Empiricism
What is epistemology?
the study of how humans know the world
What are confounds?
something that systematically covaries with the independent variables
Which studies did we look at that exemplified replication?
Shih et al., Gibson et al., and Moon et al.
Explain classical conditioning.
One stimulus that has an unconditioned response is paired with an unconditioned stimulus so the unconditioned stimulus then elicits a response.
What is shaping?
reinforcing successive approximations (usually with reinforcement)
What are the epistemological traditions?
Rationalism - knowing truth through logic, thought, proof
Empiricism - knowing truth through senses and direct experience
Authority - knowing truth based on what someone you trust has said
What are the four goals of research?
Describe, predict, explain, apply
Explain exact versus conceptual replication.
An exact replication uses the same methods, but conceptual replications aren't exactly the same, but follow the same idea/theme and extend research.
Explain conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned response, and unconditioned response.
Conditioned stimulus - a previously neutral stimulus that through conditioning acquires the capacity to evoke an unconditioned response
unconditioned stimulus - a stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without prior learning
conditioned response - a learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus
unconditioned response - an unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus without previous conditioning
What are semantic networks?
A system of connected nodes that activate each other to create mental connections between different objects/constructs (not neurologically logical)
What are conceptualized and operationalized hypotheses?
Conceptualized hypothesis - general hypothesis based on a theory
Operationalized hypothesis - what should be observed and not observed in the study
What are the four types of research designs?
Descriptive - describe phenomenon/characteristics of a population
Correlational - look at the relationship between different variables
Experimental - manipulates/controls variables
Quasi Experimental - there is an independent variable, but subjects can't be randomly assigned to groups
Why is replication important?
Allows results to be better verified and see if they are consistent with different times/places/current events
Increases reliability
Removes risk of impactful confounds
Allows converging evidence
Science is iterative and we should be skeptical
What is operant conditioning?
Voluntary behaviors are reinforced or punished to either encourage or discourage them happening in the future.
What is operationalization?
taking a construct and say how it should be in the real world and how it should be measured in a study
Why is psychology a science?
It follows the scientific method
make conclusions based on objective observations
peer review - others check interpretations and experiments can be replicated
addresses solvable problems
Explain a one way versus a factorial design.
One way - one independent variable is manipulated (conditions and levels are the same)
Factorial design - two or more independent variables are manipulated (each variable has levels and when the levels are multiplied, those are the conditions)
What factors affect replicability?
Current events, times, places
The way a procedure is written
Sample characteristics
Experimental control of extraneous variables
The way variables are operationalized
Differentiate between reinforcement and punishment.
Reinforcement: a consequent event of a behavior that increases the likelihood of repeating a behavior
Punishment: a consequent behavior that decreases the likelihood of repeating a behavior
Explain construct coverage and surplus meaning.
Construct coverage - how well the variables being measured align with the concept it is supposed to evaluate
surplus meaning - other constructs that influence the operationalizing that can affect interpretations
How does the scientific method align with APA?
Introduction - presents background information, theory, and experimental question (the deductive logic leading to a conceptual hypothesis
Methods - explains how to test the operationalized hypothesis
Results - reports the observations of the test
Discussion - uses inductive logic to describe the relevance of the results, theory, and future direction
What are the different types of validity?
External - the degree that we can generalize findings of a study to a larger population of interest
Ecological - the degree to which experimental context is like the context in which the psychological phenomenon occurs
Internal - the degree to which we are confident an explanation is true
What are some guidelines for replication?
having fidelity to the original study (original authors sometimes original authors have a chance to review protocols)
there should be rationale for multiple replications
being careful about drawing conclusions from null effects
Explain stimulus generalization and discrimination.
generalization - learning a response to a specific stimulus and respond the same way to a new and similar stimulus
discrimination - learning a response to a specific stimulus that doesn't extend to other stimuli
How could conditioning be used to treat substance dependence?
Using slow exposure without the substance to environmental cues that trigger the body to start prepping for the drug intake (only doing some cues at a time so as not to quit cold turkey, which can be harmful)