PSYC 241 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Internal Validity, Field Experiment, Informed Consent
27 Sep 2013
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When we study human behaviour, the results may appear to have been predictable in retrospect. Hindsight bias: a human tendency whereby people exaggerate how much they could have predicted an outcome after knowing that it occurred: ex. After we know the winner of a political election, we look at the reasons why that candidate won and the outcome becomes inevitable and easily predictable. Many studies stem from a researcher"s dissatisfaction with existing theories and explanations: ex. Leon festinger was dissatisfied with the ability of a major theory, behaviourism to explain why people change their attitudes. Formulated a new approach dissonance theory that made specific predictions about when and how people would change their attitudes. If the goal is to describe what a particular group of people or type of behaviour is like, the observational method is very helpful. This technique requires a researcher to observe people and records measurements or impressions of their behaviour: ex.
