- DEFINING PSYCHOLOGY (p. 4)
- Definition of psychology: the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. In chapter 2 you will learn exactly what "scientific" means.
- Psychology studies behavior (actions and reactions in the real world) and mental processes (private thoughts).
- Who Studies
Behavior?
- Everybody studies behavior but not all do it scienfically. We call those people lay people
- Specialists also study behavior scientifically. Psychologists do so, but so do many other academic types from other deparments
- Another category includes those who, by some reason, have the ability to convince others to do their bidding. Think of con artists, for example.
- The short version of psychology's definition and its history (it's like a movie plot): psychology finds mind (1879), psychology loses mind (1913), psychology finds mind again (1956). BTW, this is the "short history" part that Ebbinghaus mentioned above.
- Audio hover past arrow to see and hear audio-->
- Science
- Like most complex ideas, science is not easily defined. The four characteristics of science are: empiricism, the public nature of science, the replication of scientific results, and theory. These four characteristics are included in nearly all definitions of science.
- Empiricism
- Scientific answers come from observations, not opinions. All science and psychology depend on observations that are carefully planned and made.
- Public
- Science is public.Typically, scientists publish their findings in scientific journals. Without publication, scientists could not easily disseminate the answers they find. With publication, however, other scientists can easily find those answers (especially with searchable online databases). Publication, then, means that once a scientist discovers an answer empirically, others need not repeat the research; they can just look up the answer.
- Replication
- Sometimes, scientists DO wish to repeat the empirical procedures of other scientists in order to confirm the original findings. This kind of repetition is called replication,and is an important part of science because it helps ensure confidence in scientific conclusions.
- Theory
- Scientists do more than collect and publish empirical data and the methods they use. They also create theories that help to explain the data and to stimulate ideas for new studies. Theories can be verbal explanations, mathematical formulas, or simply analogies that help scientists understand the phenomena they study. Near the end of this chapter, we discuss theories in more detail and compare theories in physical science, biological science, and social science.
- The Big Pieture
- Think of empiricism, the public nature of science, replication, and theory as working together in an interlocking way. New data are collected to confirm or reject recent theories. Those same data are published; other scientists replicate the new data. New studies are carried out to flesh out details. Theories are revised and the process continues. In addition, most scientists come to science as a career because they seek answers to their questions and they believe that science is the best way yet devised to answer those questions.
- More on Science
- Science and its
Characteristics
- Defines science (again) and compares it to the legal system and to popularity. It does not argue that science should be used always in all situations.
- Advantages of
Science
on test (read)
- Rapid communication of data and ideas, reliable data, and intellectual freedom
- Disadvantages of
Science
on test (read)
- Information overload, anti-scientific biases, politics, popularity, and moral issues.
- Green Cheese: A Silly
Example of Science
- Why NASA really went to the moon. Imagine the hypothesis: The moon is made of green cheese. The only way to disprove that is to send someone to the moon to collect empirical data.
- Four Degrees K: A Real
Example of Science
- Sometimes curious scientists discover something unexpected. The fact that their microwave antenna could never register a zero point sent Penzias and Wilson on a long empirical journey. In the end, they won the Nobel Prize and contributed much to the study of the origins of the universe.
- Science and its
Characteristics
- PSYCHOLOGY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE (p. 8)
- Psychology's long past: Includes a large helping of philosophy, a good bit of biology, a portion of mathematics, and a bit of social science. That part only took a little more than 2000 years.
- THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL APPROACH
- Aristotle
- Aristotle was probably the first to publish works in topics that we would call psychological (back around 2,300 years ago). His main book in the psychological area was called De Anima in Latin, or On the Soul or On the Mind in English.Aristotle was an empiricist, meaning that he believed in collecting his own data. In fact, thanks to the Catholic church during the Middle Ages, Aristotle's entire body of work became the main source of knowledge for most people. Then, finding things out became a search through that work to see just what Aristotle had written about it.
- Audio hover past arrow to see and hear audio-->
- Click HERE to read the script for the audio.
- Medieval
Thought
- Religion was probably the most important difference between then and now. For during the medieval period, religion thoroughly permeated every aspect of life to a degree almost unimaginable today. Yet, at the same time, daily life contradicted those same religious principles. Violence was endemic and justice uncertain. Life was seen as a temporary state, a trial leading to eternal salvation or damnation. Thus, efforts were few to reform social structures or to change behavior because, for the blessed, salvation awaited; and, for the wicked, damnation. Religion also stifled creative thought because God's plan had already been revealed. All human explanations had to account for Biblical truth and for religious dogma. The world and humankind were unique reflections of God's creation. The gradual sense of a loss of uniqueness caused later by Copernicus, Galileo, and Darwin were still far in the future.
