EXAM 2 Flashcards
(25 cards)
Clever Hans
A horse that was claimed to be able to do mathematics and other intellectual tasks
- actually just knew to read and respond to physical cues/body language of human trainer
Demand characteristics
Any feature of experiment that might inform participants about study’s purpose
- when participants form expectations about hypothesis, they/ll do whatever necessary to confirm it/help out
- controls:
+ deception - make them think experiment is studying something else
+ ask participants - if they get it right, analyze their data separately
+ change format to field experiment or observational research with concealed observer
Placebo group
The group of participants that receives, in place of the treatment, a placebo that resembles the treatment but has no actual effect (e.g. sugar pill or saline injection)
Pilot study
Trial run with small number of participants to test experiment and refine structure
Blinding
- single-blind: participants don’t know which group they are in
- double-blind: neither experimenters nor participants know the groups assignment
Sensitivity
The ability to detect differences between groups
- dependent variable should be sensitive enough to provide helpful insight
Ceiling effect
Effect which happens when the task is too easy to people do well regardless of conditions manipulated by the independent variable
→ independent appears to have no effect because participants reach maximum performance level too quickly, data is not helpful
Floor effect
Effect which happens when the task is too hard and barely anyone can do it
→ the independent variable appears to have no effect because no participant can reach maximum performance, data is not helpful
Mortality (also called attrition)
The dropping out of participants for whatever reason (no longer willing/available, geographical move, death, etc.)
Between-subjects design
also called independent groups design
Experiment design in which participants are randomly assigned to various conditions (each person is only part of one group)
- comparisons are made between different groups of participants
Within-subjects design
also called repeated measures design
Experiment design in which participants are assigned to both (or all) levels of the independent variable
- participants are repeatedly measured on the dependent variable after being in each condition of experiment
- comparisons are made within the same group of subjects
- pros:
+ fewer participants are needed
+ extremely sensitive to finding statistical differences between groups
- cons:
+ different conditions must be presented in a particular sequence; order of conditions can affect data
Order effect
Order or presenting the treatment affects the dependent variable
Practice effect
also called learning effect
Effects which happen when performance improves as the experiment goes on because participants gradually gain skills from practice
Fatigue effect
Effect which happens when performance deteriorates as experiment goes on because participants get bored/tired/distracted
Carryover effect
When the effect of the first treatment carries over and influences the second treatment
- occurs when the psychological effect of the two situations contrasts OR when the first condition produces a change that is still influencing participant when the second condition is introduced
Counterbalancing
The inclusion of all possible orders of presentation of conditions
- e.g.
+ order 1: low meaningful list of words → recall measure → high meaningful list of words → recall measure
+ order 2: high meaningful → recall measure → low meaningful → recall measure
Disturbance variable (also called nuisance variable)
External factor that has an undesirable effect on experiment (add noise)
McNeill’s Intergrated System Theory
- gesture is an equal part of language just like speech
- gestures add an imagistic component that provides a complete picture to communication
- gesture and speech together constitute language
Integrated Systems Hypothesis
- deals with the comprehension domain, applies theories on gesture production to empirical findings on gesture comprehension
- proposals: gesture and speech mutually and obligatorily interactt with one another to enhance language comprehension
- Gesture influences the processing of speech, speech influences the processingg of gesture
- Integration is obligatory/mandatory
- speech and gesture are integrated for both the producer and the listener of the speech
+ this is an unconscious process - gestures are more jarring when they are incongruent with speech in comparison to action → actions are less impactful than gesture
Kelly, Ozyurek, Maris (2010) article
Theory, Predictions
- approach: experimental method: experimenters are actively intervening by controlling variables
- theories being tested: Integrated Systems Hypothesis
+ bidirectional influence: gesture affects speech, speech affects gesture
+ obligatory integration: speech & gesture are produced and processed together - predictions:
+ gesture and speech should mutually interact, with incongruent gestures disrupting the ability to relate speech targets to primes and incongruent speech disrupting the ability to relate gesture targets to primes
+ this integration should be obligatory - even when task doesn’t require attention to one modality, it still affects how people relate the other modality to the prime
Kelly, Ozyurek, Maris article (2010)
Operational Definitions, Variables: Independent, Dependent, Confounding
- operational definitions:
- congruency: when speech and gesture correspond (speech: chop, gesture: chop)
- incongruency: when speech and gesture don’t correspond
+ weak = speech: chop, gesture: cut
+ strong = speech: chop, gesture: twist - Variables:
- independent variables:
a. strength of congruency/incongruency
b. target speech or gesture
- dependent variables:
a. reaction time
b. proportion of error (does target video relate to prime?)
- confounding variables:
Kelly, Ozyurek, Maris article (2010)
(Experimental Control, Counterbalancing, Demand Characteristics, Internal Validity Threat, External Validity Improvement)
- Examples of experimental control:
- Baseline condition: gesture (chop) corresponds with speech (“chop”) and both related to prime (chopping vegetables) - make sure effect is due to manipulated variable - Why is counterbalancing important?
Counterbalancing prevents the order effect from happening so the results won’t be affected. By giving the conditions in every order possible, we won’t have the problem of the practice effect, fatigue effect, etc. - Problem with demand characteristics?
- When people have a guess of the hypothesis, they may try to comply to it, creating skewed results and reducing internal validity
- Example of demand characteristic in study: field of view (video zooms in on hands → suggests interest in gestures) - Threat to internal validity?
Floor or ceiling effect. If the tasks were too easy or too hard, we will have little variability in the results which is a threat to internal validity. - How to improve external validity?
- Zoom out to full body video, as if you are looking at a normal person in real life
How could you improve the construct validity of our experiment?
Refine the operational definition of comprehension/coding system. Since the experiment is specifically on the relationship of gesture and hearing ability, take in consideration the closeness of sounds in answers that weren’t perfect 100%. Did gesture still help? (e.g. “cared” vs. “cares)
Types of gestures
CATEGORIES:
- deictic (pointing): gives/emphasizes direction, instruction, and subject (e.g. point to self when say “I”)
- iconic: expresses images and actions
- metaphorical: expresses abstraction (e.g. say “next topic” and motion an invisible object)
- beat: punctuates rhythm of speech
IN RELATION TO SPEECH:
- redundant/congruent/reinforcing: corresponds with speech (“chop” = chopping motion)
- complementary: not exact match but relates to speech (“kill a fly” = swatting motion)
- conflicting/incongruent: does not correspond to speech (“put on shoe” = twist motion)
