Introduction to Psychology

1.What is psychology?

• the systematic study of thoughts, feelings & behaviour.

• the absence of physical illness, disease and mental distress.

• A fully qualified hypnotist

• a series of systematic & orderly steps in which researchers use to plan, conduct & report research

What are two distinguishing features of a psychiatrist?

• A psychiatrist is a doctor

• A psychiatrist can prescribe medication

• Results are vague & often cannot be reproduced.

• Psychologists are doctors

Choose two differences between psychology and pseudoscience

• Pseudoscience Does not follow the scientific method.

• Psychology Relies on facts & evidence to back up ideas.

• Psychology does not follow the scientific method

• In pseudoscience experiments are precisely described so that they can be copied or improved.

What is a scientific method?

• does not follow the scientific method. Means fake.

• data (information) collected directly by observation or through experimentation.

• a series of systematic & orderly steps in which researchers use to plan, conduct & report research

• Psychologists observe people or animals in their natural habitat without being seen or noticed

How is empirical evidence obtained?

• alternative ways, such as reflection on past scholarship or on a certain aspect of social life

• data (information) collected directly by observation or through experimentation.

Choose one advantage and one disadvantage of conducting surveys.

• Researcher is able to make accurate observations, extraneous variables are less likely, & researchers can replicate the study later if required.

• Can be given in a variety of settings & are a flexible research method

• The setting is artificial, so people may not behave as they normally would in their natural environment. Not everything can be measured in a controlled environment.

• If they are not correctly written, they may not be reliable measures – they could be biased

Choose one advantage and one disadvantage of naturalistic observations.

• People or animals would behave as they would normally

• We are able to research uncommon cases & learn about phenomena

• There are only small numbers (in general) & case studies may not be representative of the population.

• The researcher has little or no control over variables.

Clinical psychologists are permitted to prescribe medications? True or False

• True

• False

Qualitative data is numerical. True or False

• True

• False

An extraneous variable is best described as an unwanted variable. True or False

• True

• False