- Rene Descartes
- Descartes was a soldier, a teacher, a mathematician, and a philosopher. He invented Descartes Cartesian coordinates, or the x, y, z system by which we can graph mathematical functions in two-or three-dimensional space. Descartes the philosopher provided an interactionist solution to the mind-body problem. That philosophical problem wrestles with the question what is real. The mind-body really confronts us when we consider our internal view of external reality.For example, ask yourself what color a tennis ball is. I will make it a multiple choice question: Is it yellow, is it green, or is it a yellowish green? There are three answers, because different people see the same physical object in different ways. What color did you pick?
- In many ways, one can argue that interactionism led directly to the creation of the modern world. By separating mind and body, Descartes made it possible to study the two separately, and that is exactly what happened. The route to internal reality or to the mind has been much more difficult, and in many ways has not been attempted. The study of internal reality is called phenomenology. Psychology has always been interested in the mind. So, today psychologists are interested in both internal and external reality, and they owe that interest to Descartes and his interactionist solution to the mind-body problem
- The Mind-Body
Problem
- The mind-body problem is a philosophical problem, and as such it has philosophical solutions. In the Middle Ages, the mind-body problem was not even identified as a problem, and, therefore, the "solution" then was completely confounded, meaning that mind and body were thoroughly bound up together in one complex and confusing bundle.
- Descartes posited an interactionist solution to the mind-body problem, meaning that each affected the other. The effects of that solution were revolutionary and led to the Enlightenment and science itself.
- The Astronomers
- Copernicus: He posited that the earth and other planets were rotating around the sun in circular orbits. This was contrary to the Church's dogma (unchallengeable thought).
- Galileo: improved the telescope and discovered previously unknown moons orbiting Jupiter, again contrary to Church dogma. The Church warned him to not teach such thoughts, but he did. Later, he was forced to recant (take it back) or lose his life.
- Kepler: benefitted from the empirical data collected early by Brahe and discovered that the planetary orbits were ellipses, not circles.
- Aristotle
- My graphic on the diversity of psychology
- It shows how wide the field of psychology is. on test (look at it)
- I created the graphic above by combining the convention topics from the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and PsycINFO.
- The graphic shows just how diverse psychology is
- Notice that the chapters of your textbook do the same thing, show the diversity of psychology
- PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY: Explore Evolution from Giraffes to Human Beings (p. 10)
- King speculates on why giraffes have long necks
- Notice, however, that you have the same number of neck vertebrae as a giraffe, the giraffes vertebrae are each much longer
- King speculates on why giraffes have long necks
- CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO PSYCHOLOGY (p. 11)
- The Biological Approach
- Charles Darwin
- Darwin's theory provided continuity between humans and the rest of nature. Second, Darwin's mechanism of natural selection provided a plausible substitute for creationism, even though Darwin could not provide the details of natural selection. Those details came to light as the science of genetics was born and the theory of evolution merged with genetics to provide the "modern synthesis of biology." Darwin's notion of survival of the fittest was wrong. Instead, modern evolutionary theory substitutes reproduction of the fittest, or differential reproductive success. Third, Darwin pushed back the time horizon of the history of the universe. Instead of Bishop Usher's thousands of years (since the Flood), we now argue over the 14.5 billion years (since the Big Bang).
- Charles Darwin
- The Behavioral Approach
- John B. Watson
- In 1913, he published "Psychology as the behaviorist views it." That manifesto revolutionized psychology and, when combined with Pavlov's classical conditioning , became a new paradigm.
- Watson founded behaviorism and agitated for its use in psychological theorizing. His own theorizing in behaviorism was primitive and limited because of his premature exit from academe (due to a scandal). He did do much, however, in his new role in business to popularize behaviorism and to help remake psychology in behaviorist terms.
- B.F. Skinner
on test (read)
- Skinner expanded on the work of Pavlov and Watson by redefining the human organism's environment to include the things people say to themselves. The same rules of conditioning that apply to the external environment also apply to that internal environment. Skinner created a logical and self-consistent system that continues to have a vocal minority of adherents today.
- Skinner diagrammed the relationship of operant conditioning as follows:
- SD—> R—> SR
- where the SD is the discriminative stimulus, R is the emitted response, and SR is the reinforcer. In the laboratory, specifying the three terms above is relatively easy. Outside of the laboratory, the search for discriminative stimuli and reinforcers is more difficult, but still quite possible.
- What Makes Behavior
Analysis Radical?
