PSY372H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Pollyanna Principle, Forgetting Curve, Free Recall
Document Summary
Psy372: chapter 3 methods and principles (lecture 3) An experiment is a controlled situation in which a research manipulates variables of interest, measuring the effect of this manipulating while keeping irrelevant variables as consistent as possible. Participants are randomly assigned to different conditions to reduce unwanted systematicity. Control variables: irrelevant aspects of the situation. Hypothesis: educated guess/prediction about how the variation of the independent variables will be related to the outcome of the dependent variables: other types of studies. Correlational study: the performance of a dependent measure is assessed as a function of some pre- existing variable (or something that cannot be experimentally controlled) Quasi-experiment: pre-existing conditions are combined with the controlled assignment of the independent variables e. g. one class of students memorized 100 words, another class memorized 100 pictures. Case study: looking at specific individuals because they are the only ones available for that specific interest (or brain damage)
