Psych110 Chapter 2

What are the five ways of knowing?

1. Authority — books and experts; “so-and-so told me”

2. Logic — “A>B and B>C, so A>C”

3. Common sense — it’s obvious!

4. Intuition, personal experience — “I find it to be true.”

5. Science — an objective method to gather and evaluate information.

What are the advantages of knowing things through science?

• Methodology is not specific to one area.

• Collects objective evidence

• Searches for general rules

• Makes falsifiable statements

• Adopts a skeptical, questioning attitude about claims

• Remains open-minded about claims

What is a problem with information?

It is only as good as the method used to collect it, so you must evaluate the quality of the method.

What is the issue with bias?

Science should be free from bias, but sometimes scientists are biased. You must evaluate alternative explanations.

An important feature of the scientific method is that science is _____.

Tentative; it can support theories, but not prove them.

Peer Review

When knowledge or research is reviewed by the scientific community and verified through replication.

Knowledge is reviewed and verified through what process?

Replication

Since knowledge can be verified through replication, it is ___________.

Self correcting

Science only deals with ______ problems.

Solvable

Questions must be posed in a way that is ________. Hence, the way that we pose questions must be very _______.

Testable ; precise

Cherry-picking

Picking data that “works” and leaving out other, real data.

What are the eleven steps of the scientific process?

1. Ask a question; may be based on a theory.

2. Formulate a hypothesis

3. Derive predictions to test the hypothesis

4. Define how to measure variables

5. Pick participants

6. Select a research method

7. Select a research design

8. Collect data

9. Evaluate and draw conclusions

10. Report findings

11. Refine/reformulate questions as needed

What are the five research methods?

1. Naturalistic observation

2. Case study

3. Survey

4. Correlational study

5. Experiment

What are the three research designs?

1. Within subjects

2. Between subjects

3. Mixed subjects

“R and R”

Revise and resubmit; what most researchers must do when they submit research to a journal.

Theory

A model or framework that describes a related set of phenomena predicts future occurrences, can be falsified through empirical observation.

Hypothesis

Tentative assertions about psychology (answers why something you expect to observe will occur).

Prediction

What you expect to observe.

Parental Investment Theory

Asymmetrical parental Investment leads the lower investing sex to compete amongst each other for access to the higher investing sex, which is more discriminating.

Many variables are ________ that are difficult to measure.

Constructs

Variables

Clusters of behaviors or motives that can be identified and classified.

Operational Definition

Defining a construct in regard to the specific ways you will measure or produce it; must be very clear and very specific.

Others should be able to _________ and/or _______ your variables in a similar way if they attempted to replicate your study.

Measure and/or produce

Naturalistic Observation

Careful monitoring and examination of what animals (including humans) do in “real world” conditions. Observations and descriptions only.

Naturalistic observation tells us what ________ happen, not ______ it happens.

Can; why

Naturalistic observation includes no __________.

Manipulation

Naturalistic observation may not be accurate. Why?

• It shows what happens under observed conditions, not what typically happens.

• May not generalize to others.

Case Study

Thorough observation and description of a single individual; observation and description only.

A case study can tell us what _______ happen, not _______ it happens.

can; why

In a case study and naturalistic observation, _________ is not determined

causation

Phineas Gage

• A rod accidentally exploded into his brain, but he lived and recovered.

• His personality changed; aggressive, anti-social, off-putting.

  • Possibly PTSD, Trauma, TBI, or observers annoyed him.

  • We ethically can’t test why he was this way.

Darwin’s observations are an example of ___________________.

Naturalistic observation

Jane Goodall is a _______.

Naturalist

Who arranged for three woman to study hominids in their natural environments?

Louis Leaky

Correlation

Tells you how well one variable predicts another variable; MUST have two measurements for each participant and one for each variable .

Correlation can only be used if there is a ______ relationship between variables.

Linear

How do you construct a graph for a correlational study?

• Construct a scatter plot.