- This is B. F. Skinner's position. The radical thing that Skinner did was to admit mental states into behavioristic analyses, but in a subtle way. Those mental states were not called mental states; rather, they were included as a sub-category of the environment, and, further, limited to only one's personal environment. (Note that many radical behaviorists or behavior analysts would not agree to my categorizing the internal environment as a mental state.) So, in Skinner's view, each of us is affected by the external environment and by our own internal environment. But, the rules of engagement, as it were, are exactly the same in both, meaning that reinforcement, stimulus control, the three-term contingency, in short, all of the constructs of behavior analysis, apply equally well to both environments.
- John B. Watson
- Look at the text starting on pages 12 to 14 to see how King defines psychology's seven main areas
- The Psychodynamic Approach
on test (read)
- This is the part of psychology opened up by Sigmund Freud and his successors. We will study them in more detail at the end of the course.
- The Humanistic Approach
- The humanistic approach pioneered by Abram Maslow and Carl Rogers attempted to provide a compromise between behaviorism and Freud's approach.
- The Cognitive Approach
- Look to the top of the page, this approach is when "psychology found mind again." It did so after World War II and the invention of the computer.
- Cognitive
Science
- One of the newest fields that studies behavior is cognitive science. Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field that draws not only on psychology, but also on computer science, linguistics, artificial intelligence, logic, and the neurosciences. Cognitive science is a "hot" field right now, meaning that many are becoming interested in it, and that research dollars are being allocated to it as well.
- BTW, the department has a Cognitive Science course, offered in the Spring, PSYC 3303. It's web page can be accessed HERE
- The Evolutionary Approach
- This approach comes primarily from biology, especially zoology. In psychology, evolutionists attempt to explain data via Darwinian mechanisms of fitness.
- Zoology
- Zoology is the study of the biology of animals. Animals behave, so some zoologists study behavior in the context of biology. Humans are animals too, so, strictly speaking, some zoologists study humans and their behavior too. It is useful at this point to remind ourselves that we are animals, and that the study of animals often generalizes to human studies.
- Ethology
- Zoology is the study of the biology of animals. Animals behave, so some zoologists study behavior in the context of biology. Humans are animals too, so, strictly speaking, some zoologists study humans and their behavior too. It is useful at this point to remind ourselves that we are animals, and that the study of animals often generalizes to human studies.
- Today, zoologists, ethologists, behavioral ecologists, and comparative psychologists may all study the behavior of any and all animals, including humans. The words "Animal Behavior" nicely act as an umbrella covering all of those fields.
- Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and Karl von Frisch
- Lorenz and Tinbergen were ethologists, who along with Karl von Frisch, received the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1973. Lorenz's early interests lay in the use of behavior as an aid to taxonomy. In particular, he was interested in the taxonomy of ducks.
- Tinbergen's research skills lay in his ability to "ask questions of nature." His four questions: immediate causation, development, evolution, and function still form the basis for modern ethological theorizing. His research with sticklebacks, herring gulls, and digger wasps are classic examples of ethology.
- Von Frisch discovered the "dance" of the honeybees. He demonstrated that worker bees returning to the hive could communicate the distance, direction, and type of flower to other worker bees thus recruiting them to exploit that resource and collect nectar with which to make honey.
- Sociobiology
- Sociobiogists study the behavior of social animals, including humans. Sociobiology developed from studies in population biology and genetics. Research in the social insects, especially ants and honey bees, had shown that the old Darwinian maxim of individual selection, of individuals working for their own reproductive success, did not seem to apply to those groups. The worker castes of those species do not reproduce; yet, their behavior in defense of their nests was tenacious and often life-threatening to the defenders. How could such behavior be explained? Most answers point to the modern theory of evolution and its emphasis on inclusive fitness. Behavior is shaped by more than the environment. Evolutionary pressures, ontogeny, and culture also play major roles.
- The Sociocultural Approach on test (read)
- This approach emphasis the role of social contexts on behavior. Culture and social factors play a major role in psychology.
- Summing Up the Seven Contemporary Approaches
- A full look at psychology will usually involve more more than one approach.
- The Biological Approach
- WHAT PSYCHOLOGISTS DO(p. 14)
- Careers in Psychology
- Common settings: on test (read)
- Academic 34%
- Clinical 24%
- Private Practice 22%
- Industrial/Organizational 12%
- School 4%
- Other 4%
- For a more complete and complex picture of the specialties see: My graphic on the diversity of psychology
- Physiological Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience (we'll see this is chapter 3)
- Sensation and Perception (we'll see this in chapter 4)
- Learning and Memory (we'll see those in chapters 6 and 7)
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Psychology (Department has separate course)
- Motivation and Emotion
- Psychology of Women and Gender
- Personality Psychology (Department has separate course)
- Social Psychology (Department has separate course)
- Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Department has separate course)
- Clinical and Counseling Psychology (Department has separate course)
- Health Psychology
- Community Psychology
- School Psychology
- Common settings: on test (read)
- Psychologists ask two basic categories of questions.
