1. Introduction to Psychology and Research Methods
Chapter 1
Introduction to Psychology and Research Methods
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2. What is Psychology? Psychology
Psyche: Mind
Logos: Knowledge or study
Definition: The scientific study of behavior and mental processes
Behavior: Overt, i.e. can be directly observed (crying)
Mental Processes: Covert, i.e. cannot be directly observed (remembering)
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3. Empiricism: The Goals To measure and describe behaviors
To gather empirical evidence: Information gained from direct observation and measurement
To gather data: Observed facts
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4. Scientific Observation
Definition: Designed and structured to answer questions about the world
Research Method: A systematic procedure for answering scientific questions
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5. Critical Thinking: Key Principles
Few truths transcend the need for empirical testing
Evidence varies in quality
Authority or claimed expertise does not automatically make an idea true
Critical thinking requires an open mind
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6. Critical Thinking
Ability to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information
What would you expect to see if the claim were true?
Gather evidence relevant to the claim
Evaluate the evidence
Draw a conclusion
Oftentimes used in research
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7. What Might a Psychologist Research?
Development: Course of human growth and development
Learning: How and why it occurs in humans and animals
Personality: Traits, motivations, and individual differences
Sensation and Perception: How we come to know the world through our five senses
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8. What Might a Psychologist Research? (cont.)
Comparative: Study and compare behavior of different species, especially animals
Biopsychology: How behavior is related to biological processes, especially activities in the nervous system
Gender: Study differences between males and females and how they develop
Social: Human and social behavior
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9. What Might a Psychologist Research? (cont.)
Cultural: How culture affects behavior
Evolutionary: How our behavior is guided by patterns that evolved during our history
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10. What Are the Goals of Psychology?
Description of Behaviors: Naming and classifying various observable, measurable behaviors
Understanding: The causes of behavior(s), and being able to state the cause(s)
Prediction: Predicting behavior accurately
Control: Altering conditions that influence behaviors in predictable ways
Positive Use: To control unwanted behaviors, (e.g., smoking, tantrums, etc.)
Negative Use: To control peoples’ behaviors without their knowledge
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11. Fig. 1. 1 Results of an empirical study
Fig. 1.1 Results of an empirical study. The graph shows that horn honking by frustrated motorists becomes more likely as air temperature increases. This suggests that physical discomfort is associated with interpersonal hostility. Riots and assaults also increase during hot weather. Here we see a steady rise in aggression as temperatures go higher. However, research done by other psychologists has shown that hostile actions that require physical exertion, such as a fist fight, may become less likely at very high temperatures. (Data from Kenrick & MacFarlane, 1986.)
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12. History of Psychology (Brief!): Beginnings
Wilhelm Wundt: “Father” of Psychology
1879: Set up first lab to study conscious experience
Introspection: Looking inward (i.e., examining and reporting your thoughts, feelings, etc.)
Experimental Self-Observation: Incorporates both introspection and objective measurement; Wundt’s approach
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13. History of Psychology: Structuralism
Wundt’s ideas brought to the U.S. by Tichener and renamed Structuralism
Structuralists often disagreed, and no way to prove who was correct!
Structuralists: Introspection was a poor way to answer many questions
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14. History of Psychology: Functionalism
William James (American) and Functionalism
How the mind functions to help us adapt and survive
Functionalists admired Darwin and his Theory of Natural Selection: Animals keep features through evolution that help them adapt to environments
Educational Psychology: Study of learning, teaching, classroom dynamics, and related topics
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15. History of Psychology: Behaviorism and Cognitive Behaviorism
Behaviorism: Watson and Skinner
Psychology must study observable behavior objectively
Watson studied Little Albert with Rosalie Raynor; Skinner studied animals almost exclusively
Cognitive Behaviorism: Ellis and Bandura
Our thoughts influence our behaviors; used often in treatment of depression
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16. History of Psychology: Gestalt
Gestalt Psychology: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Studied thinking, learning, and perception in whole units, not by analyzing experiences into parts
Key names: Wertheimer, Perls
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17. Fig. 1.2 The design you see here is entirely made up of broken circles. However, as the Gestalt psychologists discovered, our perceptions have a powerful tendency to form meaningful patterns. Because of this tendency, you will probably see a triangle in this design, even though it is only an illusion. Your whole perceptual experience exceeds the sum of its parts.
