Exp Psych Midterm Reviewer PDF

CHAPTER 1 EXP PSYCH Observation The systematic noting and recording of events; a principal tool of the scientific method. Antecedent conditions All circumstances that occur or exist before the event or behavior to be...

CHAPTER 1 EXP PSYCH Observation The systematic noting and recording of events; a principal tool of the scientific method. Antecedent conditions All circumstances that occur or exist before the event or behavior to be Parsimony An aspect of good thinking, stating that explained; also called antecedents. the simplest explanation is preferred until ruled out by conflicting evidence; also known as Occam’s Research that is designed to solve real-world razor. problems. Pseudoscience A field of study that gives the Basic research Research designed to test theories appearance of being scientific but has no true or to explain psychological phenomena. scientific basis and has not been confirmed using Cause-and-effect relationship the relation between the tools of the scientific method: observation, a particular behavior and a set of antecedents that measurement, and experimentation. always precedes it—whereas other antecedents do Psychology experiment A controlled procedure in not—so that the set is inferred to cause the which at least two different treatments conditions behavior. are applied to subjects whose behaviors are then Commonsense psychology Every day, nonscientific measured and compared to test a hypothesis about collection of psychological data used to understand the effects of the treatments on behavior. the social world and guide our behavior. Replication The process of repeating research Data Facts and figures gathered from observations procedures to verify that the outcome will be the in research. (Data is the plural form of the Latin same as before, a principal tool of the scientific word datum, so to be correct we say that data are method. gathered rather than that data is gathered.) Science The systematic gathering of data to provide Empirical data Data that are observable or descriptions of events taking place under specific experienced; capable of being verified or disproved conditions, enabling researchers to explain, predict, through investigation. and control events. Experimentation The process undertaken to Scientific method Steps scientists take to gather demonstrate that particular behavioral events will and verify information, answer questions, explain occur reliably in certain specifiable conditions; a relationships, and communicate findings. principal tool of the scientific method. Subject The scientific term for an individual who Good thinking Organized and rational thought, participates in research. characterized by open-mindedness, objectivity, and Testable Capable of being tested; typically used in parsimony; a principal tool of the scientific method. reference to a hypothesis. Three requirements Laws General scientific principles that explain our must be met to have a testable hypothesis: universe and predict events. procedures for manipulating the setting must exist, and the predicted outcome must be observable Measurement The systematic estimation of the and measurable. quantity, size, or quality of an observable event; a principal tool of the scientific method. Theory A set of general principles that attempts to explain and predict behavior or other phenomena. Methodology The scientific techniques used to collect and evaluate psychological data. Treatment A specific set of antecedent conditions created by the experimenter and presented to subjects to test its effect on behavior  EXP PSYCH CHAPTER 2 Animal rights The concept that all sensate species that feel pain are of equal value and have rights. Animal welfare The humane care and treatment of animals. At risk The likelihood of a subject being harmed in some way because of the nature of the research. Debriefing The principle of full disclosure at the end of an experiment; that is, explaining to the subject the nature and purpose of the study. Fraud The unethical practice of falsifying or fabricating data; plagiarism is also a form of fraud. Informed consent A subject’s voluntary agreement to participate in a research project after the nature and purpose of the study have been explained. Institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) An institutional committee that re views proposed research to safeguard the welfare of animal subjects. Institutional review board (IRB) An institutional committee that reviews proposed research to safeguard the safety and rights of human participants. Minimal risk The subject’s odds of being harmed are not increased by the research. Plagiarism The representation of someone else’s ideas, words, or written work as one’s own; a serious breach of ethics that can result in legal action. Risk/benefit analysis A determination, made by an IRB, that any risks to the individual are outweighed by potential benefits or the importance of the knowledge to be gained.  EXP PSYCH CHAPT 5 Nonequivalent groups design A design in which the researcher compares the effects of different treatment Causal modeling Creating and testing models that may conditions on preexisting groups of participants. suggest cause-and-effect relationships among behaviors. Partial correlation An analysis that allows the statistical influence of one measured variable to be held constant Coefficient of determination (r2) In a correlational study, while computing the correlation between the other two an estimate of the amount of variability in scores on one measured variables. variable that can be explained by the other variable. Path analysis An important correlation-based method in Correlation The degree of relationship between two which subjects are measured on several related traits, behaviors, or events, represented by r. behaviors; the researcher creates (and tests) models of Correlational study A study designed to deter mine the possible causal sequences using sophisticated correlation between two traits, behaviors, or events. correlational techniques. Cross-lagged panel design A method in which the same Positive correlation The relationship between two set of behaviors or characteristics are measured at two measures such that an increase in the value of one is separate points in time (often years apart); six different associated with an increase in the value of the other; correlations are computed, and the pattern of also called a direct relationship. correlations is used to infer the causal direction. Pretest/posttest design A research design used to assess Cross-sectional study A method in which different whether the occurrence of an event alters behavior; groups of subjects who are at different stages are scores from measurements made before and after the measured at a single point in time; a method that looks event (called the pretest and posttest) are compared. for time-related changes. Quasi-experimental designs Often seem like (as the Ex post facto study A study in which a researcher prefix quasi- implies) real experiments, but they lack systematically examines the effects of pre-existing one or more of its essential elements, such as subject characteristics (often called subject variables) by manipulation of antecedents and random assignment to forming groups based on these naturally occurring treatment conditions. differences between subjects. Regression line The line of best fit; represents the Linear regression analysis A correlation-based method equation that best describes the mathematical for estimating a score on one measured behavior from a relationship between two variables measured in a score on the other when two behaviors are strongly correlational study. related. Scatterplot A graph of data from a correlational study, Longitudinal design A method in which the same group created by plotting pairs of scores from each subject; of subjects is followed and measured at different points the value of one variable is plotted on the X (horizontal) in time; a method that looks for changes across time. axis and the other variable on the Y (vertical) axis. Multiple correlation Statistical intercorrelations among Simple correlations Relationships between pairs of three or more behaviors, represented by R. scores from each subject. Multiple regression analysis A correlation-based Subject variable The characteristics of the sub jects in an technique (from multiple correlation) that uses a experiment or quasi-experiment that cannot be regression equation to predict the score on one manipulated by the researcher; sometimes used to behavior from scores on the other related behaviors. select subjects into groups. Negative correlation The relationship existing between two variables such that an increase in one is associated with a decrease in the other; also called an inverse relationship.  