PSY215 Exam 1

data falsification

occurs when researchers influence the study's results, perhaps by selectively deleting observations from a data set or by influencing their research subjects to act in the hypothesized way

Place the steps of a study in the order that they should occur for the study to be ethical.

IRB approval of study > participant gives informed consent > experiment occurs > participant is debriefed

internal validity

In a relationship between one variable (A) and another (B), the extent to which A, rather than some other variable (C), is responsible for changes in B.

temporal precedence

The study's method ensures that A comes first in time, before B.

internal validity

The study's method ensures that there are no plausible alternative explanations for the change in B; A is the only thing that changed.

contact comfort theory

Theory of attachment that states that babies are attached to their mothers because of the comfort of their cozy touch

operational variable

A variable defined or described in terms of the procedures used to observe and measure it.

Theory

A hypothesis that has been tested with a significant amount of data

Covariance

A measure of linear association between two variables. Positive values indicate a positive relationship; negative values indicate a negative relationship. The study's results show that as A changes, B changes; e.g., high levels of A go with high levels of B, and low levels of A go with low levels of B.

deception

A trick; an attempt to make someone believe something that is not true. Sometimes people are not told about the whole study if they need a certain response. For example, they may be told they are checking to see how well they do something and they scene a theft and they want to see how the person reacts. They cant tell the person, because then their reaction may not be accurate. BUT they must tell them at some point about what they tested them on.

Hypothesis

An educated guess

informed consent

An ethical principle requiring that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate.

probabilistic

Behavioral research is probabilistic ,which means that its findings are not expected to explain all the cases all the time (i.e., there are exceptions).

Patrick thinks his favorite baseball team is the best in the league. He checks an online sports website and sees an article by a sports journalist claiming that his team's rival is the best team. Patrick ignores that article and instead reads a different article celebrating the achievements of his favorite team. What type of faulty thinking is this an example of?

Confirmatory hypothesis testing

construct validity

How well the variables in a study are measured or manipulated. The extent to which the operational variables in a study are a good approximation of the conceptual variables.

Fidelity and Responsibility (APA)

Establish relationships of trust; accept responsibility for professional behavior (in research, teaching, and clinical practice). Example: we trust someone in a white coat over someone who isnt

present bias

Failing to think about what we cannot see

Heather is looking for a new album to listen to and searches all throughout the music store, comparing several different albums. She finds one album that two of her friends have said they really liked. Heather thinks that because two of her friends liked it, she should like it; however, she does not account for the fact that she has many other friends who have not told her their opinions on the album.What type of faulty thinking is this an example of?

Present/present bias -Heather chooses to value information that is present, but ignores the fact that other information may not be present but may still be important.

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Research study conducted by a branch of the U.S. government, lasting for roughly 50 years (ending in the 1970s), in which a sample of African American men diagnosed with syphilis were deliberately left untreated, without their knowledge, to learn about the lifetime course of the disease.

statistical validity

The extent to which the data support the conclusions. Among many other questions, it is important to ask about the strength of an association and its statistical significance (the probability that the results could have been obtained by chance if there really is no relationship).

external validity

The extent to which the results of a study generalize to some larger population (e.g., whether the results from this sample of children apply to all U.S. schoolchildren), as well as to other times or situations (e.g., whether the results based on this type of music apply to other types of music).

weight of the evidence

The persuasiveness of certain evidence when compared with other evidence that is presented.

