Experimental Psych Test 1

Benjamin is a social psychologist who studies marriage. He believes that marital satisfaction has two components: the ability to trust one's partner and a belief that one can be a good spouse. He conducts a study to test his ideas. Assuming that his data match his theory, which of the following statements should he make?

"The data provide support for my theory.

What are other sources of "acceptable knowledge" for you to say, "this is what I know"?

- Based on authority (could be based on the authority's research) - Based on research (scientific sources by psychologists for psychologists) - Journal articles (empirical/review) - Chapters in edited books - Full-length books

Research is better than experience b/c:

- Has a comparison group - Research is probabilistic - Experience is confoundedO

Quasi-Experimental

-similar, has previously made groups i.e. female, age range, etc.

In Table 2.2 and 2.3, Morling alters the results drastically by changing the value of ____ cell(s) in the 2x2 matrix

1 cell; showing how the treatment could have had a negative effect (less deaths per not treated) or a positive effect (less deaths per treated)

Translational research is best thought of as ________ basic research and applied research.

A bridge between

What is a confound?

A confound is a alternative explanation for an outcome.we are not able to control for multiple, co-occurring effects on our moods or behaviors i.e. when you drink an calming NEURO drink, maybe it's the sweetness of the taste or maybe it's the break within studying that calms you down vs. the drink

Benjamin is a social psychologist who studies marriage. He believes that marital satisfaction has two components: the ability to trust one's partner and a belief that one can be a good spouse. This is known as:

A theory

RESEARCH STUDY 1.1 Deci and Ryan (1985, 2001) have proposed that there are three fundamental needs that are required for human growth and fulfillment: relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Susan predicts that students who have these needs met in their psychology class feel happier and more satisfied with the class. She collects data and finds that students who feel more related and competent do feel happier but that feeling more autonomous does not seem to matter. Susan thinks that maybe autonomy is only necessary when people are in situations in which they are not being evaluated. Deci and Ryan's general statement of how the three needs are related to growth and fulfillment is an example of which of the following?

A theory

An empirical study is different than a review journal b/c:

An empirical journal article reports, for the first time, the results of an empirical research study (include the study's method, statistical tests used, and numerical results) A review journal article provides a summary of all the published studies that have been done in one research area

Confirmatory Hypothesis Testing

Asking questions that will lead us to an expected answer i.e. If a researcher was trying to analyze if a participant was an extrovert, they would only ask questions that confirm it, not disconfirm.

Research that is done specifically to add to our general understanding of psychology, like distinguishing the components of extraversion or predicting the time it takes a person to determine whether an object is a face or another object, is known as:

Basic research

Your friend Gaby loves reading articles about psychology studies in her monthly women's magazine. Which of the following would you tell her?

Be careful about reading those articles because they may not present accurate findings.

When reading an empirical journal article "with purpose," why should you read the abstract first?

Because it provides an overview of the article

After reading the chapter, Cyril says to himself, " I am sure other people might engage in faulty thinking but I never would." What is Cyril experiencing?

Bias blind spot

Grounded Theory

Built from the ground up; data ----------> theory

In Table 2.1 in your text, what was Morling able to show by including the "Not Bled" column in the 2 x 2 matrix or Dr. Rush's bloodletting example.

By including a "Not Bled" column, Morling was able to show that there was no relationship between improvement and treatment

Dig Deeper on Matrix Experiment:

Changed different situations: i.e. the quick student i.e. half-shredded paper i.e. delayed time that money was paid

Sasha believes that she is a nice person. To confirm this, she asks all her friends whether she is a nice person; they all agree that she is. Sasha concludes that she is a nice person and says she has evidence of it. However, she does not ask any of her enemies whether they think she is a nice person. This is an example of which of the following?

Cherry-picking

What three things do experimental researchers try to incorporate in their work?

Comparison groups, control for confounds, evaluate information without biases

Asking questions to get the answers we want is known as:

Confirmatory hypothesis testing

Gain-loss theory

Cost/Benefits

Cupboard Theory vs. Contact Comfort Theory

Cupboard Theory - mother is valuable as a source of food Comfort Theory - mother is valuable because of comfort/cozy touch

Good theories are supported by _____.

Data; most important feature; A theory that is supported by a large quantity of evidence is a good theory

Lana is writing her first empirical journal article. Although she thinks she knows why she found the results she did, she also wants to mention some alternative explanations for her findings. In which section will she mention these alternative explanations?

Discussion

Of the options listed below, which of the following is the last section of an empirical journal article?

Discussion

Experimental Research

Does A cause B? - Manipulation (IV) - Random Assignment

Good theories are _____________.

Falsifiable; A theory must lead to a hypothesis that when tested, can potentially fail to support the theory

Elliott is double majoring in English and psychology. He plans on being a high school English teacher and is only majoring in psychology because he finds the classes interesting. All of the following are important reasons for him to be a good consumer of research EXCEPT:

He will likely need to be a producer of researcher as well

Because Dr. Rush bled every yellow fever patient, he never saw ______________.

