About Psychology

1.

Psychology is generally thought of as the study of mind. However, people view the idea of a “mind” in different respects, so it’s easier to say that psychology is the study of people’s experiences and their behaviour.

2.

“Science” has its base in empirical research. That is, research that is verified by observation or experience. A scientific study requires an absence of bias, and suitable conditions. It should also yield (roughly) the same results, regardless of who is conducting it.

3.

The first stage is to define an exact topic of study. It is important the question being asked is the right one; otherwise it may be difficult to test.

4.

A good psychological study should live up to three main standards:

1] It should be possible to suppose that the findings extend beyond the people tested.

2] The results should be the same, regardless of who researches it.

3] It is important that the way the results are measured is valid; a researcher should extract the right information from the experiment.

5.

A “single blind control” is a situation wherein the person/s being used in the experiment aren’t told what the experiment is for. If they are told, it may have an affect on the results.

A “double blind control” is similar, except neither the person in the experiment or the person asking them questions is aware of what the experiment is for (or what the expected results may be).

6.

Experimenter effects are a result of the experimenter’s personal biases affecting the results. If the experimenter expects a certain answer the person answering questions may pick up on this, which could lead to inaccuracies.

7.

A number of problems can arise in observational studies.

If a lot is happening at once, it may be difficult to discern whether a certain result is causal or whether it would happen anyway, and if it is causal, what caused it.

Another factor is bias; if the observer is expecting a certain result they may misread a situation, perhaps as a consequence of their desire to prove a theory.

Something else to take into account is the way our behaviour may differ if we are being watched.

8.

A longitudinal study is one where the individuals being studied are the same, over a time-period, as apposed to a group of individuals being studied at one stage, and another at a different stage; this is a cross-sectional study.

9.

By specifically selecting people wearing orange to participate in an experiment, you may be choosing people who are outgoing and like to stand out. You probably wouldn’t get a random group of people with this method.

10.

There are a number of basic ethical guidelines in psychology. They were put in place to ensure that test subjects emerge unharmed