1. Unit 4 – Research Methods and Statistics (8% - 10%)
Objective: The student will illustrate three reasons why science based answers are more reliable than intuition or common sense.
Why do we conduct systematic, replicable, valid, and reliable research investigating human behavior and cognitive processing?
Critical Thinking:
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusion. Rather, it examines assumptions, assesses the source, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
Many misconceptions exist regarding human behavior and cognition. Some believe that psychology only documents what we already know about our behavior. Others rely to heavily on intuition to guide our behavior. Many myths exist regarding psychology and human behavior, as a result we must begin to investigate behavior and cognition critically in a systematic manner.

2. How confident are you that you can do simple addition?
1) Have students solve the following simple addition problem in their heads: Begin with 1000 and add 40 to it. Add Then add another 30 followed by another Next add 20. Add another Finally add 10.

3. Perceiving Order out of Random Events
Thinking that does not blindly accept arguments
and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, assesses the source, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
We are prone to perceive patterns out of random events.
Critical Thinking
Perceiving Order out of Random Events
Why are science based answers more reliable?
Hind-Sight Bias
Overconfidence
Tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.
The tendency to be more confident than correct - to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

4. Practice FRQ –
Aziz has read that handwriting reveals important details about personality. Explain how each component of the scientific attitude can help Aziz investigate the accuracy of the information he has read about handwriting analysis.
1 point: Curiosity involves a willingness to ask questions and seek answers about handwriting analysis.
1 point: Skepticism will help Aziz critically evaluate the results of his investigation for any potential flaws or alternative explanations.
1 point: Humility will help Aziz be aware of any potential biases that could cloud his interpretation of the data. Aziz can then rely on the evidence gathered during his research rather than preexisting notions about what “should” happen.

5. Describe how theories advance psychological science.
Objective:
Describe how theories advance psychological science.
Theory:
An explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes observations and predicts behaviors or events.
Hypotheses:
A testable prediction often implied in the theory.

6. Operational Definitions
Operational definition: a carefully worded statement of the exact procedures (operations) used in a research study. For example, human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures.
Replication: repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances.
Operational Definitions
Happiness
Intelligence
Popularity
Good Music

7. Lego Replication Activity
Take the Legos from your bag and “build something”.
2) One person must write down step by step directions in order for someone to replicate the build.
3) Once completed, I will take a picture for proof.
4) Hand the directions and the bag of Legos to another group in class and they will try to replicate the build based on your directions.
How accurate were the directions?
How do we define accurate?

8. Types of Research Descriptive Research Surveys Case Study
A technique for ascertaining the self – reported attitudes or behaviors of a particular group, usually by questioning a representative, random sample of the group.
Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.
A descriptive technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
Surveys
Case Study
Naturalistic Observations
Descriptive Research
Describes Behavior
Types of Research

9. Why is random sampling important?
Objective:
Why is random sampling important?
A sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion.
a flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample.
Random Sampling
Sampling Bias
A measure of how test performance predicts behaviors in real-world settings. 
All those in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn.
Population
Generalization

10. FRQ
1. A teacher wants to know if nightmares are more common than dreams. He asks volunteers from his second-period class to report how many dreams they had last week. He asks volunteers from his third-period class to report the number of nightmares they had last week. Describe two things wrong with the design of this study.
2. Naturalistic observation is a research method used by psychologists to investigate human and animal behavior. Identify three weaknesses of naturalistic observation.

11. Correlation and Experimentation
Module 6
Correlation and Experimentation
Objective
What are positive and negative correlations, and why do they enable prediction but not cause-effect explanation?
Linear Correlations

12. Correlation Video
Example: The following table shows the Height (x) vs. Femur Length (y) measurements (both in inches) for 10 men: X
70.8
66.2
71.7
68.7
67.6
69.2
66.5
67.2
68.3
65.6 Y
42.5
40.2
44.4
42.8 40
47.3
43.4
40.1
42.1 36
correlation coefficient a statistical index of the relationship between two
variables (from −1.0 to +1.0).
r = -1 to 1.0

13. What are illusory correlations?
Illusory correlation: the perception of a relationship where none exists.
Illusory correlation in everyday
life Many people believe infertile
couples become more likely to
conceive a child after adopting a baby.
This belief arises from their attention
being drawn to such cases. The many
couples who adopt without conceiving
or conceive without adopting grab
less attention. To determine whether
there actually is a correlation between
adoption and conception, we need
data from all four cells in this figure.
(From Gilovich, 1991.)

14. Objective:
What are the characteristics of experimentation that make it possible to isolate cause and effect?
Research Question: Are intelligence scores of children who were breast-fed as infants are somewhat higher than the scores of children who were bottle-fed.
Experiments: enable researchers to isolate the effects of one or more variables by (1) manipulating the variables of interest and (2) holding constant (“controlling”) other variables.

15. Experimental Group Receive Treatment
Control Group
No Treatment
Breast Feeding Program
Traditional Pediatric Program
Randomly Assign 17,000 newborn infants to one the two groups.

16. Experiments: Things to consider…
Drug Trials:
Blind – Participant does not know which group they are in
Double Blind – Researcher and participant do not know which group individuals are assigned.
Placebo Effect – experimental results caused by expectations alone

17. Independent variable the experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.
Dependent variable the outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.
Breast Feeding Group
Regular Pediatric Group
Intelligence Scores

19. Objective: How do we describe data using three measures of central tendency, and what is the relative usefulness of the two measures of variation?

26. Ethics in Research
Why do psychologists study animals, and is it ethical to experiment on animals?
Psychologists also study animals to learn about people.
Milgram’s Obedience Study
Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Study
HIV/AIDS Research
2) Benefits for animals – Petting animals reduces stress levels and cortisol production in sheltered animals

27. What ethical guidelines safeguard human participants?
obtain potential participants’ informed consent,
protect them from physical or emotional harm and
discomfort,
(3) keep information about individual participants confidential,
(4) fully debrief people (explain the research afterward).