Psychology 2001 Test 1 August 23 Psyche soul then mind then it became mind, soul, emotional; cant be proven

n or measured; Ology study of Psychology - The scientific study of behavior and mental processes - Neural activity - What part of the brain is active Science is a method, which is out to discover relationships among independently observable events Psychology is not observable because science doesnt have a way to prove or measure that

Minimum requirements for a scientific relationship - Two independently observable events (variables) in which systematic change in one effects or causes a change on the other - Examples: o People drinking coffee in Starbucks has no effect on us here in class o Is there correlation between an athlete practicing and success in a game? Yes; it is observable an athelete attended practice then observe success in the game o Is there a scientific relationship between brain/neural activity and human behavior? Yes; it is observable with the help of machines and how that effects behavior; change in one effects the other Empirical Evidence when scientific studies are conducted, their findings must be able to be recreated multiple times Prediction in science - Examples: weather, gambling, stocks - Scientific prediction does increase the probability of being correct among variables however it is not always correct - Hypothesis simplest type of prediction and is simply a guess about a relationship - Law a hypothesis which gains substantial evidence to become accepted by all as fact - Facts are facts because people say they are - Facts and people change - Theory a prediction about a relationship which brings together laws and hypotheses; page 24

o Theories summarize observations, explains them and guides further research Public Observation - Feelings are not open to public observation - Telling one how you feel is behavior - For something to be an acceptable event in science, then it must be open to public observation August 28 Experimentation - Performed to test the hypothesis - Major Variables o Independent variable the various things that are systematically manipulated to find its effect on the dependent variable The thing you are manipulating o Dependent variable what is being effected or tested In psychology this is always some form of behavior usually in the form of performance Sleep deprivation Extreme room temperature Always the behavior affected in psychology o Groups Experimental group consists of participants that are exposed to the independent variable (there can be more than one experimental group) Sleep deprivation and alcohol are independent variable Reaction time is dependent variable Control group - is exposed to all conditions except the independent variable o Extraneous Variable any variable that influences the outcome on the dependent variable that is not part of the hypothesis (**NOT the independent variable) o Confounding occurs when you do not control for extraneous variables and therefore you do not know what is affecting your dependent variable Things that screw your study up Placebo effect apparent drug effect without a drug being administered Sugar pill being administered instead of the real drug o Amoral findings from the studies doesnt take into account for the morals of the scientists and people in the experiment. Neutrality. Four Isms

Scientific Empiricism states we must observe and prove our hypothesis and theories in order to obtain truth and knowledge o I.e. experimentation Rationalism using reasoning to arrive at knowledge o Useful in that is creates a hypothesis but not an appropriate final answer Teacher said she would be a good fit to work for ESPN because she likes sports and used to play, but she ends up getting fired. Dualism unacceptable position in science. It is a view of the world as a dichotomy: an interaction of the mind and body. o Dichotomy the physical and the unphysical working together o Science can only deal with what it can observe and since we cannot observe the mind then it is unacceptable in science Determinism the assumption that all events have a finite number of prior causes o Availability of money, smell of coffee, thirst all made the decision that you want to buy coffee at Starbucks

Reification - Taking an abstraction and treating it as something concrete o Love, depression, etc. Things that cant be defined There is no study that shows the chemical imbalance in the brain associated with depression. Serendipity - Form of good luck in which you find something more valuable than what you were looking for o I.e. unexpected good outcome from an experiment September 4 Correlation Coefficients the strength and relation of a relationship - Results lie between -1 and 1 - (-1) = Perfect Negative Correlation the increase in one measure is associate in the decrease in another measure o The increase in alcohol consumption causes a decrease in reaction time - 0.0 = No Relationship o A study on what kind of dog you own and your popularity - (+1) = Perfect Positive Correlation an increase in one measure is associated with an increase in another measure o Going to class causes you to make good grades - Test Examples o +. 25 is not a strong relationship, it is a weak positive relationship o +. 75 is a strong positive correlation

o -. 25 is a weak negative correlation o A few section of the test are true/false: True Administering a placebo to a control group is one way to control for confounding of the independent variable. Experimental group receives drug X Control group receives placebo o If both groups have same results then drug X doesnt work