PSYCH 1101 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Scientific Method, Random Assignment, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
12 Oct 2018
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PSYCH 1101
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Henry Molaison: a study on memory
- Brain damage after surgery → unable to store new memories in long-term system
- “Memory systems seem to be independent”
- Long-term (stores info forever) vs. short-term (2-10min)
- Interesting → motor memories were not damaged
- Implicit memories like how to ride a bike or make food remained intact
- Also was able to remember info from before surgery (though some blacked out)
iPod Shuffle
- Shuffling songs was not truly random
- Problem is that people see patterns when they don’t really exist
- Result: had to make it pseudo-random to undo these patterns people were noticing
Psychology is used w/ a goal to make people “act better”
- Rewarding people is a more effective tool than punishment
- “You MIGHT win” more effective than “you WILL win”
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Psychology and the Scientific Method
1. Very common to make claims about psych w/o use of scientific method
a. “Armchair psychologists” are people who make these claims without doing any
real research
2. Science: a method for arriving at knowledge about the natural world, describing it
accurately, and explaining why things are the way that they are
a. Set of tools that generally yields reliable answers
b. Scientific explanation
i. Steven Pinker: Looking for a set of more basic mechanisms that may
explain a more complex set of observations
c. Recipe for Science:
i. Take your best guess at an answer
ii. Compare this prediction to what you see in nature
1. Experiment, experience, observation
iii. Does it match your prediction? If not, reject the theory and update beliefs
iv. Repeat, share refine
d. This recipe can be problematic in practice
i. Dumb guesses
ii. Vague, imprecise, or unfalsifiable theories
iii. Sloppy method of observation/measurement/experimentation
iv. Data analysis done incorrectly
v. Broad conclusions from limited results
vi. Scientists ignoring inconsistent data/publishing only results that agree
1. We only tend to publish positive results
vii. Fraud
1. You need a process where scientists can actually check your
work!
e. ...But it works better than anything else
3. Recipe for a Science of Psychology
a. Take your best guess at an answer
b. Compare this prediction to what you see in nature
c. Does it match your prediction? If not, reject theory
d. Repeat, share, refine
4. How Psychologists go about collecting data
a. There are likely just as many methods as there are topics
b. Most methods can be grouped into one of three very broad categories (though in
practice are often combined)
i. Unobtrusive observation
ii. Self-report
1. Blessing and a curse in psych because results can be influenced
by those surveyed
iii. Experimentation
5. Varieties of observation
a. A number of ways to collect data through observation
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Brain damage after surgery unable to store new memories in long-term system. Long-term (stores info forever) vs. short-term (2-10min) Implicit memories like how to ride a bike or make food remained intact. Also was able to remember info from before surgery (though some blacked out) ipod shuffle. Problem is that people see patterns when they don"t really exist. Result: had to make it pseudo-random to undo these patterns people were noticing. Psychology is used w/ a goal to make people act better . Rewarding people is a more effective tool than punishment. You might win more effective than you will win . Steven pinker: looking for a set of more basic mechanisms that may explain a more complex set of observations: recipe for science: If not, reject the theory and update beliefs: repeat, share refine, this recipe can be problematic in practice. Sloppy method of observation/measurement/experimentation: dumb guesses, data analysis done incorrectly.
