PSYB01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Dependent And Independent Variables, Categorical Variable, Mental Disorder
Document Summary
Definition: something that varies something that can take on different values. Feature of a person, situation, etc, that can take on one value or more. Examples: number of siblings, level of creativity, colour of food at room temperature: main purpose of research is to simplify the complex by explaining variability look at key variables that can explain the differences in behaviour. In psychology try to figure out which variables account for most of the differences in the way that organisms responds to a particular situation. Differences in the way people (or other organisms) behave in response to the same stimulus. We want to figure out what causes the differences in the way people react to the same stimulus. All variability in behaviour can be classified into two types: systematic & random. Systematic variability can be explained, random variability cannot be explained.
