Psych/Soc MCAT
Steps to a good experimental design
1. Select the population (if applies to one set of a population, doesn't mean it applies to all) 2. Operationalize the independent and dependent variables (independent variable is the one the researchers control, dependent is the one that they measure) (specify what they mean) 3. Carefully select control and experimental groups (A CONTROL MUST BE PRESENT) (as similar as possible) 4. Randomly sample from the population (if not, selection bias) 5. Randomly assign individuals to groups (randomized block technique) 6. Measure the results 7. Test the hypothesis
five functions of families
1. reproduction and monitoring of sexual behavior 2. protection 3. socialization- passing down norms and values of society 4. Affection and companionship 5. social status
Hawthorne effect
A change in a subject's behavior caused simply by the awareness of being studied
Ethical experiments
Consent, debrief, confidential, can't hurt the subject
Correlation does not equal causation
Correlation does not mean cause and effect. A correlation of 1 between two variables does not mean that one necessarily causes the other. A correlation of 0 does not mean that one prevents the other. For example, height and weight in people have a positive correlation. However, the height does not cause the weight or vice versa. It's just that they are most likely to be strongly related. (COULD BE THIRD FACTOR CAUSING IT, OR RESULT COULD BE CAUSING START (B CAUSES A))
founders of sociology
Durkheim, Marx, Weber
Social institutions (examples)
Family, Government and economy, religion, education, health and medicine
major criticism of conflict theory
Focuses too much on competition and does not recognize the role of stability within society
Herbert Spencer
Functionalism can trace its roots to him, postulated that various structures and institutions of a society work together to keep that entire society functioning and regulated, contended that societies were subject to evolutionary pressures and could evolve in response to these pressures just as organisms do
I and me
I- individualistic self, part that acts on other people and things and has its own autonomy and will me- social self, when others are acting and interpreting our behavior and we are the object of their actions and interpretations
how the self is developed for interactionists
Language- most prominent system of symbols in all human interactions and incorporates all modes of communication including body language and interpretation of meaning Play-spontaneity and freedom with minimal social rules and limited stakes Games- much stricter set of rules and offer greater stakes
nuclear family
Mother, father and children living as a unit
How to say A causes B?
Must do an experiment (and follow a good setup for it)
rationalization of society
Our increasing concern with efficiency (achieving the maximum result with the minimum amount of effort)
social facts
The elements that serve some function in society, such as the laws, morals, values, religions, customs, rituals, and rules that make up a society.
predictive validity
The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict, does it tell us about the variable of interest?
Is a control necessary for an experiment?
YES, a control must be used to verify that the results are due to what you are testing Without one, causal relationships cannot be drawn and a study is not experimental
Meta-analysis
a big-picture analysis of many studies to look for trends in the data
Twin Studies
a common method of investigating whether nature or nurture affects behavior, best way to measure heritability looking at twins in same environment, and if differences shows it's genetic if twins in different environments, shows it's environmental because same genes, studies twins reared together and apart
significant difference
a measured difference between two groups that is large enough that it is probably not due to chance
operational definition
a specification of precisely what researchers mean by each variable
Protestant/Puritan work ethic
a widely held religious belief that lauded the morality of hard work for the sake of Godliness, Weber believed it was a critical factor in the success of the capitalist system in replacing the feudalist system that preceded it in Western Eurpose.
power
ability to pick up (detect) an effect if one is actually present in an experiment
stocks of knowledge
allow us to classify objects and actions we observe quickly and routinely structure our own actions in immediate response in a process called typification
self-fulfilling prophecy
an expectation that causes you to act in ways that make that expectation come true.
