Chapter 2 - Research vs. Personal Experience

Question 1

define comparison group

Answer 1

a group in a experiment whose levels on the independent variables differ from those of the treatment group in a meaningful way.

Question 2

define confounds

Answer 2

potential alternative explanantion for a research finding: a threat to internal validity (confidence that the causal relationship is not influenced y other variables)

Question 3

how can research help controol confounds?

Answer 3

they can use systemic controlled comparisons to test a hypothesis

Question 4

define confederate

Answer 4

a person in a study that has a specific role to play for the experimenter

Question 5

define probabilistic

Answer 5

describing the empirical method, stating that science is intended to explain a certain proportion of the possible cases. research findings do not explain all cases, all the time.

Question 6

how can we prevent bais in research?

Answer 6

the formal procsesses of scientific research help prevent bias from affecting decisions.

Question 7

what are a few examples of bias reasonings?

Answer 7

1. accepting conclusions just because it makes sense/feels natural
2. availability heuristic (people incorrectly estimate the frequency and only think of things that easily come to mind rather than all situations)
3. present bias (only focus on times the outcome is present, not considering when it is absent or harder to notice)
4. confirmation bias (to only look at info that supports the hypothesis)
5. bias blind spot (when compared to other, people think they are less likely to be bias)

Question 8

what are the 3 kinds of bias?

Answer 8

present, confirmation and blind spot bias

Question 9

when are you able to accept conclusions from authority figures?

Answer 9

when they base thier conclusions on well-conducted reactions, rather than experiences/intuition

Question 10

what is the most important source to get info from?

Answer 10

journal articles! these can include empirical articles (scholarly articles that reports first time the results of a study) or review articles (summarize and integrate all studies in one research area together)

Question 11

define meta-analysis

Answer 11

mathematically averaging the effect size of all the studies that have tested the same variables to see what conclusion everyone supports

Question 12

define effect size

Answer 12

measuring the size of assocation between variables

Question 13

define abstract of an article

Answer 13

concise summary to breifly describe the hypothesis, method and major results

Question 14

define the introduction section of an article

Answer 14

explain the topic of the study, background and specific research question and hypothesis

Question 15

define the method section of an article

Answer 15

explaining in detail how researchers conducted their study

Question 16

define the results sections of an article

Answer 16

describe the quantitative and qualititive results of the study, usually with tables and figures

Question 17

define te discussion section of an article

Answer 17

summarising the research question and methods to indicate how the results support/deny the hypothesis. talk about the important and alternative explanations

Question 18

where are the 3 places our beliefs about psychology come from?

Answer 18

experience, intuition, and authority

Question 19

is experience a good place to go to use as a source of knowledge?

Answer 19

Experiences are very powerful but not always good to use as there is no way to compare what you did to see what would’ve happen if you did not do that. You need to compare your experience to a condition equivalent to not your experience. there is also many confounding variables such as other life events.

Question 20

what are the two main problems with using intuition as a source of knowledge?

Answer 20

• cognitive biases
• motivational biases

Question 21

define cognitive biases

Answer 21

• some explanations just create a good story to understand
• present/present bias (we often fail to look for absences; in contrast, it is easy to notice what is present)
• availability heuristic (things that come to mind easily guide our thinking, ex. dice rolling)

Question 22

define motivational biases

Answer 22

• confirmation bias (listen to info that ill confirm our thoughts)
  -self-serving bias (good things are from your actions, bad thins are from outside things)
• bias blind spot (blind to our own biases)
• asking biased question

Question 23

why can authorities not be a good source of info?

Answer 23

because they are people too with biases and intuition

Question 24

what are the 3 sources to find psychological research?

Answer 24

• journal articles (peer reviewed, empirical or review articles)
• chapter in edited books (overview of theory)
• books (not very common)