Psychology help please?

I know what you're thinking, do it yourself. I've honestly tried, and I don't have my book with me. Please, help me?








-Describe both positive and negative correlations, and explain how correlational measures can aid the process of prediction.





-Explain why correlation research fails to provide evidence of cause-effect relationships.





-Identify the basic elements of an experiment, and discuss how experimental control contributes to causal explanation.





-Describe the three measures of central tendency and the two measures of variation.





-Distinguish between random assignment of participants to conditions in experiments and random selection of participants, primarily in correlational studies and surveys.





-Explain why psychologists study animals, and discuss the ethics of experimentation with both animals and humans.





-Describe how personal values can influence psychologists' research and its applications, and discuss the possibility for misuse of research findings.|||Okies here's some help, although i don't really have time to answer all of them :)





A positive correlation is when one variable increases, the other also increases such as height and weight.


A negative correlation is when one variable increases the other decreases such as time watching television and test scores





correlations can aid the process of prediction by identifying lawful relationship between two variables where experimental manipulation of the variables is impossible, and can also act as a starting point for further study.





correlations cannot identify causal relationships, meaning that they don't tell us whether changes is which variable causes changes in the other, or whether there is a third variable acting to cause changes in both.





for example does watching tv cause students to flunk tests, or does flunking tests cause students to watch more tv, or do students with a low IQ ***** tests and watch lots of tv.





Experimental design means that the experimenter MANIPULATES the variables. He tries to hold all other variables constant so that he can see what happens when he manipulates changes in an independent variable - how does this cause changes in the dependent variable he is measuring. We can infer causation in an experiment because if we have successfully CONTROLled all variables we can be confident that no other variable is causing the changes.





Random assignment of participants to conditions means that once you have selected the participants, those participants are then divided into each condition in a random way so that there is no difference between participants in each condition eg to make sure you havn't assigned all the smart people to a particular condition, because that will effect the results.


In a correlational study and a survey, participants cannot be randomly assigned to conditions because they are naturally occuring. The experimenter is not manipulating the conditions. Random selection of participants however, means that you take a large portion of the population and select at random (with no particular system) participants for your study. This means that you are not selecting any particular type of person for your study. This way your participants will be more representative of the general population and your results will be more generalizable.





Psychologists use animals for experiments when it would be unethical to conduct them on humans for example when you are administering electric shocks or giving drugs etc.


Ethics for experiments on animals means that the usefulness of the knowledge and implications for practical application gained from the results of the study must outweigh the negative effects and suffering of the subjects.


Ethics for experiments on humans means that you must consider the persons right to privacy, any possible harm or discomfort the experiment may cause and the use of deception in an experiment.


All experiments much be approved by an ethics commitee and all participants must sign informed consent and have the right to leave at any time.





For the last one i think when the researcher wants a particular outcome, he can consciously or unconsciously change his behavior to effect the results of the experiment and make the expected or desired result more likely. This is sometimes called expectancy bias. Also, if the researcher particularly wants a particular result, he can interpret the results in a bias way and not consider them objectively. He can use the results of a study to jump to premature and unfounded conclusions.