PSY 290 - Exam 1

• How do we come to know anything?

  Authority, Reason, Personal Experience/Intuition, Scientific Approach

  
• what is a cofound?


  alternative explanations for the same outcome

  
• what is present-present bias?


  easy to remember something happening than something not happening

  
• the scientific approach attempts to...

  remove limitations and bias

  
• Why is scientific approach better?

  Objective and transparent, Data-based conclusions, tentative, asks answerable questions, peer review process

  
• good reasearch questions are...

  testable, observable, specefic

  
• Independent variable


  the variable we want to know the effect of, manipulated or changed by researcher

  
• Dependent variable


  the variable we measure to see what effect the IV had

  
• what is a construct?


  a psychological phenomenon that cannot be directly observed, but can be inferred from behavior

  
• what does it mean to operationalize?


  to describe how a variable will be computed tp represent a construct in numbers

  
• what is a theory?


  summarizes existing knowledge and explains relationships between variables
• what is a hypothesis?


  reasoned prediction about an empirical result
• good theories are...

  supported by data, generate new predictions, are falsifiable, are parsimonious
• Replication is...


  duplicating a previous study
• Extension is...


  incremental addition to previous studies
• what is basic research?


  studies fundamental nature of the world, seeks to learn how mind works
• what is applied research?


  direct focus on solving or evaluating real-world problems
• What is a labratory study?


  tightly controlled condtions; characteristics vary systematically
• what is field research?


  occurs in "real life" settings
• quantitative research


  includes numerical data and statistical analysis
• qualitative research


  includes interviews, narrative descriptions, etc.
• what is reliability?


  the extent to which measurements are consisten and repeatable under identicle conditions
• Test-Retest Reliability


  same measure repeated
• Internal ConsistencyReliability


  comparison between mulitple items of the same measure
• inter-rate reliability 


  comparison of individual ratings of the same observation
• Construct Validity


  measure accurately asses construct
• Criterian Validity


  measure accurately predicts other measures
• Nominal


  categorical variables
• Ordinal


  rank
• interval


  difference in number, but zero does not mean abscence
• Ratio


  true zero
• discrete variables


  finate number of possible values
• Continous variables


  infinate number of possible intermediate variables
• A priori method


  A way of knowing, proposed by Charles Peirce, in which a person develops a belief by reasoning and reaching agreement with others who are convinced of the merits of the reasoned argument.
• confirmation bias


  a tendency to seek and pay special attnetion to information taht supports one's beliefs, while ignoring information that ocntradcits a belief
• belief preseverance


  tendency to hold on doggedly to a belief, even in the face of evidence taht would convince most people that the belief is false
• availability heurisitc


  occurs when we experience unusual or very memorable events and then overestimate how often such events typially occur
• deterministm


  events have causes
• discoverability


  by using agreed-upon scientific metods, cuases can be discovered with some degree of convidence
• statistical determinism


  events can be predicted, but only with a probability greater than chance