psych

the belief that acurate knowledge can be acquired through observation

a set of principles about the appropriate relationship between ideas and evidence

a hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon

a flasifiable prediction made by a theory

your observations can only remain consistent to improve confidence but there is still an opportunity for someone to prove it wrong

• complexity- nothing is as complex as the brain.
• variability- no individual is ever the same.
• reactivity- people act different when being studied

we must define the property we wish to measure and then find a way to detect it

a set of rules and techniques for observation

a description of a property in concrete, measurable terms

a device that can decrt the condition to which an operational dfinition refers

a device tht measures muscle contractions underthe surface of a persons skin

the extenct to which a measurement and property and conceptually related.

the tendency for a measure to produce teh same measurement whenever it is used to measure the same thing.

the ability of a measure to detect the concrete conditions specified in the operational definition

those aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think they should

a technique for gathering scientific information by unobtrusively observing people in their natural environments.

• validity
• reliabilty
• power

observe people without there knowledge

an observatino whose true purpose is hidden from both the observer and the person being observed

a graphical representation of measurements arranged by the number of tmes each measurement was made

a mathematically definded frequency distribution in which most measurments are concentrated around the middle

teh value of the most frequently observed measurement

the average value of all the measurements

the value that is in the middle

• central tendancy
• variablility

• range
• standard deviation

the value of the largest measurement in a frequency distribution minus the value of the smallest measurement

a statistic that describes the average difference between teh measurements in a frequecy distribution and the mean of that distribution

a property whose value can vary across individuals or over time

two variable are said to be correlated whn variations in teh value of one variable are synchronized with variations in the vaalue of the other

a measure of the direction and strength of a correlation which is signified by the letter r

the value can range from -1 to 1

a correlation observed in the world around us.

the act that two variables are correlated only because each is causally related to a third variable.

a technique whereby the participants in two groups are identical in terms of a third variable

a technique whereby each particpant is identical to one other participant in terms of a third variable

a technique for establishing the causal relationship between variables

the creation of an artificial pattern of variation in order to determine its causal powers

the variable that is manipulated in an experiment

the group of peope who are treated in a particular way, as compared to the control group, in an experiment

the group of people who are not treated in teh particular way that the experimental group is treated in an experiment.

the variable that is measured in a study

a problem that occurs when anything about a person determines whether he or she will be included in teh experimental or control group

• first we perform a manipulation. independent variable, experimental group, control group
• we measure the dependent variable
• we check to see if the manipulation produced changes

a procedure that uses random event to asign people to the experimental or control group.

the characteristic of an experiment that esablishes the causal relationship between variables

a property of an experiment in which the variables have been operationally defined in a normal typical way.

the complete collection of participants who might possibly be measured

the partial collecion of people drawn from a population

a method of gathering scientific knowledge by studying a single individual

a technique for choosing participants that ensures that every member of a population has an equal chance of being included in the sample

a written agreement to participate in a study made by an adult who has been informed of all the risks that participation may entail

• informed consent
• freedom from coercion
• protection from harm
• risk benefit analysis
• deception
• debriefing
• confidentiality

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

• must be supervised by trained psychologist
• must make efforts to minimize discomfort of animal
• may use pain and stress only when other procedure is unavialable
• animals must be in proper anesthesia to minimize animals pain