Chapter One Psychological Science 1 What is science What is its purpose And why do we prefer it instead of intuition Pgs 5 6 Science is a systematic way of testing claims about the world Science is process a method not a result Science doesn t hold to a single belief but is willing to revise its belief in the face of evidence Clear scientific evidence proves certain questions we have about the world 2 What are the steps in the scientific method Lecture Ask an empirical question Conduct research Formulate hypothesis in order to make an educated guess you must first educate yourself The hypothesis is the claim you re making Collect data Analyze results make a conclusion 3 What is a scientific theory How can we distinguish a good theory from a bad one Pgs 8 12 Lecture Give two of your own examples of a good theory and two examples of a bad theory and explain your answer A scientific theory is an explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world A good scientific theory explains the existing data is falsifiable you have to be able to prove it wrong and is parsimonious the simplest answer is usually the correct theory 4 What are empirical claims How are they different from metaphysical or other untestable claims Pgs 8 12 Empirical claims are theories that can be tested using experimentation They differ from metaphysical claims in that the metaphysical claims are assertions about the world that we can t test i e the existence of God the soul and the afterlife We could never test these claims using the scientific method 5 What is pseudoscience Give some examples How can you discriminate it from true science Pgs 12 20 Pseudoscience is a set of claims that seems scientific but isn t Pseudoscience has endless wrong claims despite contrary evidence We can identify it by noticing the overuse of ad hoc immunizing hypothesis This refers to the loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification We can also identify pseudoscience by exaggerated claims over reliance on anecdotes absence of connectivity to other research lack of review by other scholars and talk of proof instead of evidence Pgs 12 20 6 Why should we be wary of pseudoscience Is it actually harmful One should be wary of pseudoscience to refrain from taking note of false information Our brains are quick to jump to any given information and process it This is harmful because one individual could obtain information that is useless and incorrect 7 Summarize the following research designs Pgs 48 66 Naturalistic observation field study of observing what s going on in a natural environment High in external validity our findings generalize to the real world it doesn t allow us to infer causation Case Study studying a smaller number of individuals extensively It is the study of an individual Correlational Design the relationship between two variables for ex height and weight These are used to test association claims expressed from 1 0 to 1 0 Stronger correlations are closer to 1 Same direction positive different direction negative Quasi experimental design group design without random assignment Experimental design test causal claims 8 What conclusions if any can be drawn from case studies and naturalistic observations How are they useful Pg 49 The major advantage of naturalistic designs is that they re often high in external validity the extent that our findings generalize to real world settings Case studies can be helpful in providing existence proofs demonstrations that a given psychological phenomenon can occur An ex the existence of recovered memories of child abuse What types of claims can be made with each of the above designs Pgs 48 66 Naturalistic observation is a research method commonly used by psychologists and other social scientists This technique involves observing subjects in their natural environment This type of research is often utilized in situations where conducting lab research is unrealistic cost prohibitive or would unduly affect the subject s behavior It allows researchers to study things that cannot be manipulated in a lab due to ethical concerns For example while it would be unethical to study the effects of imprisonment by actually confining subjects researchers can gather information by using naturalistic observation in real prison settings It can help support the external validity of research It is one thing to say that the findings of a lab study will generalize to a larger 9 population but quite another to actually observe those findings occurring in a natural setting 10 Why can causation NOT be inferred from correlational designs Pgs 55 59 Correlation does not imply causation Because it does not eliminate third variables Experimentation is the only way we can make causal claims 11 How is the strength and direction of correlations expressed What is a positive correlation What is a negative correlation Pg 56 Positive correlations both increase and decrease simultaneously Negative correlations means that as one variable increases the other decreases Positively correlated variables umbrella use increases as rain increases 12 Why do experimental designs allow us to make causal claims The failsafe way to generate causal evidence is to use randomized experiments Unfortunately randomization is often infeasible in social science settings and depending on the phenomenon under investigation results might not generalize from the laboratory to the real world 13 What is the relationship between a Population and a Sample Pgs 60 66 Pgs 50 51 You want to be certain that your sample reflect the population that you are trying to make a claim about 14 Why is random sampling so important What about random assignment Pgs 60 61 Random sampling is critical for making sure your sample represents your population 15 Know the basics of the bell distribution and why it is an important concept to understand for psychology Pg 71 A bell curve has one mode which coincides with the mean and median This is the center of the curve where it is at its highest A bell curve is symmetric If it were folded along a vertical line at the mean both halves would match perfectly because they are mirror images of each other A bell curve follows the 68 95 99 7 rule which provides a convenient way to carry out estimated calculations Approximately 68 of all of the data lies within one standard deviation of the mean Approximately 95 of all the data is within two standard deviations of the mean Approximately 99 7 of
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