (review board, anonymity and confidentiality, protection from harm, informed consent, deception, debrief)

Review board

- IRB (Institutional review boards screen research proposal

• safeguard rights, welfare, etc

• 4-5 people (1 scientist, 1 non scientist, 1 community rep)

• enforce ethical standards

Anonymity

- Participants' identities and data remain unknown in research unless they give full consent

Confidentiality

- Protect participants ID against unauthorized access to unfo they reveal in confidence
reduce personal detail, limit accessibility

Protection from harm

- the right of research participants to be protected from physical or psychological harm

Right to withdraw

- A participant's right to leave a study at any time and their ability to do so.
Need to be told they can withdraw before the study

Informed consent

- an ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate

Detailed, includes exactly how the study is conducted and what they will go through

Deception

- True purpose cannot be revealed in some experiments as it would influence results

• confederates: pretend to be fellow participants but are actually part of the experiment

• must be temporary and explained in full at the end

Debrief

- the post-experimental explanation of a study, including its purpose and any deceptions, to its participants
Should occur as soon as possible and explanation should be as full as possible

Scientific Attitude

- -Does the data support the prediction?
-Does it work?
-Right ideas stick around, wrong ideas dont (self cleansing
-Must be skeptical, not cynical, open minded, not guilliable

-Curiousity
-Skepticism
-Humility

Curiousity ?

- Does it work? When put to the test, can its predictions be confirmed

Skepticism ?

- -What do you mean?
-How do you know

Humility

- That was unexpected, lets explore further

Critical thinking

- Examines assumptions, appraises source, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, assesses conclusions
Does NOT automatically accept arguments and conclusions

Hindsight Bias

- "I knew it all along"
Tendency to believe after learning an outcome that one would have foreseen it

Overconfidence

- -More confident than correct
-Knowing answer causes overconfidence
-Leads to quick over correct thinking
-Belief that ones performance is better than that of others
-Excessive certainty in the accuracy of ones beliefs

Perceiving order in random events

- Pattern seeking
-Random, unpredictable world is unsettling
to make sense of the world

Why is common sense thinking flawed?

- Hindsight bias
overconfidence
perceiving order in random events

Psychology

- SCIENTIFIC study of the behavioural and mental processes of humans and animals

Behavioral

- Any observable and measurable action taken by a person

Mental

- Internal, subjective that can be inferred by behaviour
(sensation, perception, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, feelings)

Confirmation Bias

- To search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictions

Nature

- Heredity
Behaviours and mental processes occur because they are born into one, or innate
Both nature and nurture are important

Nurturet

- Environment
Behaviours and mental processes occur as a result of experience of the environment
both nature and nurture are importan

Biopsychosocial approach

- Understanding behaviour and mental processes from 3 viewpoints
Biological
Psychological
Social-cultural

Biological perspectives

- -Psychodynamic
-Social-cultural
-Humanistic
-Cognitive
-Evolutionary
-Biological
-Behavioural

Psychodynamic

- How behaviour is shaped by UNCONSCIOUS/PAST
eg. repression, desires, ego

Social-cultural

- Social interactions, cultural influence on behaviour
eg. cultural norms, roles, gender, ethnicity

Humanistic

- How does behaviour relate to self image
eg. self esteem, actualization

Cognitive

- Focus on mental processes like memory, communication, metacognition,
eg. encoding, perception, bias

Evolutionary

- Applies principles of evolution to behaviours
eg. survival, adaptation

Biological

- Genetics and biological processes
eg. DNA, hormones, epigenetics

Behavioural

- Objective, observable environmental influences on behaviour
eg. learning, conditions, reinforcement

Non experimental research design

- Case study
Naturalistic observation
Survey
Meta-analysis
CORRELATIONAL STUDIES:
-A measure of the extent to which 2 factors vary together, and how well each factor predicts the other

Case study

- A non experimental technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in hope of revealing universal principles
Uses 1 indiv. or group

