Lecture 4 (final)

Question 1

why is it difficult for psychologists to be objective

Answer 1

Doing science is part of human behaviour. When psychologists do science, they engage often behaviours that they are studying. Psychologists are part of their own subject matter, and therefore it is difficult to be objective

Question 2

what does it mean by All science is a social enterprise

Answer 2

There are conventions, traditions, shared assumptions, and such things as peer review, which ensures that too controversial positions are moderated and even filtered out (see Kuhn’s idea of a paradigm; “Science progresses funeral by funeral”)

Question 3

is there a “pure” science and a “subjective” science?

Answer 3

Science is a mixture of both, with the hope that all parties engaged in to their best to further progress towards the truth, or whatever aspect of truth humans are fit to comprehend.

Question 4

what are the 2 basic assumptions underlying experimental approach in psychology

Answer 4

Researchers only influence the participant’s behaviour to the extent that they decide what hypothesis to test, how the variables are to be operationalised, what design to use, etc
The only factors influencing the participant’s behaviour are the objectively defined variables manipulated by the experimenter

Question 5

what experimental problems undermine the 2 beliefs

Answer 5

experimenter bias, demand characteristics, representativeness, artificiality, and internal vs external validity

Question 6

what is experimenter bias

Answer 6

????

Question 7

what was significant about the mice experiment and the observations of their pain

Answer 7

Exposure of mice and rats to male but not female experimenters produces pain inhibition
this happened because when the mice could smell testosterone (of an alfa male) they attempted to conceal their pain in order to look stronger
so this was a factor that they did not even know existed until the experiment happened

Question 8

what are demand characteristics

Answer 8

The person being studied is not only a passive responder, but might engage in the experiment actively, e.g., trying to solve the problem what the experiment is actually about

Question 9

how might demand characteristics cause a problem in the experiment

Answer 9

This can lead participants to respond in a way to confirm the assumed hypothesis, in order to please the experimenter

Question 10

The sum total of cues of the experimental situation that convey the experimental hypothesis to participants are called _________

Answer 10

The sum total of cues of the experimental situation that convey the experimental hypothesis to participants are called the demand characteristics

Question 11

how is representativeness important in experiments

Answer 11

The data obtained do not represent humanity in general

It is doubtful, whether obtained effects can be found in other populations

Question 12

give an example of representativeness

Answer 12

Psychological research is done predominantly on white North-American undergraduate students enrolled in psychology courses at colleges and universities
The bias is Anglocentric, Eurocentric, Androcentric, and, used to be Masculinist

Question 13

How is artificiality a problem in experiments

Answer 13

Psychological research usually unfolds inside research laboratories located at research institutes and university departments
Participants are subjected to often bizarre tasks, which they are asked to perform in the name of science
Often these tasks are the result of a reductionist approach, aimed at identifying mechanisms of cognition/behaviour
It is unclear, however, to what extent the observed behaviour reflects the normal operation of the brain in natural situations and under natural conditions. Animal research (in psychology) faces the same problem

Question 14

what is a solution to artificiality

Answer 14

One solution are field studies in which the experimenter tries to observe natural behaviour in the wild without being noticed by the observed population

Question 15

what is FIELD STUDY/NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION

Answer 15

Observe natural behaviour without attempt to control or manipulate it

Question 16

why is FIELD STUDY/NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION difficult

Answer 16

There is no control over the behaviour of subjects, and therefore it is difficult to determine the cause of the behaviour

Question 17

despite its difficulties, how might researchers used field study/naturalistic observation to conduct an experiment

Answer 17

Some research strategies involve first field research to describe and identify behaviours, which then can be followed up in other forms of experimental approaches with increased control over behaviour
Participants are observed in an arranged situation.
Experimenter interacts directly or indirectly with participants

Question 18

what extent do factors influence the behaviour of the participants and to what extent this is moderated by indirect or direct interaction with experimenter when it comes to field study/naturalistic observation

Answer 18

Unclear to what extent situational factors influence the behaviour of the participants and to what extent this is moderated by indirect or direct interaction with experimenter

Question 19

what are the things to consider when doing observational studies

Answer 19

coding, reactivity, observer bias, experimenter expectancy effect

Question 20

what is coding

Answer 20

Observational techniques involve the systematic assessment and coding of overt behaviour. Coding involves generating of behavioural categories and noting when and how often behaviour of a certain category was observed. The coded behaviour can then be used to compute indices to quantify behaviours

