Chapter 2/Week 2 Material Flashcards
1
Q
Why can intuition and experience cannot be used to form conclusions?
A
These reasons can be biased
2
Q
Why is experience as a basis of ideas flawed?
A
Because we only experience one version of a situation rather than all possible combinations of events
3
Q
How can intuition be flawed?
A
Because we are overconfident in our ideas, and also focus on instances that match our beliefs, rather than disproves them
4
Q
What is overconfidence?
A
When one fails to notice or recall disconfirming cases
5
Q
How does psychological science overcome bias?
A
Using systematic, controlled methods to test ideas
6
Q
What is the scientific method?
A
the process of basing one’s confidence in an idea based on systematic, direct observations of the world, usually by setting up research studies to test ideas
7
Q
What is the theory-data cycle?
A
the process of the scientific method, in which scientists collect data that can either confirm or disconfirm a theory
- Develop a theory of behaviour
- Develop hypothesis predicting behaviour, based of theory
- Design an experiment to test it
- Collect data w/o experiment
- Compare data to hypothesis
- If consistent, provide support for theory
- If inconsistent, decreases support for theory
8
Q
Define theory
A
- a set of propositions explaining how and why people act, think, or feel
- A model of connected ideas that explain observations and makes predictions of FUTURE events
9
Q
Define hypothesis
A
a specific, testable prediction stating what will happen in a study if the theory is correct.
10
Q
Define data
A
a set of empirical observations (i.e. Information received through means of the senses) that scientists have gathered
11
Q
Define Replication
A
When a study is conducted more than once on a new sample of participants, and obtains the same basic results
12
Q
Define journals
A
periodicals containing peer reviewed articles on a specific academic discipline, written for a scholarly audience
13
Q
Why is replication important?
A
Because one study alone is not sufficient to fully confirm or disconfirm hypothesis or theory
14
Q
Define variable
A
something of interest (to the study) that can vary from person to person or situation to situation (ex. Height, braking time)
15
Q
Define measured variables
A
a variable whose values are simply recorded
16
Q
Define manipulated variable
A
a variable whose values the researcher controls, usually by assigning different participants to different levels of that variable
17
Q
Provide an example of how some variables can be measured or manipulated, vs measured only
A
Alcohol intake (can be measured or manipulated) vs. gender (measured only)
18
Q
Define operational definitions
A
the specific way of measuring or manipulating an abstract variable in a particular study
19
Q
What does it mean to “operationalize” a variable?
A
Means turn a variable into a specific number or value
20
Q
What is self-reporting?
A
Form of operationalizing measured variables in which participants tell researchers about themselves
21
Q
What is observation (experimental technique)?
A
A way of operationalizeing a measured variable in which researchers watch and record people’s behaviour
22
Q
What is descripttive research? Provide an example
A
a type of study in which researchers study one variable at a time with the goal of describing what is typical
Ex. Average height
23
Q
Define sample
A
the people who participated in research, and who belong to the larger group (i.e. The population of interest) that the researcher is interested in understanding
24
Q
Define population of interest
A
- the full set of individuals (or cases) the researcher is interested in
- Does not necessarily need to be people, it could be “youtube video titles”
25
Define random sampling
a way of choosing a sample of participants for a study in which participants are selected without bias
* If done correctly, allows for a sample to be generalizable to the population of interest
26
What is more important - sample size or the way it is selected?
Method used to obtain sample is more important
* Should reflect the population of interest as closely as possible
* Should be random to avoid confounds
27
What are surveys?
A form of descriptive research that uses self-report measures.
28
Define naturalistic observation
a research method in which psychologists observe the behaviour of animals or people in their normal, everyday worlds and environments
* Reearchers use observational measures and records behaviour unobtrousively in this method
29
Define observational research
a descriptive research method in which psychologists measure their variable of interest by observing and recording what people are doing
* Could be in person, or could even be online behaviour
30
Define case-study
An observational research method in which researchers study one or two individuals in-depth, often those who have a unique condition
* Often extensively studied and for a long duration
31
Who was Henry Molaison?
* Lived from 1950-2000
* Suffered fro epilepsy, so had hippocampus removed
* Studying his behaviour allowed for insights into role of hippocampus
* Is an example of a **case study**
32
Define correlational research
a type of study that measures two (or more) variables in the same sample of people, and then observes the relationship between them
33
What is a scatterplot?
A figure used to represent **correlation**, in which each dot usually represents a study participant, the x-axis represents one variable, and the y-axis represents the other variable
34
What are the 3 types of correlation and how do they appear on a scatterplot?