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18. History of Psychology: Freud
Psychoanalytic: Freud
Our behavior is largely influenced by our unconscious wishes, thoughts, and desires, especially sex and aggression
Freud performed dream analysis and was an interactionist (combination of our biology and environment makes us who we are)
Repression: When threatening thoughts are unconsciously held out of awareness
Recent research has hypothesized that our unconscious mind is partially responsible for our behaviors
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19. History of Psychology: Neo-Freudians
New or recent; some of Freud’s students who broke away to promote their own theories
Key names: Adler, Anna Freud, Horney, Jung, Rank, Erikson
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20. History of Psychology: Humanism
Humanism: Rogers and Maslow
Goal of psychology is to understand subjective human experience
Each person has innate goodness and is able to make free choices (contrast with Skinner and Freud)
Determinism: Behavior is determined by forces beyond our control
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21. Humanism: Some Concepts
Self-image: Your perception of your own body, personality, and capabilities
Self-evaluation: Positive and negative feelings you have about yourself
Frame of Reference: Mental or emotional perspective used for evaluating events
Self-actualization (Maslow): Fully developing one’s potentials and becoming the best person possible
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22. Psychology Today
Biopsychology: Our behavior can be explained through physiological processes
Uses brain scans to gather data (MRI, PET)
Looks at neurotransmitters
Cognitive: Study thoughts, memory, expectations, perceptions, and other mental processes
Positive: Study of human strengths, virtues, and optimal behavior
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23. Fig. 1.4 Operational definitions are used to link concepts with concrete observations. Do you think the examples given are reasonable operational definitions of frustration and aggression? Operational definitions vary in how well they represent concepts. For this reason, many different experiments may be necessary to draw clear conclusions about hypothesized relationships in psychology.
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24. Fig. 1.5 Psychologists use the logic of science to answer questions about behavior. Specific hypotheses can be tested in a variety of ways, including naturalistic observation, correlational studies, controlled experiments, clinical studies, and the survey method. Psychologists revise their theories to reflect the evidence they gather. New or revised theories then lead to new observations, problems, and hypotheses.
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25. Cultural Awareness
Many thoughts and behaviors are influenced by our culture
Psychologists need to be aware of the impact cultural diversity may have on our behaviors
What is acceptable in one culture might be unacceptable in another
Cultural Relativity: Behavior must be judged relative to the values of the culture in which it occurs
Norms: Rules that define acceptable and expected behavior for members of various groups
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26. Many Flavors of Psychologists
Psychologists: Usually have masters or doctorate; Trained in methods, knowledge, and theories of psychology
Clinical Psychologists: Treat more severe psychological problems
Counseling Psychologists: Treat milder problems, such as adjustment disorders
Not all psychologists perform therapy!
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27. Other Mental Health Professionals
Psychiatrists: MD; usually use medications to treat problems; Generally do not have extensive training in providing “talk” therapy
Psychoanalysts: Receive post-PhD. or M.D. training in Freudian psychoanalysis at an institute
Counselor: Adviser who helps solve marriage, career, work, or school problems
Psychiatric Social Workers: Many have masters degrees and perform psychotherapy
Presently a very popular profession
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28. The Scientific Method Six Basic Elements Observation
Defining a problem
Proposing a hypothesis (an educated guess that can be tested)
Gathering evidence/testing the hypothesis
Publishing results
Building a theory
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29. Scientific Theory
A system of ideas that interrelates facts and concepts, summarizes existing data, and predicts future observations
A good theory must be falsifiable; i.e., operationally defined so that it can be disconfirmed
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30. Naturalistic Observation
Observing a person or an animal in the environment in which they/it live(s)
Problems
Observer Effect: Changes in behavior caused by an awareness of a person or animal being observed
Observer Bias: Occurs when observers see what they expect to see or record only selected details
Anthropomorphic Fallacy: Attributing human thoughts, feelings, or motives to animals, especially as a way of explaining their behavior (e.g., “Anya, my cat, is acting like that because she’s feeling depressed today.”)
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31. Fig Elements of a simple psychological experiment to assess the effects of music during study on test scores.
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32. Correlations and Relationships
Correlational Studies: Find existence of a consistent, systematic relationship between two events, measures, or variables
Correlation Coefficient: Statistic ranging from –1.00 to +1.00; the sign indicates the direction of the relationship
Closer the statistic is to –1.00 or to +1.00, the stronger the relationship
Correlation of 0.00 demonstrates no relationship between the variables
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33. Correlations and Relationships (cont.)
Positive Correlation: Increases in one variable are matched by increases in the other variable
Negative Correlation: Increases in one variable are matched by decreases in the other variable
Correlation does not demonstrate causation: Just because two variables are related does NOT mean that one variable causes the other to occur
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34. Experiments
To identify cause-and-effect relationships, we conduct experiments
Directly vary a condition you might think affects behavior
Create two or more groups of subjects, alike in all ways except the condition you are varying
Record whether varying the condition has any effect on behavior
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35. Variables
Definition: Any condition that can change, and might affect, experiment's outcome
Independent Variable: Condition(s) altered by the experimenter; experimenter sets their size, amount, or value; these are suspected causes for behavioral differences
Dependent Variable: Demonstrates effects that independent variables have on behavior
Extraneous Variables: Conditions that a researcher wants to prevent from affecting the outcomes of the experiment (e.g., number of hours slept before the experiment)
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36. Groups
Experimental Group: The group of subjects that gets the independent variable
Control Group: The group of subjects that gets all conditions EXCEPT the independent variable
Random Assignment: Subject has an equal chance of being in either the experimental or control group
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37. Fig. 1. 8 Effects of interference on memory
Fig. 1.8 Effects of interference on memory. A graph of the approximate relationship between percentage recalled and number of different word lists memorized.