If any patients who didn't receive treatment got better

Research is better than intuition b/c:

Intuition can be biased by faulty thinking: - A good story -- "Makes sense" - What comes to mind (Availability Heuristic) - Failing to think about we cannot see (Present/Present Bias) - Focusing on evidence we like best (Cherry-picking) - Asking biased questions to receive biased answers (Confirmatory Bias Testing) - Biased about being biased (Bias Blind Spot)

Both James and Thomas have theories that explain why listening to classical music while reading is associated with increased recall of the material. James' theory is much simpler than Thomas'. Thomas created his theory a few months before James did. Which of the following is true?

James' theory would be considered better because it is more parsimonious.

Consumer Role

Most psychology majors do not become producers, essential to read journals in our future careers

Good theories have ______________.

Parsimony; There is no need to make several complex assumptions, simpler is better

Psychological scientists may choose to publish their work in all of the following EXCEPT:

Popular magazines

Theories don't ________ anything.

Prove; Prove is rarely used in science, instead say: "support" or "are consistent with"

Which of the following sources is most likely to contain only information that has been rigorously peer-reviewed?

Review journal articles

R & R means

Revise and Resubmit

Which of the following is true of the distinction between scientific journals and popular magazines?

Scientific journal articles are peer-reviewed; popular magazine articles are not

Purpose of Theory-Data Cycle

Scientists collect data to test, change, or update their theories; testing out "hunches"

Theory-Data Cycle Order

Theory --> Research Questions --> Research Design --> Hypotheses --> Data

Research studies are superior to personal experience because:

They include at least one comparison group

Availability Heuristic

Things that pop up easily in our mind tend to guide our thinking i.e. summer of the shark

All of the following are reasons psychological scientists publish their research EXCEPT:

To get money from the journals where their work appears

Correlational

When A changes, B also changes

Would putting more money on the line make people cheat more? We tried varying the amount that we paid for a solved matrix, from 50 cents to $10, but more money did not lead to more cheating. In fact, the amount of cheating was slightly lower when we promised our participants the highest amount for each correct answer.

Why? I suspect that at $10 per solved matrix, it was harder for participants to cheat and still feel good about their own sense of integrity -- Rationalization Theory

Role of journal editors:

accept or reject papers

Personal Experience can:

allow you to participate in special opportunities i.e. have military experience, able to test within military

Data

are a set of observations

Bias blind spot

belief that we cannot fall prey to cognitive biases

When basing beliefs on authority...

could be authority's personal experience or intuition

Being a consumer of research is important for _______________

everyone

Basic Research

goal is to enhance the general body of knowledge; i.e. wanting to know the structure of the visual system, the capacity of human memory

Rationalization Theory

predicts a person who cheats compares gains of cheating to one's self-respect

Present/present bias

related to the need for comparison groups; failure to notice what's absent

Theory-Data Cycle

scientists collect data to test, change, or update their theories (systematic steps to solve a problem)

Cherry-picking evidence

seeking/only accepting information that support what we already think

evidence-based treatment

therapies that are supported by research

A consumer of research needs ___________

to know how to answer the right questions, determine the answers, and evaluate a study on the basis of those answers

Meta-analysis

which combines the results of many studies and gives a umber that summarizes the magnitude a.k.a. effect size

Harlow's Research applied to the Theory-Data Cycle

3 Conditions: 1) Wire mom (Cupboard) 2) Cozy mom (Contact Comfort) 3)Split time in 1/2 Harlow used the two theories to make specific predictions about how the monkeys would interact w/ each mother. Then he used the data he recorded (how much time the monkeys spent with each other) to support only one of the theories. The theory-data cycle in action!

Drawing conclusions about a treatment involves comparing data systematically from all _____ cells

4

What are the rejection rates for top tiered journals like, Journal of Personality & Social Psychology?

97% Rejection, 3% acceptance

Producer Role

going to graduate school, doing research for part of a course, research lab as an undergraduate

Theory

is a set of statements that describes general principles about how variables relate to one another

Hypothesis (or prediction)

is a way of stating the specific outcome the researcher expects to observe if the theory is accurate

Applied Research

is done with a practical problem in mind Auto kinetic effect - basic research Sherif Study - Applied Research

Empiricism

is evidence from the senses (sight, smell, hearing, touch) or from instruments that assist the senses (thermometers, timers, weight scales, questionnaires, etc.)

Peer Review

is rigorous; peer-reviewers are left anonymous; goal is to comment on work (how well down, how novel); supposed to ensure that articles contain motivative, well-done studies

Translational Research

is the use of lessons from basic research to develop and test applications to healthcare, psychotherapy, and other forms of treatment of intervention