- One category are motivational questions. They start with the work "why"
- So, why are you taking this class?
- The other category are ecological questions. They start with the words like: how, where, and how often
- How do you study for this course?
- Where is your favorite place to study?
- How often do you study?
- One category are motivational questions. They start with the work "why"
- Quick Career Information for ANY Field, see:
- O*NET Online
- This online resource provides detailed information on nearly any occupation
- For Clinical and Counseling psychologists, O*NET reveals that such individuals:
- Assess, diagnose, and treat mental and emotional disorders of individuals through observation, interview, and psychological tests. Help individuals with distress or maladjustment understand their problems through their knowledge of case history, interviews with patients, and theory. Provide individual or group counseling services to assist individuals in achieving more effective personal, social, educational, and vocational development and adjustment. May design behavior modification programs and consult with medical personnel regarding the best treatment for patients.
- For 2022, their median wages (see definition of median below) exceeded $90,000/year
- PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY
- Look at page 19 of your text and notice how the different subfields of psychology frame their questions
- INTERSECTION: Personality, Developmental, and Cross-Cultural Psychology: Why do we grow up, psychologically?
- The older you get the more conscientious, agreeable, and emotionally stable you become
- These data are seen across many cultures
- JOKE VIDEO: Dr.Rick helps people not become like their parents
- He's an "expert" on the yet-to-be recognized psychology subdiscipline of "parentology" ha ha
- Cross-Cultural
Psychology
- Psychology has gradually realized that people in different parts of the world do not behave as do Americans.
- In this example, a psychologist discovers how the perception of time, itself, varies in different cultures
- FYI, I recently noted that one of the electronic displays on Jackson St. was slow by 15 minutes!
- In this example, a psychologist discovers how the perception of time, itself, varies in different cultures
- Psychology has gradually realized that people in different parts of the world do not behave as do Americans.
- THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY AND HEALTH AND WELLNESS (p. 20)
- How the mind impacts the body
- Don't smoke, sleep 8 hours a night, eat healthy foods, and exercise. Sound familiar? on test (read)
- How can you make yourself carry out those healthy choices
- How the body impacts the mind
- JOKE: If your parents did not have children, odds are you will not either.
- TRUE: If all of your near relatives (father, mother, brother, grandparents) died naturally before age 60 then you are likely to die young too. That's a consequence of your genetics.
- How the mind impacts the body
Chapter 2: Psychology's Scientific Methods
Psychology is a science and like any science it has developed scientific methods. In this chapter you will learn about the scientific method itself, the type of psychological research, research samples and settings, analyzing and interpreting data, research ethics, and critical thinking. Georg von Bekesy, a a Nobel Prize winning researcher who discovered much about how the ear works, wrote: "Method is everything, everything is method."
- PSYCHOLOGY'S SCIENTIFIC METHOD (p. 26)
- Step 1: Observing
- Scientists are curious people, almost childlike in their curiousity
- Step 2: Hypotheses and Predictions
- Hypotheses are tentative and must be tested on test (read)
- If confirmed, they are kept
- If rejected, they must me discarded
- Here's a good example: Doreen Kimura had a hypothesis that the cognitive abilities of men and women were identical. That was her hypothesis. But, being a good scientist she decided to investigate the hypothesis.
- She discovered her hypothesis was wrong, so she rejected it.
- Here are the data she DID find:
- Intellectual differences (Kimura, 1992)
- females better at:
- tests of perceptual speed
- object displacement tests
- ideational fluency (i.e., list objects of same color)
- verbal fluency (i.e., list words that start with a particular letter)
- precise fine motor tasks
- mathematical calculation
- males better at:
- spatial tasks--i.e., mental rotations of objects
- target directed skills--i.e., guiding or intercepting projectiles
- disembedding tests--i.e., telling foreground from background
- tests of mathematical reasoning
- females better at:
- Intellectual differences (Kimura, 1992)
- Step 3: Testing with Empirical Research
- The sections below will describe how psychologists conduct empirical research
- Step 4: Drawing Conclusions
- Look at Kimura's data above. What conclusions can you draw?
- One obvious one is that men and women are different in their average cognitive abilities
- Careful! These are group data so it does not mean that every woman is better than every man at precise motor tasks. Nor does it mean that every man is better than every woman in mathematical reasoning.
- Look at Kimura's data above. What conclusions can you draw?