Question 21

what is reactivity

Answer 21

Observational studies need to consider whether observer shall be visible or not. The presence of the observer can influence behaviour. This alteration is called reactivity

Question 22

what is observer bias

Answer 22

Systematic errors in observation that can arise from the observer’s expectations. For example, in many societies women are freer to express sadness than men. Observers coding for facial expression of sadness may tend to rather interpret ambiguous facial expressions as sad in females than in males

Question 23

what is experimenter expectancy effect

Answer 23

Observer expectations can change the behaviour of the observed being. One method to prevent this effect is to blind the experimenter to the experimental conditions and/or hypotheses

Question 24

what is an example of experimenter expectancy effect

Answer 24

students were told to train rats to go through a maze, one group was told that their rat was bred from stupid rats and the other group was told that their rat was bred from smart rats… the result was that the stupid rat group didn’t even attempt to train their rat well because they had low expectations for their rat…. in reality neither group had anything “special” about their rat (they did not come from a line or smart or stupid rats)

Question 25

what are case studies

Answer 25

Report of a single individual, group, situation. | Collection of highly detailed descriptions that other research settings not readily offer

Question 26

what are the downfalls of case studies

Answer 26

Causal relationships often hard to establish, and results may be hard to generalise to others (because case studies happen so rarely)

Question 27

what are the potentials of case studies

Answer 27

Can provide strong motivation for future research efforts to test hypothesis derived from case study

Question 28

do the same case studies happen often

Answer 28

nope! or it wouldn't be a case study

Question 29

what is an example of a famous case study

Answer 29

Henry Molaison (Patient HM)

Question 30

what was the Performance Profile for Case HM

Answer 30

``` Impaired: episodic memory recognition memory for recent objects/places explicit memory task Semantic memory : priming procedural memories conditioning implicit memory tasks ```

Question 31

why was case HM a Highly influential case study

Answer 31

This case study marks the beginning of a research field studying the role of hippocampus in memory

Question 32

what are the different approaches to research

Answer 32

OBSERVATIONAL STUDY: FIELD STUDY/NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION Case Studies SELF REPORTS AND (STRUCTURED) INTERVIEWS

Question 33

what are SELF REPORTS AND (STRUCTURED) INTERVIEWS

Answer 33

Participants are directly asked about aspects of their existences, such as living conditions, thoughts, feelings, actions etc

Question 34

how are self-reports and (structures) interviews conducted

Answer 34

These questions can be little and highly structured

Question 35

what are highly structured questions

Answer 35

highly structured questions are given in a determined sequence with determined answer options

Question 36

what are less structured questions

Answer 36

Less structured questions allow participant to respond in free form

Question 37

what for do self-reports and (structures) interviews take

Answer 37

These research efforts use interviews, surveys, questionnaires

Question 38

what is a problem that comes from self-reports and (structures) interviews

Answer 38

Interviews need to deal with biases of many kinds. In general, participants have the wish to appear good or in a light that they deem positive. Questionnaire designers have to consider to what extent the questions produce socially desirable responding, or faking good

Question 39

how do researchers attempt to avoid the problem with self-reports and (structures) interviews

Answer 39

Often, interviews ask for the same information repeatedly in different forms to try to capture (more or less successfully) response biases

Question 40

what are Correlational studies

Answer 40

Correlational studies explore how variables are naturally related, describing and predicting relationships between the variables

Question 41

what can't Correlational studies detect

Answer 41

Correlational studies cannot detect causal relationships between the variables

Question 42

give an example of how Correlational studies cannot detect causal relationships between the variables

Answer 42

Example: most colleges require SAT scores in their student applications because it has been found that SAT scores and academic performance positively correlate – the higher the SAT score, the better academic performance Scoring high on the test does not cause better academic performance. High academic performance also does not cause higher test scores. These variables are correlated, but not related in a causal way (A causes B)

Question 43

what do Correlational studies allow for

Answer 43

Correlational studies allow making predictions, and these predictions can be tested in controlled experiments to search for causal relationships between identified variables and observational outcomes

Question 44

what are the directions of correlation

Answer 44

Positive correlation Negative correlation Zero correlation

Question 45

what is Positive correlation:

Answer 45

both variables move in the same direction (the more X, the more Y; the less X the less Y)

Question 46

what is Negative correlation:

Answer 46

the variables move in opposite directions (the more X, the less Y; the less X the more Y)

Question 47

what is Zero correlation: the

Answer 47

variables are not predictably related

Question 48

what are some challenges of correlational studies

Answer 48

Directionality problem | Third variable problem

Question 49

what is Directionality problem

Answer 49

the direction of the relationship between variables can appear ambiguous. Causations cannot be determined, so it remains unclear whether a positive or negative correlation results from the increase in one or the other measured variable

Question 50

what is an example of Directionality problem

Answer 50

For example, if you sleep less, your stress levels increase. But it is possible that increased stress levels make you sleep less

Question 51

what is Third variable problem

Answer 51

this is a basic problem of all correlational studies. The relationship between the two measured correlated variables might be dependent on a third, not measured, variable.

Question 52

give an example of Third variable problem

Answer 52

Example, texting while driving (A) is correlated with driving dangerously (B): Risk taking (C) causes some people to text while driving: C→A …AND; Risk taking (C) causes some people to drive dangerously: C→B

Question 53

what is experimental method

Answer 53

An experiment is a research method that tests causal hypothesis by manipulating and measuring variables

Question 54

what are The manipulated variables called

Answer 54

independent variables (IV)

Question 55

what are the variables to measure the effect of the manipulations called

Answer 55

dependent variables (DV)

Question 56

what are the components to the experimental method

Answer 56

