Unit 1 Psychology Research

Group 2
Can week - old pizza cause psychedelic hallucinations ? Does coffee make you smarter ? Or does it just make you do dumb stuff faster ? - - - - - - - - - - But it's important to realize that your gut isn't always right . In fact , sometimes it is exactly wrong and we tend to grossly underestimate the dangers of ____________________ . If you have an idea about a person and their behavior that turns out to be right , that reinforces your trust in your gut feeling . - - - - - - - - - - This is known as ____________________ " or the " I - Knew - It - All - Along " phenomenon . This doesn't mean the common sense is wrong , it just means that our intuitive sense more easily describes what just happened , than what will happen in the future . Another reason you can't blindly trust your gut is your natural tendency toward overconfidence . Sometimes , you just really , really feel like you're right about people when actually you're really , really wrong . We've all been there . - - - - - - - - - - That is why we have the methods and safe - guards of psychological research and experimentation , and the glorious process of ____________________ . They help us to get around these problems and basically save the study of our minds , from the stupidity of our minds . - - - - - - - - - - In most ways psychological research is no different than any other scientific discipline , like step one is always figuring out how to ask general questions about your subject and turn them into measurable , testable propositions . This is called ____________________ your questions . So you know how the scientific method works , it starts with a question and a theory . Instead , in science a theory is what explains and organizes lots of different observations , and predicts outcomes . And when you come up with a testable prediction , that's your ____________________ . - - - - - - - - - - Once your theory and hypothesis are in place , you need a clear and common language to report them with , which will allow other researchers to ____________________ the experiment . And this is key . You can watch a person exhibit a certain behavior once , and it won't prove very much , but if you keep getting consistent results , even as you change subjects or situations , you're probably on to something . - - - - - - - - - - This is a problem with one popular type of psychological research : ____________________ , which take an in - depth look at one individual . This method can sometimes be misleading , because by their nature , they can't be repeated , so they run the risk of over - generalizing . Still , they're good at showing us what can happen , and end up framing questions for more extensive and generalizable studies . They're also often memorable and a great story telling device psychologists use to observe and describe behavior . - - - - - - - - - - Another popular method of psychological research is ____________________ , where researchers simply watch behavior in a natural environment . The idea is to let the subjects just do their thing without trying to manipulate or control the situation . So yeah , basically just spying on people . Like case studies , naturalistic observations are great at describing behavior , but they're very limited in explaining it . - - - - - - - - - - Psychologists can also collect behavioral data using ____________________ , asking people to report their opinions and behaviors . Surveys are a great way to access consciously held attitudes and beliefs , but how to ask the questions can be tricky ; subtle word choices can influence results . To fairly represent a population I'd need to get a ____________________ where all members of the target group , in this case students , had an equal chance of being selected to answer the question . - - - - - - - - - - So once you've described behavior with surveys , case studies , or naturalistic observation you can start making sense out of it , and even predict future behavior . One way to do that is to look at one trait or behavior is related to another . It's tempting to draw conclusions from ____________________ but it's super - important to remember that ____________________ predict the possibility of cause - and - effect relationships , they cannot prove them . - - - - - - - - - - So we've talked about how to describe behavior without manipulating it and how to make connections and predictions from those findings . But that can only take you so far . ____________________ allow investigators to isolate different effects by manipulating an independent variable , and keeping all other variables constant , or as constant as you can . This means that they need at least two groups : the ____________________ , which is gonna get messed with , and the ____________________ , which is not gonna get messed with . - - - - - - - - - - Just as other methods use random samples , experimental researchers need to randomly assign participants to each group to minimize potential ____________________ , or outside factors that may skew the results . Now sometimes one or both groups are not informed about what's actually being tested . For example , researchers can test how substances affect people by comparing their effects to ____________________ , or inert substances . And often , the researchers themselves don't know which group is which , so they don't unintentionally influence the results through their own behavior , in which case it's called , you guessed it , a ____________________ procedure . - - - - - - - - - - So let's figure out our question : " Do humans solve problems faster when given caffeine ? " Now we gotta boil that down into a testable prediction . Remember : keep it clear , simple , and eloquent so that it can be repeated . " Caffeine makes me smarter " is not a great question . A better one would be , say , " Adult humans given caffeine will navigate a maze faster than humans not given caffeine . " The caffeine dosage is your ____________________ , the thing that you can change . So , you'll need some coffee . Your result or ____________________ , the thing that depends on the thing that you can change is going to be the speed at which the subject navigates through this giant corn maze . - - - - - - - - - - Go out on the street , wrangle up a bunch of different kinds of people and randomly assign them into three different groups . Also at this point the American Psychological Association suggests that you acquire everyone's ____________________ to participate , you don't want to force anyone to be in your experiment , no matter how cool you think it is .