Sample AP Question on Approaches/Subfields Leadership, job satisfaction, and employee motivation are all studied in which of the following psychological disciplines? a.Human factors psychology b.Industrial-organizational psychology c.Community psychology d.Counseling psychology e.Experimental psychology

Sample AP Question on Approaches/Subfields Which of the following approaches to psychology emphasizes observable responses over inner experiences when accounting for behavior? a.Behaviorist b.Cognitive c.Existentialist d.Psychodynamic e.Structuralist

Quick Pre-Assessment For these questions, refer to the situation described below: In an experiment designed to determine whether watching violent scenes on television increases the frequency of aggressive behavior in children, one group of subjects saw a nonviolent cartoon and another group saw a violent cartoon. In the play period that followed the viewing of the cartoons, researchers observed the two groups of children together and counted instances of aggressive behavior. Taken from the 1994 released AP exam 1.The control group in the experiment is the group that a.The researchers thought would be most aggressive b.Performed the larger number of aggressive acts c.Performed the smaller number of aggressive acts d.Watched the violent cartoon e.Watched the nonviolent cartoon

Quick Pre-Assessment For these questions, refer to the situation described below: In an experiment designed to determine whether watching violent scenes on television increases the frequency of aggressive behavior in children, one group of subjects saw a nonviolent cartoon and another group saw a violent cartoon. In the play period that followed the viewing of the cartoons, researchers observed the two groups of children together and counted instances of aggressive behavior. Taken from the 1994 released AP exam 2. The dependent variable in the experiment is the a.Amount of aggressive behavior exhibited by the children b.Amount of time that each child spent interacting with the other children c.Group in which each child was originally placed d.Violent cartoon e.Nonviolent cartoon

Research Methods Importance of Scientific thought: –because human intuition is ___________ –HINDSIGHT BIAS: –OVERCONFIDENCE EFFECT: –FALSE-CONSENSUS EFFECT: –BELIEF PERSERVERENCE: –CONFIRMATION BIAS:

The Gentleman Bandit: Hindsight Bias and Overconfidence in the Court of Law

Overconfidence Reason why people tend to be overconfident – they can’t imagine that they would have any reason to be wrong (process of elimination) –Failure to seek disconfirming evidence (what’s that known as?)

Word Jumble: Human Skeleton 1.) AMEGLNSTI 2.) TIRGLAECA

Try this out! Task: write down the schools of thought for the three following theorists from last week –William James –John B. Watson –G Stanley Hall Now rate your confidence that the information you just provided is correct Now write three reasons why your answers might be wrong and three reasons why they may be right

Scientific thought: Because human intuition is TOO limited Illusory Correlation: Example 1: Sugar makes children hyperactive Example 2: Myth of the hot hand –Belief that a professional basketball player is more likely to make a shot after they have just made a basket rather than after they have just missed one Larry Bird in his prime made 88% of his free throws after a “make” and 91% after a “miss” –Misinterpretation of random sequences Stats – if a 50% shooter makes 20 shots, there is a 50% chance that there will be a sequence of 4 baskets in a row and about a 20% chance of 6 in a row

Meter Stick Experiment

Scientific thought: Because human intuition is TOO limited Theories: scientists rely on theories to form predictions or hypothesis –Your hypothesis should be in the form of a prediction about observable behavior with specific terms (operational definitions) so studies can be replicated by others

The Research Enterprise in Psychology – aka THE MOST FUN YOU’LL HAVE THIS YEAR! (that’s right folks, you’re about to peak in September… hey remember we when talked about bias… did it work? You pumped yet?) Research Theory Construction Design Study Experimental Research Descriptive/Correlational Studies Statistics/Correlation Causation

Big Question to Draw Focus How do we find answers to our questions about behavior that are accurate and trustworthy? –Commitment to empirical method is what makes psychology a science and not a philosophy

Psychologists share 3 sets of interrelated goals no matter what the approach 1.Measurement and description –Must be possible to describe behavior clearly and precisely 2.Understanding and prediction –Explain the occurrence of events 3.Application and control –Consider subfields: ex – figure out what causes test anxiety and help students overcome it (a role of a school psychologist)

Theory Construction – Naïve Realism & Political Debates Step 1: Formulate Hypothesis Sherman, Nelson, and Ross (not on AP, but on my test) noted that in heated arguments, people tend to perceive themselves as objective and opponents as distorted by self interest and subjectivity HYPOTHESIS: Proponents of Affirmative Action would overestimate opponent’s conservatism and that opponents would overestimate proponent’s liberalism

Whoa there Turbo… not so fast HYPOTHESIS: Proponents of Affirmative Action would overestimate opponent’s conservatism and that opponents would overestimate proponent’s liberalism WAY TO FLIPPIN’ BROAD for operational definitions, must tighten the scope Let’s add that “Affirmative Action for university admissions using checklist provided for the subjects to standardize perspective (liberal vs conservative leaning): –0-9pt scale, 0=def adopt, 9=def object, 1-4=support, 5= neutral, 6-9=reject

Step 2: Select a Method & Design the Study Experiments Case Studies Surveys Naturalist Observation Choose how many participants in survey and WHERE they would find them –78 grads (45 women, 29 men) and Stanford University Had to create the following devices for survey –Rating scale for evaluation –Plausible sounding affirmative action plan –Assessment of subjects’ political ideologies and perceptions of opponents

Step 3: Collect Data Direct Observation? Questionnaires? Psychological Tests? Physiological recording for studying bio bases for behavior?

Step 4: Analyze Data and Draw Conclusions This is the SUPERFUN time when your math skills will be put to work – STATISTICS!! Ps… Sherman et al’s hypothesis was proved – more on that later

Step 5: Report the Findings 1.Summary and/or journal publication Abstracts and full analysis reporting 2.Peer Review and Scrutiny To reduce the likelihood of publishing erroneous findings

What’s it all about? Science is skeptical and focuses on the empirical Simply stated – “common sense” doesn’t exist because there are people in this world that believe that both “opposites attract” and “birds of a feather flock together” – and that ain’t right.