PSYC 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Biopsychosocial Model, Pseudoscience, Random Assignment
14 Jun 2018
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Saturday, September 30, 2017
Psychology Midterm 1 Textbook
1.1 The Science of Psychology
Pseudoscience: an idea that is presented as science but does not actually utilize basic
principles of scientific thinking or procedure. (astrology)
Biopsychosocial model: means of explaining behaviour as a product of biological,
psychological and sociocultural factors.
2.2 Scientific Research Designs
Case study: in depth report about the details of a specific case
Correlation research: involves measuring the degree of association between two or
more variables.
Naturalistic Observation: observing subjects in their natural environment.
Artificial Observation: observing the behaviour of subjects that are in a controlled
environment.
Random Assignment: a technique for dividing samples into two or more groups in
which participants are equally likely to be placed in any condition of the experiment.
Cofounding Variable: a variable outside of the researcher’s control that might affect or
provide an alternative explanation for the results.
Independent Variable: the variable that the experimenter manipulates to distinguish
between two or more groups.
Dependant Variable: observation or measurement that is recorded during the
experiment and subsequently compared across all groups.
Experimental Group: group in the experiment that receives a treatment or the stimuli
targeting a specific behaviour.
Control Group: group that does not receive the treatment or stimuli targeting a specific
behaviour; this group serves as a baseline to which the experimental group is
compared.
Third Variable Problem: the possibility that a third, unmeasured variable is actually
responsible for a well established correlation between two variables.
!1
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Saturday, September 30, 2017
Between Subjects Design: an experimental design in which the performance of
participants who are in different groups.
Within Subjects Design: an experimental design in which the same participants
respond to all types of stimuli or experience all experimental conditions.
Quasi Experimental Design: a research technique in which the two or more groups
that are compared are selected based on predetermined characteristics rather than a
random assignment.
2.3 Ethics in Psychological Research
Deception: misleading or only partially informing participants of the true topic or
hypothesis under investigation.
Debriefing: the researcher should explain the true nature of the study and especially
the nature of and reason for the deception.
2.4 A Statistical Primer
Central Tendency: a measure of the central point of the distribution.
Hypothesis Test: a statistical method of evaluating whether differences among groups
are meaningful, or could have been arrived at by chance alone.
Statistical Significance: a concept that implies that the means of the groups are
farther apart than you would expect them to be be by random chance alone.
!2
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Saturday, September 30, 2017
3.2: Cells and Neurotransmitters
Neural Communication
Neurons: responsible for sending and receiving messages throughout the body.
Purpose is to “fire” to receive input from one group of neurons and to then transmit that
information to other neurons.
•all neurons have a cell body (soma): contains the nucleus that houses the cell’s
genetic material.
Dendrites: small branches radiating from the cell body that receive messages from
other cells and transmit those messages toward the rest of the cell.
Axon: transports information in the form of electrochemical reactions from the cell body
to the end of the neuron.
•When the activity reaches the end of the axon, it will arrive at terminals filled with
vesicles; these vesicles contain neurotransmitters- the chemicals that function as
messages allowing neutrons to communicate with each other.
Different types of Neurons:
•Sensory neurons receive information from the bodily sense and bring it toward the
brain. Neurons that respond to touch or pain sensations bring the message toward the
spinal cord and into the brain.
•Motor neurons carry messages away from the brain and spinal cord and toward
muscles in order to control their flexion and extension.
Glial Cells: specialized cell of the nervous system that are involved in mounting
immune responses in the brain, removing waste and synchronizing the activity of
neurons.
•Glial cells form a substance called myelin- insulate the axons from one another,
resulting in increased speed and efficiency of neural communication.
•When the myelin sheath is damaged, the efficiency of the axon decreases.
•Ex: sclerosis disease
Resting potential: When the neuron is not transmitting information.
•the inside of the neuron has a high concretion of positively charged ions. (potassium
and sodium)
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Document Summary
Pseudoscience: an idea that is presented as science but does not actually utilize basic principles of scienti c thinking or procedure. (astrology) Biopsychosocial model: means of explaining behaviour as a product of biological, psychological and sociocultural factors. Case study: in depth report about the details of a speci c case. Correlation research: involves measuring the degree of association between two or more variables. Naturalistic observation: observing subjects in their natural environment. Arti cial observation: observing the behaviour of subjects that are in a controlled environment. Random assignment: a technique for dividing samples into two or more groups in which participants are equally likely to be placed in any condition of the experiment. Cofounding variable: a variable outside of the researcher"s control that might affect or provide an alternative explanation for the results. Independent variable: the variable that the experimenter manipulates to distinguish between two or more groups.
