1. Welcome to Psychology 132 Lab section 3 (M 10-11) Lab section 4 (M 11-12) Room 041, Psychology Building Professor: Dr. Miller

2. Alen Hajnal Teaching Assistant Psychology Building, Room 120 Office hours: Mon 12-2 Psychology Library Phone: 486-2183 Email: alen.hajnal@uconn.edu

3. Important websites Psychology 132 Lab website http://psychlops.psy.uconn.edu/psych132 Website for this section: http://ione.psy.uconn.edu/~ahajnal/ Forwarding Uconn Email http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/forward.html

4. why are you here? purpose of this part of the course - introduction to experimental methods in psychology what you should be able to do by the end of the course basic experimental method and design basic statistics as they pertain to experimentation application of the above to other situations introduction to scientific writing and APA style

5. What is Psychology? Psych = comes from the Greek word Psyche, meaning mind -ology = the study of Thus, psychology is… The study of the mind & mental processes

6. How do we study mental processes? The Scientific Method 1.Theory 2.Hypothesis 3.Observation & Research Characteristics of Scientific Method: Repeatable Unbiased Falsifiable

7. Goals of Science Description Prediction Explanation

8. How do we measure mental processes? Find an observable behavior that will indicate what’s going on in the mind Example: Reaction Time There is a way to observe and understand nearly all mental processes—we just have to find a way to do so via observable behavior

9. Components of the Experiment 1.Hypothesis 2.Participants 3.Independent & Dependent Variables 4.Collect & Analyze Data 5.Reach conclusions, revise theory and/or hypotheses, report to colleagues and others

10. Example Beer!

11. Theory: People do stupid things when they’re drinking

12. Ho: People who drink beer trip more than those who don’t

13. Participants UConn male and female freshman intro to psychology students

14. Variables Independent Variable (IV) Kind of Drinks (3 each) –Control = non-alcoholic (Coke) –Experimental condition = Beer Manipulate between participants Dependent Variable (DV) # of times each participant slurs, trips, etc.

15. IV BeerCoke DV # Times Trip 5.673.11 Collect & Analyze Data Count # of times each participant trips

16. Reach conclusions # of times trip: Ss alcohol > Ss non-alcohol Results support Ho and general theory Report results in journal publication, presentation, etc.

17. Experimental design Variables: –independent: manipulated by the experimenter –dependent: measured by the experimenter Reaction time study: –IV: the way in which the signal is passed on 3 levels: left, right, alternate hand –DV: reaction time