Research Methods
Differing approaches to the observation, measurement, manipulation and control of variables in empirical studies
What are research methods?
A systematic statement of principles and generalizations that interpret and illuminate observations that have been made about human growth?
What is a theory?
An organism's genetic inheritance
What is the genotype?
A region deep inside the brain which controls automatic responses and develops first.
What is the brain stem?
To describe, explain, predict and control behavior
What are the goals of psychology?
An educated guess
What is a hypothesis?
The actions or operations that will be used to measure or control a variable
What is an operational definition?
Observable characteristics of a person, not always the same as the genotype
What is the phenotype?
Accounts for most of the growth in the brain and allows for communication in the nervous system
Philosophy and Physiology
Falsifible and Testable
What are the two components of a "good" hypothesis?
The variable that can be varied by the researcher
What is the independent variable?
Possible range of a trait is specified by genes, where you end up is based on environment
What is reaction range?
Electrical signaling (action potential) and chemical signaling (neurotransmitters)
What are the two steps in the neural communication process?
School of thought that believed psychology should analyze consciousness into its basic elements
What is structuralism?
Collecting data with no manipulation or control of variables
What is a correlational/descriptive design?
When your biological parents pass down your genes and your environment
What is a passive correlation?
Psychoanalytic theory (Freud), Behaviorism, and Cognitive Theory
What are the grand theories of psychology?
Case studies, surveys and naturalistic observation
What are the types of correlational research designs?
The gene environment correlation that is possible when children are old enough to choose environments?
What is an active correlation?
The first formal research study in psychology
What is reaction time?