Confounds/Confounding Variables

Variables of environment or participants which may influence data/dependent variable

quantative variable

a characteristic that can be measured numerically

self-report measures

a method of gathering data about people by asking them questions about a sample of their behavior in an interview

observational measure

a method of measuring a variable by recording observable behaviors or physical traces of behaviors

ratio scale

a quantitative scale of measurement in which the numerals have equal intervals and the value of zero truly means "nothing" Example: a test on an exam, gas in the fuel tank

interval scale

a scale of measurement in which the intervals between numbers on the scale are all equal in size Example: sea level, the current date

ordinal scale

a scale of measurement in which the measurement categories form a rank order along a continuum Example: "rating your favorite sports team"

empirical journal articles

a scholarly article that reports for the first time the results of a research study

Milgram Study

a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience.

measured variable

a variable in an experiment whose levels (values) are observed and recorded

conceptual variable

a variable of interest. abstract concepts such as "shyness" or "intelligence"

Debriefing

a verbal description of the true nature and purpose of a study

principle of justice

an ethical principle from the Belmont Report calling for a fair balance between the kinds of people who participate in research and the kinds of people who benefit from it

principle of respect for persons

an ethical principle from the Belmont Report stating that research participants should be treated as autonomous agents and that certain groups deserve special protection

principle of beneficence

an ethical principle from the Belmont Report stating that researchers must take precautions to protect participants from harm and to promote their well-being

IRB (Institutional Review Board)

any academic research needs to be proposed to their IRB, review for ethical violations and/or procedural errors

falsifiable

capable of being disproved

Eliza designs an experiment because she believes that watching violent movies makes people more aggressive. She tests aggressiveness after having participants watch 30 minutes of a violent action movie versus a nonviolent action movie. Her dependent variable in the violent condition asks, "Do you feel more violent and aggressive after watching this violent and aggressive movie?"What type of faulty thinking is this an example of?

confirmatory hypothesis testing -Eliza has created a measure that will lead participants to confirm her hypothesis. This can be a serious problem in experimental psychology.

interrater reliability

consistent scores are obtained no matter who measures or observes

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory;Being persuaded by what easily comes to mind

Belmont Report

ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research

face validity

extent to which respondents can tell what the items are measuring

confirmation bias

focusing on the evidence we like best

internal reliability

in a measure that contains several items, the consistency in a pattern of answers, no matter how a question is phrased

cupboard theory

infants become attached to those who provide the "cupboard" containing the food supply

data fabrication

inventing data

discriminant validity

measure of the lack of association among constructs that are supposed to be different

psychological measure

operationalizes a variable by recording biological data such as brain activity, hormone levels, or heart rate

self-report measure

operationalizes a variable by recording people's answers to questions about themselves in a questionnaire or interview.

categorical variable

places an individual into one of several groups or categories

review journal articles

provide a summary of all the published studies that have been done in one research area Components: -Abstract -Introduction -Method -Results -Discussion -References

correlation coefficient

r how close the dot or points are on the scatterplot

Empiricism

referred to as the empirical method or empirical research, involves using evidence from the senses (sight, hearing, touch) or from instruments that assist the senses (such as thermometers, timers, photographs, weight scales, and questionnaires) as the basis for conclusions.

evidence based treatment

refers to techniques or interventions that have produced desired outcomes, or therapeutic change in controlled studies

basic research

research examining how the mind works Example: What parts of the brain are active when experienced mediators are meditating?

translational research

research that uses knowledge derived from basic research to develop and test solutions to real-world problems Example: Has our new meditation program helped students focus longer on their math lessons?

applied research

research undertaken to solve a specific problem Example: In a lab, can meditation lessons improve college students GRE scores?

Bushman (2002)

study on the effect of catharsis on aggression is a systematic comparison that controls for potential confounds

bias blind spot

the belief that we are unlikely to fall prey to cognitive biases

Interrator reliability

the degree to which different observers agree on their observations

criterion validity

the extent to which a measure is related to an outcome

Validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

content validity

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

convergent validity

the measure should correlate more strongly with other measures of the same constructs

manipulated variable

the variable that is deliberately changed

respect for persons

treating persons as autonomous agents and protecting those with diminished autonomy

test-retest reliability

using the same test on two occasions to measure consistency

parismony

when data is simple and understanding If two data sets explain the study well, researchers are more likely to go with the more simpler one