* Positive correlation -high scores on one variable predicts high scores on the other
* Negative correlation - high scores on one variable predicts low scores on the other
* Zero correlation indicates that there is no systematic relationship between variables
35
What does correlations allow researchers to do?
Allows one variable to predict position on another variable
36
What are the requirements to confirm causation?
* Variable need to be correlated (**covariance**)
* Need to know which variable came first (**temporal precedence**)
* Must be NO reasonable alternative explanation
37
Define the third-variable problem.
A problem in correlational research in which a given observed relationship between two variables has an additional variable that can be associated with both of them, making the additional variable an alternative explanation for the observed relationship
38
How does the third-variable problem affect correlational studies?
Correlational studies are unable to rule out all possible third variables, and thus have **NO** causal power
39
Define experimental research
* a study in which one variable is manipulated, and the other is measured.
* Has ability to provide evidence of a causal relationship
40
What is an independent variable?
* the manipulated variable(s) in the experiment
* The hypothesized cause of the relationship
41
What is a dependent variable?
* the measured variable(s) in the experiment
* The hypothesized effect of the relationship
42
Define random assignment
a procedure used in experimental research in which a **random** method is used to decide which participants will recieve each level of the independent variable
43
Why is random assignment used?
allows the assumption that the only difference between groups is the independent variable
44
Define experimental group
a group or condition in which some proposed cause is present
45
Define control group
a group or condition in which some proposed cause is not present
46
Define placebo condition
In an experiment, a group or condition in which people expect to recieve a treatment but are exposed only to an inert version, such as a sugar pill
47
Define placebo effect
physiological effect of a treatment from a person's expectation that the treatment might affect them
48
What is a double-blind procedure?
a experimental procedure in which the participants and researchers are unaware of which condition is being given
49
Why are double-blind procedures used?
* ensures that participants are unaffected by their own biases about how treatment will work
* ensure researcher could not subtly influence the participant's behaviour with their expectations
50
How can experiments meet the three criteria for causation?
* Covariance satisfied when independent variable groups differ on the dependent variable
* Temporal precedence satisfied because independent variable is altered prior to measurement of dependent variable
* Random assignment of independent variable allows for alternative explanations (ex. difference between groups) to be rules out
* Note that experimental design is necessary to ensure the third variable problem is eliminated; not just random assignment
51
Define random
selected or assigned without any bias, such that all cases have an equal chance
52
What is the difference between random sampling and random assignment?
Random sampling
* Used to select participants
* Can be used in any study (descriptive, correlational, and experimental)
* Allows the results of a sample to be generalizable to the population of interest
Random assignment
* Used to assign levels of an independent variable (i.e. assigning experimental condition)
* Only used in experiments
* Helps rule out alternative explanations in an experiment
53
Compare descriptive, correlational, and experimental research
* Descriptive - Tells us what people do, but not when they do it or who is most likely to do it
* Correlational - Helps us study how variables are related to each other and variables that cannot be manipulated, but cannot identify causality
* Experimental - allows us to establish support for causality, but limited by the need to maninpulate variables
54
Define validity
the appropriateness or accuracy of a conclusion or decision
55
Define consruct validity
the specific assessment of how accurately the operationalisations used in a study capture the variables of interest.
56
Define reliability
the degree to which a measure yields consistent results each time it is administered
57
What is necessary for construct validity?
* Operationalizations of measured variables
* Reliable (i.e. give consistent results)
* Valid (i.e. Measure what they are supposed to measure)
* Opearationalizations of manipulated variables
* Need to be effective (i.e. actually changiing the variable)
58
Define external validity
the degree to which it is reasonable to generalize from a study's sample to its population of interest (i.e. "generalizability")
59
What are properties of externally valid studies?
* Contains a diverse set of samples allowing for generalization (typically due to random sampling)
60
Define internal validity
The ability of a study to rule out alternative explanations for a relationship between two variables; one of the criteria for supporting a casual claim
61
What are ways to ensure good internal validity?
* Random assignment
* Carefully controlled independent variables
* In both cases, it essentially prevents possible confounds
62
Define confounds
An alternative explanation for a relationship between two variables, specially, in an experiment, when two experimental groups **accidentally** differ on more than just one variable which causes a problem for internal validity
63
What are 5 good questions to ask when evaluating something critically?
* What am I asked to believe
* What kind of evidence is there?
* How strong is the result?
* Is the claim casual?
* Can the study be/been replicated?
64
Define descripitive statistics
a graph or computation that describes the characteristic of a batch of scores, such as its distribution, central tendency, and variability
65
What are frequency distributions?
