VOCABULARY
A pill or procedure given to a patient who believes it to be a real treatment that in fact has no active 'ingredient', i.e. no active drug in the case of a pill or no therapeutic value in the case of an intervention.
What is Placebo?
The factor in an experiment that is measured and is expected to change under the influence of the independent variable.
What is dependent variable?
A question format in questionnaires, interviews or test items that produces qualitative data.
What is open questions?
What is a potential limitation of the Holzel et al. study?
a) Lack of a control group.
b) Small sample size.
c) Short duration of mindfulness practice.
d) Only measured subjective outcomes.
What is, b) Small sample size?
The group of people selected to represent the population of in a study?
What is sample?
A research method that follows a group of participants over time, weeks to decades, looking at changes in variables to explore development or changes due to experiences, such as interventions, drugs or therapies.
What is longitudinal study?
An experiment is conducted in which a correlation is questioned between bright lights and student's' attention. What is the dependent variable?
What is student's' attention?
The role of the observer is obvious to the participants.
What is overt?
In the Holzel et al. study, mindfulness was practiced for how many minutes per day over an eight-week period?
a) 10 minutes.
b) 30 minutes.
c) 45 minutes.
d) 60 minutes.
What is, b) 30 minutes?
Pieces of advice that guide psychologists to consider the welfare of participants and wider society.
What is ethical guidelines?
The experimental design in which each participant preforms in every level of the independent variable.
What is repeated measures design?
An uncontrolled variable that acts systematically on one level of the IV so could hide or exaggerate differences between levels and therefore 'confound' or confuse the results making it difficult to understand the effect of the IV on the DV.
What is confounding variables?
A mathematical way to find the typical or average score from a data set, using the mode, median or mean.
What is measure of central tendency?
According to the Hasset et al. study, why might girls receive less negative information about boys' toys compared to boys receiving negative information about girls' toys?
a) Due to a societal preference for girls' activities and toys.
b) Due to a lower inclination of boys to engage in diverse activities.
c) Due to a broader societal acceptance of boys' activities and toys.
d) Due to a higher inclination of girls to engage in diverse activities.
What is, b) Due to a lower inclination of boys to engage in diverse activities?
The impact of an unbiased external viewpoint on, for example, how data is interpreted. Interpretation is not affected by an individual's feelings, beliefs, or experiences, so should be consistent between different researchers.
What is objectivity?
The consistency between two researchers watching the same event, i.e. whether they will produce the same records.
What is inter-observer reliability?
A variable that either acts randomly, affecting the DV in all levels of the IV, or systematically, i.e. on one level of the IV (called a confounding variable) so can obscure the effect of the IV, making the results difficult to interpret, the effects of which have not or cannot be limited or eliminated.
What is uncontrolled variables?
A link between two variables such that a change in one variable is responsible for (i.e. causes) the change in the other variable, such as in an experiment.
What is casual relationship?
In the Dement and Kleitman study which stage of sleep is associated with Rapid Eye Movement (REM)
a) Stage 4
b) Stage 1
c) Stage 3
d) Stage 2
What is, a) Stage 4?
Seven guidelines that an ethical study has to follow.
What is protection from harm, valid consent, right to withdraw, lack of deception, confidentiality, privacy, and debriefing?
The extent to which the findings of research in one situation would generalize to other situations. This is influenced whether the situation (e.g. a laboratory) represents the real world effectively and whether the task is relevant to real life (has mundane realism)
What is ecological validity?
Individual differences between participants (such as age, personality and intelligence) that could affect their behavior in a study that would hide or exaggerate differences between levels of the independent variable.
What is participant variables?
When different techniques, e.g. observations, interviews and test, are used to study the same phenomenon. If they produce similar results, this suggests the findings are valid.
What is triangulation?
In the Dement and Kleitman study, what neurotransmitter is associated with the inhibition of muscle movement during REM sleep?
a) Serotonin
b) Dopamine
c) GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid)
d) Norepinephrine
What is, c) GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid)?
The loss of participants from a sample over time. This may be due to many reasons, such as losing contact, the desire to discontinue, for example, through boredom, being unavailable or death.
What is sample attrition?