1. 9/2
Pick up a “statistics for psychology” handout from the checkered chair
Have out your research methods chart from 2 classes ago

2. 9/3
Pick up a “psychology shoe size statistics project” from the checkered chair.
Write on a separate piece of paper (you will turn this in) the following:
Shoe size
Height in inches
Hair length in inches ** if you have short hair, just put <1inch…if you have really, really short hair just put < ½ inch
Make sure it is in this order!!

3. Psychology Shoe Size Experiment
Both partners need to fill out “Find the Following” on the front
One partner will create the scatter plots
One scatter plot will compare shoe size with height (left). One scatter plot will compare hair length with height (right).
Both scatter plots should have a title
Label X and Y axis for both scatter plots
Use your own intervals
After all points have been plotted, and your scatterplots have been created, analyze your results.
Identify whether your scatterplots reveal a negative, positive, or no correlation.

4. Review Question
You scored a 24 on your ACT math test. The mean for this exam is 21, with a standard deviation of 3. On the math SAT, the mean is 500 with a standard deviation of 50. If you had taken the SAT, what would your score have been?

5. Review Questions
The typical IQ test has a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. If you scored 115, what percentage of others who have taken the test scored lower than you?

6. 9/5 You will be turning in 3 worksheets:
1. AP Psychology Stats Homework
2. Practicing Identifying Variables
3. Research Methods Chart (8 questions at the bottom)

7. Research Methods

8. How Can We Separate Uninformed Opinions From Examined Conclusions?
By adding in science. Psychology is first and foremost a science. it is based in research.
Before we delve into how to do research, you should be aware of three hurdles that tend to skew our logic.

9. Hindsight Bias
The tendency to believe, after learning the outcome, that one would of foreseen it. Also known as the
“I knew it all along phenomenon.”
Monday Morning Quarterbacking!!!

10. Overconfidence We tend to think we know more than we do.
82% of U.S. drivers consider themselves to be in the top 30% of their group in terms of safety.
81% of new business owners felt they had an excellent chance of their businesses succeeding. When asked about the success of their peers, the answer was only 39%. (Now that's overconfidence!!!)

11. The Barnum Effect
It is the tendency for people to accept very general or vague characterizations of themselves and take them to be accurate.

14. Example of Operational Definition
For example, if you were doing a study on the impact of sleep deprivation on driving performance, you would need to operationally define what you mean by sleep deprivation and driving performance.
In this example, you might define sleep deprivation as getting less than seven hours of sleep at night and define driving performance as how well a participant does on a driving test.
Bottom line: Someone must be able to replicate your study

15. The Case Study
An observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles.
(brain knowledge, Jean Piaget, chimpanzees, Genie)
How could this technique mislead us?
The individual could be abnormal
Good examples on page 27.

18. Survey
One currently hot idea to unclog America's courtrooms is to make losers in civil suits pay the legal expenses of the winners. In a recent Washington Post-ABC News, 1,524 adults were asked the following question:
"Would you support or oppose a law that says if someone sues you and loses, they have to pay your legal expenses?"
 One currently hot idea to unclog America's courtrooms is to make losers in civil suits pay the legal expenses of the winners. In a recent Washington Post-ABC News, 1,524 adults were asked the following question:  
"Would you support or oppose a law that says if you sue someone and lose, you have to pay their legal expenses?

19. Be Careful of Wording Effects….
“Aid to the needy” or welfare?
“Revenue enhancers” or taxes?
“Affirmative action” or preferential treatment?

22. Populations and Samples
Identify the population you want to study.
False consensus effect= tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors.
*Target Population-the whole group you want to study or describe.
GET A RANDOM SAMPLE=sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of participating.
Large representative samples are ideal.
Large random samples are best. Small rep. sample of over 100 is better than an unrepresentative sample at 500. Think critically, you cannot compensate by adding more people.

23. Be Careful Of…..
Generalizing results-researchers have to be careful not to generalize their finding to groups other than those from which their samples were drawn.
Volunteer Bias-when people that participate in surveys have a different outlook from people who do not volunteer for research studies.

24. Naturalistic Observation
Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation.
Ex. Jane Goodall and chimpanzees using tools.
Observing freshman in the cafeteria at MRHS
Describes behavior does not explain it.
Efe people in Central Africa.

25. More Observation Methods
Testing- psychological tests to learn about human behavior (ex. intelligence, aptitude, and personality)
Longitudinal-observing a group of participants over a long period of time.
Cross-Sectional-observing a group of participants in different age groups (less accurate than longitudinal).
UP series studying british from birth to adulthood (hypothesis that you stay in your social class you were in from birth). Interviewed the subjects every 7 years…..wished he had used more females (but you can’t restart or change a longitudinal study).