- Step 5: Evaluating the Theory
- Theories do two things: on test (read)
- They summarize vast amounts of data
- They direct researchers where to look next for new data
- Meta-analysis: see definition on page 29 on test (read)
- Look at many experimental results at once
- "see the forest, not the trees"
- Don't depend on just one result
- Think of Newton's theory of gravity, it only needs to variables: mass and distance, yet it explains phenomena at many levels
- Theories do two things: on test (read)
- Be careful looking at these steps because veteran scientists do not really go through them one by one. This is a simplification
- Step 1: Observing
- TYPES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH (p. 30)
- Descriptive
- Observation
- Naturalistic
Observation
- Good first step
- Needs to be controlled by using: recording and multiple observers.
- Gorillas vs. second graders on test (read)
- Naturalistic
Observation
- Surveys and Interviews
- The most common type of descriptive research
- Surveys, Questionnaires, and Tests
- Case Studies
- Close examination of a person or a group (e.g., the top 100 companies to work for)
- Case Studies
- Observation
- Correlational Studies on test (read)
- Require at least two measurements from each participant
- Measure relatedness of variables but NOT causation
- Correlation coefficients range from +1.00 to -1.00 on test (read)
- The plus or minus sign indicates the direction of the correlation on test (read)
- Audio hover past arrow to see and hear audio-->
- Click HERE to read the script for the audio.
- Cheerleaders show positive (left side of graphic, A and B are both high or both low) or negative (right side of graphic, A is high and B is low, or A is low and B is high).
- Below is a real correlation. Each dot represents the weight and MPG of a particular automobile.What does the graph tell you?
- Heavy automobiles have lower MPG
- Light automobiles have higher MPG
- This is a negative correlation. Can you see why?
- Descriptive
- PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY: Miserable but Helpful? (p. 36)
- Experimental
- Experiments
- Only method that can specify cause and effect (when the experiment is done correctly)
- Dependent variables (DVs) are measured from all participants
- DVs depend on the Independent variable (IV)
- IVs are:
- the reason for the experiment
- the only variables left uncontrolled
- Operational definitions are crucial to science
- They define by the conditions required to produce the definition
- Hunger, for example, could be operationally defined by how many hours have passed since last eating
- Notice how that avoids asking people about a highly variable internal state
- Hunger, for example, could be operationally defined by how many hours have passed since last eating
- They define by the conditions required to produce the definition
- Look at the two examples: on test (read)
- Toothpaste vs no toothpaste
- Nox-Out©, the sleeping pill:
- See: Basics of experiments
- The bottom line for any properly run experiment where the DV results differ?
- The IV caused the DV
- In the examples above:
- Toothpaste caused fewer cavities than did water.
- Nox-Out© made people sleep longer.
- Nox-Out© made people sleep better.
- Nox-Out© made people fall asleep faster.
- Experiments
- Cautions about experimental research (also see p. 42)
- Internal validity
on test (read)
- Nearly everything described in the toothpaste and Nox-Out© examples related to internal validity.
- Internal validity is best when ONLY the IV can have an effect on the DV.
- Confounded variables, like the ones shown as bad experiments in the Nox-Out© example can ALSO affect the DV.
- For an experiment to actually assess cause and effect it must eliminate confounds.
- External validity
on test (read)
- First, if an experiment does not have internal validity it cannot have external validity.
- But, an experiment might have perfect internal validity but still not have external validity.
- External validity means that the experimental results have applicability in other settings (e.g., the real world)
- So, a lab study, for example, one with excellent internal validity might not give the same results when conducted outside of the lab.
- Another way to think of this is via generalizability. If the results do not generalize to other settings there is no external validity.
- Bias
- All humans are biased. That's a given. So, scientists must eliminate bias from their experiments. Let's use the Nox-Out© example to see how bias might be a problem. At the same time, we'll look at ways to control or eliminate bias.
- Experimenter:
- Let's conduct yet another bad experiment
- Our experimenter gives the Nox-Out© to the experimental group but nothing to the control group. Hmmm...
- The participants are in a motel, they have agreed to be in an experiment and they receive a pill. Might they not think it was a sleeping pill?
- At the same time those in the control group get no Nox-Out©.
- The FIX: prepare two pills, one with Nox-Out© in it and one without
- Make the pills identical and give them to all.
- Also, make sure the procedures are the same. Don't, for example, smirk at those getting Nox-Out©, that might be a tell
- That other pill, the one without Nox-Out©, is an example of a placebo.
- Participant:
- Studies have shown that people do not trust psychologists (see Ethics section below). So, many participants will not believe a psychologist who tells them they are in a sleep study. (They might ask themselves a question like, "I wonder what this researcher is really looking for."