``` Independent variable (IV) Dependent variable (DV). Experimental group(s) Control group(s) ```

Question 57

what is Experimental group(s)

Answer 57

Participants who receive a treatment.

Question 58

what are control groups

Answer 58

Participants who receive no treatment or who receive a treatment that is unrelated to the independent variable being investigated

Question 59

what are the different levels to the independent variable

Answer 59

independent variables have at least two levels: a) treatment level; b) comparison level.

Question 60

explain how test the hypothesis that cell phone use affects driving performance (give all the components and explain them)

Answer 60

Independent variable (IV). In order to test the hypothesis that cell phone use affects driving performance, the independent variable would be the type of cell phone use Levels: independent variables have at least two levels: a) treatment level; b) comparison level. In case of the cell phone use study, the independent variable could have four levels: (texting) vs (calling) vs (only holding) vs (no use) Dependent variable (DV). The measured/observed behaviour. For example, in the cell phone study the DV could be reaction time to red lights Experimental group(s). Participants who receive a treatment. For example, in the cell phone study you will have participants in the two experimental groups “Texting” and “Calling” ``` Control group(s). Participants who receive no treatment or who receive a treatment that is unrelated to the independent variable being investigated. For example, in the cell phone study the control group would not use the cell phone. The study could also have a control condition in which participants are asked to talk to listen to the radio or to talk to a passenger in the car This allows to study causal relationships between the IV (e.g., type of cell phone use) and the DV (reaction time to red lights). If the IV consistently influences the DV, then the IV is assumed to cause changes in the DV, all other things being equal ```

