Page 7 Flashcards
(18 cards)
Confounds
Factors that undermine the ability to draw causal inferences from an experiment.
Correlation
Measures the association between two variables, or how they go together.
Dependent variable
The variable the researcher measures but does not manipulate in an experiment.
Experimenter expectations
When the experimenter’s expectations influence the outcome of a study.
Independent variable
The variable the researcher manipulates and controls in an experiment.
Longitudinal study
A study that follows the same group of individuals over time.
Operational definitions
How researchers specifically measure a concept.
Participant demand
When participants behave in a way that they think the experimenter wants them to behave.
Placebo effect
When recieving special treatment or something new affects human behaviour.
Quasi-experimental design
An experiment that does not require random assignment to conditions.
Random assignment
Assigning participants to recieve different conditions of an experiment by chance.
How does a researcher know which methods she should use to test her hypotheses in psychological research?
The best method depends on the question being asked as well as the resources that are available to the researcher.
In an experiment, the condition that is being manipulated or changed by the researcher is called the ___ varibable.
Independent variable.
Psychologists often explore questions related to abstract concepts (e.g. satisfaction, happiness, spirituality) when conducting research but those concepts may be hard to quantify. What must be clearly stated at the begining of the research of such concept?
An operational definition of the concept.M
Markus is in a study examining the impact of vitamin C on vision. Some participants take 100mg of vitamin C everyday while others take placebo. Markus doesn’t know which group he’s in, but he is given eye exams measuring his vision each month. What is the dependent variable?
The participant’s vision, in this case, Markus’.
Dr. Magill is conducting research on whether giving monkeys ice cold water in the morning will cause them to be less aggressive during the day. He has several graduate students observing the monkeys and he regularly comments to the students that ice water is “definitely making a difference.” As a result, the graduate studtents are less likely to rate minor aggressive incidents as true aggression. The research in this example has been compromised by ___.
Experimenter expectations.
An article headline claimed that “drugs cause homelessness” due to a positive relationship found between homeless populations and drug use. Educated psychologists thought this might be flawed, because they thought unemployment was influencing both drug use and homelessness. This is an example of:
A third variable problem.
Based on what you know about dental hygiene and health which of the following would be the best description of the correlation between variable A (the number of times a day one brushes their teeth) and variable B (the number of cavities one has when they go to the dentist).
A strong negative correlation.
