31 Mar 2012
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSYCH 1200 – CH 2 NOTES
Scientific Principles
- Immediate environment powerfully influences behaviour
- Each bystander assumes that someone else would help or call for help
Diffusion of responsibility – psychological state in which each person feels decreased personal
responsibility for intervening
Hypothesis – a tentative explanation or prediction about some phenomenon
- *if an emergency occurs, then the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely any one
bystander will be to intervene
- Formulate a testable hypothesis (ask a question) translate hypothesis into prediction test
hypothesis (research) analyze findings & draw conclusions build theories develop new
hypotheses (self-correcting)
Theory – set of formal statements broader than hypotheses; specify lawful relations between certain
behaviours & their causes
Theory of social impact – used to explain a variety of human social behaviours
Causes – conditions responsible for an occurrence
Hindsight – after-the-fact related past events can be explained in many creative, reasonable, &
sometimes contradictory ways
o Understanding through prediction & control is a scientific alternative to after-the-fact
understanding
- Integrated network of predictions
- Good theory must:
o Incorporate existing facts & observations w/in a single broad framework organizes
info in a meaningful way
o Be testable; generate new hypotheses ((in)accuracy can be evaluated)
o (findings) be supported by findings of new research
o Conform to law of parsimony (if 2 theories can explain & predict the same phenomena
equally well, the simple theory is the preferred one)
Variable – any characteristic that can differ (i.e. gender, age, ethnicity, etc.)
o Memory, personality, intelligence, stress, etc.
Operational definition – defines a variable in terms of the specific procedures used to produce or
measure it; translate an abstract term into something observable & measureable
Self-report measures – ask ppl to report on their own knowledge, beliefs, feelings, experiences, or
behaviour (via interviews, questionnaires, psychological tests)
Social desirability bias – tendency of participants to give an answer that gives a good impression
rather than one that reflects how they truly feel/behave
o Minimize bias by wording questions in such a way that social desirability is not relevant
or by guaranteeing anonymity/confidentiality
- Suggestive (biased) interview techniques used to “draw out” allegations suggestive questions
that are repeated can cause some children to falsely report/come to believe that fictitious
events are real
Physiological measures – heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, hormonal secretions, etc.
Behavioural observations – facial expressions, parent-child interactions, marital communications, etc.
o Arguments/measurements must be reliable/consistent
Archival measures – already-existing records or documents
Unobtrusive measures – behaviour recorded in a way that keeps the participant(s) unaware that
they are being observed