- Curing bias
- The double-blind experiment eliminates both sources of bias on test (read)
- In the Nox-Out© study those giving either the Nox-Out© or the placebo should not know which is which. (That's why they are "blind"
- Similarly, the participants will not know whether they have been given Nox-Out© or not. (They are "blind" to the levels of the IV)
- The double-blind experiment eliminates both sources of bias on test (read)
- Experimenter:
- All humans are biased. That's a given. So, scientists must eliminate bias from their experiments. Let's use the Nox-Out© example to see how bias might be a problem. At the same time, we'll look at ways to control or eliminate bias.
- Internal validity
on test (read)
- Experimental
- INTERSECTION: Cognitive Psychology and Health Psychology: How can we combat COVID-19 misinformation online?(p. 41)
- Read this section in the text. It discusses how people, often unknowingly, spread misinformation on social media.
- Applications of the Three Types of Research (p. 44)
- This box shows how researcher might use different types of research. In this case, correlational and experimental. They did that because correlational research does not assess cause and effect, but experimental research does.
- RESEARCH SAMPLES AND SETTINGS (p. 45)
- Samples vs Populations on test (read)
- A population is everyone who shares one or more attributes
- You are, for example, a member of the population of:
- people living in the USA
- people living in Arkansas
- students at SAU in the fall of 2023
- In short, you are a member of a large number of populations
- You are, for example, a member of the population of:
- A sample is a part of a population (more below)
- Psychologists usually study samples and not populations.
- Choosing a sample is important
- Famous examples of choosing the wrong smple exist.
- In 1936 the Literary Digest polled a sample of its readers and predicted that Alf Landon would soundly defeat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the upcoming election.
- But, Roosevelt won in a landslide, why?
- The magazine sampled people with telephones and cars
- But in 1936 not everyone had a telephone or a car: they collected data from a biased sample
- When they tried to use that data to predict how Americans would vote, they were dead wrong.
- Many of the people they failed to sample did not vote for Landon
- Random samples cure this problem, thanks to statistics.
- The definition of a random sample is: on test (read)
- Every member of the population has an equal chance of being in the sample.
- So, is this class a random sample of the SAU population ? NO
- Because of many variables: major, jobs, preference for face-to-face classes, major requirements and much more you in this class are NOT a random sample
- So, is this class a random sample of the SAU population ? NO
- How are random samples created?
- In a number of ways, here are two:
- Assume SAU's undergraduate population is 4,000 students
- You want a random sample of 400 students
- Method 1
- Get an alphabetical list of SAU students
- Use a random number generator to find the first student
- Set it for 1 to 4000 students
- I just did that and got the number: 2452 (when you do it the number will be different)
- Now, find the 2452nd student on the list
- From now on select a student 10 numbers down on the list (roll around to the beginning of the list too)
- You now have 400 randomly selected students
- Method 2
- Get that alphabetical list of SAU students
- Cut it into 4000 slips of paper each with one name on it
- Put those slips into a large hopper and make the slips mix for a long while
- Put your hand in the hopper and take out 400 slips of paper one at a time
- You now have another random sample
- So What?
- If your sample is large enough you may safely assume that the sample will closely reflect the population on any and all variables.
- So, if you wish to run an experiment and have created two such large enough random samples they will be nearly the same BEFORE you subject them to two different levels of the IV.
- Thus, any difference you measure afterwards must have come from the IV.
- In a number of ways, here are two:
- Every member of the population has an equal chance of being in the sample.
- The definition of a random sample is: on test (read)
- Settings
- There are many settings for psychological research
- One place is a laboratory
- In the lab, researchers can control more variables make a stronger argument for cause and effect
- Another place is anywhere else
- A lot of interesting research in psychology cannot be done in a lab
- In such "field" settings variables may be much harder to control (Look at Naturalistic Observation again)
- One place is a laboratory
- There are many settings for psychological research
- Famous examples of choosing the wrong smple exist.
- A population is everyone who shares one or more attributes
- Samples vs Populations on test (read)
- ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING DATA (p. 47)
- So, how do you tell if the DV scores of two groups are different enough to say that the IV caused the difference? That's usually settled by statistics.
- How do you reduce masses of data into comprenhesible concepts. That's usually settled by statistics too.
- If you are a psychology major at SAU, a statistics class is in your future.
- Here, however, we'll only look at statistics briefly.
