1. DO NOW… Explain the difference between “nature” and “nurture.”
Why is the debate between nature and nurture important?

2. Psychology’s Subfields
Basic Research
Biological: looking for brain/mind links
Developmental: changing abilities age to age
Personality: inner traits
Applied Research
Industrial/ Organizational
Ergonomics: Uses psychology & engineering to design products
Practical Issues: handling stress, advice for parents, etc.

3. Psychology’s Subfields
Psychology – This is the assessment branch of psychology which studies and treats individuals.
Psychiatry (psychotherapy) – This is the branch of medicine that prescribes drugs.

4. Careers in Psychology Clinical Psychologists Counseling Psychologists
School Psychologists
Educational Psychologists
Industrial/Organizational Psychologists
Experimental Psychologists
Social Psychologists
Developmental Psychologists
Psychometric Psychologists

5. Check for Understanding
The question, “Is intelligence more influenced by heredity or experience?” deals with a big issue in psychology known as
Stability vs. change
Rationality vs. irrationality
Structure vs. function
Nature vs. nurture

6. Check for Understanding
Dr. Daniels was hired by the TLC Company to help them retain their employees without lowering the firm’s profits. After TLC removed cubicles and permitted employees to decorate their workroom as recommended by Dr. Daniels, the absentee rate declined and no employees left for jobs elsewhere. Dr. Daniels is most likely
A forensic psychologist
An industrial/organizational psychologist
A counseling psychologist
A clinical psychologist

7. Thinking Critically with Psychological Science
Chapter 1

8. The Scientific Attitude
To sift reality from fantasy
requires a scientific attitude.
Researchers must be
curiously skeptical and yet
humble at the same time!
Limits of Intuition & Common Sense
Hindsight Bias – “Knew it all along”
Overconfidence – We tend to think we know more than we do.
False Consensus Effect – believing that everyone agrees with our line of thinking
Promotes critical thinking – don’t accept things at face value!
Asks why – Have you ever wondered, “What makes someone a morning person?

9. Research Strategies: The Scientific Method
The theory needs to effectively organize a range of observations
The theory must imply clear predictions so that other researchers can replicate it & further refine it.
Operational Definitions

10. Research Strategies Population Sampling
All the cases in a group, from which samples may be drawn for a study
Sampling
Random Sample is a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion
Representative/Stratified

11. Descriptive Research Methods
Descriptive Methods are used to observe and record behavior only
The Case Study – an extremely detailed study on one or more individuals in order to make generalizations about others. Sometimes called an interview study.
Freud and Piaget were among the theorists who used this method.
Advantage
Disadvantage

12. Descriptive Research Methods
Survey – Asks people to answer questions in order to gather data.
Example: Opinion polls
Naturalistic Observation – Watching and recording behavior in a natural environment.

13. CHART

14. PLEASE CLEAR EVERYTHING OFF OF YOUR DESK EXCEPT FOR YOUR NOTE CARDS.
NO PENS, PENCILS, OR OTHER WRITING UTENSILS!

15. DO NOW…
Differentiate between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Be sure to fully explain your answer.

16. Correlation
Describing behavior is the first step toward predicting it. When surveys and naturalistic observations reveal that one trait or behavior accompanies another, we say the two correlate.
Correlation reveals how closely the two things link together and how well it predicts the other.

17. Correlation
Positive Correlation: score between 0 & +1. The two things either increase or decrease together (direct relationship).
Negative Correlation: scored with a negative (-) sign; means there is an inverse relationship. As one thing increases the other decreases.
Correlation Coefficient – a statistical measure of the extent to which 2 factors vary together and thus how well either factor predicts the other
+ or – indicates the direction of the relationship
0.00 to 1.00 indicates the strength of the relationship
r= +.68

19. Correlation
Illusory Correlation: statistics can help us see what the naked eye sometimes misses. Correlations not only make visible relationships that we might otherwise miss, they also restrain our “seeing” nonexistent relationships.
We pay attention to sequence, but it may not be a correlation. Bizarre events happen. Correlation Does Not Prove Causation!

20. Check for Understanding
Correlation
If your level of test anxiety goes down as your time spent studying for the exam goes up, would you say these events are positively or negatively correlated?

21. Correlation
True or False: If height and IQ were determined to be positively correlated, then all tall people have higher IQs because being tall makes you smarter.

22. DO NOW…
Please take out your correlations practice sheet.

23. Research Strategies
Experiment – the investigator manipulates one or more factors (independent variables) to observe their effect on some behavior or mental process (the dependent variable) while controlling other relevant factors.
Random selection of participants
Random assignment of groups/conditions

24. Experimentation Many factors influence behavior.
Experiments enable a researcher to focus
on the possible effects of one or more
factors by:
Manipulating the factors of interest
Holding constant (controlling) other factors.

25. Experimentation
Independent variable: the experimental factor you manipulate; the treatment itself.
Example: Music, medication
Dependent variable: the behavior measured; the factor that might be affected by changes in the independent variable.
Example: Behavior on a scale 1-5 (for best results make the DV quantitative)

26. Experimentation
Experimental condition/group: The condition that exposes subjects to one version of the independent variable.
Control condition/group: A condition identical to the experimental one, except the independent variable has a different value, such as zero. They could be given a placebo depending on the nature of experiment.

