What is Psychology?
Systematic examination of mental processes and behavior.
Includes thoughts, emotions, and behavior.
Why is it important to have operationalized definitions in Psychology?
To create a science by ensuring clear and measurable definitions.
Examples include definitions of intelligence and attitude.
What is an operationalized definition?
Procedures used to measure a variable should be concrete and clear.
It takes concepts and makes them measurable.
Why is sample size important in research?
A bigger sample size ensures representation of the general population.
What does ‘well-controlled’ mean in an experiment?
Variation should reflect the property being studied.
meaning any differences in the measurement should link to the thing that
What approach do psychologists take in research?
An empirical approach, meaning studying observable data.
Who is Wilhelm Wundt?
The founder of the first psychological lab and known for introspection.
Lived from 1832-1920.
What is introspection in psychology?
A method of self-observation to examine internal processes.
What did John B. Watson focus on in psychology?
Behaviorism, specifically observable behavior.
He is famous for the Little Albert study.
What was the Little Albert experiment about?
Classical conditioning where a child was conditioned to fear a soft toy.
Who is Ulrich Neisser and what did he study?
A cognitive psychologist known for studying reaction times and internal processes.
Lived from 1928-2012.
What is a hypothesis?
A prediction or statement about what you expect, testable and measurable.
What is the scientific method?
Initial observations, proposed explanation, hypothesis, research, data analysis, scientific theory.
It involves refining and revising theories.
What does falsifiability mean in the context of a theory?
A good theory has testable hypotheses that can be proven false.
What was the aim of the Asch conformity experiment?
To investigate how social pressure from a majority group influences conformity.
What were the findings of the Asch conformity experiment?
75% of participants conformed at least once; non-conformity was prevalent.
65% non-conformity in trials.
What is a limitation of the Asch conformity experiment?
Biased sample of Swarthmore psychology students; low ecological validity.
What was the purpose of Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment?
To explore the psychology of prison life.
What were the results of Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment?
Behavior is driven by situation, not personality; study ended early due to cruelty.
What is a key conclusion from Zimbardo’s experiment?
Roles can shape behavior and attitudes.
What did Reicher and Haslam’s BBC study demonstrate?
Guards became paranoid and stressed, indicating situational influences on behavior.
What is the purpose of conducting research in psychology?
To describe, make quantitative predictions, understand causation, and create change.
What are confounding variables?
Variables that interfere with the relationship being studied.
Awareness of them is crucial for validity.
What is a between-subjects design?
Two or more groups made up of different independent people to compare performance.
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stats introductory lecture36
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Data visualisation39
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Lecture 2 content- descriptive statistics38
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methods of data collection51
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Experimental design33
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practical codes15
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Significance Testing,Sampling Distributions & Z-Scores47
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Research methods- correlations27
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Ethics44
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Mann-whitney U and wilcoxon signed-rank test32
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Week 11- effect and Power32
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emotion and cogntion week 1151
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: What is research integrity?0
