PSYCH 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Blind Experiment, Operational Definition, Dependent And Independent Variables
Document Summary
Difference between psychology and common sense is the collection of data and the use of scientific methods to support the observation. Research is often based off of a phenomenon (just an observation) Phenomenon: people arrive early to class on the day of an exam. Possibilities: getting into test-taking mentality sooner, having more time to work, etc. Theories: synthesize observations in order to explain phenomena and guide predictions to be tested through research. Theory: exams lead to uncertainty, uncertainty leads to fear, fear leads to affiliation. Hypothesis (prediction based on theory): people in anxious/fearful situations will prefer to be near others. Take people to haunted house, take secret pictures of them reacting to scary things, photos suggest that when people are scared they hang on to each other. When we purposely and systematically provide different experiences for groups of participants, the independent variable is manipulated (we have control over it as researchers)
