Experimental Psychology and the Scientific Method

Question 1

connotes content and process.

Answer 1

Science

Question 2

consists of the scientific techniques we use to collect and evaluate data.

Answer 2

Methodology

Question 3

consists of the scientific techniques we use to collect and evaluate data.

Answer 3

Methodology

Question 4

are the facts we gather using scientific methods.

Answer 4

Data

Question 5

Heider called nonscientific data gathering ______.
This approach uses nonscientific sources of data and nonscientific inference.An everyday example is believing that “opposites attract.”

is the kind of everyday, nonscientific gathering that shapes
our expectations and beliefs and directs our behavior toward others.

Answer 5

commonsense psychology

Question 6

the data we gather as commonsense psychologists
come from sources that seem credible and trustworthy- friends, relatives, people with authority

Answer 6

Sources of psychological information

Question 7

is the nonscientific use of information to explain or predict behavior. The gambler’s fallacy, overuse of trait explanations, stereotyping,

Answer 7

Nonscientific inference

Question 8

In the _____, people misuse data to estimate the probability of an event, like when a slot machine will pay off.

Answer 8

gambler’s fallacy

Question 9

In ______, we falsely assume that specific behaviors cluster together. For example, since Imei is a Chinese-American student, she must study 10 hours a day and excel at math. In reality, she failed calculus. This ignore individual differences.

Answer 9

stereotyping

Question 10

In _______, we feel more confident about our conclusions than is warranted by available data. This form of nonscientific inference can result in erroneous conclusions when we don’t recognize the limitations of supporting data.

Answer 10

overconfidence bias

Question 11

_______ scientific mentality assumes that behavior follows a natural order and can be predicted. This assumption is essential to science. There is no point to using the scientific method to gather and analyze data if there is no implicit order. The principle of determinism is applied when we believe that the causes of human behavior can be researched.

Answer 11

Alfred North Whitehead’s

Question 12

Data are empirical when observed or experienced, preferably in a systematic and orderly way. Galileo’s empirical approach was superior to Aristotle’s commonsense method. Galileo correctly concluded that light objects fall as rapidly as heavy ones in a vacuum.

Answer 12

Gathering Empirical Data

Question 13

A law consists of statements generally expressed as equations with few variables that have overwhelming empirical support. Laws, like the Laws of Thermodynamics,
are useful in the physical sciences.

Answer 13

Seeking General Principles

Question 14

This is an interim explanation; a set of related statements used explain and predict phenomena. This integrate diverse data, explain behavior, and predict new instances of behavior.

Answer 14

theory

Question 15

is critical to the scientific method. We engage in this when data collection and interpretation are systematic, objective, and rational.

Answer 15

Good thinking

Question 16

• this emphasizes to the basic
  premise that entities should not be multiplied
  without necessity.

Answer 16

Occam’s Razor

Question 17

The ______ is that we prefer simplest useful explanation.
For example, Crandall (1988) showed that a social contagion model of bulimia was more parsimonious than competing
explanations.

Answer 17

principle of parsimony

Question 18

Modern scientists accept the uncertainty of their
own conclusions. Changes in scientific explanations and theories are an extremely important part of scientific
progress.

Answer 18

Self-Correction

Question 19

The number of scientific papers published each year in scientific journals is growing, and new journals are constantly being added in specialized disciplines. This continuous exchange of information is vital to the scientific
process.

Answer 19

Publicizing Results

Question 20

We should be able to repeat our procedures and get the same results again if we have gathered data objectively and if we have followed good thinking.

Answer 20

Replication

Question 21

In psychological science, we are referring to a systematic and unbiased account of the observed characteristics of behaviors. Good description allow us greater knowledge of
behaviors because they provide us with the information about what the behavior will be like.

Answer 21

Description

Question 22

refers to the capacity for knowing in advance when certain behaviors would be expected to occur – to be able to predict them ahead of time – because we have identified other conditions with which the behaviors are linked or associated.

Answer 22

Prediction

Question 23

When we have explained a behavior, we also understand what causes it to occur. Explanation includes knowledge of the conditions that reliably reproduce the occurrence of a behavior.

Answer 23

Explanation

Question 24

refers to the application of what has been learned about behavior. Control is rarely the intent of experimentation,
but some research is conducted with the intent of producing behavioral change along with increasing knowledge.

Answer 24

Control

Question 25

is research that is designed to solve real-world problems.

Answer 25

Applied Research

Question 26

is research designed to test theories or to explain psychological phenomena in humans and animals.

Answer 26

Basic Research

Question 27

is the systematic noting and recording of events. We can only make a scientific study of events that are observable. To make scientific study of internal process like feeling and thinking, we must able to define those events in terms of observable signs.

Answer 27

Observation

Question 28

is quantifying an event or behavior according to generally accepted rules. We try to measure in standardized units so that our measurements will be meaningful. We keep our measurements consistent.

Answer 28

Measurement

Question 29

is a process undertaken to demonstrate that already observed events will occur consistently under a particular set of conditions. To conduct an experiment, the hypothesis must be testable; procedures must be available to test it, and it must be ethical to do so.

Answer 29

Experimentation

Question 30

– are the circumstances that come before the event or behavior that we want to explain.

Answer 30

Antecedent Condition

Question 31

- a specific set of antecedent conditions created by the experimenter and presented to subjects to test its effect on behavior.

Answer 31

Treatment Condition

Question 32

- is a controlled procedure in which at least two different treatment conditions are applied to subjects. The subjects’ behaviors are then measured and compared to test a hypothesis about the effects of those treatments on behavior.

Answer 32

Psychology Experiment

Question 33

An experiment requires that we create at least two treatment conditions and randomly assign subjects to these conditions. In psychology experiments, we control _____ so we that we can measure “what we intend to measure.”

Answer 33

extraneous variables

Question 34

Experiments establish a ______, because causes must precede effects. However, not all prior events are causes.

Answer 34

temporal relationship

Question 35

A _____ is any field of study that gives the appearance of being scientific, but has no true scientific basis and has not been confirmed using the scientific method. Modern pseudosciences include past life regression, reparenting, and rebirthing.

Answer 35

pseudoscience

Question 36

A _____ is any field of study that gives the appearance of being scientific, but has no true scientific basis and has not been confirmed using the scientific method. Modern pseudosciences include past life regression, reparenting, and rebirthing.

Answer 36

pseudoscience