Archival studies
analyze already collected data from historical records and authentic original documents
mixed methods research
any combination of different research techniques, such as within-subjects and between subjects, or qualitative and quantitative
Observational studies
any study in which individuals are observed and outcomes measured with no attempt to control the outcome CANNOT SHOW CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS
social constructionism
argues that people actively shape their reality through social interactions; therefore, it is something that is constructed, not inherent claim that social attributes such as race gender sexuality class status power and others are constructs of society, also money, wealth age and time argues that the reality people see when they consider things like depression or higher education is actually socially constructed examines the constructs of society from both macro and micro sociological perspectives
Pearson Correlation
assigns a number from -1 to +1 to a pair of variables, if neg, neg relationship, does NOT SHOW CAUSALITY, just a relationship
null hypothesis
assumption that there is no causal relationship between the variables and any effect scientists measure is due to chance, must be disproven to show a causal relationship
utilitarianism
based on two assumptions: 1. that individual humans are rational in their actions 2. in every human interaction, individuals will seek to maximize their own self-interest
Max Weber
best known for refining and critiquing many of Marx's tenets of conflict theory, agreed with Marx that inequalities in a capitalist system would lead to conflict, but Weber did not believer that the collapse of capitalism was inevitable, felt that Marx's focus on economic inequality alone was too narrow and extreme, also felt that Marx did not pay enough attention to the power of values and beliefs to influence, transform, and stabilize societies
Karl Marx
closely identifies with conflict theory, he argued that societies progress through class struggle between those who own and control production and those who labor and provide the manpower for production; he believed that capitalism produced internal tensions which would ultimately lead to self-destruction of capitalist societies to be replaced by socialism (communism); he along with Emile Durkheim and Max Weber are considered the founding fathers of sociology
hegemony
coerced acceptance of the values, expectations, and conditions as determined by the capitalist class, maintains unequal social order
within-subjects design
compare same group at different time points; a research design that uses each participant as his or her own control for example, the behavior of an experimental participant before receiving treatment might be compared to his or her behavior after receiving treatment
between-subjects design
comparisons are made between different groups of participants
social institutions
complexes of roles, norms, and values organized into a relatively stable form that contribute to social order by governing the behavior of people, provide predictability and organization for individuals within a society and mediate social behavior between people, provide harmony and allow for specialization of skills
Feminist theory
concerned with the social experiences of both men and women and the differences between these experiences
latent functions
consequences of a structure that are not officially sought or sanctioned can be beneficial, neutral, or harmful for ex. latent functions of a police department can include providing employment to community residents, raising government revenue by issuing traffic tickets, or even promoting social inequality through selective law enforcement
Mead
considered most important in development of symbolic interactionism
cross-sectional study
data collection or survey of a population or sample at a specific time
dramaturgical approach
developed by Erving Goffman, views people as theatrical performers and everyday life as a stage, people in society choose what kind of image they want to communicate to those they interact with
non-experimental design
do NOT establish a causal relationship, more naturalistic, but lowers internal validity because of reduced control in variables
Biographical studies
exhaustive accounts of an individual's life experience
Reproducibility
experiments must be designed and recorded such that they can be exactly reproduced by other researchers
class consciousness
exploited workers' awareness of the reasons for their oppression
Correlational studies
explore relationship between two quantitative variables
external validity
extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings
type 2 error
false negative, worse than type 1
type 1 error
false positive, worse than type 2
Durkheim
founder of sociology, extended Spencer's analogy to explain how societies form, grow, persist, and function a society's capacity to maintain social order and stability is paramount to its functional success believed that society should always be viewed holistically, as a collective of social facts rather than the individuals
macro-level theories
functionalism and conflict theory
extended family
grandparents, aunts, uncles and others are included
society
group of people who share a culture and live/interact with each other within a definable area
dynamic equilibrium
healthy societies can successfully achieve and maintain this dynamic equilibrium, unhealthy ones cannot
collective conscience
how people of a shared culture come to think in the same manner due to their shared beliefs, ideas, and moral attitudes, all which operate to unify society
internal validity
if experiment not done well, can leave doubts about the conclusions because of some inherent flaw in the design high if confounding variables have been considered and minimized, and causal relationship can be established
sampling bias
if it is not equally likely for all members of a population to be sampled (like only choosing undergrads for a study)
variable-ratio schedule
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses. Variable means 2, then 4, then 3 HAS SLOWEST RATE OF EXTINCTION
variable-interval schedule
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
fixed-ratio schedule
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses. Fixed means every x responses.
