Week 8 - 10 (??) wip

• Self-Report Measures


  Participants are asked questions directly to study their behaviour.
• Behavioural Measures


  Based on overt behaviours that can be observed and measured; we have to consider what aspect of the behaviour we want to measure. Ex. when we want to measure helping behaviour, what counts as helping behaviour.
• Physiological Measures


  A recording of a response of the body.
• What are the seven physiological measures?

  1. Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
  2. Electromyogram (EEG)
  3. Electrocardiogram (ECG)
  4. Electroencephalogram (EEG)
  5. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
  6. Functional MRI (fMRI)
  7. Cortisol in Saliva
• Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)


  A measure of a person's general emotional arousal and anxiety.
• Electromyogram (EMG) and Electrocardiogram (ECG)


  The EMG measures muscle tension (can be used to identify the "authenticity" of an emotion; associating between fake and real smiles due to different muscles in the face working to produce a particular response) and the ECG measures a person's heartbeat and heart rate (can be used to measure stress).
• Electroencephalogram (EEG)


  The EEG measures the electrical activity of the brain cells (ex. we can use this to look at different types of consciousness).
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)


  Shows images of brain structures (ex. we can use this to show how a particular disorder can be associated with a difference in brain structure).
• Functional MRI (fMRI)


  A measure that shows what brain processes are involved while an individual is performing a physical or cognitive task (ex. this can be used to display the level of blood flowing through the brain in a particular region that indicates thinking).
• Cortisol in Saliva


  A measure used to assess a person's stress reaction.
• Ceiling Effect


  Clustering of scores at the high end of a measurement scale.
• Floor Effect


  Clustering of scores at the low end of a measurement scale.
• What is the advantage with having more measures (multiple different measures of the same variable) in a study?

  With more measures we can increase our confidence in our findings; however, we need to be careful because we might end up with the same conditions.
• What are the two general control issues concerning in an experiment?

  1. Participants
  2. Experiments
• Demand Characteristics


  Refer to any of the potential cues or features of a study that suggest to the participants the purpose and hypothesis of the study and influence the participants to respond or behave in a certain way.
• How do we prevent demand characteristics?

  • Not revealing our hypotheses.
  • Using deception.
  • Use an unobtrusive measure.
  • Place our measure among unrelated filler items on a questionnaire.
  • Ask participants about the purpose of the research.
• Placebo


  A participant's response to an inert medication or treatment that has no real effect on the body; occurs simply because the individual thinks that the palcebo is effective.
• Experimenter Bias


  Measurements are influenced by the experimenter's expectations regarding the outcome of the study. To prevent this, we standardise or automate the experiment.
• Factorial Designs


  A research design that includes two or more independent variables.
• Why not have two separate simple experiments instead of a factorial design study?

  With a factorial design we can explore interaction effects; it allows us to look at interaction effects which can only be examined through factorial design.
• Interaction Effects


  An interaction exists between the factors when the effects of one factor depend on the different levels of a second factor.
• Factors


  An independent variable in an experiment that include two or more independent variables OR a variable that differentiates a set of groups or conditions being compared in a research study.
• Factorial Design


  A research design that includes two or more factors.