© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Psychological Research and Ethics

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E The Study of Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes Psychology values empirical evidence Psychology employs critical thinking Psychology employs systematic research methods

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Pseudopsychologies Pseudopsychologies are unreliable approaches that do not use the scientific method Examples of pseudopsychologies include: –Astrology: system that tries to relate personality to the movement of the stars –Palmistry: idea that reading a person’s character from the lines on their palms –Psychokinesis: notion that humans can move objects through mental concentration –Follicology: notion that personality characteristics are related to hair color

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Goals of Psychology –Description of behavior using careful observations –Explanation involves identifying the cause(s) of behavior –Prediction allows for specification of the conditions under which a behavior will occur or not –Psychological knowledge can be used to assist changes in behavior

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Psychological Research Two forms of psychological research: –Basic research seeks answers for theoretical questions E.g. How is hunger controlled by the brain? –Applied research seeks answers for specific application problems E.g. Organizational psychology studies leadership, job satisfaction, job training, and development

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Areas of Psychology Clinical Educational School Industrial/organiz- ational Developmental Social Comparative Neuropsychology Health psychology Cognitive

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Descriptive Research Naturalistic observation refers to the systematic recording of behavior in a natural state or habitat –Jane Goodall observing apes in the wild Surveys are instruments designed to sample attitudes or behaviors –Asking persons at a rally how they feel about animal rights issues A case study is an in-depth study of a single person –Freud used the case study method to probe anxiety

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Complexity of working with Humans Due to the “humanity” of humans, we can’t always perform experiments. Therefore, some knowledge is gained through correlational and descriptive methods. Also, humans are inquisitive and active. Rarely do they act as passive participants in an experiment (unlike a fruit fly)

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Correlational Research The correlation technique indicates the degree of association between 2 variables Correlations vary in direction: –Positive association: Increase stimulus= increases in specific behavior –Negative association: Increase stimulus= decrease in specific behavior –No relation: No relationship between stimulus and behavior

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Correlations Correlations also vary in the strength of the association –Zero correlation: no relationship between the 2 variables –Strong correlation: knowing the value of one variable permits one to accurately estimate the value of the other variable Strong correlation can be positive or negative Correlations can be seen in scatter plots

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Correlation Difficulties

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Ethical Issues in Research Respecting the rights of human research participants involves: –Informed consent is an explanation of a study and the responsibilities of experimenter and participant –Deception involving the subjects must be justified –Confidentiality of study information must be maintained –Debriefing refers to explaining the research process to the subjects at the end of the study

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Control versus Realism Desired state in an experiment is isolation and manipulation of one variable. Does this lead to a contrived and unrealistic situation? If so, how does that impact the validity of your findings? –Are your findings generalizable to the real world? Human research is a delicate tradeoff between realism and control

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Realism Experimental Realism: impact of an experiment on a subject. Does the participant take the experiment seriously Mundane Realism: similarity of the experimental environment to the real world Experimental realism can occur in the absence of mundane realism

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Ethics Often necessary to deceive participant during experiment: although this deception is often minor (disguising the hypothesis of interest) Reasons for this need: –Self Presentation Biases –Good Subject Bias Question arises – is this right?

© 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman: PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION, 7E Ethics, continued Decision on experiment and deception is based upon a cost/benefits analysis –Are the potential costs to the participant worth the benefits of the knowledge gained? –Increasing the difficulty of answering this question is that you can’t be sure what results the experiment will produce!! Problem of deception can be reduced with a thorough debriefing