Question 61

in order to allow causal inferences, experiments depend on what

Answer 61

rigorous control

Question 62

what are all the parts to establishing causality

Answer 62

``` control confound Population sampling Random sampling Convenience sampling Random assignment ```

Question 63

what is control

Answer 63

All steps taken by the experimenter to minimise the possibility that other variables besides the IVs influence the DV

Question 64

what is confound

Answer 64

Anything that affects a DV and that varies unintentionally between the IV levels. For example, in the cell phone study a type of car could be used that most participants have little experience operating (e.g., in the US instead of automatic transmission, a car with manual transmission is used). This could affect performance and aggravate or generate effects of cell phone use on driving performance. Thus, the reaction time to red lights could be confounded with the driver’s competence to operate the car. Other confounds could be time of day the experiment is conducted, etc.

Question 65

what is population sampling

Answer 65

The selection of the participants (i.e., the sample from the population) for a behavioural study is critical to determine the domain of applicability of the results

Question 66

define population

Answer 66

Population refers to everyone in the group in which the experimenter is interested (e.g., college students; retired bartenders).

Question 67

define a sample

Answer 67

A sample is a group of people chosen from the population

Question 68

what is a representative sample

Answer 68

The sampling process should lead to a true representation of the population

Question 69

what is random sampling

Answer 69

The best way to ensure that the sample is representative is to randomly select a sufficient number of participants from the population. Larger samples lead to more accurate results of the experiment. However, large samples can be too costly in light of available resources

Question 70

what is sample size estimation

Answer 70

Using a mathematical technique called a priori power analysis, it can be estimated how many participants need to be sampled in order to be able to detect meaningful effects with the experiment

Question 71

what is convenience sampling

Answer 71

Most psychological research at academic institutions samples from the most conveniently available population, usually undergraduate psychology students

Question 72

what is random assignment

Answer 72

Participants in the sample are randomly assigned to the experimental conditions (i.e., the levels of the IV). Each participant in the sample has the same chance being assigned to any treatment level. There are individual differences between the participants. Random assignment ensures that on average these differences are comparable between experimental groups

Question 73

what is a problem with random assignment

Answer 73

Selection bias

Question 74

what is Selection bias

Answer 74

The assignment might not be truly random (e.g., participants differ in unexpected ways). For example, in the cell phone study it could by accident happen that many participants assigned to the “texting” group have a lot of experience with texting. Researchers try to anticipate these possible factors and use them to control their effect by pseudo-randomisation

Question 75

what is Pseudo-randomisation

Answer 75

Participants are randomly chosen from the sample to be assigned to an experimental group. If their assignment would lead to more people with a confounding factor (e.g., experience texting) being assigned to an experimental group, another participant will be selected for assignment, until all participants from the sample have been assigned

Question 76

what is the design principle of between subjects design

Answer 76

a separate group of participants (ideally equally in size) is assigned to each of the different conditions by random or pseudo-random selection, in order to promote groups that are equal in respect to characteristics influencing the DV

Question 77

how are the participants in between subjects design separated

Answer 77

by random or pseudo-random selection

Question 78

what are the Advantages of between subjects designs

Answer 78

each participant only subjects to one treatment condition only. The obtained DV measure is therefore less influenced by (a) practice/experience effects; (b) fatigue/ boredom of participants; (c) sequence effects. This design is versatile and can be used for many research questions

Question 79

what are the Disadvantages of between subjects designs

Answer 79

(a) relatively large number of participants needed (large N; N stands for number of subjects); (b) measurements obtained from different participants, inducing variance due to different characteristics

Question 80

what is the design principle of WITHIN SUBJECTS DESIGN

Answer 80

all participants exposed to all treatment conditions. Therefore, the experimental groups are equivalent, which increases the study’s internal validity

Question 81

what is another name for WITHIN SUBJECTS DESIGN

Answer 81

OR REPEATED MEASURES DESIGN

Question 82

what are the Advantages of within subjects designs

Answer 82

(a) fewer participants are needed than in a corresponding between-subjects design; (b) reduced measurement errors because individual differences between treatment groups are eliminated

Question 83

what are the Disadvantages of within subjects designs

Answer 83

repeatedly measuring may promote (a) progressive error, because performance changes between treatment conditions are in addition to treatment influenced by the experience of participating in an experiment (e.g., fatigue, practice effects); (b) carryover effects, treatment in a particular condition might change participants such that it affects performance in a later condition

Question 84

what are the 5 types of validity

Answer 84

``` External validity Internal validity Construct validity Face validity Criterion validity ```

Question 85

what is External validity:

Answer 85

the degree to which a result obtained in an experiment can be generalised to other (everyday) situations

Question 86

where can the results from external validity be found

Answer 86

An experiment with high external or ecological validity produced results that can also be found in real nature

Question 87

what is internal validity

Answer 87

refers to the quality of an experiment, precisely, whether in an experiment the observed effects measured with the DV are due to the independent variables (IVs) and not to confounds

Question 88

what happens if there is a lot of control over the IVs

Answer 88

The greater the control over the IVs, the more artificial the experimental situation, and the lower the external validity

Question 89

give an example of an experiment lacking internal validity

Answer 89

Hypothesis: Special Tutoring will improve test performance on final. Bad research strategy: draw one sample and assign all participants in it to the same treatment condition

Question 90

give an example with good internal validity

Answer 90

Hypothesis: Special Tutoring will improve test performance on final get one group split them into 2 groups give one group the hypothesis treatment, and leave the other alone compare the end results

Question 91

what is contract validity

Answer 91

does the test relate to the theoretical concepts from which the test was derived? E.g., to what extent does an IQ test measure intelligence as defined in a theory of intelligence? Construct validity requires that it is established that the phenomenon to be measured indeed exists (hence dependent on a theory)

Question 92

what is face validity

Answer 92

does the test measure what it declares to measure? Eg., does an IQ test actually measure intelligence?

