PSYC 1010 Lecture 1: psych first Lecture
Friday, September 8, 2017
Psych lecture one
scientific method
-theory: general statement that explains a concept. e.g.. “anger and frustration cause
aggression”
-theories are so general and abstract that you cannot test it directly. it is not
evidence.
-Hypothesis is derived from the theory but is more specific and concrete. it is a
scientific guess.
-OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS: you have to OPERATIONALIZE your terms. You
have to be specific about how you define your terms.
-there are many ways you can operationalize frustration. e.g.. punching someone
without provocation. it frusterates.
-“kids who are frustrated by the boboa doll are likely to be more aggressive to the doll”
- hypothesis
-you have to operationalize “aggression”. (what qualifies as aggression?/ how do
you know when it is operational?)
-to prove such a theory, you have to prove every type of frustration and
aggression existing. You can never prove a theory to be true. You can however
confirm a theory and use evidence to support it. you cannot prove a general
theory. the more findings that support your theory, your confidence increases
about your theory, and vice versa with studies that do not support your
hypothesis.
-However if you find evidence that neither proves or denies your theory, eg. we have
operationalized aggression through frustration as a series of kicks and punches
toward the dog) that do not support or deny your hypothesis, you could alter your
studies to different groups of individuals, or operationalize aggression to include other
actions that you say define the aggression.
-you can also try to look at your study or experiment to determine if there is a flaw in
your study that resulted in a outcome that does not suit your hypothesis.
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Document Summary
Theory: general statement that explains a concept. e. g anger and frustration cause aggression . Theories are so general and abstract that you cannot test it directly. it is not evidence. Hypothesis is derived from the theory but is more speci c and concrete. it is a scienti c guess. Operational definitions: you have to operationalize your terms. You have to be speci c about how you de ne your terms. There are many ways you can operationalize frustration. e. g punching someone without provocation. it frusterates. Kids who are frustrated by the boboa doll are likely to be more aggressive to the doll . You have to operationalize aggression . (what quali es as aggression?/ how do you know when it is operational?) To prove such a theory, you have to prove every type of frustration and aggression existing. You can never prove a theory to be true.
