PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Blind Experiment, Central Tendency, Agosia Chrysogaster

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jill L Atkinson

Document Summary

Describe why psychologists employ the scientific method: explain the importance of verifiability, reliability and objectivity, explain the five principal steps of the scientific method. Identify characteristics that are important in a research study and explain why: describe the importance of operational definitions, distinguish between independent and dependent variables, explain the difference between an experiment and a correlational study. Identify the utility, advantages, and disadvantages of correlational studies. Describe the principles (validity, reliability, generalizability) of good experimental design: describe the proper procedures for the selection of participants for an experiment and their assignment to conditions. Describe the role of statistics in interpreting research findings: how do statistics help us determine whether a result is due to chance, differentiate between descriptive and inferential statistics, explain why correlation does not equal causation. Psychology = the science of behaviour and mental processes. Behavior = any action that can be observed, recorded and measured. Mental processes = thought, memory and attention; not observable.