deck expp

• Scientific Methodology


  Consists of the scientific techniques we use to collect and evaluate data
• Commonsense Psychology

  • Nonscientific data gathering
  • Nonscientific Inference
• Stereotyping: Falsely assuming that specific behaviors cluster together, ignoring individual differences
• Nonscientific Inference

  • Gambler’s fallacy
  • Overuse of trait explanations
  • Stereotyping
  • Overconfidence
• Scientific Mentality


  Assumes that behavior follows a natural order and can be predicted
• Social Contagion: Most parsimonious cause of bulimia
• Main Tools of Psychological Science

  • Observation
  • Measurement
  • Experimentation
• Four Main Objectives of Science

  • Description
  • Prediction
  • Explanation
  • Control
• Overuse of Trait Explanations: Making unwarranted dispositional attributions and under-use situational information can reduce the accuracy of our explanations and predictions
• Good Thinking: Critical to the scientific method, systematic, objective, and rational
• Sir Karl Popper: 'Proposed that science advances by revising theories based on the “weight of evidence”'
• Basic Research: Tests theories and explains psychological phenomena, expanding knowledge
• Theory


  Interim explanation of law; a set of related statements used to explain and predict phenomena
• Empirical Data


  Data that are observed or experienced
• Replication: An exact or systematic repetition of a study, increases confidence in experimental results
• Gambler’s Fallacy: People misuse data to estimate the probability of an event, like when a slot machine will pay off
• Law: Consists of statements generally expressed as equations with few variables that have overwhelming empirical support
• Overconfidence Bias: Tendency to hold a false and misleading assessment of our skills, intellect, or talent, resulting in erroneous conclusions
• Data


  The facts we gather using scientific methods
• Parsimony: The principle of preferring the simplest useful explanation
• Principle of Modus Tollens: Allows us to disprove statements using a single, contrary observation
• Applied Research: Addresses real-world problems like improving student graduation rates
• Experiment

  Attempts to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the antecedent conditions (IV) and subject behavior (DV)
• Confidentiality means data are securely stored and only used for the purpose explained to the subject
• Deception may be used to obtain information but not to minimize participants' perception of risk or exaggerate potential benefits
• Ethics help researchers identify actions considered good and bad
• Ethical concerns or technological limitations may prevent experimentation
• Pseudoscience 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
• Informed Consent involves a subject or guardian agreeing in writing to participation after relevant details of the experiment have been explained
• Cause-and-effect relationship


  • Not always possible because predictions must be testable
  • We must be able to manipulate the independent variable to measure its effect on the dependent variable
• Confederates are experimenter's accomplices used in experiments
• Subjects must be allowed to withdraw from experiments at any time without coercion
• Research Ethics is a framework of values within which research is conducted
• APA Ethical Guidelines apply to psychologists and students when assuming the role of psychologists during research or practice
• Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) evaluate research proposals to ensure they follow ethical standards and protect the safety of research participants
• Psychology experiments

  Control extraneous variables to measure "what we intend to measure"
• The Belmont Report outlines principles of research ethics: Respect for persons, Beneficence, Justice
• Anonymity means subjects are not identified by name
• Minimal Risk Studies do not increase the likelihood of injury
• Not all prior events are causes