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38. Evaluating Experiments’ Results
Statistically Significant: Results gained would occur very rarely by chance alone
Meta-analysis: Study of results of other studies
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39. Fig. 1.7 The correlation coefficient tells how strongly two measures are related. These graphs show a range of relationships between two measures, A and B. If a correlation is negative, increases in one measure are associated with decreases in the other. (As B gets larger, A gets smaller.) In a positive correlation, increases in one measure are associated with increases in the other. (As B gets larger, A gets larger.) The center-left graph (“medium negative relationship”) might result from comparing anxiety level (B) with test scores (A): Higher anxiety is associated with lower scores. The center graph (“no relationship”) would result from plotting a person’s shoe size (B) and his or her IQ (A). The center-right graph (“medium positive relationship”) could be a plot of grades in high school (B) and grades in college (A) for a group of students: Higher grades in high school are associated with higher grades in college.
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40. Fig. 1.9 The relationship between years of college completed and personal income (hypothetical data).
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41. Placebo Effects Placebo: A fake pill (sugar) or injection (saline)
Placebo Effect: Changes in behavior that result from belief that one has ingested a drug
Placebos alter our expectations about our own emotional and physical reactions
These expectancies then influence bodily activities
Relieve pain by getting pituitary to release endorphins
Also gain some effect through learning
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42. Controlling Placebo Effects
Single Blind Experiment: Only the subjects have no idea whether they get real treatment or placebo
Double Blind Experiment: The subjects AND the experimenters have no idea whether the subjects get real treatment or placebo
Best type of experiment if properly set up
Herbal remedies may be based on placebo effect
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43. Experimenter Effects
Definition: Changes in behavior caused by the unintended influence of the experimenter
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: A prediction that leads people to act in ways to make the prediction come true
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44. The Clinical Method
Case Study: In-depth focus on all aspects of a single case
Natural Clinical Tests: Natural events, such as accidents, that provide psychological data
Survey Method: Using public polling techniques to answer psychological questions
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45. Table 1.5 – Comparison of Psychological Research Methods
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46. Sampling
Representative Sample: Small group that accurately reflects a larger population
Population: Entire group of animals or people belonging to a particular category (e.g., all married women)
Internet Surveys: Web based research; low cost and can reach many people
Courtesy Bias: Problem in research; a tendency to give “polite” or socially desirable answers
Samples are not representative
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47. Pseudo-Psychologies
Pseudo means “false.” Any unfounded “system” that resembles psychology and is NOT based on scientific testing
Palmistry: Lines on your hands (palms) predict future and reveal personality
Phrenology: Personality traits revealed by shape of skull and bumps on your head
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48. Pseudo Psychologies (cont.)
Graphology: Personality revealed by your handwriting
Astrology: The positions of the stars and planets at birth determine your personality and affect your behavior
Extremely popular today (“What’s your sign?”)
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49. Pseudo Psychologies (cont.)
Barnum Effect: Always have a little something for everyone; Make sure all palm readings, horoscopes, etc. are so general that something in them will always apply to any one person! (e.g., “Crossing Over with John Edward”; Miss Cleo)
Uncritical Acceptance: Tendency to believe positive or flattering descriptions of yourself
Fallacy of Positive Instances: When we remember or notice things that confirm our expectations and forget the rest
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50. Consider the source of information
Separating Fact from Fiction (Are the Stories in the “National Enquirer” True?)
Be skeptical
Consider the source of information
Ask yourself, “Was there a control group?”
Look for errors in distinguishing between correlation and causation (are claims based on correlational results yet passed off as causations?)
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51. Single examples are not proof!
Separating Fact from Fiction (Are the Stories in the “National Enquirer” True?) (cont.)
Be sure to distinguish between observation and inference (e.g., Robert is crying, but do we know why he is crying?)
Beware of oversimplifications, especially those motivated by monetary reasons
Single examples are not proof!
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52. Ethical Guidelines for Psychological Research
Do no harm
Accurately describe risk to potential subjects
Ensure that participation is voluntary
Minimize any discomfort to participants
Maintain confidentiality
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53. Ethical Guidelines for Psychological Research (cont.)
Do not unnecessarily invade privacy
Use deception only when absolutely necessary
Remove any misconceptions caused by deception (debrief)
Provide results and interpretation to participants
Treat participants with dignity and respect
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