• Values of variable 1 go on the x-axis (the variable that you’re predicting)

• Values of variable 2 go on the Y-axis

• Each person’s score is represented with a dot.

Positive Correlation

Increases in variable X are associated with increases in variable Y; decreases in variable Y are associated with decreases in variable Y.

Negative Correlation

Increases in variable X are associated with decreases in variable Y.

No Correlation

• The variables have no relationship; an increase or decrease in variable X are not associated with an increase or decrease in Y.

  • High scores on X show both high and low scores on Y.

  • Low scores on X show both high and low scores on Y.

Saying that two things are correlated isn’t enough; you must say what?

How the things are correlated, positively or negatively.

A +1 correlation indicates a ______ correlation.

Strong

A -1 correlation indicates a ______ correlation.

Weak, nonexistent

The Pearson correlation coefficient r tells you what?

• The direction of a linear relationship between two variables (±)

• The strength of the linear relationship between two variables (magnitude of the value)

  • Always between +1 and -1; the higher the absolute value — regardless of direction — the stronger the correlation is.

What are the three causal pathways for correlations?

1. X may cause Y

2. Y may cause X

3. Z may cause both X and Y

   1. Third variable problem

Correlation does not imply _______.

Causation

Variable

Any situation, event, or behavior that has at least two values (varies)

What are the things that a variable consists of?

Numbers or categories that vary and convey information about a well-defined entity.

Value

A possible number (or category) that a variable can have.

Score

A given person’s value on the variable.

Data

Variables and their values & scores.

Experiment

A study that manipulates a variable (the independent variable) and observes its affects on another variable (the dependent variable).

Independent Variable

What we manipulate (change) to see affects on the other variable.

Dependent Variable

What we measure

Experiments are designed to answer what is the effect of the ________ on the _________.

Independent variable on the dependent variable

Experimental Group

Comparison group; similar subjects who receive a different level of the independent variable or nothing.

Confounding Variables

A variable other than the independent variable that is linked with the independent variable that could influence the dependent variable.

A ________ variable’s affect on the dependent variable cannot be separated from the ________ variable’s affect on the dependent variable.

Confounding; independent

A confounding variable ________ with the independent variable.

Co-occurs

Sampling Bias

Occurs when some members of a population are systematically more likely to be selected in a sample than others.

Placebo Effect

When people’s expectations lead them to perceive an affect or change.

What are some reasons why there would be distortions in self-reported data?

• Social accountability bias: people want to look/be perceived a certain way, so they change their answer.

• If a study is not anonymous, someone may change their answer.

Experimenter Bias

A form of reactivity in which a researcher's cognitive bias causes them to subconsciously influence the participants of an experiment.

Double-blind Experiment

Both the experimenter and the participant do not know which group is which (the experimental group or the control group).

What are some flaws that could occur in research?

1. Sampling Bias

2. Placebo effects

3. distortions in self reported data

4. experimenter Bias

What are two ways to limit/prevent experimenter bias?

1. Use a script.

2. Make your experiment a double-blind experiment

Script

Following the same procedure for everything while also not knowing what group you are dealing with so that you do not affect the results.

Theory

A model or framework that describes a related set of phenomena, predicts future occurrences, can be falsified through empirical observations.

Hypothesis

Tentative assertions about our psychology; usually answers “why” something you expect to happen will occur.

Prediction

What you expect to observe; usually deduced from a hypothesis to test the hypothesis.

Who created the parental Investment Theory?

Robert Trivers

Naturalistic Fallacy

When people excuse, justify, or explain their behaviors based on evolution or genetics.

Why did Robert Trivers hypothesize women invest more in their children than men?

Men invest less because they are only needed for a few minutes to reproduce, while women carry a child for at least 9 months and may still have time after where they cannot bear children. Simply, women invest more time than men.

Be sure to _____ a comparison; for example, women are more involved in raising children than men.

Complete

What did Diane Fossey study?

Mountain gorillas that were being poached.

Participant-Observer observation

A researcher engages in the same activities as the people being observed, since the act of being observed can change behaviors.