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47 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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The role of theory |
A system of interrelated ideas used to describeand explain a phenomenon
Good psychology is theory-driven Allows us to make specific hypotheses |
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Hypothesis |
a tentative statement about the relationship between two variables - predicting more specific than theory |
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Theory |
diffusion of responsibility; bystander effect |
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Prediction |
If multiple bystanders present likelihood of intervening will decrease |
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Important Concepts in research |
Operational Definitions Basic Methodologies Observational Experimental Research |
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Operational Definitions |
Variables must be operational; i.e., defined so that they can be measured, how would you operationalize? |
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Basic Methodologies |
Descriptive research (correlational)
Observational Survey Case Study – just study one person Meta-analysis – look at existing studies Case Studies |
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Experimental research |
Quasi Experimental: something is being manipulated but it has already happened |
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Observational |
descriptive, correlational Careful observations of behaviours |
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Advantages of observational |
high external validity/ unable to establish cause and effect |
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Disadvantages of observational |
Low internal validity / unable to establishcause and effect
Can only study observable behaviors Possibility of observer effects of reactivity(people know they are being studied) –Hawthorne Effect |
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Case Studies |
In-depth investigation of a single participantor small group of participants –often over long periods of time
Often used in clinical psychology or areas whereappropriate participants are rare - orwhere it is unethical to replicate Ex. causes of abuse or neglect |
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Advantages of Case Studies |
Economical, good way to study behaviors that aredifficult to observe
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Disadvantages of case studies |
Problems with self-report data (deception,wishful thinking, memory lapses)
Sampling issues –representative sample,volunteer bias Unable to establish cause-and-effect |
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Experimental research |
Researchers manipulate variable IV to see if itresults in changes to another variable DV
Experimental designs need a comparison group |
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Independent variable (IV) |
condition or event under experimental control ( variable the experimenter manipulates) |
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Dependent Variable (DV) |
variable thought to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable ( depends on the level of the IV) |
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Control group |
do not receive special treatment Participants should be similar or identical to the experimental group |
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Experimental group |
Receive some special treatment, manipulation of IV |
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Danger of Extraneous & ConfoundingVariables
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Confounding variable: any variable other thanthe IV that is likely to influence the DV
Difficult to determine which variable is causingthe effect |
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Blind: |
researcher and participant is "blind" to the condition - don't know if you/ participants are the control or experimental group |
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Random assignment |
All participants have an equal chance of beingassigned to any group or condition
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Experimental Research –Advantages |
Increased control over many variables Flexible; can be used in many situations Can establish cause and effect |
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Experimental Research - Disadvantages |
May be simplistic or artificial
Can not be used to answer some questions –ethical concerns |
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Quasi-Experimental Methodologies
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Experimental designs cannot be used to answersome questions (ex. Ethical concerns)
When the manipulation of the IV occurs“naturally” = Quasi-Experimental design Ex. Children deprived of emotions during thefirst year of life |
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Ethics |
Psychologists often interested in ‘sensitive’issues – need for ethical review of research
All research is reviewed by ethics board Specific regulation for human and animalparticipants |
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prefrontal lobotomy |
surgical procedure that severs brain fibres; supposed to treat schizophrenia and other sever mental disorders) |
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heuristic |
mental shortcut that helps us make sense of our world and stream line our thinking |
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representativeness heuristic |
involves judging probability of an event by it's similarity to another event |
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base rate |
how common a characteristic is in the general population |
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availibility heuristic |
estimate likelihood of an event based on how easily it comes to mind |
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cognitive biases |
systematic errors in thinking |
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hindsight bias |
tendency to overestimate how well we could have successfully estimated outcomes |
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overconfidence |
tendency to overestimate our ability to make correct predictions |
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naturalistic observation |
watching behaviour in real world settings without manipulating situations |
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external validity |
extent to which we can generalize findings to real world settings |
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internal validity |
extent to which we can draw cause and effect inferences from a study |
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existence proof |
demonstration that a given psychological phenomena can occur |
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reliability |
consistency of measurement |
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response set |
tendency of participants to distort responses to questionnaires |
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correlational designs |
research design that examines the extent to which two variables are associated |
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illusory correlation |
perception of statistical correlation between two variables where non exists |
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between subjects design |
in an experiment, researchers assign different groups (some in control) |
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within subjects design |
act as their own control |
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placebo effect |
improvement resulting from just expecting improvement |
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experimenter expectancy effect |
when the hypothesis leads you to unintentionally bias the study |
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demand characteristics |
cue that participants pick up from a study that allow them to guess the hypothesis |
