Ch 1 Thinking Critically Pseudopsychology Phony, unscientific psychology masking as the real thing ex. Common sense (which is usually wrong) Polygraph test (lie detector), demonic possession as a cause of mental illness Hindsight bias (I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon) The tendency to believe (after an outcome) that you could have foreseen the results in advance Overconfidence The tendency to over estimate your intuition Ex. The belief that the Earth was flat Confirmation bias The tendency to believe evidence that CONFIRMS our beliefs or expectations while ignoring evidence that does not. Ex. Zodiac signs, and horoscopes

Contemporary Psychological Perspectives

Scientific Method Develop a hypothesis Perform a controlled test Gather data Analyze the results Publish, critique and replicate the results

Research Design Non Experimental Methods Case study Survey Naturalistic observation Longitudinal study Cross sectional study Cohort sequential study Correlation study

Research Design (Pseudo Experiments) Case Study Where a researcher studies one individual in depth in an effort to reveal things that are true about us all Survey A technique designed to gather info from a large group Naturalistic Observation Involves a researcher observing and recording behavior in a subjects natural environment

Research Design (Pseudo Experiments) Longitudinal study One group of subjects are followed and observed for an extended period of time (ex. 20 years) Cross sectional Involves taking a segment of the population at one specific time Cohort sequential A cross section of the population is chosen and each cohort (age group) is followed for a short period of time

Research Design Correlation Studies Where an experimenter will seek to establish whether there is a relationship between two or more variables (ex. Smoking and cancer, old age and baldness) A CORRELATION DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN CAUSATION!! The degree of correlation is expressed through the correlation coefficient Correlations range from 1.0 to -1.0 A 0 correlation coefficient means there is no relationship between the variables A strong positive correlation indicates that as one variable INCREASES so does the other A strong negative correlation indicates that as one variable INCREASES the other variable DECREASES

Scatterplots Each dot represents two variables

Research Design Which type of correlation is this negative, positive or none? The correlation between temperament and height is positive!

Research Design Illusionary correlations Where we believe there is a correlation between two variables and we recall instances that confirm our beliefs but the relationship does NOT exist Ex. Joint pain and in climate weather sugar consumption and hyperactivity being cold and wet causes one to catch a cold etc. All false! Illusionary correlations!

Animal Research Psychologists study animals to learn about people Comparative Psychology and Ethology- studying animal behavior and how it relates to humans Most scientists study and experiment on animals to develop treatments for diseases Diabetes Polio Rabies The degree of compassion for animals varies according to perceived kinship of the animal to humans Primates and companion animals receive top priority in most peoples’ minds Other mammals ex. Lions, tigers, bears, platypus Fish and reptiles Insects