Biological Psychology

• What are case studies?

  Allows data gathered to be in-depth and detailed. Gathers data from many different sources and different research methods
• What type of data do case studies gather?

  Qualitative, but can also give quantitative (e.g. IQ tests)
• What is triangulation?


  Gathering data using different research methods and developing themes.
• Who was HM?


  Henry Molaison
• What happened to HM?

  Suffered brain injury as a result of surgical procedure to relieve him from seizures caused by epilepsy.
• Which part of HM's brain was removed?

  William Scoville removed HM's hippocampus, which was associated with consolidating memories.
• What happened to HM's memory?

  He was assessed of having anterograde (loss of ability to make NEW memories) and retrograde (loss of ability to recall events PRIOR to the injury) amnesia.
• How did HM contribute to understanding memory?

  Shows that there is short term and long term memory storage. Informs us that short term memories need to be transferred to long term storage to be able to be retrieved again.
• What 3 main standards should a good study adhere to?

  1. Possible to generalise

  2. Replicable

  3. Valid
• What is test-retest reliability?

  If findings are consistent, and considered reliable, it can be trusted that findings will happen again.
• Objectivity


  Need to be impartial and judgement free
• Internal validity


  How well the procedure establishes a causal relationship between manipulated IV and measured DV.
• Predictive validity


  The extent to which the performance on the measure can predict future performance on a similar criterion.
• Ecological validity


  The extent to which the research can be generalised to other situations (real life or everyday situations).
• Operationalised hypothesis


  Defining precisely how you intend to measure the DV and alter the conditions of the IV
• What are the 3 experimental designs?


  Independent measures, repeated measures and matched pairs
• Independent measures design


  Using DIFFERENT participants in each condition of the experiment
• Repeated measures design


  Using the SAME participants in each condition of the experiment
• Matched pairs


  Using different but similar participants in each condition. An effort is made to match the participants in any important characteristics that might be important to the study.
• Order effects


  Occurs when repeated measures design is used.

  Practice effect - become practised at the test and improve their performance

  Fatigue effect - become tired or bored so performance deteriorates
• Counterbalancing


  Each condition is tested first or second in equal amounts. Divided equally between the conditions and experiment them in different order.

  e.g. one group tested in A then B, other group do B then A.
• Randomising


  Each participant is assigned either Condition A or B first randomly
• Standard deviation

  
• Extraneous variable


  Variable that may have affected the DV but that was not the IV
• Confounding variable


  Variable that affects the findings of a study directly, so much that you are no longer measuring what was intended
• Situational variables


  An extraneous variable found in the environment, such as noise, time of day, temperature, disturbances etc.
• Participant variables


  Participants themselves may affect results as they have different characteristics, such as intelligence, level of motivation, age, personality, skills.
• Experimenter/ researcher effect


  The way the experimenter may influence the outcome of an experiment by their actions or presence.
• Hawthorne effect


  Presence of the experimenter can affect performance
• Demand characteristics


  Participants have certain expectations concerning the experiment. Actual communication, what the participant may have heard about the experiment, effect of the experimenter causes the participant to alter their behaviour to meet the expectations.
• Standardisation


  Making an experiment the same experience for all participants. Standardised instructions and standardised procedures.
• Single-blind procedure


  Participants are unaware of the study aim so it does not influence how they perform
• Double-blind procedure


  Neither the participant nor the researcher knows the aim of the study. Eliminate experimenter effects.
• Inferential test shows...


  how strong a difference between variables is
• Type 1 error


  Accepting the alternative hypothesis when results were not significant and null hypothesis should have actually been retained. Level of significance was too lenient
• Type II error


  Retaining the null hypothesis when there was actually a real effect. The level of significance was too stringent.
• Nominal data


  Form of categories
• Ordinal data


  Ordered in some way, e.g. ranking
• Interval data


  Real measurements are involved, e.g temperature
• Ratio data


  Same as interval, but there is a true zero point, e.g. cm or seconds