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Psychology: History, Science & Application 1 Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

PSYC1042 (First year stats)

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Key Features of Science

Empirical Evidence
● Refers to data being collected through direct observ­ation or experi­ment.
● Empirical evidence does not rely on argument or belief.
● Instead, experi­ments and observ­ations are carried out carefully and reported in detail so that other invest­igators can repeat and attempt to verify the work.
Object­ivity
• Resear­chers should remain totally value free when studying; they should try to remain totally unbiased in their invest­iga­tions. I.e. Resear­chers are not influenced by personal feelings and experi­ences.
● Object­ivity means that all sources of bias are minimized and that personal or subjective ideas are elimin­ated. The pursuit of science implies that the facts will speak for themse­lves, even if they turn out to be different from what the invest­igator hoped
Control
All extraneous variables need to be controlled in order to be able to establish cause (IV) and effect (DV).
Hypothesis testing
E.g. a statement made at the beginning of an invest­igation that serves as a prediction and is derived from a theory. There are different types of hypotheses (null and altern­ative), which need to be stated in a form that can be tested (i.e. operat­ion­alized and unambi­guous).
Replic­ation
•This refers to whether a particular method and finding can be repeated with differ­ent­/same people and/or on different occasions, to see if the results are similar.
•If a dramatic discovery is reported, but it cannot be replicated by other scientists it will not be accepted.
• If we get the same results over and over again under the same condit­ions, we can be sure of their accuracy beyond reasonable doubt.
• This gives us confidence that the results are reliable and can be used to build up a body of knowledge or a theory: vital in establ­ishing a scientific theory.
Predic­tab­ility
We should be aiming to be able to predict future behaviour from the findings of our research.

Evidence Based Practice

Eviden­ce-­based practice is the integr­ation of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient charac­ter­istics, culture and prefer­ences.

Science of Psychology

The science of psychology benefits society and enhances our lives. Psycho­logists examine the relati­onships between brain function and behavior, and the enviro­nment and behavior, applying what they learn to illuminate our unders­tanding and improve the world around us.

The Scientist Practi­tioner Model

Practi­tioners using research and practice of validated psycho­logical methods and theories existing at the same time

Quanti­tative VS Qualit­ative

Qualit­ative research
Quanti­tative research
involves collecting and evaluating non-nu­merical data in order to understand concepts or subjective opinions.
involves collecting and evaluating numerical data.
● Subjective
● Used to develop theories
● Takes a broad, complex approach
● Answers "­why­" and "­how­" questions
● Explores patterns and themes
● Objective
● Used to test theories
● Takes a narrow, specific approach
● Answers "­wha­t" questions
● Explores statis­tical relati­onships

Operat­ion­ali­sation

Operat­ion­ali­sation means turning abstract concepts into measurable observ­ations. Although some concepts, like height or age, are easily measured, others, like spirit­uality or anxiety, are not. Through operat­ion­ali­sation, you can system­ati­cally collect data on processes and phenomena that aren’t directly observ­able.
Operat­ion­ali­sation example:
The concept of social anxiety can’t be directly measured, but it can be operat­ion­alised in many different ways.
For example:
● self-r­ating scores on a social anxiety scale
● number of recent behavi­oural incidents of avoidance of crowded places
● intensity of physical anxiety symptoms in social situations
Why operat­ion­ali­sation matters
In quanti­tative research, it’s important to precisely define the variables that you want to study. Without transp­arent and specific operat­ional defini­tions, resear­chers may measure irrelevant concepts or incons­ist­ently apply methods. Operat­ion­ali­sation reduces subjec­tivity and increases the reliab­ility of your study.

Operat­ion­ali­sation

Operat­ion­ali­sation means turning abstract concepts into measurable observ­ations. Although some concepts, like height or age, are easily measured, others, like spirit­uality or anxiety, are not. Through operat­ion­ali­sation, you can system­ati­cally collect data on processes and phenomena that aren’t directly observ­able.
Operat­ion­ali­sation example:
The concept of social anxiety can’t be directly measured, but it can be operat­ion­alised in many different ways.
For example:
● self-r­ating scores on a social anxiety scale
● number of recent behavi­oural incidents of avoidance of crowded places
● intensity of physical anxiety symptoms in social situations
Why operat­ion­ali­sation matters
In quanti­tative research, it’s important to precisely define the variables that you want to study. Without transp­arent and specific operat­ional defini­tions, resear­chers may measure irrelevant concepts or incons­ist­ently apply methods. Operat­ion­ali­sation reduces subjec­tivity and increases the reliab­ility of your study.

Population vs. Sample

A population is the entire group that you want to draw conclu­sions about.

A sample is the specific group that you will collect data from. The size of the sample is always less than the total size of the popula­tion.

In research, a population doesn’t always refer to people. It can mean a group containing elements of anything you want to study, such as objects, events, organi­zat­ions, countries, species, organisms, etc.

Utilit­ari­anism

utilit­ari­anism is a philos­ophical theory grounded in the core idea that we should always act in the way that would impart­ially maximize the well-being of everyone on the planet, whether friend or stranger, near or far, human or animal.

Ethics

Ethics refers to the correct rules of conduct necessary when carrying out research. We have a moral respon­sib­ility to protect research partic­ipants from harm.
● What is ethical in research is heavily influenced by social values
● Two tradit­ional views: Utilit­ari­anism Vs Denotolgy

Deontology

is an ethical theory holding that decisions should be made solely or primarily by consid­ering one's duties and the rights of others.
 

