PSY100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Golf Ball, Design Of Experiments, Scientific Method

• School: UTM
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY100Y5
• Professor: Dax Urbszat

Document Summary

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior: why do people behave the way they do, comes out of philosophy, has to be measurable. Try to prove that how/why x causes y. Measure a behavior when a variable is there and when its not there. Be able to prove that some variable (x) causes people to behave a certain way (y) while other variables (z) that might affect behavior are half constant (ruled out) Independent variable: the thing you change (x) Dependent variable: the behavior your measuring (y, what, how, units. Controlled variable: anything you keep constant (z) Have to measure the behavior (y) twice: when x is there (to cause behavior, when x is not there. Test balance twice (constant variables: shoes, test, time, motivation, person, etc: once when sober (30 feet, once when drunk (5 feet) The difference in scores is caused by progressing trough the task. Subject gets better or worse as they go through experiment (practice)