27. Common Flaws in Research
Sampling Bias
exists when a sample is not representative of the population
Placebo Effects
Experimental results caused by expectations alone
Participant Bias
a tendency for participants to respond in a certain way because they know they are being observed (Hawthorne Effect) or they believe they know what the researcher wants.
Researcher Bias
occurs when a researcher’s expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained.
Confounding Variables…

31. Check for Understanding
Students will be able to read a statement printed in the Comic Sans font faster than the same statement written in the Lucida Calligraphy font.
This statement is a(n)
Hypothesis
Theory
Replication
Operational definition

32. Check for Understanding
Students will be able to read a statement printed in the Comic Sans font faster than the same statement written in the Lucida Calligraphy font.
The dependent variable in this experiment based on the statement would be
The statement written in the Comic Sans font
The statement written in the Lucida Calligraphy font
The length of time it takes students to read the statements
The students who read the statements written in the Comic Sans font

34. DO NOW…
What kinds of biases or problems can occur with experimentation?

35. Statistics
tools that help the psychologists (and others) to interpret the vast quantities of information they are confronted with on a daily basis
the use of graphs can be extremely helpful in understanding your data

36. Descriptive Statistics
Numbers that summarize a set of research data obtained from a sample

37. Statistical Reasoning
Our Brand Brand Brand
Brand X Y Z
100% 99 98 97 96 95
Percentage
still functioning
after 10 years
Brand of truck

38. Statistical Reasoning
Our Brand Brand Brand
Brand X Y Z
100% 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10
Percentage
still functioning
after 10 years
Brand of truck

39. Descriptive Statistics: Central Tendencies
Median: is the ½ mark; half of the scores fall above and half fall below.
Mode: the most frequently occurring score in a distribution
Mean: the arithmetic average of a distribution which is obtained by adding the scores and then dividing by the number of scores.
Remember, there may be a couple of high or low scores interfering with the data.

40. Measures of Variance Range – uses the high and low extremes
Standard deviation – a computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score; it gauges whether scores are packed together or dispersed

41. Descriptive Statistics
Normal curve is a graph of frequency distribution shaped like a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve; a graph of normal distribution.
In a normal distribution, about 68% of the scores are within one standard deviation of the mean and about 95% of the scores are within two standards deviations of the mean.

43. Descriptive Statistics
In a normal distribution, the median is equivalent to the mean.
In a positively skewed distribution, the mean is higher than the median.
In a negatively skewed distribution, the median is higher than the mean.
Positive negative

44. Statistical Reasoning
A Skewed Distribution 90
475
710 70
Mode Median Mean
One Family
Income per family in thousands of dollars

45. Inferential Statistics
Used to interpret data and draw conclusions
E.g, Statistical significance (p) – is a measure of the likelihood that the difference between groups results from a real difference between the two groups rather than from chance alone

46. Check for Understanding
Ms. Smith owns a business with nine other employees. Ms. Smith’s annual salary is $90,000. Her manager’s salary is $60,000. Of her other employees, three earn $25,000 each and five earn $15,000 each.
The range of this distribution is A. $75,000 B. $50,000 C. $25,000 D. $20,000

47. Check for Understanding
Ms. Smith owns a business with nine other employees. Ms. Smith’s annual salary is $90,000. Her manager’s salary is $60,000. Of her other employees, three earn $25,000 each and five earn $15,000 each.
For this distribution, the mean is
Lower than both the median and the mode
Lower than median, but higher than the mode
Lower than the mode, but higher median
Higher than both the median and the mode

48. Experiments on People
In the past, researchers did not have mandated guidelines when doing experiments, and some would use experimental procedures that were not ethical.
Ethical principles developed by the APA urge investigators to:
Obtain the informed consent of potential participants.
Protect them from harm and discomfort.
Treat information about individuals confidentially.
Fully explain the research afterward (debrief).
Do not be deceitful.

49. Experimentation on Animals
Animal experiments have led to many treatments for humans. They have also led to heated debates. Ethical guidelines are in place for the care and justified use of animals.
The APA guidelines mandate ensuring the “comfort, health, and humane treatment” of animals, and of minimizing
“infection, illness, and pain
of animal subjects.”

50. Key Ethics Principles to understand:
Informed consent – they must be given a statement that informs them of procedures, risks, benefits, and the right of the participant not to participate or to withdraw from the study without penalty
Deception – they cannot be deceived about significant aspects that would affect their willingness to participate
Debriefing – after the participant finishes, they are told of the nature of the results and conclusions

52. DO NOW… What are the six major psychological perspectives?
Provide a descriptive of each perspective.

53. Free Response Question
The police chief of New City states publicly that she sees a direct relationship between teenage arrests in New City for violent crimes and the popularity among New City teens of especially violent television shows.
A. Design a correlational study to research this claimed relationship, being sure to address how each of the following design elements would apply to your study.
Operational definitions of variables
Selection of participants
Generalizability
Two ethical considerations
B. The police chief concludes that watching violent television shows leads to teens’ committing violent crimes in New City. Do you support her conclusion? Explain your response.

54. Free Response Question
Design and describe an experiment to measure the relationship between rehearsal/repetition of a list of words and later recall of that same list of words. In your answer you should formulate a hypothesis and include a description of each of the following.
Population
Subject selection
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Experimental group
Control group
Potential confounding variable
A method of reducing experimenter bias

55. Ethics