PSY 139 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Statistical Significance, Sigmund Freud, Mental Disorder

• School: Hofstra University
• Department: Psychology (PSY)
• Course: PSY 139
• Professor: Mark Serper

Document Summary

A scientific attitude and approach to the study of abnormal behavior. Subject to bias of author of case study. Collecting information without asking participants directly for it. Biological variables can be observed via technologically advance methods. Anecdotal accounts and unusual research findings help researchers develop hypothesis. Hypotheses must be tested in well designed research studies. Individuals who are similar in their behavioral abnormalities. Study group should mirror underlying population in all important ways. Internal validity=methodological sounds (how sure are we that the drug was the reason for the outcome in the individual) To test hypotheses, researchers use a comparison group of people who are not that of the group being looked at to compare them to that group. Positive, negative, correlation of zero (scale of 1 to -1) Positive correlation ex: how much you eat and how much you weigh. Negative correlation ex: amount of time exercising and how much you weigh.