Question 93

what is Criterion validity:

Answer 93

what is the relationship between the test and other correlated measures (the criteria)? E.g., how well does the outcome of an IQ test correlate with GPA/academic performance/SAT/GRE etc?

Question 94

what are some other possible error sources arising from measurement

Answer 94

random error | systematic error

Question 95

what is random error

Answer 95

Your method of measurement produces a random artifact in the data. For example, if you stop participant reaction time by hand with a stopwatch, you will not always be equally accurate. The degree or error varies randomly each time a measurement is taken

Question 96

what us systematic error

Answer 96

Your measurement is inaccurate by a constant amount. For example, the stopwatch you use to measure reaction time is off by 0.25 seconds. Each measurement will be wrong by this constant amount

Question 97

is metatheoretical structuralist a section of Wundt’s Structuralism

Answer 97

no, absolutely not

Question 98

what is the metatheoretical structuralist view

Answer 98

theories consist of typically several theory elements. These elements are structures In addition, theories need a description of the paradigmatic method. This defines the range of intended applications of a theory

Question 99

according to the metatheoretical structuralist view, what are structures

Answer 99

Structures are similar to systems. They consist of atomic parts and their relations. They are characterized by theoretical definitions and set-theoretical predicates

Question 100

what branch does the metatheoretical structuralist view go under

Answer 100

EMPIRICAL STRUCTURALISM

Question 101

what is the official definition of metatheoretical structuralist view

Answer 101

A theory-element is a set-theoretical structure, consisting of two elements: (1) a theory core; (2) a set of intended applications of the theory core. Structuralist theories usually consist of several theory-elements

Question 102

according to the official definition of the metatheoretical structuralist view, is structuralism universally applicable

Answer 102

According to this definition, in structuralism a theory is not universally applicable. It is only applicable to the range or domain of intended and/or explicitly stated applications: THE IDEA OF EXTERNAL VALIDITY IS IRRELEVANT FOR THE GOODNESS OF A THEORY

Question 103

how does THE IDEA OF EXTERNAL VALIDITY play into the metatheoretical structuralist view

Answer 103

THE IDEA OF EXTERNAL VALIDITY IS IRRELEVANT FOR THE GOODNESS OF A THEORY

Question 104

who started Logical empiricism

Answer 104

Bacon and Descartes

Question 105

what is Logical empiricism

Answer 105

Logical empiricism (starting with Bacon and Descartes) assumed that science can rest on a secure base of pure, objective empirical observations that are independent of the observer and of theory: what is can actually be discovered by human observation

Question 106

is the Logical empiricism approach tenable

Answer 106

no

Question 107

what is distribution (in a graph)

Answer 107

the spread of the data points across the range of possible measurements

Question 108

In order to summarize and understand the data (complete the analysis), what must first be completed

Answer 108

a frequency distribution

Question 109

what are bins (in data)

Answer 109

categories, or ranges

Question 110

what are bins used for

Answer 110

bins (categories, or ranges) would be defined to group and summarize the data

Question 111

when would the histogram be generated

Answer 111

at the end

Question 112

what are the different types of data distributions (in graphs)

Answer 112

skewed left skewed right normal distribution

Question 113

what is a graph called when it is skewed left

Answer 113

positively skewed

Question 114

what is a graph called when it is skewed right

Answer 114

negatively skewed

Question 115

what is a graph called when it is normally distributed

Answer 115

normally distributed

Question 116

what are the different measures of central tendency

Answer 116

mode Median average (or mean)

Question 117

what is mode

Answer 117

the value that occurs most often in a dataset. In a frequency distribution, this is the category with the highest frequency

Question 118

what is median

Answer 118

the data point in a dataset for which 50% of all data points are higher in value, and 50% of all data are lower in value.

