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Goals of Psychology
Description
Tells what occurred as accurately and completely as possible
Explanation
An understanding of conditions
Confirmed by ruling in or out alternatives
Prediction
Must Identify all antecedent conditions
Influence
Apply principle prevents unwanted occurrences or bring about desired outcomes
1.2
What are the goals of psychology?
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Research Methods
The Scientific Method
The orderly, systematic procedures that researchers follow as they:
identify a research problem,
Propose a hypothesis
design a study to investigate the problem,
collect and analyze data,
draw conclusions,
and communicate their findings.
1.1
What process do scientists use to answer questions about behavior and mental processes?
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The Scientific Method
1.1
What process do scientists use to answer questions about behavior and mental processes?
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4. Descriptive Research Methods
Research methods that yield descriptions of behavior
Naturalistic observation
Researchers observe and record behavior in its natural setting with out influencing or controlling it
Often the first step in a research program
Limitations
Observer bias
Expectations influence observations or interpretations
Subject behavior may be affected by being observed
1.16
How do psychological researchers use naturalistic and laboratory observation?
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5. Naturalistic observation
Examples: Milgram’s study of New York City commuters. (1972)
Average commuter had 4.5 familiar strangers in his/her life.
Almost never spoke to one another
When making a small request, such as asking the time of day, a person was more likely to ask a total stranger than a familiar stranger.
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6. Naturalistic Observation: Studying the “Pace of Life” Naturalistic observation can be used to study many different types of behavior. For example, social psychologist Robert Levine (1997) set out to compare the “pace of life” in 31 different countries. How could you operationally define the “pace of life”? One measure that Levine adopted was “the amount of time it took a pedestrian to walk a distance of 60 feet on a downtown city street.” To collect the data, observers unobtrusively timed at least 35 male and 35 female pedestrians in each country (Levine & Norenzayan, 1999). The results? The fastest walkers were clocked in Ireland and the slowest in Brazil. Of the 31 countries, walkers in the United States were ranked as the 6th fastest, and Canadian walkers came in at 11th.

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Surveys
Interviews or questionnaires are used to gather information about attitudes, beliefs, experiences, or behaviors of a group of people
Population
Entire group of interest to researchers to which they wish to generalize their findings
Sample
Part of a population that is studied in order to reach conclusions about the entire population
Representative sample
Sample that mirrors the population of interest
Includes subgroups in the same proportion as found in the population
1.18
How do researchers ensure that survey results are useful?
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Surveys
Hite Report on Women and Love (1987)
Sent out over 100,000 thousand questionnaires to study how women feel about their relationships with men.
Her results were at odds with the data collected in previous studies (ie Hite found that 70% of women reported having extra-marital affairs).
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Hite Report
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Hite Report
Race
Study % US%
White
Black
Asian
Native American
Middle Eastern
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11. Hite Report
Only 4,500 of the over 1000, 000 women sent questionnaires responded (4.5%).
95.5% nonresponse rate
Difference between the responders and the nonresponders could bias the results.
Angry, unhappy, dissatisfied women more likely to respond.
Not a representative sample with regard to the variable of interest. .

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Survey
Major weakness: Depend on self-report data
Intentional deception
Memory lapses
Poorly worded questions
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14. Descriptive Research Methods
The Case Study
In depth investigation of an individual subject
Usually done over an extended period of time
Uses observations, interviews, or psychological testing
Limitations:
Causes of behavior difficult to establish
Observer bias
Applicability to larger groups or different cultures questionable
1.17
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the case study?
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Case Study
Research team in Finland (1993) wanted to investigate the psychological characteristics of people who commit suicide.
Sample: All known suicides in Finland for a year.
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Case Study
Results:
93% of all suicide victims suffered from significant psychological disorders.
Two most common disorders were depression and alcohol dependence.
The majority of suicidal individuals did not reveal their intensions to health care professionals (22% did which means that 75% did not).
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17. Descriptive Research Methods
The Correlational Method
Establishes the degree of relationship (correlation) between two characteristics, events, or behaviors
Correlation Coefficient
A numerical value that indicates strength and direction of the relationship between variables
Ranges from (perfect positive correlation) to (a perfect negative correlation)
Positive Correlation
Two variables vary in same direction
When stress increases illness usually increases
Negative Correlation
One value’s increase associated with decrease in another
Number cigarettes smokes and years expected to live
1.19
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the correlational method?
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Case Study
The case of Phineas Gage
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19. Descriptive Research Methods
Correlational Studies
Correlation does not prove causation
Correlation coefficient
Indicates the strength of a relationship between two variables
Ranges from to -1.00
Advantages
Ethical reasons don’t allow direct studies
Less time consuming to conduct
Correlational studies are often less complex
1.19
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the correlational method?
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20. FIGURE 1.9 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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Correlation
The hotter the weather, the higher the crime rate.
The greater a person’s self-esteem, the less likely the person is to be depressed.
As a person’s level of happiness decreases, their level of helpfulness decreases.
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Correlation
Which of the following correlation coefficients would indicate the strongest relationship between variables?
1. a b c d.-.42
2. a b c d. +.62
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23. A Perfect Positive Correlation: The Clock and the Bell Tower If a +1
A Perfect Positive Correlation: The Clock and the Bell Tower If a correlation occurred between two variables, it would be termed a perfect positive correlation. This means that every time Factor A occurred, Factor B would also occur. This might seem to suggest that Factor A is causing Factor B to occur, but that’s not necessarily the case. For example, every time the big hand on the clock tower gets to 12, two miles away the bell starts ringing. The two events are perfectly correlated yet, in this case, one does not cause the other.

24. The Experimental Method
Used to demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships by purposefully manipulating one variable and observing/measuring the effect on a second variable
1.20
Why do researchers use experiments to test hypotheses about cause-effect relationships?
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25. The Experimental Method
Independent Variables
A factor or condition deliberately manipulated to determine whether it causes changes in another behavior or condition
Researcher deliberately manipulates the IV
Dependent Variable
The factor that is observed and measured for change as a result of the manipulation of the independent variable.
1.21
How do independent and dependent variables differ?
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26. The Experimental Method
Experimental group
The group that is exposed to an independent variable
Control group
A group similar to the experimental group
Exposed to the same experimental environment
Not given the IV
Used for comparison purposes
1.22
Why are experimental and control groups necessary?
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27. Sources of Bias in Research
Confounding variables
Extraneous variables (time of day, type of subject, experimenter bias)
Selection bias
Assignments to groups so systematic differences are present
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How to control for bias
Random assignment
Process of selecting participants by using a chance procedure to guarantee that each participant has an equal probability of being assigned to any of the groups; control for selection bias.
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How to control for bias
Double-blind technique
A procedure in which neither the participants nor the researcher knows who is in the experimental and control groups until after the data have been gathered; a control for experimenter bias.
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How to control for bias
Placebo effect: Phenomenon that occurs in an experiment when a participant’s response to a treatment is due to his/her expectations rather than the treatment itself; a control for participant bias.
Placebo effect video
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Review
A researcher is interested in how heart rate and blood pressure are affected by viewing a violent film as opposed to a nonviolent film.
IV______
DV______
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32. FIGURE 1.6 Elements of a simple psychological experiment to assess the effects of music during study on test scores. 32

33. Protecting Research Participant’s Rights
Legality:
research must conform to applicable laws
Institutional approval:
required clearance from institution/school
Informed Consent:
participants must be informed of the purpose and any potential harm
Deception:
only used when necessary and no other means available
Debriefing:
participants are informed of any deception after end of research
1.26
What ethical rules must researchers follow when humans are involved in studies?
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Experiment
Visual perception experiment
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