Experimental Psychology L1-L3

• A branch of psychology that seeks to explore and better understand behavior through empirical research methods
• An undertaking in which a researcher intervenes in the data generating process by purposefully manipulating elements of that process

  Experiment
• A branch of psychology that seeks to explore and better understand behavior through empirical research methods

  Experimental Psychology
• This approach uses nonscientific sources of data and nonscientific inference.


  Commonsense psychology
• Common sense notions can lead to real science if they generate specific ____that survive empirical testing

  hypothesis
• any common sense ideas are too ___formulate empirically testable hypotheses

  Vague
• the nonscientific use of information to explain or predict behavior.

  Nonscientific inference
• people misuse data to estimate the probability of an event, like when a slot machine will pay off.

  the gambler's fallacy
• falsely assume that specific behaviors cluster together

  stereotyping
• we feel more confident about our conclusions than is warranted by available data.

  overconfidence bias
• can result in erroneous conclusions when we don’t recognize the limitations of supporting data.

  overconfidence bias
• goal of psychology


  to predict
• behavior must follow natural order; therefor, it can be predicted

  the scientific method
• specifiable causes for the way people behave and that these causes can be discovered through research

  determinism
• based/verifiable by observation/experience


  empirical
• can be verified or disprove through investigation

  empirical data
• a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena

  theory
• principles that have the generality to apply to all situations

  law
• Theories pull together, or unify, diverse sets of scientific facts into an organizing scheme, that can be used to predict new examples of behavior.

  general principles
• Theory. Law. General Principles


  Seeking General Principles
• Characteristics of Modern Science

  the scientific method, gathering empirical data, seeking general principles, good thinking, self correction, publicizing the result, replication
• Central feature of scientific method

  good thinking
• Being open to new ideas even when it contradict our prior beliefs

  good thinking
• the content of science changes as we acquire new scientific information

  self correction
• more evidence = more confidence

  self correction
• continuous exchange of information 


  publicizing the results
• consistent results


  reliability
• establishment of reliability and validity


  replication
• measuring what is intended to measure

  validity
• systematic and unbiased account of observed characteristics.

  description
• Capacity for knowing in advance when certain behaviors would be expected to occur.

  Prediction
• identified other conditions with which the behaviors are linked or associated.

  basis
• Possible cause/reason/origin.


  Explanation
• What has been learned about the behavior.

  control
• Objectives of Psychological Science

  Description. Prediction. Explanation. Control.
• is the systematic noting and recording of events.


  observation
• means that the procedures are consistently applied.

  systematic
• must be objective so that there can be strong agreement among raters.


  observation
• to test a hypothesis that particular behavioral events will occur reliably in certain, specifiable situations.

  experimentation
• assigns numbers to objects, events, or their characteristics. This is an inherent feature of quantitative research.

  measurment