Question 119

what is average (or mean)

Answer 119

the average value of a set of data, computed by adding all values and dividing their sum by the number of data points that were added up

Question 120

what are the central tendency measures for normal distributions

Answer 120

In a perfectly normally distributed dataset, mode, median, mean are the same value. In empirical data sets that satisfy criteria for normal distributions, the values are usually not identical, but very close to each other

Question 121

are the central tendency measurements in skewed distributions the same

Answer 121

In a negatively skewed distribution mode, median, and mean are different. For these distributions, it is best to use the median to characterize the central tendency. The mean is too much affected by outliers (extreme values), and does not well represent the distribution

Question 122

where does variability come from

Answer 122

Variability results from various sources, such as measurement errors, differences between the subjects participating in the study, etc

Question 123

when is Measures of central tendency only meaningful

Answer 123

Measures of central tendency are only meaningful if accompanied by a measure of variability

Question 124

what is Standard deviation

Answer 124

Standard deviation: is an index of the amount of variability in a data set. Standard deviation is the average distance of the data points from the mean. A large standard deviation means the data in the distribution are spread wide around the mean, a small one that they are closely scattered around the mean

Question 125

what the hell does this even mean

Answer 125

In a normal distribution, about 68% of the values are within ±1 standard deviation from the mean, while 95% fall within +- standard deviations from the mean

Question 126

In an experiment, independent variables are systematically varied.... how is the effect of this manipulation measured

Answer 126

the effect of this manipulation is measured with the dependent variable.

Question 127

In an experiment, independent variables are systematically varied, and the effect of this manipulation is measured with the dependent variable. This leads to data obtained under different treatment conditions. The data points form distributions The question now is what

Answer 127

if these distributions are different, is the difference meaningful, i.e., big enough to attribute it to the treatment, or too small how do we know if the change is chance or effect

Question 128

what is expected if the data between groups significantly bigger

Answer 128

If the group difference in the DV are sufficiently bigger than what we would expect simply by chance, then we believe this difference to be statistically significant

Question 129

what is Null hypothesis (H0)

Answer 129

The differences between the groups are due to chance

Question 130

what is Experimental hypothesis (H1).

Answer 130

The differences are due to manipulating the IV

Question 131

what is the cut-off post for significance

Answer 131

this probability that the difference between the treatment groups is due to chance is assessed with the p-value. This is also called the alpa-error (of type 1 error) — it is the probability to falsely reject the H0 (hypothesis that the results are due to chance) in light of the results

Question 132

what is the p-value also called

Answer 132

This is also called the alpa-error (of type 1 error)

Question 133

what is Type II error

Answer 133

The probability to falsely reject the H1, i.e., to conclude that the differences in DV are due to chance, while in fact they were caused by the treatment

Question 134

by convention, what is p always set to

Answer 134

By convention, p is set to p=0.05

Question 135

what does p=0.05 it mean

Answer 135

(i.e., 5% chance to falsely accept the H1, namely that the difference is due to the treatment).

Question 136

SOME CRITICAL ISSUE REGARDING SIGNIFICANCE TESTING (p values)

Answer 136

Level of significance Sample size effects Effect size

Question 137

explain SOME CRITICAL ISSUE REGARDING SIGNIFICANCE TESTING: | Level of significance.

Answer 137

p=0.05 considered often too low a criterion because 5% of all tests performed will produce by chance a significant result. Therefore, p=0.01 is often used or proposed. Lower p-values are assumed to be more conservative.

Question 138

explain SOME CRITICAL ISSUE REGARDING SIGNIFICANCE TESTING: Sample size effects

Answer 138

The bigger the sample, the more likely it becomes that even very small differences between the groups become statistically significant

Question 139

explain effect size in relation to explain SOME CRITICAL ISSUE REGARDING SIGNIFICANCE TESTING:

Answer 139

The effect size gives a measure of how big the group differences are for statistically significant results (Cohen’s d is a measure of effect size). For example, with d=0.0, your probability would be 50% (chance) that you could guess, based on a test score alone, whether the score comes from a control or treatment condition. For example, with d=3.0, your probability to make this guess correctly would be 99.9%