- Descriptive Statistics on test (read)
- Descriptive statistics reduce large amounts of data into measurements of central tendency and deviation
- Measures of central tendency:
- Mean
on test (read)
- Mean is another name for average
- Means are calculated by adding up all of the scores and dividing my the number of scores
- On page 50 are four positive mood scores: 7, 6, 2, and 5. They add up to 20. There are four scores, so the mean is 5 (20/4 = 5)
- Median
on test (read)
- The median is the halfway point in a distribution that is ordered from high to low or vice versa
- So, the median is the score where half of the scores fall below and half fall above
- Medians have an interesting property, they are less affected by extreme scores than the mean is.
- Imagine that LBJ (LeBron James) decided to move to Magnolia and build a 68 room mansion for $12,000,000
- His house would raise the mean value of houses in Magnolia by a lot, but that would be misleading.
- The median, however, would not change very much at all
- That is why governments use median property values instead of mean property values
- Mode
- The mode is the most common score in an ordered distribution
- In the normal distribution, which describes many naturally occurring variables the mean, median, and the mode are all the same.
- Mean
on test (read)
- Measures of deviation
- Range
- The range is simply the distance between the highest and lowest score in a distribution
- Imagine getting a test score back, say 57 out of 100. You might be upset. Would you be less upset if you found out the highest score was a 59?
- Standard Deviation
on test (read)
- The standard deviation is a statistical measure of how widely the scores in a distribution are.
- Take a look at Tiger Woods and I playing golf (FYI, we did not play together!)
- Which are is Tiger's shots? Why?
- There are two variables here: distance and direction
- Note that Tiger's shots are more consistent in both variables
- So, a smaller standard deviation means more consistency
- The standard deviation is a statistical measure of how widely the scores in a distribution are.
- Inferential Statistics on test (read)
- Most of psychological research is designed and analyzed by inferential statistics
- Here is where external validity comes into play
- When the sample matches the population then sample results may be inferred to the population
- Here's an example where that does NOT work
- I asked a class last year what their favorite color was
- Blue--8
- Red--6
- Green--3
- Yellow--2
- Black--2
- Purple--1
- Then I stated, "The world's favorite color is blue. Research results show."
- Any problem with that?
- YES
- There is no way that class (a sample) was representative of the entire world
- I asked a class last year what their favorite color was
- So, the sample must represent the population in order to infer data from the sample to the population
- Howe to decide?
- That's where inferential statistics come in
- They do so because social science data is probabilistic, not absolute
- The details are beyond the level of this course, but for now there her is one common method
- NHST: Null hypothesis significance testing which provides a probability value that the IV caused the difference seen in the DV
- Two levels are used p < 0.05 and p < 0.01
- The simple way to understand those is for p < 0.05 is that if you ran the experiment 20 times, only once would you fail to find a DV difference that really existed
- For p < 0.01, if you ran the experiment 100 times, only once would you fail to find a real DV difference
- Naturally, psychologists do not run the same experiment 20 or 100 times
- NHST: Null hypothesis significance testing which provides a probability value that the IV caused the difference seen in the DV
- Measures of central tendency:
- Descriptive statistics reduce large amounts of data into measurements of central tendency and deviation
- PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY: Experimentation in a Natural Setting (p. 48)
- This example shows how an experiment can be conducted even in a natural setting
- The IV was Mood with levels of: Positive, Neutral, and Negative
- The DVs were:
- number of helpful responses
- number of attempts to help
- time spent helping
- The results were that when employees were manipulated into a positive mood they were more helpful
- CONDUCTING ETHICAL RESEARCH (p. 52)
- Research ethics are important
- During World War II Nazi scientists conducted unethical scientific research on humans they had placed in concentration camps
- For example, they chilled prisoners to lower their core temperatures to find the limit where they could survive
- After the war the Nuremberg Code was created to specify how scientists should ethically treat others
- During World War II Nazi scientists conducted unethical scientific research on humans they had placed in concentration camps
- APA Research Ethical Guidelines on test (read)
- This set of guidelines informs psychologists as to what is permissible in human research
- Section 8 of the guidelines covers research and its publication (15 topics)
- Your text identifies four of those as very important
- Informed Consent
on test (read)
- Except for situations in which informed consent may be dispensed, psychologists MUST inform participants:
1. of the purpose, duration, and procedures of the study;
2. that they may decline to participate or withdraw from the research;
3. of any possible consequences of declining or withdrawing;
4. of any risks, discomfort, or adverse effects related to the research;
5. of any possible benefits related to the research;
6. about limits of confidentiality of the research;
7. of any incentives, such as money or grades, for research participation;
8. of their rights and whom to contact for answers to questions about the research.
- Except for situations in which informed consent may be dispensed, psychologists MUST inform participants:
- Confidentiality
on test (read)
- Psychologists have a primary obligation and take reasonable precautions to protect confidential information obtained through or stored in any medium, recognizing that the extent and limits of confidentiality may be regulated by law or established by institutional rules or professional or scientific relationship.
