Gabriel Test 1 Study Guide (Topics and Concepts) for Chapter 1 and 2:
Chapter 1 * Define psychology Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes * Identify and explain psychology’s four primary goals.description, explanation, prediction, influence * Understand the meaning of a theory a theory organizes facts systematically and guides scientific reaserach * **Compare and contrast basic and applied research Basic research is to seek new knowledge and expore and advance scientific understanding. Applied research is to solve practical problems and improve the quality of life * Compare and contrast naturalistic and laboratory observations, case studies and survey research, including their advantages and limitations.
Naturalistic Observation – where reasearchers observe behavior in its natural setting without attempting to influence or control it. It allows study of behavior in normal settings but you have to wait for things to happen and observer bias distrots observations.
Laboratory Observation- Studying behavior in a labortatory, Reasearchers have more control and use morepresise equipment to measure responses but they lose sontaneirt that occurs when behaviours take place in a more natural setting
Case study – an in depth study of one or a few participants consisting of info gathered through observations, interviews and psychological testing. Good for studying people who have uncommon psychological or physiological disorders or brain injury. But reasearchers cannot establish the causje of observed behaviours.
Surevey- a method of study in which reasearchers use interviews and or questionnaires to gather info about attitudes, beliefs, experiences or behaviours of a group or people. It provides highly accurate info about large numbers and show changes in attitudes over time. But respondents may provide inaccurate info