PSYC 304 - Unit 2 Revision Exam
Questions Fully Solved.
Law - Answer Law is a statement that certain events are regularly associated with each other
in
an orderly way. EX: the frustration-aggression law states that frustration causes
aggression. Fighting cat hisses, arches its back, and raises its fur. None of these things
cause the cat to fight but it is simply correlated with fighting so can be considered a law.
Theory - Answer A statement or set of statements explaining one or more laws, usually
including
one indirect concept needed to explain the relationship.
Hypothesis - Answer A statement assumed to be true for the purpose of testing its validity.
Operational Definition - Answer A statement of the precise meaning of a procedure or concept
within an experiment.
Paradigm - Answer A set of laws, theories, methods, and applications that form a scientific
research tradition; for example Pavlovian conditioning.
Variable - Answer Aspect of a testing condition that can change or take on different
characteristics with different conditions.
Independent Variable - Answer The condition manipulated or selected by the experimenter to
determine its effect on behaviour.
Dependent Variable - Answer A measure of the subject's behaviour that reflects the
independent
variable's effects. a measure of the behaviour of the subject.
Confounding Variable - Answer One whose effect cannot be separated from the supposed
, Reliability of a Measurement - Answer The property of consistency of a measurement that
gives
the same result on different occasions.
Validity of a Measurement - Answer The property of a measurement that tests what it is
supposed to test.
Construct Validity - Answer A test that the measurements actually measure the constructs
they are designed to measure, but no others.
Content Validity - Answer The idea that a test should sample the range of behaviour
represented by the theoretical concept being tested.
Criterion Validity - Answer The idea that a test should correlate with other measures of the
same theoretical construct.
Test-retest Reliability - Answer The degree to which the same test score would be obtained on
another occasion.
Internal Consistency - Answer The degree to which the various items on a test are measures of
the same thing.
Briefly describe the three processes in the discovery of regularities. - Answer 1. The
description of behaviour: describe the phenomena considered to be important for
science to deal with. Define events and entities such as stimuli and responses,
cognitions and beliefs, or neurosis and psychoses.
2. The discovery of lawful relationships among aspects of behaviour: as the description of
behaviour progresses, various regularities appear among behavioural events. These
regularities form laws of behaviour.
3. The search for causes: Scientists search for the causes of the events that we
observe. If we know the cause of an event (child abuse) then we believe that we
understand child abuse.
Questions Fully Solved.
Law - Answer Law is a statement that certain events are regularly associated with each other
in
an orderly way. EX: the frustration-aggression law states that frustration causes
aggression. Fighting cat hisses, arches its back, and raises its fur. None of these things
cause the cat to fight but it is simply correlated with fighting so can be considered a law.
Theory - Answer A statement or set of statements explaining one or more laws, usually
including
one indirect concept needed to explain the relationship.
Hypothesis - Answer A statement assumed to be true for the purpose of testing its validity.
Operational Definition - Answer A statement of the precise meaning of a procedure or concept
within an experiment.
Paradigm - Answer A set of laws, theories, methods, and applications that form a scientific
research tradition; for example Pavlovian conditioning.
Variable - Answer Aspect of a testing condition that can change or take on different
characteristics with different conditions.
Independent Variable - Answer The condition manipulated or selected by the experimenter to
determine its effect on behaviour.
Dependent Variable - Answer A measure of the subject's behaviour that reflects the
independent
variable's effects. a measure of the behaviour of the subject.
Confounding Variable - Answer One whose effect cannot be separated from the supposed
, Reliability of a Measurement - Answer The property of consistency of a measurement that
gives
the same result on different occasions.
Validity of a Measurement - Answer The property of a measurement that tests what it is
supposed to test.
Construct Validity - Answer A test that the measurements actually measure the constructs
they are designed to measure, but no others.
Content Validity - Answer The idea that a test should sample the range of behaviour
represented by the theoretical concept being tested.
Criterion Validity - Answer The idea that a test should correlate with other measures of the
same theoretical construct.
Test-retest Reliability - Answer The degree to which the same test score would be obtained on
another occasion.
Internal Consistency - Answer The degree to which the various items on a test are measures of
the same thing.
Briefly describe the three processes in the discovery of regularities. - Answer 1. The
description of behaviour: describe the phenomena considered to be important for
science to deal with. Define events and entities such as stimuli and responses,
cognitions and beliefs, or neurosis and psychoses.
2. The discovery of lawful relationships among aspects of behaviour: as the description of
behaviour progresses, various regularities appear among behavioural events. These
regularities form laws of behaviour.
3. The search for causes: Scientists search for the causes of the events that we
observe. If we know the cause of an event (child abuse) then we believe that we
understand child abuse.
