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PSYC 1105 > Chapter 2: Psychology as a Science > Flashcards

Chapter 2: Psychology as a Science Flashcards

1
Q

What are the two scientific principles?

A

The universe functions according to certain natural laws and those laws are measurable and testable.

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2
Q

What is deductive reasoning?

A

Starting off which an overarching theory and testing it out on smaller specific truths.

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3
Q

What is inductive reasoning?

A

Using direct observations to create broad conclusions and combining them to create grand theories.

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4
Q

What model does psychological research use?

A

Hypothetico-deductive.

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5
Q

What is the hypothetico-deductive approach?

A

Starting off with an educated hypothesis and making experiments to prove it right on wrong.

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6
Q

What are the 4 steps of the scientific approach in psychology?

A

Make observation, develop hypotheses, test hypotheses, build theory.

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7
Q

What is the main idea behind psychological research?

A

Isolate the contribution of factors and think about how they come together to influence human behaviours.

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8
Q

How is psychology distinct from other scientific field?

A

Psychology deals in major ways with issues associated with values, morality, and personal preference.

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9
Q

How does pop psychology differ from real psychology?

A

Psychology does not claim to address all human issues unlike pseudoscience.

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10
Q

What is a variable?

A

Any condition or event. A thing.

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11
Q

What is an independent variable?

A

Any condition or event that thought to be a factor in changing another condition or event.

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12
Q

What is a dependent variable.

A

The condition or event expected to change as a result of varying the independent variable.

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13
Q

What does it mean to operationalize a variable?

A

Develop a very precise definition of the independent and dependent variables that allow for measurement and testing.

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14
Q

What is a consideration to keep in mind went making operational definitions?

A

The way variables are operationalized have implications for the possible conclusions researchers can draw.

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15
Q

What is random selection when choosing participants?

A

Choosing participants randomly so they accurately represent their population and avoids sampling bias.

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16
Q

What are the two broad main categories of conducting psychological research?

A

Descriptive and experimental research?

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17
Q

What does experimental research determine that descriptive cannot?

A

Cause-and-effect relationships.

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18
Q

What is the purpose of descriptive research?

A

To observe, collect and record data.

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19
Q

What are the advantages of descriptive research?

A

Good for developing early ideas, more reflective of actual behaviour, easier to collect data.

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20
Q

What are the disadvantages of descriptive research?

A

Little to no control over variables, researcher and participant bias, cannot explain cause and effect.

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21
Q

What is the purpose of experimental research.

A

Identify cause and effect.

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22
Q

What are the advantages of experimental research?

A

Allows researchers precise controls over variables and to identify cause and effect.

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23
Q

What are the disadvantages of experimental research?

A

Ethical concerns, practical limits, artificiality of lab conditions, confounding variables, researcher and participant biases.

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24
Q

What are the three outlined descriptive research methods?

A

Case study, survey, naturalistic observation.

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25
Q

What is an advantage of conducting a case study?

A

It is a good way of developing early ideas about phenomena.

26
Q

What are some disadvantages of case studies?

A

Can be greatly affected by researcher bias and you cannot confidently generalize findings to a wider population.

27
Q

What is an advantage of naturalistic observations?

A

Being more reflective of actual human behaviour than most other research designs.

28
Q

What is a disadvantage of naturalistic observations?

A

Can be subject to researcher bias and the idea of being observed causes participants to act differently.

29
Q

What are advantages of a survey approach?

A

Allows researchers to obtain different types of information. Can measure how strong the relationship is between two variables. Can gather large amounts of data.

30
Q

What are some disadvantages of a survey approach?

A

Can be victim to subject bias. Cannot tell the direction of the relationship between variables.

31
Q

What are the three main groups in an experiment?

A

Experimental, control, placebo groups.

32
Q

What separates an experiment from a descriptive research method?

A

The researchers are able to manipulate the independent variable.

33
Q

What is Demand Characteristic?

A

Conveying to the participants the desired outcome of the research, leading to bias.

34
Q

What is a double-blind procedure?

A

Neither the participant nor the researcher knows which group the participant is in.

35
Q

Why would you make a control group perform a task during an experiment?

A

To make sure the changes seen in the experimental are actually the result of variables and not just from doing anything.

36
Q

What is a correlation?

A

A predictable relationship between two or more variables.

37
Q

What is a correlation coefficient?

A

A statistic expressing the strength and nature of a relationship between two variables.

38
Q

What is a positive correlation?

A

Relationship in which scores on two variables increase together.

39
Q

What is a negative correlation?

A

A relationship in which scores on one variable increase and decrease for another.

40
Q

What is a perfect correlation.

A

One in which two variables are exactly related.

41
Q

What is a strong correlation coefficient?

A

When the r value is greater than +-0.7

42
Q

What is an “exciting” correlation coefficient?

A

0.3 and above.

43
Q

What does correlation not tell us?

A

Causality.

44
Q

What kind of analyses do establish cause and effect?

A

Experimental analyses.

45
Q

What are the two kinds of experimental analyses?

A

Descriptive and inferential stastistics.

46
Q

What are descriptive statistics?

A

Describe or summarize the data gathered from a study.

47
Q

What are inferential statistics?

A

Tell researchers what they can more broadly conclude or infer from results.

48
Q

How can researchers describe and summarize differences/results between the scores of the experimental and control groups?

A

By calculating the mean and standard deviation from each group.

49
Q

What is the mean.

A

The arithmetic average from the scores of all participants in a group.

50
Q

What is a standard deviation?

A

An index of how much the participant’ scores vary from one another.

51
Q

How do researchers compare means?

A

By using statistical procedures known as t-tests (two groups) or analyses of variance (two or more groups.)

52
Q

How do you use statistical procedures (t-tests and analyses of variance)?

A

You look both at the mean differences and at the variance within the groups, as well as the size of the groups.

53
Q

What do statistical procedures (t-tests, analyses of variance) help determine?

A

If differences between groups are statistically significant, known as significance tests.

54
Q

What is the purpose of calculating a probability statistic?

A

To determine how much a difference is due to the independent variable.

55
Q

What is the probability yield (p-value) of a statistically significant test?

A

Less than 0.5.

56
Q

What does the numerical difference and the probability statistic NOT give us?

A

How big the effect in the study is.

57
Q

What statistic needs to be calculated in order to determine the strength of the relationship between two variables?

A

Effect Size

58
Q

How can we determine if a hypothesis is really correct over time?

A

Through Replication.

59
Q

What ensures that researchers follow proper ethical practices?

A

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

60
Q

What 4 steps much researchers follow in order to experiment in an ethical manner?

A

Obtain informed consent, protect participants from harm and discomfort, protect confidentiality, provide complete debriefing.

61
Q

What does a research sample do?

A

It is a small group meant to represent a larger population.

PSYC 1105 (7 decks)

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