A descriptive statistic that takes the form of a bar graph in which the possible scores on a variable are listed on the x-axis and the total number of people who had each score (from the x-axis) is plotted on the y-axis
66
Define central tendency
the center batch of scores
67
How is centeral tendency measured?
* Mean - a measure of central tendency that is the arithmetic average of a group of scores
* Median - a measure of central tendency that is the middlemost score; it is obtained by lining up the scores from smallest to largest and identifying the middle score
* Mode - a measure of central tendency that is the most common score in a batch of scores
68
Define variability
the extent to which the scores in a batch differ from one another
69
Define range
highest and lowest score of each batch
70
Define standard deviation
A variability statistic that calculates how much, on average, a batch of scores varies around its mean
71
How is variability measured?
Using variance or standard deviation
72
Define effect size
A numerical estimate of the strength of a relationship between two variables. It can take the form of a correlation coefficient, or, for an experiment, the difference between two group means divided by the standard deviations of the two groups
73
What is the effect size used for?
Quantifying the strength of a relationship
74
What is the symbol for correlation coefficients?
r
75
What does the magnitude of r mean?
Strength of a relationship
76
What does the sign of r mean?
The direction of the correlation/relationship
77
What does "d" mean? (in statistics)
d = difference; measuring the difference between two means from paired data. (textbook simplifies greatly; basically, it's referring to the true difference in means, measured in SD. d is difference alone, but dw about it)
78
Define inferential statistics
A set of procedures used to estimate whether a pattern of results in the sample represents a true relationship or difference in the population
79
Define Statistical significance
a process of inference that applies rules of logic and probability to estimate whether the results obtained in a study's sample are the same in a larger population
80
What does it mean to be "statstically significant"?
Essentially means that there is a very low probability that the difference that we have seen is due to no effect (so there is a high probability that we did see an effect)
81
How can the detection of true effects be improved?
* When the effect size is large
* When the sample size is large
* When the variability of observations is small
82
What are meta-analyses?
a process in which researchers locate all the studies that have tested the same variables and mathematically average them to better estimate the effect size of the a population
83
What are the three core ethical principles?
Autonomy, Beneficence, Justice
84
What does the ethical principle of autonomy mean?
* It is concerned about the participant's right to participate in a study
* This means the researchers MUST inform people honestly about the study's procedures, risks, and benefits, as well as allowing people the freedom to consent or not ("informed consent")
85
What does the ethical principle of beneficence mean?
* Concerned with the risks and benefits of the study
* Researchers need to ensure participants are not harmed physically or psychologically, and that the study needs to be of some benefit to society
86
What does the ethical principle of justice mean?
* Concerned with who participates in research
* Means that the people who bear the burden of discomfort or inconvenience for participating should be the same types of people who can expect to benefit from its results.
87
Guidelines on what particlar items must be followed by researchers when working with animals?
Guidelines for living space, food, housing conditions, and stimulation (ex. toys) must be followed
88
What are the three r's of animal use in experiments?
* Replacement - alternatives should be used (instead of animal models) where possible
* Refinement - Modification of experimental protocol and other aspects should be done to minimize or eliminiate animal distress
* Reduction - should utilize the fewest animal subjects psossible
89
Define animal welfare
Belief that animals should be protected from pain & suffering
90
Define animal rights
The belief that animals have inherent rights equal to those of humans (which mean that animals cannot be used for experiments as they are incapable of providing consent)
91
Why are replciation studies done?
To help establish whether findings of a study reflect the true effect
92
Why can studies fail to be replicated?
* Originial finding was not a true effect
* Problem with replication study
93
What are false positives?
a statistically significant finding that does not reflect a real effect
94
What is the problem with small samples?
Samples can be too small and are unable to have external validity
95
What is HARKing?
"Hypothesizing after the results are known"; a questionable research practice in which researchers create an after-the-fact hypothesis about an unexpected search result, making it appear that they have predicted it all along
96
What is p-hacking?
a family of questionable data analysis techniques, such as adding participants after the results are initially analyzed, looking for outliers, or trying new analyses in order to obtain a p value of under 0.05, which can lead to non-replicable results
97
What is the problem with underreporting nonsignificant effects?
Underreporting leads people to think evidence for a theory is stronger than it really is
98
What is open science?
The practice of sharing one's data, materials, analysis plans, and published articles freely so others can collaborate, use, verify the results
99
What is preregistration?
a researcher's public statement of a study's expected outcome before collecting any data; prevents HARKing
100
What are spurious correlations?
When two variables are correlated without being causally related
