1. Introduction to Psychology Class 4: The Scientific Method 1 June 15, 2006

2. Do Opposites Really Attract?

3. “ I’ m a Democrat, he’s a Republican. He’s always early for everything, I’m usually running behind. I like drama and romance movies, he likes sci-fi and action. However, we can agree on comedy. He likes gourmet food; I’ll eat anything pretty much. I hate to cook, he’s is of course excellent at it. He is super smart and remembers everything he ever reads or hears, I am average and can barely remember the last book I read. This list can go on forever and ever. Our differences make things interesting and never boring. We do have something in common though; we agree to disagree and neither one of us will ever change.” - Unknown blogger

4. “ “ O pposites attract. That's what everyone says. It's a whole big deal. People who have entirely different personalities somehow magically come together. Without the aid of alcohol I might add. Personally I'm thinking, “No way!”. The biggest opposites in history. Hitler and Mother Theresa. You think Hitler would call Mother Theresa on the phone: “Hi Theresa. Here on my lonesome in my bunker. Thinking of you. What you wearing? No you hang up. No you hang up. No you hang up. You, you, you hang up” – Jerry Seinfeld

5. Addressing the Question  Talk to friends and get their points of view  Ask a bunch of random people the question  Talk in-depth to Seinfeld or anonymous woman  Observe people at a party  Look for someone who already has the answer!  Ask many couples to rate their personalities  “Set up” similar/different people  What defines “similar”/“different”?  What defines “attraction”? S C I E N T I F I C OPERATIONALIZE

6. The Scientific Method  Be skeptical/critical-minded  Be open-minded and intuitive  Do the background research, find theory/theories  Develop a hypothesis  Quantify variables, collect and analyze data  Describe/predict/explain behavior  Replicate result with different samples  Develop the theory

8. Research Designs  DESCRIBE  Case Study  Naturalistic Observation  Survey  PREDICT  Correlation  EXPLAIN  Experimentation

9. Case Study Qualitative research is a good start Small sample size (N=1) Relies on observation and intuition of researcher Positives  Personal, not reductionistic, generates hypotheses, ecological validity Negatives  No conclusion, difficult to test hypotheses and generalize findings

10. Naturalistic Observation Observe subjects in their natural habitats No attempt to influence or control behavior Settings: streets, homes, schools, bars, zoos, rural areas Positives  Natural, no contamination, can be quantitative Negatives  Lack of control, experimenter bias

11. Types of Scales Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio

12. Self-reports Wording has effects: 1) Double-barreled questions 2) Demand characteristics 3) Leading questions 4) Embarrassing items Length and content have effects: 1) Inattentive responses 2) Random/fixed responses There may be random sampling issues which lead to difficulties in generalization: 1) Non-representativeness2) Self-selection Respondents may not have access to information sought by researcher: 1) Explicit2) Implicit

13. Create a questionnaire! Empirical question: Do opposites attract? Limit items per group to 10 Use this scale for non-demographic items Pool and then select best or most relevant items Rephrase items if necessary to suit this scale Select a presenter for your group Present your 10 items to the class Disagree very much Disagree somewhat Neutral Agree somewhat Agree very much 12345