31. Pick the degree of correlation

34. Negative or Positive Correlations?
The more TV is on in the homes of young children, the less time they spend reading.
The longer children are breast-fed, the greater their later academic achievement.
The more income rose among a sample of poor families, the fewer psychiatric symptoms their children experienced.
Quick video

35. Say the following out loud…
Correlation does not mean causation!!

36. Illusory Correlation
The perception of a relationship where none exists.
Help explain many superstitious beliefs.
Examples: More babies are born when the moon is full. Sugar makes children hyperactive. Being cold and wet can cause one to catch a cold.
Sugar does not make children hyper video
We are likely to notice and recall instances that confirm our belief.
Research with arthritis pain and weather change. 18 patients over 15 months with arthritis pain. Recorded weather(humidity, temp, pressure) and pain daily

37. Be Careful of Third Factors
Among men, length of marriage correlates positively with hair loss. What is the third factor?
People who wear hats are more likely to suffer skin cancer. What is the third factor?

40. Scientists have linked television watching with childhood obesity.
In fact, the degree of obesity rises 2 percent for each hour of television viewed per week by those ages
Does TV make you fat??

41. States with high quality day care programs report higher incidents of child abuse…
Is day care deadly?!?!?

42. Correlation Coefficient
Which is a stronger correlation? or or or +.04

43. Experimental Method Use to answer questions about cause and effect.
A research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (dependent variable).
Participants receive a “treatment.”
Researchers observe participants to see how the “treatment” has influenced their behavior.
Contain variables-factors that can vary or change.
Unlike correlational studies, which uncover naturally occuring relationships, an experiment manipulates a factor to determine its effect.

44. Experimental Method Cont’d
Experimental Group receives treatment.
Control Group does not. Contrasts the Experimental control.
All conditions must be held constant for both groups to get best results.
Random Assignment-assigning participants to experimental and control by chance, minimizing preexisting differences.

45. Independent Variable
In an experiment, it is the factor that researchers manipulate so that they can determine its effect.
Ex. Warm temperature causes aggression in humans. Temperature is the independent variable (that is what researchers are manipulating to observe its effect).
If there is a drug in an experiment, the drug is almost always the independent variable.

46. Dependent Variable
What is being measured. What may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.
It is dependent on the independent variable.
Ex. Warm temperature causes aggression in humans. Level of aggression is the dependent variable.
The dependent variable would be the effect of the drug.

47. Beware of Confounding Variables
The object of an experiment is to prove that A causes B.
A confounding variable is anything that could cause change in B, that is not A.
If I wanted to prove that smoking causes heart issues, what are some confounding variables?
Lifestyle and family history may also effect the heart.

48. Other Confounding Variables
Placebo effect-when your expectations affect the result.
Placebo=a substance or treatment that has no effect apart from a person’s belief in it.
Depression article
Stanford Placebo Experiment Video

52. How to Avoid Experimenter Bias
Single-Blind Study- participants do not know if they are part of the control or experimental group.
Double-Blind Study-Participants and researchers do not know who received treatment.

53. Hawthorne Effect But even the control group may experience changes.
Just the fact that you know you are in an experiment can cause change.
Whether the lights were brighter or dimmer, production went up in the Hawthorne electric plant.

59. Research Method
Basic Purpose
How Conducted
What is Manipulated
Weaknesses
Descriptive
To observe and record
Do case studies, surveys, or naturalistic observations
Nothing
No control of variables; single cases may be misleading
Correlation
To detect naturally occurring relationships; to assess how well 1 variable predicts another.
Compute statistical association, sometimes among survey responses.
Does not specify cause and effect.
Experimental
To explore cause and effect
Manipulates 1 or more factors; random assignment.
The independent variables
Sometimes not feasible, not ethical at times

60. Descriptive Statistics
Just describes sets of data.
Using numbers to describe a known data set
Interested in figuring out how data varies from the average

61. Central Tendency- A single score that represents a set of scores.
Mean (average), Median (midpoint) and Mode (simplest measure, most frequent). Range (gap between lowest and highest scores)
Watch out for extreme scores or outliers.
Let’s look at the salaries of the employees at Dunder Mifflen Paper in Scranton:
$25,000-Pam
$25,000- Kevin
$25,000- Angela
$100,000- Andy
$100,000- Dwight
$200,000- Jim
$300,000- Michael
The median salary looks good at
$___100,000_________.
The mean salary also looks good at about $__110,000________.
But the mode salary is only $__25,000____.
Maybe not the best place to work.

66. Standard Deviation
A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score.
The higher the variance or SD, the more the distribution is spread out.

67. Computing Standard Deviation

73. Goals for Today

78. Human Research Ethical principles as made by the APA: Informed consent
2. No harm or discomfort
3. Confidential
4. Must debrief (explain research)
No Coercion- must be voluntary

79. Animal Research Clear purpose Treated in a humane way
Acquire animals legally
Least amount of suffering possible.