PSYC91.01 -Experimental Psychology and the Scientific Method

Science

connotes content and process

Methodology

scientific techniques to collect and evaluate data

Experiment

Approach in getting data

Data

Facts we gather using scientific method

Experimental psychology

Getting empirical data using scientific method

Commonsense psychology

Use of nonscientific sources of data to make conclusions; usually qualitative

Nonscientific inference

nonscientific use of information to explain or predict behavior

Overuse of trait explanations

Making unwarranted dispositional attributions and underuse situational information

Trait theory

Self-report and trying to predict behavior

Stereotyping

Falsely assume that specific behaviors cluster together

We pathologize everything; equating diversity with abnormality

Problem with psychology

Overconfidence bias

feel more confident about our conclusions that is warranted by available data; leads to stretching out conclusions or data

Meta-analysis

aggregation of different experiments

Scientific mentality

behavior follows a natural order and can be predicted

Empirical

Observed or experienced data

True

If results disprove a theory, results take precedence

Law

Statements generally expressed as equations with few variables that have overwhelming empirical support

Principle of a black swan

it’s better to look for a black swan than to count every white swan (to disprove a theory)

Theory

interim explanation; set of related statements used to explain and predict phenomena

Good thinking

Engage in systematic, objective, and rational data collection and interpretation

Parsimony

prefer to use the simplest useful explanation

Karl Popper

He says that science advances by revising theories based on the weight of evidence (empirical falsification)

True

Science usually disproves theory rather than affirming them

Principle of modus tollens

Disprove statements using a single, contrary observation

Replication

exact or systematic repetition of a study

Description, explanation, prediction, control

Four main objectives of experimental psychology

Description

Describe behavior

Explanation

Using theory

Prediction

test explanation to see if it will hold true over multiple instances (repetition)

Control

Doing something about the findings

Observation

Systematic (procedures are consistently applied) noting and recording events

Measurement

assigns numbers to objects, events, or their characteristics

Experimentation

test predictions (hypotheses) and establish cause-and-effect relationships; manipulate independent variable and measure the effect on the dependent variable

quasi-experimental

compare experiences of people affected by something and those who don’t

Temporal relationship

causes must precede effects; time element

You are measuring everything at the same time; there is no time element to it

Reason why correlations are weak