psyc 100 midterm

sorry i made this before she sent the study guide out-- my flashcards for units 1 and 2 are on my profile and i'm making some for 3,4,and 5 right now

Defined as the scientific study of mind and behaviour.

Defined as the scientific study of mind and behaviour.

1879

First textbook/lab established– but extends much further back than that re: human experience (intersection between philosophers, naturalists, etc.).

Mind

All subjective experiences. Sensations, perceptions, memories, thoughts, motives, emotions. Also includes cognitive structures and processes shaping experience and behaviour outside of awareness

Behaviour

observable actions of people or non-human animals

Folk psychology

Everyday, common sense understanding of the mental states and behaviours of others and ourselves. Comes from experience and intuition.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to seek out, pay attention to, and believe evidence that supports what we are already confident we know

Evolutionary perspective

Identifies aspects of behaviour that are the result of evolutionary adaptations

Cognitive perspective

Studies the mental process that underlies perception, thought, learning, memory, language, and creativity

Cultural perspective

Investigates how cultural context affects people’s thoughts and preferences

Emotional perspective

Examines how the human capacity to feel, express, and perceive emotions plays an important role in decision making, behaviour, and social relationships

Biological-neuroscience perspective

Studies the biological underpinnings of how we think, act, and behave

Personality perspective

Seeks to understand aspects of behaviour that are relatively stable over time and situation

Developmental perspective

Examines how people change physically, cognitively, socially, and emotionally as they age

Clinical perspective

Focuses on the causes and treatments of psychological disorders, with the goal of improving human wellbeing, daily functioning, and social relationships

WEIRD samples

Research participants from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic backgrounds

History of the scientific branch

Took root in universities amid intellectual adventures and scientific experimentation, originating with Wilhelm Wundt in 1870s Germany and William James in 1880s America. Equated psychology as experimental studies of perception, thought, and behaviour.

History of the clinical branch

Began with Freud in Austria and England at the turn of the 20th century. Equated psychology with psychotherapy, clinical practice, and psychiatry

Animal magnetism

Franz Mesmer’s pseudoscience that there is a property of the animal body which had magnetic fluid that can cure illnesses simply by realigning it

Pseudoscience

Makes claims that are supposedly based on science but do not have any evidence; not always ill-intended and can contain grains or truth or else citing valid research while interpreting it wrong

Empirical evidence

The best evidence— based on astute observation and accurate measurement

Homeopathy

The treatment of disease by small doses of natural substances that would produce symptoms of disease in a healthy person

Schema

Existing framework of knowledge

Three parts of the scientific method

Formulate hypothesis on the basis of data or prior observation, systematically collect evidence / data across many, evaluate hypothesis against data

Theory Data Cycle

Developing a theory about what people do and collecting data that is compared with the theory, either confirming or disconfirming it

Theory

An integrated set of related principles that explains and generates predictions about some phenomenon in the world— a set of propositions about what people do and why

Hypothesis

A testable prediction about what will happen under specific circumstances if the theory is correct

Data

A set of observations that are gathered to evaluate the hypothesis, usually in numerical form, collected from people at certain times or in certain situations

Replication study

Same study, new participants

Direct replication

Attempt to recreate the original experiment exactly

Conceptual replication

Tries to recapture original finding but with different methods or measurements

Open science movement

Initiative to make scientific research, data, and methods openly accessible and transparent with the goal of increasingly reproducibility of research

Meta-analysis

Combination of the results of multiple studies

Manipulated variable

A variable intentionally changed by the researcher

Measured variable

A variable whose values are simply recorded and can’t be manipulated

Operational definition

A specific description of how a variable will be measured or manipulated in a study / how the researcher specificies the process for determining the levels or values of each variable

Self report

People describe themselves and/or their behaviour, typically with fixed-response questionnaire with specific set of questions and possible responses determined by researchers

Social desirability bias

Tendency to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favourably by others

Self-deceptive enhancement

Honestly held but unrealistic self-views

Retrospective report

Memories may be inaccurate or biassed by current experience

Open-ended self report

Participants give any answers that come to mind, helpful when studying an unknown phenomenon (helps generate more specific questions and examine broader themes that emerge)

Direct observation

Researcher observes and records occurrence or behaviour, taking place wherever

Reactivity

A change behaviour caused by the knowledge that one is being observed

Disadvantages of direct observation

More time and resource-intensive

Advantages of direct observation

More objective than self-report, observing real-world behaviour and not manipulating natural environment

Naturalistic observation

An observational research method in which psychologists measure their variable of interest by observing and recording what people are doing

Indirect measures

Designed to avoid reactivity and social desirability— useful for sensitive topics

