PSY.ResearchMethods1

Bellringer Unconditioned Stimulus? UCS Unconditioned Response? UCR Conditioned Stimulus? CS Conditioned Response? CR

There are two stands at a local farmers market. 1 farmer has 6 different kinds of jelly on his table, another has 24 different kinds. Who will get more business? Farmer 1 Farmer 2

Results Twenty four jars – 40% of people walking by stopped and tasted the jelly. – 3% bought a jar. Six jars – 60% of the people walking by stopped and tasted the jelly. – 31% bought a jar. So is it better to have more choices or less? – Hypothesis?

Video If you saw a person injured on the street, would you stop to help them? p0ac p0ac

Nobody helped!! Why? Any hypotheses?

Today – We are going to learn WHY we NEED PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE – Psychology is the __________ study of human and animal behavior. – We are going to Conduct Surveys and define samples/population

If someone is hurt on a busy street, what do strangers do?

How does a person’s personality change over the course of their life? ?

The Study of Human Behavior “Is psychology subjective?” WHY CAN’T WE RELY ON OUR GUTS? ON COMMON SENSE? WHY DO WE NEED SCIENCE?

Demo Each side of the room will take turns closing their eyes. You will each be shown a psychological research finding. You will then have 2 minutes to talk to a partner and decide WHY this finding is true. FOR EXAMPLE: Psychologists have found that people that work outdoors live longer. EXPLANATION: People that work outdoors live longer because their job requires them to exercise everyday, they experience less stress and are in open air all day!

Group 1 Close your eyes. PSYCHOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND THAT SEPERATION WEAKENS ROMANTIC ATTRACTION. THE FARTHER AWAY A COUPLE IS FROM EACH OTHER, THE LESS THEY ARE ATTRACTED TO EACH OTHER. Got it?

Group 2 Close your eyes. PSYCHOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND THAT SEPERATION STRENGTHENS ROMANTIC ATTRACTION. COUPLES THAT SPEND TIME APART ACTUALLY GROW CLOSER AND ARE ATTRACTED TO EACH OTHER MORE. Got it?

Demo Does the psychological finding seem like common sense? BUT…I told opposite findings to each group. – DISTANCE INCREASES ATTRACTION – DISTANCE DECREASES ATTRACTION Both groups THOUGHT their finding seemed true. It seemed like common sense. BONUS: IF OPPOSITE FINDINGS BOTH SEEM LIKE COMMON SENSE, CAN WE USE COMMON SENSE TO RELIABLY STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR?

TICKET TIME So what’s the problem with relying on our gut and on what we are told to explain human behavior?

Research Methods Survey Method: asks people to report their behavior or opinions with a set of questions. – Are you college-bound? – Are you tech school- bound? CollegeTechnical School

Think… So now do we need to ask all 1,700 students at Norland if they believe they are college or tech school bound? Problem? Solution?

Population: whole group – High school students in America Sample: A small group that represents the population – 100 students from Norland and Carol City

Think… What if we went to a Heat game and conducted a survey asking people over 20 living in America what their favorite NBA team is? – PROBLEM? – Population? – Will the sample represent the population?

Sampling Bias: Inaccuracies caused by one group participating more than others. – People at a Heat game are more likely to like the Heat (maybe not since Lebron is gone). – Not an ACCURATE representation of people over 40 in America

Solution?

Random Sampling: creating a sample so that every person in a group has a chance of participating. Opportunity Sampling: creating a sample of people available at the time of the study. Which sample is better?

Think… Flora goes around and surveys all of her friends about their favorite place to eat to find out what people in Memphis think is the best restaurant. Opportunity sample or random sample? Population? Sample? Problem? Flora’s friends are more likely to share things in common, like what restaurants they live near and maybe even the food they like.

Video How does the population being surveyed affect the results? Population: Sample: Result: Population 2: Sample: Result: What if the sample was just women?

Group Practice Population: High school students in America Sample: Students at Miami Norland Senior High Population: College students in America Sample: Population: Football players Sample: Population: Women Sample:

Research Questions 96% of Americans would like to change something about their appearance. What question did researchers ask to get this result?

Descriptive Research Questions Wording – Do you agree with the horrible uniform policy at Norland? Limit Answer Choices – What do you like to do? EXAMPLE RESEARCH QUESTIONS How many times a day do high school students brush their teeth? When do students at Miami Norland High wake up in the morning?

Exit Ticket 1.Come up with a survey question. 2.Indicate the population you are drawing from 3.Indicate the sample you intend to use 4.Indicate a sample that would be BIASED. 5.Predict the results. What do you expect to see? 6.Your sample should be ________ and _________. HW: Give your survey to 10 people. Record their responses. You will be graphing them tomorrow. Response 1Response 2Response 3Response 4 IIIIIIIIIIIIII