Scientific Foundations of Psychology - Extra notes

1/4/2023

^^Overconfidence^^ is the result of filling in the gaps of missing information with things we believe to be true.

EG: Believing Clever the Horse could do math because they managed to nod some numbers.

The field of psychology has an issue where many major studies are difficult to reproduce. This is the ^^Reproducibility Problem^^.

^^Operational definitions^^: Defining the exact way a variable should be used and measured.

270 authors tried to reproduce 100 studies, and only a third could be reproduced because the variables didn’t have operational definitions. This was the ^^replication crisis^^.

1/5/2023

• ^^Third variable^^: A variable that impacts other variables within the study.

Scatter plots are made to represent the data. If the dots are everywhere, there is no correlation. If a line can be formed, then it is either a positive or negative correlation.

1/9/2023

• ^^Hypothesis^^: a specific prediction that can be tested by researchers under controlled conditions.

Example of an experiment:

• ^^Hypothesis^^: Does the color of a drink affect the taste?
• ^^Independent variable^^: Color
• ^^Dependent variable^^: Taste

The psychology is manipulating the color to see if it affects the taste.

1/11/2023

• General Principle: Psychologists strive to benefit those with whom they work and take care to do no harm
  • All experiments cause some stress and anxiety
  • Is the information worth the pain? Who is benefiting? Who decides?