Chapter 1 Research in Psychology

LEQ’s What are the positive and negative traits that interfere with research? How do psychologists gather and interpret data? What role does psychology play in research in other fields?

Psychological Science This is the method of looking at a problem from a scientific standpoint, eliminating human fallacies. This section looks at methods of gauging experiments and the use of science to search unbiased truths

Dangers to Scientific Study Intuition, or ability to judge something based on our instincts, is a phenomenal tool that allows us to use our value system to tell us how to respond to challenging stimuli. Common sense is known as the ability to see things for what they are, not what we want them to be, and respond rationally. Hindsight Bias-the tendency to believe that someone had foreseen something happening after it happened (aka I know it all along) Overconfidence-the tendency to think we know more than we really do or are more capable than we really are.

Dangers and Reality None of these four human characteristics, all valuable in their own way, can be depended on to help with a scientific study on psychology. Each has a specific drawback that causes it to be excluded from the research process Common sense-not always scientific Intuition-does not allow for consistent procedures Hindsight bias-leads to overconfidence and errors Overconfidence-leads to false conclusions and errors

The Scientific Attitude Scientists believe their work should be Repeatable Subject to scrutiny Attempting to answer questions about life Humble Inspired by curiosity Involve Critical Thinking

This Has Proven- Massive brain tissue loss at an early age can be minimized Babies recognize their mother’s smell and voice within days Brain damage can leave people able to learn new skills Diverse people show a relatively comparable amount of happiness with life Electric shock therapy can relieve severe depression

This Has Disproven Sleepwalkers are acting out their dreams and sleep talkers are verbalizing their dreams Our past experiences are recorded verbatim in your brain Most people suffer from low self esteem Opposites attract generally

The Scientific Method Theory- and idea or belief you with to prove Hypothesis- how your idea or belief is tested in a predictable manner Operational definitions-the procedures used to define the variables Replication- repeating the main components of a research program.

Types of Tests Case Study-observing one person in depth to obtain universal principals Survey-gaining the self-reporting attitudes of people in a random sample Wording Effect-the way a question is worded can effect the answer outcome False Consensus Effect-the tendency to overestimate the extent that others share our beliefs Population-all the cases in a group used for a study Random Sample-a sample that attempts to represent the population equally Naturalistic Observation-watching a subject in their natural environment to see how they react to stimuli

Correlation What is correlation and how does it effect research?

Correlation Is a measure of the extent to which two factors vary together and how well they predict each other. The correlation is measured by a correlation coefficient. It is measured between -1 and means there is a negative correlation 0 means that there is no correlation +1 means there is a positive correlation All three of these are represented on a scatterplot manner.

Negative Correlation When the X axis value goes up, the Y axis value goes down. An example would be if you have a test comparing miles ran with age, the higher the age, the lower the number of miles you can run.

Positive Correlation If the X axis value increases, the Y axis value increases as well. If you are measuring days of training and miles ran, as the training days increase, so do the miles ran.

No Correlation There is no relationship between values on X and Y axis Your IQ and your weight have no relationship.

Correlation and Causation Correlation allows us to predict possibilities, and eliminate intuition. An important point to remember is that correlation does not mean causation. One facet does not cause the other to happen. An example, low self esteem and depression have a correlation, but one does not cause the other. Why?

Illusory Correlation The perception of a correlation where none exists. Superstitious beliefs are a good example of illusory correlation It is easy for many people to apply correlations to random events.

Order and Random Events We attempt to seek order in random sequences, where no order exists. Random sequences can appear to not be random. Our experiences and biases allow us to think that we can predict how coin flips will go in a pattern. If you toss the coins enough times, patterns may be seen intermittently. This is also a random act.

Experimentation Cause and Effect Therapy Independent and Dependent Variables

Experimentation This is the research method used to manipulate factors to observe the effect on behaviors or mental processes. This is accomplished by Manipulating the factors of interest Holding control of the variables

Therapies Experimentation can take on several forms Double blind procedure-keeping the research staff and participants ignorant of whether they have received treatment or a placebo Experimental condition- the condition of the experiment that exposes people to treatment Control condition-the condition of an experiment that contrast the experimental condition and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effectiveness of treatment. Placebo effect-results are judged by expectations alone. Random assigning-people are assigned to control groups and experimental groups by chance

Variables Independent variables- the factor that is manipulated or tested to prove or disprove a theory. Dependant variables-the outcome factor, the one that changes based on the response to manipulation of the independent variable.

Statistics Data is the most essential component of proving a theory How does data show correlations? Measure of Central Tendency Measure of Variation

Central Tendency To describe data, you need to organize it. Then you need to put them in perspective Mode-the most frequently occurring score Mean-the average of a distribution Median-the middle score in the distribution

Variation This method looks at how to measure the similarities and differences in data scores Range-the gap between the lowest and highest Standard deviation-a measure of how much scores vary around the mean score. Statistical significance-how likely it is the results were obtained by chance.

Ethics in Psychology What are ethics? Why do they matter?

Ethics The set of moral guidelines that control our decision making and guide us when we are not sure how to act. The psychological tests conducted in any situation has ethical considerations to evaluate Participants must give their concent Participants must be comfortable and safe Information is confidential Fully explain the results

Final Question Are value judgments dangerous to psychological research?