psych 105 exam 2

Why is converging evidence important?

Strengthens validity, increases reliability, reduces individual limitations, increases confidence 

What is generalizability?  

How well results apply to people outside experiment

Placebo effect:

person receives fake condition but experiences a change in their condition

How do you combat confounding factors? What does random assignment involve? Why do it?  

By keeping groups and conditions similar as possible, random assignment helps minimize bias

What are confounding factors? Give an example.  

Variable that influences both the cause and effect, temp and ice cream (ppl get more ice cream when its warm)

What is external validity?  

Extent to which results apply to people generally

What is internal validity?  

Extent to which we can draw accurate conclusions from our results

What is compared in a within-participants design? 

Compare results within the same group of participants (before and after) 

Experimental group:

receives manipulation, researcher measures effect on this

What is compared in a between-participants design? Why?  

2 groups a control and experimental group, this is to identify the effect of independent variable on the dependent 

What does correlation tell us?  

It is a sign of a good relationship, prereq for causation 

What are the criteria for causation?  

Presence, precedence, strength of relationship

Presence?

presumed cause must be present when effect is present

Precedence?

presumed cause must precede the effect

Strength of relationship?

correlation=prerequisite for causation, caveats 

Reliability:

consistency

Validity:

accuracy

What are the two general types of aptitude/abilities tests?  

IQ test, physical and mental

What are some limitations of using self-report methods?  

Honesty, literacy, wording effects

What are four common ways psychologists operationalize constructs?  

observation of behavior, self-report, aptitude, physiological

What are operational definitions?  

Redefine constructs as specific, observable, and measurable

What is the "construct problem” and how do we solve it?  

Same word can have many meaning, can’t measure constructs, Solve by: careful definition and concepts, statistical analysis, research and peer review

construct

a general concept: intelligence