Psychology 1100 Midterm 1 Chapter Outline Each topic is the focus of each section from the book The guide follows a numerical order in which the chapters were taught This guide utilizes concepts and concept questions from Psychology 1100 Custom Edition for The Ohio State University Psychology by Shacter Gilbert and Wegner as well as The Ohio State University It also involves information learned from Professor Thomas s lectures Any of their work shown here is copyrighted and belongs to them respectively I do not own any of this information All images were acquired from Google images and their respective sources and they are also copyrighted and belong to them I do not own any of these images Again the book is Psychology 1100 Custom Edition The Ohio State University Second edition All information is from this book I own none of it and give full credit to its authors All definitions are from the book as well as most examples and almost all information given Page 38 51 Reading Notes 1 11 14 Psychology 1100 Chapter 2 Methods in Psychology Louise Hay Author of You Can Heal Your Life self help book Empiricism How to Know Stuff Ancient Greek choice of doctors Dogmatists Best way to understand illness was to develop theories about the body s functions The tendency for people to cling to assumptions Empiricists Best way to understand illness was to observe sick people Empiricism The belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation The Scientific Method Scientific Method A set of principles about the appropriate relationship between ideals and evidence Theory A hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon Rule of parsimony Start with the simplest theory Hypothesis A falsifiable prediction made by a theory The Art of Looking Empirical Method A set of rules and techniques for observation What makes humans so difficult to study Complexity Variability o Human brain is very complex as is every individual o No two individuals ever do say think or feel exactly the same thing under exactly the same circumstances o If you have seen one you ve most definitely not seen them all o People think feel and act one way when observed and a different way when Reactivity they are not All of this reasons that make humans difficult to study resulted in two kinds of methods Methods of observation Methods of explanation o Allow them to determine what people do o Allow them to determine why people do what they do Observation Discovering What People Do Observe To use one s senses to learn about the properties of an even or an object Measurement Measurement requires two things Define the property we wish to measure Find a way to detect that property Defining and Detecting Every unit of time has operational definition Operational Definition A description of a property in concrete measureable term Measure A device that can detect the condition to which an operational definition refers Electromyography EMG A device that measures muscle contractions under the surface of a person s skin Validity Reliability and Power Good measure contain three properties o Validity The extent to which a measurement and a property are Validity conceptually related Reliability o Reliability The tendency for a measure to produce the same measurement whenever it is used to measure the same thing o Power The ability of a measure to detect the concrete conditions specified in the operation definition Power Demand Characteristics Demand Characteristics The aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think they should Naturalistic Observation A technique for gathering information by unobtrusively observing people from the natural environments Cons to naturalistic observation o Some things psychologists simply just do NOT occur naturally o Some observations can only be gathered through direct interaction Some observations can be direct interactions and still avoid demand characteristics o Pupils dilate when sexually aroused Making the subjects blind to the purpose of an observation they can t behave the way they think they should because they DO NOT KNOW how they should behave Cover stories Misleading explanation that are meant to keep people from discerning the true purpose of an observation Filler Items Pointless measures that are designed to mislead you about the true purpose of the observation Observer Bias Why does this happen Expectations can influence observations Expectations can influence reality Best case scenario is a double blind Double Blind Observation An observation whose true purpose is hidden from both the observer and the person being observed Descriptions Graphic Representations Frequency Distribution A graphic representation of measurements arranged by the number of times each measurement was made Number of times frequency was made goes on the vertical axis Normal Distribution A mathematically defined frequency distribution in which most measurements are concentrated around the middle Known as bell curve Descriptive Statistics Central Tendency Statements about the value of the measurements that tend to lie near the center of the frequency distribution Three most common descriptions of the central tendency Mode The value of the most frequently observed measurement Mean The average value of all the measurements Median The value in the middle For positive negative and regular skew examples see http www mathsisfun com data skewness html Range The value of the largest measurement in the frequency distribution minus the value of the smallest measurement Standard Deviation A statistic that describes the average difference between the measurements in a frequency distribution and the mean of that distribution Page 52 73 Reading Notes 2 6 14 Psychology 1100 Chapter 2 Methods in Psychology Explanation Discovering why people do what they do Goal is to determine a causal relationship between properties in science Happy people live longer than unhappy people but want to know if happiness is the reason that they live longer and not just coincidence Correlation Insulting people causes them not to give you the time of the day Determine relationships o Insulting and refusing Patterns of Variation Variable Properties whose values can vary across individuals over time Series of measurements Correlation When variations in the value of one variable are synchronized with variations in the value of the other o Positive correlation puts correlation between two variables in more more or less less terms