Lecture 1 & 2 - Methodology In Psychology

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Hypothesis

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A tentative statement about the relationship between 2 or more variables

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Empirical research

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Knowledge is gained through experience

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Psychology

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The science that studies behaviour and the physiological cognitive processes that underlie it

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How is it a science?

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Foundations in Research, Based on Empirical methods (refer to notes), Philosophy + physiology = psychology !

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Integrates

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Neuroscience, Development, Cognitive, Social, Clinical

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Objective

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Scientific study of the human nature and behaviour → how the brain makes our worldThe brain is organized in rules according to many principles

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Falsifiability

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the refutability of a statement, hypothesis, or theory is the inherent possibility that it can be proved false. A statement is called falsifiable if it is possible to conceive of an observation or an argument which negates the statement in question

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Pseudoscience

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A system of theories or assertions about the natural world that claim or appear to be scientific but that, in fact, are not

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Operational definition

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(Steps in a scientific investigation) Describes the actions or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable

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Foundations of knowledge

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in philosophy → the systematic inquiry into the problem of truth; How knowledge is gained and verified

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Tenacity

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the quality or fact of being able to grip something firmly; the quality or fact of being very determined

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Authority

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the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience

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A Priori

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relating to or denoting reasoning or knowledge that proceeds from theoretical deduction rather than from observation or experience

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Science

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the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment

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Scientific parsimony

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A principle of simplicity

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Occam’s razor

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Principle from philosophy; “Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily”; “God's existence cannot be deduced by reason alone.”; (in physics) used to shave away the metaphysical

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Positivism

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the belief that there is no difference between something that exists but is not observable and something that doesn't exist at all

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Clever Hans

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The horse of Mr. Von Osten; Claimed he was able to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks When asked basic mathematical questions he would respond with the beats of his hoofs  It was discovered that he was answering based on the reactions of his human observers Responding to involuntary cues in body language of the trainer who knew the answers but was unaware that they were providing them

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Bias

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prejudice in favour of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair

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Confirmation bias

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the tendency to seek information that supports one’s decisions and beliefs while ignoring disconfirming information

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Rosenthal effect (experimenter bias)

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occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained

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Structuralism

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the idea that psychology is meant to analyse consciousness into its basic elements* and determine how these elements are related *Sensations, feelings, images, emotions, etc

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Introspection

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method in structuralism; the careful, systematic self-observation of one’s conscious experience

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Functionalism

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The belief that psychology should investigate the function/purpose of consciousness, rather than structure

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“Stream of consciousness”

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Part of Functionalism; the flow of thoughts, rather than breaking it down, pointing out that the flow is the true form of consciousness

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Problems with structuralism

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the structuralist approach misses the real nature of the conscious experience; They are looking at static points (when consciousness is actually flowing); Stuck mainly to the laboratory; is this practical when studying human behaviour?

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Limitations of introspection

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if you depend solely on an individual’s reflection to document a phenomenon, there is no independent objective evaluation of that claim

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Naïve realism

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(also direct realism or common sense realism) is a philosophy of mind rooted in a theory of perception that claims that the senses provide us with direct awareness of the external world  Similar objects may appear differently to different people or to the same people at different times (ie. a red apple to a person who can see colour and a person who is colorblind, Allegory of the cave)

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Stimulus error

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an error in introspective observation of divining the object from which the stimulus comes instead of reporting the impression actually received

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Stimulus

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is any detectable input from the environment

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Null hypothesis

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the assumption that there is no true relationship between the variables observed (as opposed to starting with a research hypothesis)

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Experiment

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A research method in which the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether and changes occurring a second variable as a result

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Independent Variable

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is a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to see if its impact on another variable → is controlled or manipulated

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Dependent Variable

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Is the variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable → in psychology, is usually a measure of behaviour

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Extraneous Variables

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are any variables other than the independent variable that seem likely to influence the dependent variable in a specific study

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Description

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a spoken or written representation or account of a person, object, or event

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Control

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the group in an experiment or study that does not receive treatment by the researchers and is then used as a benchmark to measure how the other tested subjects do

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Random assignment

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(of subjects) occurs when all subjects have an equal chance of being assigned to any group or condition in the study

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Placebo Effect

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occurs when participants’ expectations lead them to experience some change even though they receive empty, fake, or ineffectual treatments

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Placebo

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substance that resembles a drug but has not pharmacological effect

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Paradigm

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a typical example or pattern of something; a model

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Paradigm shift

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a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions

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Wundt

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William Wundt 1832-1920 “Father of Psychology”  Declared that the new psychology should be a science modelled after fields such as physics and chemistry  Believed that Psychology’s primary focus was consciousness → the awareness of immediate experience

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Titchener

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William Titchener → Emergence of structuralism  Structuralists wanted to identify and examine the fundamental components of conscious experience, such as sensations, feelings, and images Their work concerned sensation and perception in vision, hearing, and touch

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James

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William James 1842-1910  Emergence of functionalism Illustrates how psychology is embedded in a network of cultural and intellectual theories  Psychology should investigate the functions, rather than the structures, of consciousness

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Response

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a reaction to something

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Fundamental or basic unit of psychology

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RESPONSE

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Validity

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refers to the ability of a test to measure what it is it was designed to measure

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Reliability

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refers to the measurement consistency of a test (or of other kinds of measurement techniques

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The Correlation Coefficient

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a numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables

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The Correlation Coefficient Indicates

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the direction (+/- strength of correlation) of the relationship and how strongly the two variables are related

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+ correlation

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they co-vary in the same direction; High scores on variable X are associated with high scores on variable Y and that low scores on variable X are associated with low scores on variable Y

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- correlation

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they co-vary in the opposite direction; High scores on variable X are associated with low scores on variable Y and low scores on variable X are associated with high scores on variable Y

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Correlation

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a mutual relationship or connection between two or more variables (exists when two variables are related to each other)

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Causation

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the agency or efficacy that connects one process (the cause) with another process or state (the effect), where the first is understood to be partly responsible for the second, and the second is dependent on the first

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Correlation vs. causation

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CORRELATION IS NOT EQUIVALENT TO CAUSATION

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Regression

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Is a reversion to immature patterns of behaviour

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Explained variance

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measures the proportion to which a mathematical model accounts for the variation (dispersion) of a given data set. Often, variation is quantified as variance; then, the more specific term explained variance can be used

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Effect size

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is a simple way of quantifying the difference between two groups that has many advantages over the use of tests of statistical significance alone; emphasises the size of the difference rather than confounding this with sample size

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R-Squared

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a statistical measure of how close the data are to the fitted regression line. It is also known as the coefficient of determination, or the coefficient of multiple determination for multiple regression. 0% indicates that the model explains none of the variability of the response data around its mean

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Eta-squared

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the proportion of variance associated with or accounted for by each of the main effects, interactions, and error in an ANOVA study

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Omega-squared

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an estimate of the dependent variance accounted for by the independent variable in the population for a fixed effects model

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Residual

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a quantity remaining after other things have been subtracted or allowed for

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The line of best fit

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is a straight line that best represents the data on a scatter plot; This line may pass through some of the points, none of the points, or all of the points.