exp psy

• Experimental Psychology


  Examines relationships between human behavior and the mind. Centered on fact-based, scientific research and experimentation. Psychologists manipulate research variables to discover relationships between cognition and behavior
• Methodology


  The scientific techniques used to collect and evaluate psychological data
• Data


  Facts and figures gathered in research studies
• Experimental psychology is a method of studying psychological phenomena and processes
• Experimental psychologists


  Seek to understand which factors influence human behavior, experiences and thought processes. Use scientific tools and techniques to perform research, collect data and publish results
• Many experimental psychologists spend years conducting and publishing research about a single research question or theory
• Math and statistical skills are extremely beneficial for experimental psychologists
• Commonsense psychology


  A nonscientific data gathering that shapes our expectations and beliefs and directs our behavior toward others
• Confirmation bias


  A tendency to accept evidence that confirms our beliefs and to reject evidence that contradicts them
• Beliefs shape expectations, which in turn shape perceptions, which then shape conclusions
• Expectation influences perception - subjects who thought they were given alcohol experienced reduced social anxiety, even when they were not given alcohol
• We are more likely to believe information if it comes from popular, attractive, high status, expert, or highly confident individuals
• Traits


  Relatively stable characteristics that cause individuals to behave in certain ways
• Allport's theory of personality

  • Three types of traits: cardinal, central, and secondary
  • Traits are organized in a hierarchy
• Cardinal traits


  Dominant traits that stand at the top of the trait hierarchy and have an overwhelming influence on behavior
• Central traits


  Building blocks of personality that are often expressed and shape our personality
• Secondary traits


  Less generalized, consistent, and relevant traits that are specific to situations
• The scientific mentality


  • Assumption that behavior follows a natural order and can be predicted
  • Adherence to determinism - the belief that phenomena have identifiable causes
• Gathering empirical data


  • Data that are observable or experienced and can be verified or disproved through investigation
• Laws


  Principles that have the generality to apply to all situations
• Theory


  A fact-based framework for describing a phenomenon that describes a behavior and makes predictions about future behaviors
• Hypothesis


  A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables
• Good thinking


  • Organized, rational thought characterized by open-mindedness, objectivity, and parsimony
  • Follows the rule of logic
  • Prefers the simplest explanation (Occam's razor)
• Self-correction


  • Changes in scientific explanations and theories as new information is acquired and old information is reevaluated
• Publicizing results


  • Scientists must publish their findings so they can be scrutinized by the scientific community
• Replication


  • Scientists must repeat investigations to ensure the same results are obtained, as repeated replication can turn a hypothesis into a theory
• Good research is systematic, controlled, and objective
• Changes in scientific explanations and theories are an extremely important part of scientific progress
• The content of science changes as we acquire new specific information, and old information is reevaluated in the light of new facts
• Weight-of-evidence approach


  The more evidence that accumulates to support a particular explanation or theory, the more confidence we have that the theory is correct
• Characteristics of modern science

  • Publicizing results
  • Replication
• Replication


  1. Scientists have to "check their work"

  2. The results of an investigation are repeated, usually many times, and the same result is always obtained

  3. Getting the same result when an experiment is repeated is called replication

  4. If research results can be replicated, it means they are more likely to be correct

  5. Repeated replication of investigations may turn a hypothesis into a theory

  6. If results cannot be replicated they are likely to be incorrect
• Qualities of a good research

  • Systematic - Reject the use of guessing and intuition, but does not rule out of creative thinking
  • Controlled - Variables are identified and controlled, wherever possible
  • Logical - Guided by rules of logical reasoning and logical process of induction and deduction
  • Empirical - Provides a basis for external validity to results (validation)
  • Replicable - Verified by replicating the study
  • Self-correcting - Built in mechanism and open to public scrutiny by fellow professionals
• Objectives of psychological science

  • Description - Answers the question "what"
  • Prediction - Answers the question "when"
  • Explanation - Answers the question "why"
  • Control - Answers the question "how"
• Observation


  A systematic noting and recording of events
• Measurement


  The assignment of numerical values to objects or events or their characteristics according to conventional rules
• Experimentation


  A process undertaken to test a hypothesis that particular behavioral events will occur reliably in certain, specifiable situations
• Minimum requirements of an experiment

  • Must have procedures for manipulating the setting
  • The predicted outcome must be observable
  • Must be able to measure the outcome
• Antecedent conditions


  The circumstances that come before the event or behavior that we want to explain
• Treatment/treatment condition


  The creation of specific sets of antecedent conditions