Tenacity

Is the state of holding on to an idea or a thing very strongly.
● Non-sc­ien­tific answer

Falsif­ication

The Falsif­ication Principle, proposed by Karl Popper, is a way of demarc­ating science from non-sc­ience. It suggests that for a theory to be considered scientific it must be able to be tested and concei­vably proven false.
For example, the hypothesis that "all swans are white,­" can be falsified by observing a black swan.

Authority

the capacity to influence others. Formal authority enables an individual to exert influence as a result of either high, legally recognized office (legit­imate authority) or high rank in a long-e­sta­blished but not legally codified hierarchy (tradi­tional author­ity).

Value

A value is a sub-set of a variable; variables can have different values

Intuition

Acquis­ition of knowledge not based on reasoning or inference

Aim

What you are setting out to achieve in the experiment

Hypothesis

Hypothesis testing is a formal procedure for invest­igating our ideas about the world using statis­tics. It is most often used by scientists to test specific predic­tions, called hypoth­eses, that arise from theories.

There are 5 main steps in hypothesis testing:

● State your research hypothesis as a null hypothesis and alternate hypothesis (Ho) and (Ha or H1).
● Collect data in a way designed to test the hypoth­esis.
● Perform an approp­riate statis­tical test.
● Decide whether to reject or fail to reject your null hypoth­esis.
● Present the findings in your results and discussion section.
The alternate hypothesis is usually your initial hypothesis that predicts a relati­onship between variables. The null hypothesis is a prediction of no relati­onship between the variables you are interested in.

Indepe­ndent Variable (IV) & Dependent Variable

Indepe­ndent Variable (IV)

An indepe­ndent variable is the variable you manipulate or vary in an experi­mental study to explore its effects. It’s called “indep­endent” because it’s not influenced by any other variables in the study. This variable is changed to invest­igate the effect upon the DV

Indepe­ndent variable levels
You are studying the impact of a new medication on the blood pressure of patients with hypert­ension.

Your indepe­ndent variable is the treatment that you directly vary between groups.

You have three indepe­ndent variable levels, and each group gets a different level of treatment.

You randomly assign your patients to one of the three groups:
● A low-dose experi­mental group
● A high-dose experi­mental group
● A placebo group

Dependent Variable (DV)

A dependent variable is the variable that changes as a result of the indepe­ndent variable manipu­lation. It’s the outcome you’re interested in measuring, and it “depends” on your indepe­ndent variable.

The dependent variable is what you record after you’ve manipu­lated the indepe­ndent variable. You use this measur­ement data to check whether and to what extent your indepe­ndent variable influences the dependent variable by conducting statis­tical analyses.

Based on your findings, you can estimate the degree to which your indepe­ndent variable variation drives changes in your dependent variable. You can also predict how much your dependent variable will change as a result of variation in the indepe­ndent variable.
 

Ration­alism vs. Empiricism

Ration­alism and empiricism are schools of thought that search for meaning in our existence. Each of these philos­ophies quest for the truth in our life by promoting skepti­cism, or a doubt that the other ideas are true. Fundam­ent­ally, these two philos­ophies are essent­ially opposites. Philos­ophers who value ration­alism or empiricism maintain a continual discussion over the meaning of our existence by establ­ishing claims that attempt to disprove the beliefs of the other philosophy based on their skepticism of opposing viewpo­ints. A key similarity between these philos­ophies is that many philos­ophers from both schools of thought believe in God; however, God's respon­sib­ility in how humans uncover the truth about their existence is fundam­entally different.

Ration­alism

Ration­alism functions on three key principles that work to find the truth:
1. Deduction - Deduction is the applic­ation of concrete principles to draw a conclu­sion. Mathem­atical principles are an example of deduction. For example, finding the square footage of a room is always done the same way, by multip­lying the width and length.
2. Innate ideas - Innate ideas is the concept that we're born with fundam­ental truths or experi­ences left over from another life that we're born with. These ideas can also come from God. Innate ideas can explain why some people possess signif­icantly more talent in some things than others who have exactly the same exposure to them.
3. Reason - Reason uses logic to determine a conclu­sion. Logic can use multiple methods to determine the truth, and the emphasis is on finding the truth, not on the method.

Empiricism

Empiri­cism, on the other hand, works with key principles to use skepticism in its school of thought that rejects the principles of ration­alism.
1. Sense experience - Empiri­cists believe that our ideas come solely from sense experi­ence. These ideas are either simple or complex and make use of the five senses (touch, taste, smell, sound and sight). Simple ideas are those that use only one of the five senses to establish percep­tion. For example, sugar is sweet. Complex ideas use more than one of the five senses to gain a more detailed percep­tion. Sugar is sweet and white and granular, for example.
2. Innate ideas - Empiri­cists reject the notion of innate ideas. A popular term associated with this came from John Locke, who believed that the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa.
3.Induction - Induction is the most crucial principle to empiri­cism. Induction is the belief that very little can be proven conclu­sively, especially with out experience
if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it, Does it make a sound?

Social Cognition Biases:

Belief persev­erance
Wanting to believe so much that no evidence can change your mind
Confir­mation Bias
Searching out and playing attention only to the inform­ation that supports your current beliefs
Availa­bility Heuristic
Overes­tim­ating how memorable events occur
First Instinct Fallacy
instances when we change an answer from right to wrong loom larger in memory and lead to frustrated "if only" self-r­ecr­imi­nat­ions.