AP PSYCHOLOGY UNIT 2

"theory must also be falsifiable" phrase

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

jean piaget

Jean Piaget cognitive psychology; created a 4-stage theory of cognitive development, said that two basic processes work in tandem to achieve cognitive growth (assimilation and accommodation)

John B. Watson

John B Watson behaviorism; emphasis on external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation; famous for Little Albert study in which baby was taught to fear a white rat

mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation

mean: the average of all the scores in a distribution most commonly used measure of central tendency when distorted by extreme scores or outliers, median should be used median: the middle score of a distribution when written in ascending or descending order mode: the score that appears most frequently range: the distance between the highest and lowest score in a distribution standard deviation: the square root of the variance

scientific attitude (questions)

mental outlook distinguished by an impartial and unbiased method and the application of empirical approaches in the quest for understanding

operational definition

Operational definitions precise statements of the procedures (operations) used to define independent and dependent variables.

random assignment

Random assignment is a procedure used in experiments to create study groups with similar characteristics so that the groups are equivalent at the beginning of the study.

random sampling

Random sample a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.

APA Ethical Guidelines for Animal Research

The APA (American Psychological Association) established ethical guidelines for human and animal research. -Ethical psychological studies using animals must meet the following requirements: Have a clear scientific purpose, Care for and house animals in a humane way, Acquire animal subjects legally, Design experimental procedures that employ the least amount of suffering feasible.

empirical approach

The word empirical means information gained by experience, observation, or experiment. The central theme in scientific method is that all evidence must be empirical which means it is based on evidence.

critical thinking

Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions; it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions

survey

a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of them.

cause & effect

noting a relationship between actions or events such that one or more are the result of the other or others.

causation

the act of causing something, and the relationship between cause and effect

deduction

to subtract from

APA Ethical Guidelines for Human Research

-The APA (American Psychological Association) established ethical guidelines for human and animal research. -Any type of academic research must first propose the study to the ethics board or institutional review board (IRK) at the institution. -Guidelines for human research include: Coercion, Informed consent, Anonymity/confidentiality, Lack of risk, Debriefing procedures

scientific observations (components of)

1. observe 2. ask a question 3. form a hypothesis 4. experiment/test 5. analyze data 6. draw conclusion

Scatterplot

A graphed cluster of dots, each of which represents the values of two variables. The points suggest the direction of the relationship between the two variables. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation

Laboratory research

A laboratory (/ləˈbɒrətəri/ or /ˈlæbərətri/; informally, lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed.

self fulfilling prophecy

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.

operationally- defined

A statement of the procedures use to define research variables

researchers bias

Bias is defined as any tendency which prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question 6. In research, bias occurs when "systematic error [is] introduced into sampling or testing by selecting or encouraging one outcome or answer over others."

placebo

Effect Experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which the recipient assumes is an active agent

extraneous variable

Extraneous Variables are undesirable variables that influence the relationship between the variables that an experimenter is examining. Another way to think of this, is that these are variables the influence the outcome of an experiment, though they are not the variables that are actually of interest.

over confidence

The overconfidence effect is a well-established bias in which a person's subjective confidence in his or her judgments is reliably greater than the objective accuracy of those judgments, especially when confidence is relatively high.

simple experiment

a test under control conditions hat is made to dem. a known truth to examine validity of a hypothesis or to determine the efficacy of something previously untried

direct observation

collecting evaluative info. in which the evaluator watches the subjects in his or her usual environment without altering that environment.

coefficient of correlation (relationships)

correlation coefficient numerical index of the degree of relationship between two variables, indicates direction (positive/negative) of relationship and how strongly the two variables are related r = .67

hypothesis

hypothesis a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables (what is observed/controlled in a study). provide a concise way to translate a theory/idea about psychological behavior into a question that can be tested to either verify or disprove that theory/idea.

basic ethical guidelines for psych researchers

1. discuss intelectual property frankly 2. be conscious of multiple roles 3.follow informed consent rules 4. respect confidentiality and privacy 5.trap into ethics research

meta-analysis

A meta-analysis is a type of statistical technique that involves combining and analyzing the results of many different individual studies devoted to a specific topic. This technique allows researchers to get a better look at overall trends and identify possible relationships that might exist.

case study

An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

control condtition

An 'experiment' was defined as data collection under controlled conditions- but what does 'controlled conditions' mean? It means that variables that can affect the data collected from an experiment are monitored and held constant.

theory

An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events

independent variable

An independent variable is exactly what it sounds like. It is a variable that stands alone and isn't changed by the other variables you are trying to measure. For example, someone's age might be an independent variable.

Control group

Control Group. In a quantitative scientific experiment, subjects are divided into two groups. The variable being tested is applied to one group, but not the other; the second group, which does not receive the treatment, is the control group.

dependent variable

Dependent variable the factor being measured by the investigator.

illusory correlation

Illusory correlation is the phenomenon of perceiving a relationship between variables (typically people, events, or behaviors) even when no such relationship exists.

correlational measures

Intuition: Correlation Measures seek to quantify statistically how closely related variables are.

informed consent

Informed consent is a process for getting permission before conducting a healthcare intervention on a person. A health care provider may ask a patient to consent to receive therapy before providing it, or a clinical researcher may ask a research participant before enrolling that person into a clinical trial.

naturalistic observation

Naturalistic observation refers to the collection of data without manipulation of the environment. The goal of naturalistic observation in psychology is to study the behavior of an organism (including a human) in natural settings.

anecdotal evidence

The expression anecdotal evidence refers to evidence from anecdotes. In cases where small numbers of anecdotes are presented, there is a larger chance that they may be unreliable due to cherry-picked or otherwise non-representative samples of typical cases.

"statistically significant"

The likelihood that a result or relationship is caused by something other than mere random chance. Statistical hypothesis testing is traditionally employed to determine if a result is statistically significant or not.

replication

To repeat the original observations

the placebo effect

a beneficial effect, produced by a placebo drug or treatment, that cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must therefore be due to the patient's belief in that treatment.

correlational method

a measure of the extent where to variables are related

double blind experimental procedure

double-blind procedure research strategy in which neither subjects nor experimenters know which subjects are in the experimental or control groups, used to help eliminate experimenter bias

positive vs negative correlation

positive: Positive Correlation A correlation where as one variable increases the other also increases, or as one decreases so does the other. Both variables move in the same direction. negative: Negative Correlation the relationship between two variables in which one variable increase as the other variable decreases