- Debriefing
- Debriefing informs participants of the “nature, results, and conclusions of the research” (American Psychological Association, 2002, p. 12). Debriefing usually ends with a question such as “Do you have any questions about the study,” which allows researchers to correct any misconceptions that participants may have acquired. Debriefing is useful to researchers as well because it allows them to monitor their studies. Through debriefing, researchers may learn how participants perceive the study and if any procedures are not working.
- Deception
on test (read)
- The standard covering deception has three parts. The first part prohibits deception unless researchers determine that deception is justified by “the study’s significant prospective scientific, educational, or applied value,” AND that “effective non-deceptive alternative procedures are not feasible”
- Informed Consent
on test (read)
- Ethical Treatment of Research Animals
on test (read)
- Research with animals, too, is subject to ethical guidelines:
- (a) Psychologists acquire, care for, use, and dispose of animals in compliance with current federal, state, and local laws and regulations, and with professional standards.
- (b) Psychologists trained in research methods and experienced in the care of laboratory animals supervise all procedures involving animals and are responsible for ensuring appropriate consideration of their comfort, health, and humane treatment.
- (c) Psychologists ensure that all individuals under their supervision who are using animals have received instruction in research methods and in the care, maintenance, and handling of the species being used, to the extent appropriate to their role.
- (d) Psychologists make reasonable efforts to minimize the discomfort, infection, illness, and pain of animal subjects.
- '(e) Psychologists use a procedure subjecting animals to pain, stress, or privation only when an alternative procedure is unavailable and the goal is justified by its prospective scientific, educational, or applied value.
- (f) Psychologists perform surgical procedures under appropriate anesthesia and follow techniques to avoid infection and minimize pain during and after surgery.
- (g) When it is appropriate that an animal's life be terminated, psychologists proceed rapidly, with an effort to minimize pain and in accordance with accepted procedures.
- Research with animals, too, is subject to ethical guidelines:
- Research ethics are important
- CRITICAL CONTROVERSY: Does the white supremacist history of statistics matter? (p. 53)
- Galton, Fisher, and Pearson were instrumental in developing many of the statistical methods used by psychologists today
- However, each of them held white supremacist or racial animus.
- Consequently, their names have since been removed from buildings in order to acknowledge how people today abhor such views.
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH (p. 55)
- Overgeneralizing
- As Alexander Pope wrote, “A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.”
- So, don't make general statements until you are sure they are correct.
- Group Results vs Individual Needs
- Most psychological research looks at group means or medians. But, while those measures of central tendency may apply to groups they will not apply to particular individuals.
- Look at Kimura's research above. All of her statements apply to groups of males or females. They do NOT apply to individuals. There is no easy way to tease out individual data from group data.
- Beyond the Single Study on test (read)
- Most scientific facts come from a multitude of studies all pointing in the same direction. But, there may a few studies that point in the opposite direction.
- The safe strategy is go with the bulk of the research, not the exceptions
- Overattributing Causation
- Remember, only properly run experiments using random assignment can specify cause and effect.
- Source of Information
- The source of information is another key to getting to the truth.
- Beware of biased publications such as the National Inquirer and disbelieve much of what you read on social media
- Peer reviewed sources such as scientific journals are more likely to contain reliable information.
- THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND HEALTH AND WELLNESS (p. 56)
- James Pennebacker's research has shown that writing about significant life-altering events leads to better health.
- He suggests:
- Finding a quiet place to write
- Writing only about one topic at a time
- Writing at least a little every day
- Write about thoughts, emotions, and feelings without worrying about grammar, spelling, or punctuation
- Write about positive experiences, the people you like or admire, or things that gratify you if you cannot address negative issues
- KEY TERMS (p. 59)
- Be sure you go over the key terms listed on this page before you take the test!
- Lecture Test Items on test (read)
-
Darwin and psychology-he was influentialHalf of the scores are above and below the medianTheories explain data and point way to new researchHypotheses must be testedOur class is NOT a representative sample of SAUAPS is promoting the replication of classic studies in psychIn a random sample everyone in the population has an equal chance of being in the sample.Heavy bikes are likely to be cheapOne dependent variable in the Nox-Out© study was length of sleep.
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Wundt was the first psychologistFreud founded psychoanalysisJames was the first American psychologistDarwin promoted the theory of evolutionHippocrates was the founder of medical scienceCritical thinkers collect and assess evidenceA placebo is a “fake” treatment.Good experiments demonstrate cause and effect.The dependent variable is what is measured.The independent variable is chosen by the experimenter and is the object studied in the experiment.
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