Unit 0 Psychology

Hindsight Bias

tendency to believe, after outcome, that one would have foreseen it

Overconfidence

we tend to overestimate what we know(more confident that correct), drives us to be quick rather than correct

Theory

explains behaviors or events by offering ideas that organize observations and predicts behavior

Hypothesis

a testable prediction

Falsifiable

can hypothesis be proven false?

Operational definition

statement of procedures or ways in which a researcher is going to measure or quality behaviors or qualities

Case-study

the study of a single individual or few individuals in order to describe their (unreplicatable)situation

Meta-analysis

analyzing results of many studies that have measured the same variables

Naturalistic observation

researchers describe the behavior of the animal in their natural setting

Experimenter Bias

expectations by experimenter(s) that may influence results of experiment or interpretation

Population

All individuals who can potentially participate in a study

Random sample

each member of population has equal chance of getting into sample

Representative sample

looks like population but smaller in size

Correlation

a relationship between two variables

Illusory correlation

expected relationship between 2 variables, but no actual link between them

Experiment

manipulation of one of the variables, then observing the effect of that on other measured variables

Experimental group

has IV manipulated

Control group

measure the DV by not getting experimental treatment(IV not applied)

Independent Variable(IV)

variable that the experimenter manipulates, cause, What I change

Dependant variable(DV)

measured variable, effect, depends on IV

Random assignment

ensures all members of the sample have an equal chance of being placed into either group(experiments only)

Single-blind study

The participants don’t know which groups they are in but experimenter does

Double-blind study

Neither the participants nor the experimenter know which groups the participants are in

Placebo effect

real response to action or substance based on expectations, not actual effects of action or substance

Confounding Variable

Differences (other than IV) that occur due to bias, poor planning, or sloppy work, variables that researcher fails to control for or eliminate

Validity

The accuracy of a measure (do results really represent what they are supposed to measure)

Quantitative Data

measured data, deals with numbers, objective

Qualitative Data

describes characteristics or qualities, usually deals with language, often subjective

Likert scales

rating scale used to measure attitudes about a particular statement

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

They review research studies that involve humans for ethics

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)

They review research studies involving animals for ethics violations

Informed Consent

researcher must explain what the experiment is about and procedures to all potential participants so participants can make informed decisions about participating

Protection from Harm

researchers must ensure safety of participants

Confidentiality

researchers must keep participant information confidential and/or anonymous

Deception

If this is used, participants must be given enough information to make an informed choice, hidden parts of experiment must be justifiable and revealed to participants at end of experiment

Debriefing

every participant must be debriefed after the study is complete, they should be informed of the true purpose and goals of experiment and be allowed/given opportunity to ask questions

Descriptive statistics

refers to a set of tools used to summarize and describe a large amount of data

Histogram

way to show data that is continuous rather than discrete, connected bars, value on x axis, frequency on y axis

Bar graph

used when data is in separate groups, bars are separated because the x-axis represents distinct groups

Mean

The average of a data set, found by adding up all numbers and dividing by number of numbers

Mode

The most common number in a data set

Median

The middle number in a data set, if odd number of numbers just middle one, if even number the 2 middle are added and divided by 2

Range

difference between biggest and smallest numbers in data set +1

Standard deviation

average distance between each number in data set in data set and mean, bigger standard deviation = greater variation

Normal distributions

usually referred to as the bell curve, typically used to see standard deviation

Statistical significance

a measure of how likely the result of an experiment is due to the manipulation of the IV or due to chance

Replication

being able to repeat the experiment and get the same results

Experimental method

manipulating variables to measure/discover effects

Non-Experimental Methods

not a measure of cause and effect, case studies, naturalistic observations, correlational studies

variable

a characteristic, factor, or attribute that can be changed or measured in an experiment

Scatter plot

graph with lots of points all over

Skewed distribution

an outlier is disproportionately affecting the mean, a few of the scores stretch out away from group like tail, skew is named for direction of tail