Psych. Perspectives and Research

psychoanalytic perspective

emphasizes the influence of an unconscious mind; childhood, past experiences, dreams affect behavior; difficult to test scientifically

cognitive perspective

mental activities like knowing, thinking, remembering affect behavior; includes perception, language, memory

behavioral perspective

learning process, observable behaviors and responses; includes empiricism, or belief that path to scientific knowledge is systematic and experimental

humanistic persepctive

behavior based on fact that we are rational beings with potential for growth, individual choice, free will; not easily or scientifically tested

evolutionary perspective

a.k.a Darwinian perspective; behavior based on natural selection, adaptive behaviors, and maximizing reproductive success

biopsychology perspective

behavior based on brain structure, sensation and perception from genes, hormones, and neurotransmitters

socio-cultural perspective

behavior shaped by history, society, social norms, and culture; cultural variance of thoughts and behaviors

eclectic perspective

all perspectives are complimentary; as research continues, some perspectives might be combined

theory

explanation; a way of organizing and explaining behavior that generates a number of hypotheses, eg. cell phones affect performance and attention

hypothesis

prediction; testable prediction of a theory, eg. students who have their phones our during a lecture will score lower on a quiz about lecture material

correlational study

examines the relationship between two variables (does NOT prove causation)

case study

in-depth study of a specific individual or small group of people

naturalistic observation

studying behavior in authentic, natural settings without manipulating variables

meta-analysis study

summarizes previous studies on a topic to find one overall conclusion

hindsight bias

tendency to exaggerate our ability to foresee something after learning an outcome; eg. “I knew all along!”

overconfidence bias

tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our own current knowledge; eg. a student who does very well in high school and thinks they’re brilliant does not study in college, and fails their exam

random sampling/selection

method by which subjects are chosen, giving each member of the group an equal chance; increases the likelihood that the sample is representative of the population being studied; larger = more representative

sampling bias

technique used to choose a sample group that favors one part of the population over another

stratified sample

population is divided into groups and a random sample is taken from each group; helps with sampling bias

random assignment

process by which subjects are put into groups; each subject has an equal chance of being placed into any group, ensuring composition of experimental and control groups is consistent

operational definition

the quantification of a variable that allows it to be measured and replicated

Likert scale

rating scale that uses a range of options from extreme to neutral

test validity

applicability/legitimacy; degree in which measuring device is actually measuring what we intended to measure; eg. measuring psych on a psych test, not calculus

test reliability

consistency; can the study be done by someone else with the same result?

confounding/extraneous variables

any factors other than the IV that seem likely to influence the DV in the study; difficult to sort out specific effects (random assignment helps)

experimenter bias

tendency for researches to treat members of the experimental/control groups differently to increase changes of confirming hypothesis

demand characteristics

subjects respond to cues about the purpose of the study; eg. researchers tell experimental group that his new teaching method is very effective, so the subjects try harder and perform better

social desirability bias

responses are based on society’s expectations; eg. people often exaggerate how much they exercise or eat healthy

single blind procedure

research staff OR participants are unaware of experimental conditions

double blind procedure

research staff AND participants are unaware of experimental conditions

confirmation bias

tendency to gather evidence that supports pre-existing expectations, and fail to gather evidence that is contradictory

belief perseverance

tendency to maintain a belief or opinion even after evidence that supports it has been refuted or proven inaccurate

Hawthorne effect

subjects perform differently (usually in a positive way) when they know they are being observed

placebo effect

a response to a placebo, or fake substance, caused by the subject’s belief that they are being exposed to the real substance

false consensus effect

tendency to assume one’s own opinions, beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors are more widely shared than is actually the case

illusory correlation

appearance of a relationship that does not actually exist; superstitions arise from random conincidences

confederates

research staff that pose as a participant, but actually rehearsed prior to the experiment

informed consent

participants must be informed of the risk of the study and choose to participate

voluntary/right to withdrawl

participants must be informed that participation is voluntary and they have a right to withdrawl

confidentiality

anonymity must be protected unless subjects give permission to release their data

protection from harm

physical safety must be guaranteed, and researchers must minimize psychological distress

debriefing

researchers must provide full explanation of goals and procedures afterwards and allow for participant feedback

deception

may be used if deemed essential and benefits outweigh risks

institutional review board

ethical oversight and risk assessment for human and animal studies

animal experimentation

animals must be given adequate care beyond the boundaries of testing, researchers must minimize psychological and physical harm

mean

average of all the numbers in a set

median

score that falls in the middle of all the numbers in a set

mode

score that occurs most frequently in a set

range

lowest score subtracted from the highest score

standard deviation

the average distance of any score in the distribution from the mean

variance

a measure of how spread out scores are in a sample

normal distribution

bell-shaped curve representing a typical spread of scores (68% fall within ± 1 SD, 95% fall within ± 2 SD, and 99.7 fall within ± 3 SD)

positive skew

includes an extreme score in the high, a.k.a. left skew

negative skew

includes an extreme score in the low, a.k.a. right skew

0.00 to 1.00

strength of correlational relationship

positive correlation

presence of one variable predicts the presence of another variable, and vice versa

negative correlation

presence of one variable predicts absence of another

no correlation

scores do not show a clear trend line or direction, and are scattered everywhere