PSYC 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Observer-Expectancy Effect, Falsifiability, Random Assignment

• School: UConn
• Department: Psychological Sciences
• Course: PSYC 1100
• Professor: Alexandra Paxton

Document Summary

Based on analytic thinking: a step-by-step way of thinking; breaking a system into individual, manageable components. Using empirical evidence scientifically-based evidence from observation and experimentation: find a question. Try to look for a causal process. Look at how an independent variable influences and leads to an outcome. Note: one hypothesis can lead to multiple theories (dependent variable: form a hypothesis. Asserting a positive, not creating a negative. Keep in mind experimental group and control group. Experimental group receives the variable being tested (ex: a treatment), while control group does not receive the variable being tested, used to compare the experimental group with: conduct an experiment. Changes in behavior through knowing one is being observed. Ex: not getting consent to observe a person. Ex: desire for responses to be socially acceptable. Participants are randomly assigned to one group or the other, reducing bias related to race, ethnicity, gender, etc. Helps to get a representative sample of the population.