Methods of Studying Human Behavior

What do Psychologists Do? Academic Psychologists Basic Research Pure science that aims to increase the scientific knowledge base Applied Research Scientific study that aims to solve practical problems in the real world Basic Examples Biological: Do repetitive behaviors, such as piano playing, produce changes in the brain? Social: Under what circumstances do young adults conform to the wishes of their peers? Developmental: (womb to tomb) “How do friendships of 6 year olds differ from friendships of 10 years olds? (social: how to female friendships differ from male?) Cognitive: “How does the memory of an old home phone number affect the memory of a new home phone number?” Applied Examples Organizational psychologists: help businesses and organizations operate better and more efficiently Human-factors psychologists: explore how people and machines interact at home and in the workplace to minimize frustration and maximize safety and productivity Psychometricians: create and evaluate standardized tests you’ve been taking since elementary school Educational psychologists: apply psychological principles to the classroom and to curriculum development hg

The Scientific Method A method of learning about the world through the application of critical thinking and tools such as observation, experimentation, and statistical analysis Research that employs the scientific method leads to logical, supported conclusions that allow us to make informed decisions Well-designed research produces more reliable answers than do conclusions based on common sense, which tend to vary from one person to another

Bias in Research Researcher Bias Participant bias A tendency for researchers to engage in behaviors and selectively notice evidence that supports their hypothesis or expectations (they see what they want to see) Participant bias A tendency for research participants to respond in a certain way because they know they are being observed or they believe that know what the researcher wants (they do what they think the researchers want them to do)

Methods for Studying Behavior Naturalistic Observation Case Study Survey Longitudinal Cross-Sectional Correlational “Other” THE EXPERIMENT

Naturalistic Observation Observing and recording NATURAL behavior- as little researcher interference as possible Advantages Minimizes participant bias Disadvantages Doesn’t explain behavior; just describes it Ranges from watching chimpanzees to recording students’ self-seating patterns in the lunchrooms of multiracial schools

Case Study One person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles Advantages In depth information Sometimes only ethical option Disadvantages Not necessarily representative Prone to bias Unethical: can’t abuse a sample of children, however, when you find one “Genie” 1970 13 year old spent her life in isolation. Researchers studied her behavior and progress to learn about development of language, social and other skills

Survey Self-reported attitudes or behaviors of a sample of people through the use of questionnaires or interviews. Advantages Large # of data Efficient Inexpensive Disadvantages Biased questions Social desirability Need a random sample Random sample, everyone in a population has an equal chance of being selected

Studies the same group of individuals over a long period of time Longitudinal Studies Studies the same group of individuals over a long period of time Advantages -Particularly useful to develop. psychologists Rich source of information Disadvantages Expensive Difficult to conduct, so rare

Cross-Sectional Studies Studies/Compares individuals from different age groups at one time, More common than longitudinal Advantages More efficient than longitudinal Disadvantages Conclusions questionable/too many variables Too many variables (e.g., ? How creativity changes over the life span… if found younger group more creative than older group could be due to changes in educational system or the introduction of computers)

Correlational Study Research project designed to discover the degree to which two variables are related to each other VERY IMPORTANT: The discovery of a correlation does not prove that a cause and effect relationship exists. May, however, be predictive The ONLY way to prove causation is with a carefully controlled experiment Diet & health? Communication style and divorce? Training techniques and success in the Olympics? Study habits and grades? e.g., whether or not a student wears headphones

Positive Correlation When variables increase or decrease together Both variables increase together… OR (As headphone use increases, so does effectiveness of studying When variables increase or decrease together =positive correlation

Positive Correlation Generally not a perfect correlation, but looks more like this

Negative Correlation One variable increases while the other decreases The more we wear headphones, the less effective our studying. One variable increases while the other decreases =negative correlation

Negative Correlation Or this…

Experiment Outline Assignment Only method that allows us to draw conclusions about cause & effect A method in which the researcher manipulates one or more factors (independent variable) to observe the effect on other variables (dependent variables) while controlling the confounding variables Experiment Outline Assignment