Psychology as a science
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| psychology | 心理学 | xīn lǐ xué |
| perspectives | 视角 | shì jiǎo |
| research methods | 研究方法 | yán jiū fāng fǎ |
| independent variable | 自变量 | zì biàn liàng |
| dependent variable | 因变量 | yīn biàn liàng |
| counterbalancing | 平衡设计 | píng héng shè jì |
The word "scientific" is doing the work
- Psychology 心理学 is the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes.
- That means claims rest on evidence gathered systematically, not on what feels true about people.
- Everyone has theories about why people act as they do. The module is about which of them survive a test.
What does calling psychology "scientific" commit it to?
Everyone has theories about people. Evidence is what separates the ones that survive a test.
Perspectives
- The perspectives 视角 explain the same behaviour differently: biological, behavioural, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic.
- A question naming one expects that one. "Explain aggression from a behavioural perspective" is not answered with brain chemistry.
- None is the right answer in general. They are different levels of description of the same person.
"Cognitive" and "experiment" are two words for the same thing.
Cognitive is a perspective — a way of explaining. An experiment is a method — a way of finding out.
The experiment
- Research methods 研究方法 in this module mean the experiment: change one thing, measure another, hold the rest constant.
- The independent variable 自变量 is what the researcher changes; the dependent variable 因变量 is what is measured.
- Counterbalancing 平衡设计 swaps the order for half the participants, so practice does not favour one condition.
In the music-and-memory study, match each element to its role.
Change one, measure another, hold the rest constant. That is the whole design.
Does music affect memory?
Independent: music or silence. Dependent: words recalled from a list of twenty. Controls: same list, same time limit, same room.
Design: each participant does both conditions, with the order swapped for half of them.
That last sentence is counterbalancing, and adding it is what turns a demonstration into an experiment — without it, everyone is more practised in the second condition, whichever one that was.
Why swap the order of conditions for half the participants?
That is counterbalancing, and it is what turns a demonstration into an experiment.
Ethics are marked, not assumed. Informed consent, no harm, the right to withdraw, and a debrief afterwards. A study design that omits them loses marks however good the method is.
Which must a study design include? Choose all that apply.
Ethics are marked. Whether the prediction held is a result, not a design requirement.
Do not confuse a perspective with a method. Cognitive is a way of explaining; an experiment is a way of finding out. A question can ask for either, and answering the wrong one is a common way to lose an otherwise correct answer.