chapter 2 Flashcards
define psychology
study of how we behave/feel
study of both mental and behavioural processes
scope of psychology
huge scope, every aspect of human life is of interest to psychology and involves it’s principles and processes
why do we need science: 3 reasons
intuition: sometimes needed, but cannot rely on this to understand the natural world as it can be misleading and unreliable
common sense: not so common, what’s common for one person is not for the other, result of acquired knowledge not new knowledge
overconfidence: can be more confident in our knowledge than correct or accurate
knowledge of the natural world: rationalism
senses are unreliable and limited to understanding the natural world
can only use pure logic, reasoning and critical thinking to know the natural world
knowledge of the natural world: empiricism
best way to know the world is through our senses, experiences and observations
knowledge of the natural world: kant
best way to know the natural world is through both senses and pure reason
best way to put observations into coherent thoughts
developing hypothesis
falsifiable: must be able to refute hypothesis by having 1 single instance contrary to it
replicable: must be able to repeat studies with different sets of subjects, getting same results allows confidence to grow, getting different results allows us to go back and find out why
evolution: science is constantly evolving what we know today can change tomorrow
research method: descriptive research
allows 2 things: systematically and objectively observe and describe what we observe
allows us to answer: what, where, when, how
does NOT allow us to answer: why? as cause and effect conclusions cannot be drawn
research method: case study
type of descriptive research
advantages: records complex/rare cases, 1st step when something is unknown, most in depth research, captures glimpse of human nature
disadvantages: researcher bias, cannot generalize based on conclusion as subject may be atypical
research method: survey
type of descriptive or correlational research
asks large sample of people questions
impossible to research every single person must follow strict scientific rules
sample must be representative of population of interest: characteristic of sample must resemble characteristics of population in order to generalize from sample to population
advantages: cheap, easy to administer, inclusive (illiterate, homebound people), sometimes only way to get answers
disadvantages: may not be truthful responses, words/characteristics of researchers can influence results
survey: random sampling
random sampling:
- every single person in population of interest has an equal chance of being in the survey
-chance and only chance will determine who ends up in the sample
simple random sample:
random sampling used to extract a sample from population of interest
stratified random sample:
population of interest divided by groups we’re interested in, from every group a random sample is used to extract a sample
groups = strata
research method: naturalistic observation
descriptive research, researchers go out into natural world
CANNOT INTERFERE OR MANIPULATE JUST OBSERVE
advantages: most real research with most real behaviour, sometimes the only way, may discover something we may not discover in the lab
disadvantages: researcher bias, even without interaction the mere presence can affect and influence behaviour
research method: correlational research
observe, describe and make predictions
describe systematic and reliable relationship between 2 variables
do variables covary, do they have a relationship, if one variable changes does the other?
in what direction do they covary?
positive correlation: relationship between 2 variables changes in same direction (both up)
negative correlation: relationship between 2 variables changes in opposite directions (up and down)
how strong is relationship?
where r varies +/-1
minus = negative correlation
plus = positive correlation
0= no relationship, 1= perfect relationship
(the closer r is to 0 the weaker the relationship is, the closer r is to 1 the stronger the relationship is)
advantages: first step before experiment helps find out if there is a relationship, sometimes only option, describe and predict: correlation between 2 variables having info one one of them allows us to make predictions about the other, allows us to take preventive measures
disadvantages: CANNOT INFER CAUSALITY!!!!!!!!!!!! cannot say one variable causes a change in the other, to infer causality experiment must be done
research method: experimental research
observe, describe, predict and EXPLAIN
ONLY method that draws causes and effects conclusions as we manipulate the IV we’re interested in and control all other IV that can interfere with results
IV: causes change, manipulated/controlled by researcher
DV: measured by researcher
can be done: in lab, field experiment
manipulate IV: create 2 groups (control and experimental) compare results to see if IV has an effect
control other IV/ confounding variables: IV not being studied that can influence our result by causing a change in the DV, if we don’t control these it’s hard to know what caused actual results
experimental research: unknown IV’s
We don’t know everything there is to know about something
Some IV can change DV but we have no clue what they are, even if we don’t know what they are we must control them
How? we control for unknown IV by random assignment
Random assignment:
every single subject in the study has an equal chance of being in the experimental or control group
chance and only chance and nothing but chance will determine who ends up in which group