Population of interest

The full set of cases the researcher is interested in

Sample

The group who participated in research and who belong to the larger group / POI that the researcher is interested in understanding

Random sample

Every person in the POI has equal chance of inclusion

Scatterplot

A figure used to represent a correlation

Scatterplot— line sloping upwards

Positive relationship

Scatterplot— line sloping downwards

Negative relationship

Scatterplot strong relationship

Dots clustered tightly together

Scatterplot weak relationship

Dots spread out

What is needed to establish causality

1. Two variables must be correlated.

2. One variable must precede the other.

3. There must be no reasonable alternative explanations for the pattern of correlation

Gold standard for establishing causality

Experiment

Independent variable

Manipulated variable in an experiment

Dependent variable

Measured variable in an experiment — depends on level of independent variable

Control group

A condition comparable to experimental condition in every way except it lacks on “ingredient” hypothesized to produce expected effect on dependent variable

Moderator variable

Effect of independent variable on dependent variable is conditional on value of the moderator— ex. maybe social. media is detrimental only for younger users. The independent variable does not cause the moderator (using social media does not make participants older or younger)

Mediator variable

Independent variable exerts its effect on dependent variable through some other variable— ex. social media use increases upward social comparisons, which leads to depression (upward social comparison is the mediator)

Internal validity

Can we rule out alternative explanations in an experiment? Threatened by the presence of confounds

Confounds

Alternative explanation for a relationship between two variables

Double blind procedure

Neither experimenters nor participants know who is in the experimental group or control group

Observer expectancy effect

Expectations of an observer/experimenter can influence the subject being observed

Demand characteristics

Subtle cues from the experimenter giving the participant a sense of what is expected of them— cue the participant in a way that confirms their bias

Differential attrition

Participants drop out from experimental and control groups at different rates

Construct validity

Specific assessment of how accurately the operationalizations used in a study capture the variables of interest

Temporal precedence

Cause must occur before effect

Descriptive statistics

Graphs or computations that describe the characteristics of a batch of scores, such as its distribution, central tendency, or variability

Frequency distribution

A bar graph in which the possible scores on a variable are listed on the x-axis from lowest to highest, and the total number of people who got each score is plotted on the y-axis

Central tendency

Centre of the batch of scores

Ways to describe central tendency

Mean, median, mode

Standard deviation

A variability statistic that calculates how much a batch of scores varies around its mean

Variability

The extent to which the scores in a batch differ from each other

Statistic

Numerical value derived from dataset that can help us describe the dataset or evaluate research hypothesis

Descriptive statistics

Summarize sets of data

Effect size

Numerical estimate of the strength of the relationship between two variables— can take the form of a correlation coefficient or, for an experiment, the difference between two group means divided by the standard deviations of the group

Measures of effect size

Values describing the strength of an association or magnitude of the effect (r coefficient)

Inferential statistics

Help us assess whether there is sufficient evidence to support a claim or hypothesis

In statistical significane testing…

we compare our results against the null hypothesis

P-values

Tell us the probability of getting a result as extreme as the one we observed if there really was no difference between the two groups (or no relationship between the two variables); how likely the obtained results are under the null hypothesis. It takes on values between 0 and 1. By convention, we use a threshold of .05 for the p-value to determine if something is statistically significant 

P-value < .05

Reject the null hypothesis

P-value > .05

Do not reject the null hypothesis

Factors affecting size of p-values

Size of observed effect, larger effects more likely to be statistically significant; number of participants in study

Institutional Review Board

A panel tasked with evaluating whether research study meets ethical standards of autonomy, beneficence, and justice

P-hacking

A family of questionable data analysis techniques, such as adding participants after the results are initially analyzed, looking for outliers, or trying new analyses in order to obtain a p value of under .05, which can lead to non replicable results

Preregistration

A researcher’s public statement of a study’s expected outcome before collecting any data

HARKing

Hypothesizing after the results are known

Genome

Complete set of genetic material— blueprint for making and maintaining an organism

DNA

Molecule that carries genetic information, organized and packed within thread like structures called chromosomes

Gene

Segment of DNA that codes for a particular protein, basic physical and functional units of heredity.

Allele

2 versions of each gene, one from each parent. Collectively, these 2 make up the genotype for that gene.

Homozygous allele

NN or nn

Heterozygous allele

Nn

Phenotype

Observable characteristics of an individual, produced by interaction of genotype and environment

Recessive alleles

Determine phenotype only when individual is homozygous for gene; dominant alleles determine phenotype regardless

Behavioural genetics

Establishing the degree of heritability for a given trait

Candidate gene studies

Compare individuals with the candidate gene with individuals without it on a given trait or disorder

Gene knockout

Move or deactivate gene