Psychology 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Social Desirability Bias, Naturalistic Observation, Operational Definition

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Tom Haffie

Document Summary

A hypothesis is a specific prediction about some phenomenon that often takes the form of an if-then statement. Theories are broader than hypotheses, and in psychology, theories typically specify lawful relations between certain behaviours and their causes. When research consistently supports the hypotheses derived from a theory, then confidence in the theory increases. The five steps in gathering scientific research are as follows: Four: analyze data, draw tentative conclusions, and report findings. Some of the problems with hindsight (after-the-fact) understanding is that related past events can be explained in many creative, reasonable, and sometimes contradictory ways. There is no way to determine which-if any- of the alternatives is correct. To illustrate, suppose we want to study the relation between stress and academic performance among college students. How shall we: define the following terms/concepts: Law of parsimony: if two theories can explain and predict the same phenomena equally well, the simpler theory is the preferred one.