Strengths:
Allow for examination of rare/unusual behaviour
large amt of available data
suggest direction for further study

Limitation:
Can be misleading (small sample)
May not be generalizeable to larger group
Cannot determine cause, effect

Naturalistic observation

- Non experimental technique of observing and recording behavious in naturally occurring environments without controlling anythihng

Strengths:
Subjects behave naturally
unobtrusive

Limitations:
Independant variable cannot be isolated
impacted by subjective observations
cannot determine cause, effect

Survey

- Self reported attitudes or behaviours of certain group by questioning a representative, smaller sample of the group

Strengths:
Quick pulse of data
can include many cases

Limitations:
wording can skew bias
response, sampling, self report bias
no cause, effect

Wording affect

- Do you support welfare? vs do you support aid to the needy?

Social desirability bias:
Bias that results from people responding in ways they think you want them to

Self-report bias:
When somebody reports their behaviour innacurately

Sampling bias

- survey location, demographic can affect results

Random sample

Representative sample
-convenience sample (bad) - collecting from group that is readily available
-representative sample (good) - same distribution of demographic quality in it as the population

Meta-analysis

- statistical technique for synthesizing the results of multiple studies of a phenomenon into a single result

Strengths
greater statistical power, can extrapolate to population
evidence based
more likely to show affect
accuracy

Limitations:
difficult/time consuming
needs complex statistical skills
may have affect of halting research on a particular topic

Correlational studies

- A measure of the extent to which 2 factors vary together and how well each factor predicts the other
sg. studying → good grades

Correlation coefficient

- a statistical index of the relationship between 2 variables (-1.00 to +1.00) → closer it is to + or - 1, stronger correlation

Positively correlated
2 sets of data tend to rise and fall together
eg. college graduation and income levels

Negative correlation
One set of data rises as one falls
eg. age and amount of nightly sleep

Scatterplots

- graphed cluster of dots that represents the values of 2 variables

Slope: positive/negative
amt of scatter: strength of correlation
x,y axis must be quantified

Illusory correlation

- perceiving a relationship where none exists or percieving a stronger-than-actual relationship

Regression towards the mean

- Tendency for extreme/unusual scores to fall back toward the average
Occurs when more data is collected

Experimental research method

- Enables researchers to ISOLATE the effects of one/more factors

Random assignment

- Assigning participants to experimental/control groups by chance → minimizes differences between groups
avoid confounding variables

Confounding variables

- Any variable that might influence a study's results

Representative sampling

- Choosing a representative sample of population
results generalized to whole prpulation

Blind procedure

- Single blind
participants uninformed abt treatments they are recieiving
controls for subject response and placebo effect

Double blind
participants and researcher uninformed which group recieves treatment
subject response, researcher reponse, placebo effect controlled

Population

- the entire group of individuals, objects, or events that a researcher wants to study and draw conclusions about

Experimenter bias

- the influence of the experimenter's expectations on the outcome of research
eg. researchers may unintentionally treat subjects differently based on their treatment group

Qualitative

- Data in the form of recorded descriptions rather than numerical measurements.

Quantitative measures

- units of measure expressed in numerical terms

Mean

- average

Median

- the middle score in a distribution; half the scores are above it and half are below it

Mode

- the most frequently occurring score(s) in a distribution

Effect size

- the magnitude of a relationship between two or more variables

Size of sample and statistical significance

- The larger the sample size, the more reliable the statistical significance of the results.

Generalization

- a statement that seems to be true in most situations or for most people, but that may not be completely true in all cases

Operational definition

- a statement of the procedures used to define research variables
Happiness measures by smiles/hour, smile = widening of mouth past ….. cm diameter

Hypothesis

- A testable prediction, often implied by a theory

Falsifiable hypothesis

- Hypothesis that can be proven false.
Can be proven wrong or right with data

Cultural norms

- prescriptions for how people should interact and what messages should mean in a particular setting

Standard deviation

- a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score
Low standard deviation : points clustered around mean
High standard deviation: points further spread out