CAS PS 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Psychological Testing, Descriptive Statistics, Naturalistic Observation

• School: Boston University
• Department: Psychological & Brain Sciences
• Course: CAS PS 101
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Looking for laws: the scientific approach to behavior. The scientific approach asserts that events are governed by some discernable laws or principles. This approach claims that there are consistencies in human behavior that can be discovered. There are 3 goals that are shared by scientists and psychologists: measurement and description. There must be an objective, clear, and precise way to measure the phenomenon being studied: understanding and prediction. A hypothesis is a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. Variables are measurable conditions, events, behaviors, and characteristics that are controlled or observed in a study: application and control. The hypotheses that are tested and proved should be applied to real world problems. Scientific investigations are systematic, they follow an orderly pattern. There is a set series of steps: step 1: formulate a testable hypothesis. Intuitive ideas or theories must be translated into a testable hypothesis.