EXP PSYCH CHAPT 6 Serendipity The knack of finding things that are not being sought. Analytic statement A statement that is always true. Synthetic statement A statement that can be either true Contradictory statement A statement that is always or false, a condition necessary to form an experimental false. hypothesis. Deductive model The process of reasoning from general Testable statement A statement that can be tested principles to specific instances; most useful for testing because the means exist for manipulating antecedent the principles of a theory. conditions and for measuring the resulting behavior. Discussion Concluding section of the research report, used to integrate the experimental findings into the existing body of knowledge, showing how the current research advances knowledge, increases generalizability of known effects, or contradicts past findings. EXP PSYCH CHAPT 7 Experimental hypothesis A statement that is a tentative explanation of an event or behavior; it predicts the Concurrent validity The degree to which scores on the effects of specified antecedent conditions on a measuring instrument correlate with another known measured behavior. standard for measuring the variable being studied. Falsifiable statement A statement that is worded so that Confounding An error that occurs when the value of an it is falsifiable, or disprovable, by experimental results. extraneous variable changes systematically along with Fruitful statement A statement that leads to new the independent variable in an experiment; an studies. alternative explanation for the findings that threatens internal validity. Hypothesis The thesis, or main idea, of an experiment or study consisting of a statement that predicts the Construct validity The degree to which an operational relationship between at least two variables. definition accurately represents the con struct it is intended to manipulate or measure. Inductive model The process of reasoning from specific cases to more general principles to form a hypothesis. Content validity The degree to which the content of a measure reflects the content of what is being measured. Introduction Beginning section of a research report that Dependent variable (DV) The specific behavior that a guides the reader toward your research hypothesis; researcher tries to explain in an experiment; the includes a selective review of relevant, recent research. variable that is measured. Intuition The development of ideas from hunches; Experimental operational definition The explanation of knowing directly without reasoning from objective data. the meaning of independent variables; defines exactly Meta-analysis A statistical reviewing procedure that what was done to create the various treatment uses data from many similar studies to summarize and conditions of the experiment. quantify research findings about individual topics. Extraneous variable A variable other than an Nonexperimental hypothesis A statement of predictions independent or dependent variable; a variable that is of how events, traits, or behaviors might be related, but not the focus of an experiment but can produce effects not a statement about cause and effect. on the dependent variable if not controlled. Parsimonious statement A statement that is simple and Face validity The degree to which a manipulation or does not require many supporting assumptions. measurement technique is self-evident. Psychological journal A periodical that publishes History threat A threat to internal validity in which an individual research reports and integrative research outside event or occurrence might have produced reviews, which are up-to-date summaries of what is effects on the dependent variable. known about a specific topic. Hypothetical construct Concepts used to explain unseen Reliability The consistency and dependability of processes, such as hunger, intelligence, or learning; experimental procedures and measurements. postulated to explain observable behavior. Selection interactions A family of threats to internal Independent variable (IV) The variable (antecedent validity produced when a selection threat combines condition) that the experimenter intentionally with one or more of the other threats to internal manipulates. validity; when a selection threat is already present, other threats can affect some experimental groups but Instrumentation threat A threat to internal validity not others. produced by changes in the measuring instrument itself. Selection threat A threat to internal validity that can Interitem reliability The degree to which different items occur when nonrandom procedures are used to assign measuring the same variable attain consistent results. subjects to conditions or when random assignment fails Internal validity The certainty that the changes in to balance out differences among subjects across the behavior observed across treatment conditions in the different conditions of the experiment. experiment were actually caused by the independent Statistical regression threat A threat to internal validity variable. that can occur when subjects are assigned to conditions Interrater reliability The degree of agreement among on the basis of extreme scores on a test; upon retest, different observers or raters. the scores of extreme scorers tend to regress toward the mean even without any treatment. Level of measurement The type of scale of measurement—either ratio, interval, ordinal, or Subject mortality threat A threat to internal validity nominal—used to measure a variable. produced by differences in dropout rates across the conditions of the experiment Testing threat A threat to Levels of the independent variable The two or more internal validity produced by a previous administration values of the independent variable manipulated by the of the same test or other measure. experimenter. Test-retest reliability Consistency between an Manipulation check An assessment to deter mine individual’s scores on the same test taken at two or whether the independent variable was manipulated more different times. successfully. Validity The soundness of an operational definition; in Maturation threat A threat to internal validity produced experiments, the principle of actually studying the by internal (physical or psychological) changes in variables intended to be manipulated or measured. subjects. Measured operational definition The description of exactly how a variable in an experiment is measured. Method The section of a research report in which the subjects and experiment are described in enough detail that the experiment may be replicated by others; it is typically divided into subsections, such as Participants, Apparatus or Materials, and Procedures. Operational definition The specification of the precise meaning of a variable within an experiment; defines a variable in terms of observable operations, procedures, and measurements. Predictive validity The degree to which a measuring instrument yields information allowing prediction of actual behavior or performance.