TEST ONE Psyc100 CHAPTER TWO Introduction Scientific Research Use experiences to test our ideas beliefs Empiricism the premise that knowledge should be acquired through observation Creationism god made the world wrote the book so ask the author final arbiter word of god Rene Descartes How do we know what is true false Experiences aren t always accurate Could be an evil demon feeding people info demon cannot fool me that s being fooled I think therefore I am Rationalism claimed that there was a problem with empiricism Experience can be easily distorted or inaccurate Great Man Approach Freudianism Instead of testing ideas just look to sigmund freud Experimental Design Experiment when the investigator manipulates a variable under carefully controlled conditions and observes whether any changes occur in a second variable as a result Hypothesis Tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables Variables any measurable conditions events characteristics or behaviors that are con trolled or observed in a study sure a control variable Theory system of interrelated ideas used to explain a set of observations Operational definition describes the actions or operations that will be used to mea Subjects the persons or animals whose behavior is systematically observed in a study Experimental group consists of the subjects who will receive some special treat ment in regard to the independent variable Control group consists of similar subjects who do not receive the special treatment given to the experimental group see its impact on other variables the inependent variable Independent variable a condition or event that an experimenter varies in order to Dependent variable is the variable that is thought to be affected by manipulation of Extraneous variables any variable other than the independent variable that is likely to have an impact on the dependent variable Confounding variable occurs when two variables are linked together in a way that makes it difficult to sort out their specific differences Predictions ALWAYS made in regards to the dependent variable Correlational research not looking for a cause and affect relationship instead looking for how one variable relates to another Problems Cant bring about justified conclusions No matter how strong correlation is evidence cannot be seen as a causal conclusion Just because we find a correlation this does not account for other variables that could be affecting results Ex Foot size and vocabulary Third variable would be age Older people have bigger feet and larger vocab Randomization occurs when all subjects have an equal chance of being assigned to a group or condition within a study Replication repetition of an early experiment to see whether the results happen again Stanley Schachter Experiment ers When people feel anxious do they like to be left alone or do they prefer to be with oth Hypothesis increase in anxiety would cause increase in desire to be with others Independent Variable the subjects anxiety levels Manipulated by separated subjects into high and low anxiety groups High anxiety group experimental group was told they would be given a powerful and painful shock when they get a wrong answer Low anxiety group was told they would be given a weak and harmless shock The groups could decide whether or not they wanted to wait in a room with people or alone Dependent Variable the participants desire to affiliate with others Prediction the higher anxiety group will be more likely to wait with other people Result found that the high anxiety people were most likely to choose to be with other people CHAPTER FOUR Sensation the stimulation of sense organs Perception selection organization and interpretation of sensory input Psychophysics the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experiences Threshold a dividing point between energy levels that do and do not have a detectable difference Absolute Threshold the minimum stimulus intensity that an organism can detect They define the boundaries of an organisms sensory capabilities Researchers discovered that absolute threshold isnt actually absolute Really there is no single stimulus intensity at which a subject jumps from no detection to completely accurate detection Stimulus intensity gradually increases therefore absolute threshold is really the stimulus that is detected 50 of the time Just Noticeable Differences the smallest difference in stimulus intensity that a specific sense can detect Webers Law the size of a JND is a constant proportion of the size of the initial stimulus Weber fraction for lifting weights is about 1 30 meaning if you were lifting 90 lbs you would notice a difference when it raised to 93 lbs However with weights once you reach your limit the law becomes irrelevant and you would notice a differnce less then 1 30 of the original stimulus max out Psychophysical Scaling humans perceive the world in such a way that we are not perfectly cali brated to our environment perceived change real change Perfect World perceived change and real change would be the same straight line relation Real World they are positively related but at a negative acceleration As real change in creases more and more we are able to perceive less and less of that change This tells us that our experiences are not a 100 actual representation of what is going on ship in the world VISION Lens transparent eye structure that focuses the light rays falling on the retina Nearsightedness close objects are seen clearly but distant ones are blurry Farsightedness distant objects are clear but distant ones are blurry Pupil opening in the center of the Iris that permits light to pass into the rear chamber of the eye Iris colored part of the eye Retina neural tissue lining the inside back surface of the eye that absorbs light processes im ages and sends visual information to the brain Cornea transparent part of the eye that covers the iris pupil and anterior chamber Receptive Field the retinal area of a visual cell that when stimulated affects the firing of the cell Ex Center surround system Optic Disk a hole in the retina where the optic nerve fibers exit the eye B c the optic disk is a hole in the retina you can t see part of an image that falls on it Most of the time we re unaware of the blind spot b c the other eye will normally com pensate for the blind spot However when driving this can be a problem Receptor cells sensitive to light only 10 of the light that reaches
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