Basic Research

used to understand or enhance knowledge and satisfys the first two goals of psych. (Describe and Explain)

ex. Why do people smoke?

applied research

conducted to find a solution to a problem and satisfy’s all four goals of psych. (DEPI)

ex. How do we get people to stop smoking?

counseling psychologists 

help normal people with adjustment problems

ex. Grief or Marriage Counselors

operational definition

specifying precisly how variables will be observed and mesured

ex. Childs growth measured in centimeters every 6 months

developmental psychologists

study every part of life from birth to death

ex. Helping an elderly person keep their independence

Goals of Psychology

Describe, Explain, Predict and Influence

DEPI

Naturalistic study

• observe behavior in natural setting in an unobtrusive way
• advantages: avoids artificiality
• disadvantages: unpredictable occurances (no control), no estbl. causation, and observer bias may occur

Case Study

study a single individual or group and provide detailed data about a case (clinical;Freud)

Limitations: no estb. cause, time consuming, inaccurate info due to faulty memory, singular occurance (no relation to study)

Correlation Study

studies the degree of relationship between variables

limitation: doesnt show causation

advantage: used when variables cant be manipulated

Survey Method

interviews & questionaires to collect data

(beliefs, attitudes, opinions etc)

use representative sample

limitations: time consuming, costly, framing of questions, inaccurate info due to faulty memory, interviewer, social desirability response sample population doesnt always rep. the pop.

independent variable

the manipulated variable

or treatment

ex. Violent Television

experimental method

the only method used to identify cause and effect relationships

dependent variable

used in experimental method

the part thats changed

and measured

ex. Aggressive behavior

control group

the group not exposed to the independent variable or given the treatment

(placebo)

experimental group

group exposed to the independent variable or given the treatment

ex. Child exposed to violent tv

replication

the process of repeating a study with different participants & preferably a different investigator to verify research findings

ie. test the results / double check

confounding variables

an extraneous variable that effects the results of a study

ex. a child is being bullied at school and the agression study is effected by it

socio-cultural perspective

study of the role of social and cultural influences

(gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status etc.) on behavior and mental processes

environmental perspective

focuses on inherited traits that help us to adapt to our environment

behaviorism

(Watson & Skinner)

study observable and measurable behavior and emphasizes role of environment on behavior

psychoanalysis

(Freud)

believes the unconcious thoughts are an important source of motivation for our behavior

cognitive perspective

study of mental processes to understand human nature

humanistic perspective

(Maslow & Rodgers)

believe people are unique, capable of making rational choices and they have the desire to grow to their full potential

Biological Perspective

focus on how the structures & activities of brain, physiological processes & heredity influence behavior mental processes

deception/debriefing

as a means of keeping the study legit a participant may kept from knowing certain information about the study. At its closed they should be debriefed (told) the purpose, why they werent told, allow them to ask questions and adress if any harm may come to them as a result of the study. Used for ethical standards

SQ3R

survey, question, read, recite, review

survey: scan the chapter ie headings,

questions: rewrite headings into a question ie Why study psychology?

read: to answer Q

recite: to see if you can understand and remember the answers

review:test your recall