People watched Love Island because deep down they love happy endings Intelligent people went on Love Island because they want to be seen as sexy
Reorder the words into a sentence WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? of scientific study The and behaviour brain Reorder the words into a sentence Summer prep deadline Friday 13/9/19
The scientific study of the brain and behaviour WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY? The scientific study of the brain and behaviour
Starter Task: True / False Page 1
How Do Psychologists Study Behaviour?
There are 4 ways in which psychologists do research: By asking people questions – but they could lie By watching people – but they might know they are being watched By meddling with them – but is it ethical? By looking at the links between things – do links always show that caused something? We call these: 1. Self - reports 2. Observations 3. Experiments 4. Correlations
There are 4 ways in which psychologists do research: Experiments Self-reports Observations Correlations
Experiments Can manipulate one variable (something that varies) and keep everything else the same. Allocate participants into groups. If the groups think or behave differently then you know it’s the thing you have manipulated (the independent variable - IV) that caused the different result (the dependent variable - DV), as everything else was kept the same. Evaluation One of the most scientific ways to find evidence. But they are often done in unrealistic environments. Page 2
Experiments Identify one thing you could change / manipulate between two groups to see if it makes a difference in their intelligence test scores? (e.g.: hot room/cold room, drinking coffee/not drinking coffee).
Self-Report • Can ask people how they think and behave. • Can conduct interviews or fill in questionnaires. • Psychologists collect the data and make conclusions about how people think and behave. Evaluation • People can sometimes not understand themselves, or not tell you the truth, or only tell you about their intentions.
Self-Report 2. How many different ways can you conduct a self-report? Page 2
Page 2 Self-Report 3. What is a question people are unlikely to tell you the truth about. Have you been working hard? Does my bum look big in this? Why were you on your phone on top field? What is your biggest weakness?
Observation • Can watch how they behave. • Focuses on their observable behaviour. • Gather data and make conclusions based only on what you can observe. Evaluation • People may change their behaviour if they know they are being observed. • Watching behaviour does not show thoughts
Page 3 Observation 4. Why might two different people who have observed the same event not agreed on what they saw? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN4APjHsdo4
Observation 5. Why might people complain about being observed? Page 3 Observation 5. Why might people complain about being observed?
Page 3 Correlations Determining the extent of a relationship between 2 variables (things that change)
Correlations Evaluation Page 3 Correlations Evaluation • Correlations tell us about the relationships between variables, but not if one variable caused the other. • Helpful to do when it is unethical to split people into different groups and treat them differently (such as deliberate neglect of a group of children) or when it is impractical or impossible to manipulate the variables (such as make one group rich and one group poor).
Correlations 6. Does having no friends make us unhappy or does being unhappy make us lose friends? 7. Identify two variables that are related – positively or negatively correlated? (e.g. height/shoe size, age/intelligence)
Time Season Birth Personality Google: Time Season Birth Personality http://time.com/4741094/season-birth-personality/
How can the different research methods be used to study the same topic?
Watching sleep-deprived people do tricky cognitive tasks E.g. the effect of sleep on learning: Ask people for their experiences of how well they perform in thinking tasks when they have been deprived of some sleep Watching sleep-deprived people do tricky cognitive tasks Spend time with someone with narcolepsy, using a range of techniques like interviewing them, questionnaires for their family, observing them Depriving people of sleep and then testing them Matching the data from a sleep quality app and A Level performance Page 4
How can the different research methods be used to study the same topic? Experiment / Self-Report / Observation / Correlation Ask people for their experiences of how well they perform in thinking tasks when deprived of some sleep. Depriving people of sleep and then testing them using the Bop it Matching the data from a sleep quality app and A Level performance Watching sleep-deprived people do tricky thinking tasks
How can the different research methods be used to study the same topic? Experiment / Self-Report / Observation / Correlation Ask people for their experiences of how well they perform in thinking tasks when deprived of some sleep. Self-report Depriving people of sleep and then testing them using the Bop it Experiment Matching the data from a sleep quality app and A Level performance Correlation Watching sleep-deprived people do tricky thinking tasks Observation
Choose a topic to write about OR what causes: Autism Eating disorders Forgetfulness People to commit crime Phobias Success in sport
Your description of HOW you will study this needs to be as detailed as possible for ‘replication’.
Your description of HOW you will study this needs to be as detailed as possible for ‘replication’. http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine
Does watching TV improve or worsen your verbal ability?
Does watching TV improve or worsen your verbal ability? Programmes which come to a conclusion help you write essays which come to a conclusion. You learn by listening how to structure your points. Worsen Listening to others does not help you write better yourself, as you cannot visualise sentence structure. It is usually all speech on TV, rather than ideas and arguments.
Which method would you use to explain this behaviour?
No research method is perfect No research method is perfect. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. In Psychology we need to work out which research method is the best to use when looking at each type of behaviour. Strengths Weaknesses
When evaluating in Psychology, we have to flex our P.E.C.s Point Explanation of why this matters Context
Flex your PECs Point Points Explanation of why this matters Context Points One advantage of using correlational analysis is that if two variables are correlated, it is possible to predict one variable from the other. One disadvantage of using correlational analysis is that even if two variables are correlated, we cannot assume that one caused the other.
Explanations of why this matters Flex your PECs Point Explanation of why this matters Context Explanations of why this matters This is useful because … This is a problem because … Even if… it is still possible
Flex your PECs Point Context Explanation of why this matters Words that are unique to this situation and could not easily be used elsewhere. TV Verbal ability
Flex your PECs One advantage of using correlational analysis is that if two variables are correlated, it is possible to predict one variable from the other. This is useful because if the amount of time a person spends watching TV is related to their verbal ability we can advise students who have essays to write in exams to reduce the amount of time they spend watching TV. Point Explanation of why this matters Context
Flex your PECs One disadvantage of using correlational analysis is that even if two variables are correlated, we cannot assume that one caused the other. Even if there is a negative relationship between hours spent watching TV and verbal ability it is possible that some other variable may also be involved. Point Explanation of why this matters Context
Recap the strengths and weaknesses of the 4 main research methods used in Psychology https://quizlet.com/221749723/the-4-main-types-of-research-method-in-psychology-flash-cards/ Strengths Weaknesses
Exit Question: Roll the Dice Name the 4 types of research method in Psychology (C.O.S.E.) Name the 2 main types of self-report (Q & I) A strength of using a experiment to study behaviour A strength of using an observation to study behaviour A strength of using a self-report to study behaviour A strength of using a correlation to study behaviour