fixed-interval schedule
in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed
rational choice theory/social exchange theory
individuals seek to maximize the benefits they gain and minimize the disadvantages they sustain in all of their social interactions share the fundamental premise that human behaviors are utilitarian can be macro and micro sociological theories criticized for assuming the inherent rationality of human actions and minimizing the role of culture and subjective meaning in individual and group behavior, advocates claim that rational choice theory provides an integrated theoretical analysis of human behavior that can unify many branches of social science
Reliability
instruments produce stable and consistent results, measure what they're supposed to, and that repeated measurements lead to similar results
Phenomenological Studies
interested in describing phenomena, using the introspective method to explore research questions researchers recording what individuals report about their own personal experience data is subjective, affecting validity, usually small sample sizes so difficult to generalize data
Case studies
involve in-depth exploration of one individual or case difficult to determine how the different variables involved in a phenomenon interact, no control of variables
Longitudinal Studies
involves intervallic measurements of a dependent variable over long time frames, long, expensive, high attrition rates
placebo effect
just believing that treatment is being administered can lead to a measurable result
P value of rejecting null hypothesis
less than 0.05
Conflict theory
macro level theory, focuses primarily on large-scale societal structures and their effect on individuals, however, conflict theory views society as a never-ending competition for limited resources and it is diametrically opposed to the functionalist perspective all past and current societies have had equally distributed resources, therefore individual members of these societies must compete for social, political, and material resources such as money, land, power, and leisure macro-level theory social structures and institutions will reflect this competition in their degree of inherent inequality. Those with the most resources, power, and influence will use their relative advantages to amass more resources, power, and influence by suppressing the advancement of others
selection bias
more general category of systemic flaws in a design that can compromise results, includes sampling bias and other selection errors
polygamy
multiple wives or husbands simultaneously
double blind
neither the person administering treatment nor the participants know if they are assigned to the treatment or control groups, helps counter the placebo effect in participant and researcher
no correlation
no LINEAR relationship between the two variables, although a nonlinear relationship is still plausible
p value
number from 0 to 1 that represents the probability that a difference observed in an experiment is due to chance
sample size
number of participants, necessary to have a large enough one to make sure the experiment picks up an effect, usually 30 or more
manifest functions
official, intended, and anticipated consequences of a structure at least arguably beneficial for ex, manifest functions of a police department include enforcing laws against violent crime and property crime
disclosure
outline given to participants before the experiment begins that clarifies incentives and expectations while reminding them of their right to terminate the experiment at any time
functionalism/ structural functionalism
paradigm that conceptualizes society as a living organism with many different interrelated and interdependent parts, each of which has a distinct and necessary purpose macro-level theory recognizes that not all effects of social structures are beneficial fell out of prevailing theory because its focus on structures of healthy society working together to maintain societal order cant account for all the problems today
debriefing
participants are told after the experiment exactly what was done and why the experiment was conducted
attrition
participants dropping out of the study before it is completed, produces a potentially confounding variable
intersectionality
posits that various human aspects subject to societal oppression do not exist isolated and separated from each other, but instead have complex, influential, and interwoven relationships seeks to highlight the ways different identities intersect within individuals and social groups to product unique social positions
survey
problem: person may not answer honestly
social dysfunction
process that has undesirable consequences and may actually reduce the stability of society (dysfunctional police department could routinely commit police brutality) however, functionalist theory predicts that in a healthy society, other social structures such as a free press and a responsive government will, over time, work together to mitigate such dysfunctions
experimental hypothesis
proposition that variations in the independent variable causes changes in the dependent variables
randomized block technique
researchers evaluate where participants fall along the variables they wish to equalize across experimental and control groups, then randomly assign individuals from these groups so that the treatment and control groups are similar along the variables of interest, allowing for random sorting into groups
typification
routinely structure our own actions in immediate response to stuff we observe quickly
Sociology
study of how individuals interact with society
Psychometrics
study of how to measure psychological variables through testing
demand characteristics
tendency of participants to consciously or subconsciously act in ways that match how they are expected to behave (interpret what the experiment is about and subconsciously respond in ways that are consistent with the hypothesis), can threaten internal validity
impression management
the attempt by people to get others to see them as they want to be seen conscious or unconscious process whereby people attempt to manage their images by influencing the perceptions of others, construct images of themselves and want others to see them that way
construct validity
the extent to which variables measure what they are supposed to measure
homogenous
the same throughout (in context to a control group)
response bias
the tendency for respondents to not have perfect insight into their state and provide inaccurate responses
Thomas theorem
the theory that interpretation of a situation affects the response to that situation
monogamy
two individuals married only to each other
Ethnographic studies
using observation and interviews, ethnographies study people in their natural environments and provide descriptive information about the cultures, behaviors, norms, and values in a given geographical location
Extraneous/Confounding Variables
variables other than the treatment that could explain an experimental result (control for them by making sure the control and experimental groups are similar in these variables)
symbolic interactionism
views society as built up from typical everyday interactions. Rather than considering individuals as entities who are acted upon by the large-scale structures of their society, symbolic interactionism emphasizes the ways by which individuals actively shape their world through their understanding and subsequent behavioral responses to the meanings they attribute to the societal symbols through which individuals define their reality examines the relationships between individuals and society by focusing on the exchange on info through language and symbols in one-on-one and small-group communication. Individuals make sense of the world around them by ascribing meaning to the symbols and language of their shared culture, and these meanings depend on both individual interpretations and social context analyzes society by addressing the subjective meanings that people impose upon objects, events, and behaviors. Subjective is important because people behave based on what they believe to be true, not whether their beliefs are actually true. Society is constructed through human interpretation, people must continually interpret their own behaviors as well as those of others around them, and these interpretations form a social bond. Holds principal of meaning to be the central aspect of human behavior: 1. humans ascribe meaning to things and act toward those things based on their ascribed meaning; 2. language allows humans to generate meaning through social interaction with each other and society; 3. humans modify meanings through an interpretive thought process that observes and considers the reactions of others as well as the social context of these interactions. critics contend that the theory neglects the macro-level of social interpretation and may miss the larger issues of society by focusing too closely on individual interactions