Introduction and Research Methods

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Chapter 1

• Introduction and Research Methods

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What is Psychology?

• The science of behavior and mental processes
• Behaviorobservable actions of a person or animal
• Mindthoughts, feelings, sensations, perceptions,
  memories, dreams, motives and other subjective
  experiences
• Sciencean objective way to answer questions
  based on observable facts/data and well-described
  methods

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Philosophical Developments
BIG

• A Question How are mind and body
  related?

• René Descartes (15961650)Interactive dualism
• The mind and body interact to produce conscious
  experience

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Philosophical Developments
BIG

• Another Question Nature vs. Nurture

• Are abilities determined by our genes or our
  experiences?
• What are the interactions between genetics and
  environment?
• What effect does it have on behavior?

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Foundations of Modern Psychology

• Separated from philosophy in 19th century
• influences from physiology remain
• Wilhelm Wundt (18321920)
• Leipzig, Germany
• wrote the first psychology textbook
• applied laboratory techniques to study of the
  mind
• structuralismidentify atoms of the mind
• focused on basic sensory and perceptual processes
  
• measured reaction times

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Wilhelm Wundt (18321920)
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Other Pioneers

• Edward Titchener (18671927)
• Wundts student, professor at Cornell University
• William James (18421910)
• started psychology at Harvard in 1870s
• opposed Wundt and Titcheners approach
• functionalism influenced by Darwin
• Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)
• Student of James
• First woman president of APA
• G. Stanley Hall
• Received first PhD in psychology in US
• First president of APA

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E. B. Titchener (18671927)
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William James (18421910)
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Other Pioneers

• Sigmund Freud (18561939)
• Austrian physician that focused on illness
• psychoanalytic theory of mental disorders
• John B. Watson (18781958)
• psychologists should study overt behavior
• B. F. Skinner (19041990)
• American psychologist at Harvard
• studied learning and effect of reinforcement
• behaviorism

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John B. Watson (18781958)
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B. F. Skinner (19041990)
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Humanistic Psychology

• Carl Rogers
• focus on self-determination and free will
• more positive view of basic forces than Freuds
• Abraham Maslow
• behavior reflects innate actualization
• theory of motivation emphasizing psychological
  growth

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Carl Rogers (19021987)
Abraham Maslow (19081970)
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Perspectives

• Perspective is a way of viewing phenomena
• Psychology has multiple perspectives
• Biological
• Psychodynamic
• Behavioral
• Humanistic
• Cognitive
• Cross Cultural
• Evolutionary

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Biological Perspective

• Study the physiological mechanisms in the brain
  and nervous system that organize and control
  behavior
• Focus may be at various levels
• individual neurons
• areas of the brain
• specific functions like eating, emotion, or
  learning
• Interest in behavior distinguishes biological
  psychology from many other biological sciences

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Psychodynamic Perspective

• View of behavior based on experience treating
  patients
• Psychoanalytic approach (Sigmund Freud)
• both a method of treatment and a theory of the
  mind
• behavior reflects combinations of conscious and
  unconscious influences
• drives and urges within the unconscious component
  of mind influence thought and behavior
• early childhood experiences shape unconscious
  motivations

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Behavioral Perspective

• View of behavior based on experience or learning
• Classical conditioning
• Operant conditioning

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Humanistic Perspective

• Focus on motivation of people to grow
  psychologically
• Influence of interpersonal relationships on self
  concept
• Importance of choice and self-direction to reach
  potential

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Cognitive Perspective

• How is knowledge acquired, organized, remembered,
  and used to guide behavior?
• Influences include
• Piaget studied intellectual development
• Chomsky studied language
• Cybernetics science of information processing

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Cross-Cultural Perspective

• The study of psychological differences among
  people living in different cultural groups
• How are peoples thoughts, feelings, and behavior
  influenced by their culture?
• What are the common elements across culture? Are
  these innate?

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Evolutionary Perspective

• Influenced by Darwin and the emphasis on innate,
  adaptive behavior patterns
• Application of principles of evolution to explain
  behavior and psychological processes

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The Profession of Psychology

• American Psychological Association had 52
  divisions in 1998
• Some represent areas of training and
  specialization (e.g., developmental, clinical)
• Some are applied (i.e., teaching in psychology,
  psychology and the law)

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Review
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Psychology should study how behavior and mental
processes allow organisms to adapt to their
environments

• School/Approach

Evolutionary perspective
Founder
Charles Darwin
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Psychology should emphasize peoples unique
potential for psychological growth
School/Approach
Humanistic
Founder
Maslow
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Psychology should only study observable behavior
School/Approach
Behaviorism
Founder
Watson/Skinner
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Goals of Psychology

• Describe
• Explain
• Predict
• Control
• behavior and mental processes

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Scientific Skepticism

• Science helps build explanations that are
  consistent and predictive rather than conflicting
  and postdictive (hindsight)
• Science is based on
• knowledge of facts
• developing theories
• testing hypotheses
• public and repeatable procedures

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Scientific Method

• Formulate testable questions
• Develop hypotheses
• Design study to collect data
• Experimental
• Descriptive
• Analyze data to arrive at conclusions
• Use of statistical procedures
• Use of meta-analysis
• Report results
• Publication
• Replication

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What a journal reference really means
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Theory

• Tentative explanation for observed findings
• Results from accumulation of findings of
  individual studies
• Tool for explaining observed behavior
• Reflects self-correcting nature of scientific
  method.

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Research Strategies

• Descriptivestrategies for observing and
  describing behavior
• Naturalistic observation
• Case studies
• Surveys
• Correlational methods
• Experimentalstrategies for inferring cause and
  effect relationships among variables

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Descriptive Study

• Describes a set of facts
• Does not look for relationships between facts
• Does not predict what may influence the facts
• May or may not include numerical data
• Example measure the percentage of new students
  from out-of-state each year since 1980

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Naturalistic Observation

• Researchers directly observe and record behavior
  rather than relying on subject descriptions. In
  naturalistic observation researcher records
  behavior as it occurs naturally.

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Case Study Method

• Highly detailed description of a single
  individual
• Generally used to investigate rare, unusual, or
  extreme conditions

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Survey Methods

• Designed to investigate opinions, behaviors, or
  characteristics of a particular group. Usually in
  self-report form.

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Samples and Sampling

• Populationlarge (potentially infinite) group
  represented by the sample. Findings are
  generalized to this group.
• Sampleselected segment of the population
• Representative sampleclosely parallels the
  population on relevant characteristics
• Random selectionevery member of larger group has
  equal change of being selected for the study
  sample

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Correlational Study

• Collects a set of facts organized into two or
  more categories
• measure time spent playing video games
• measure other personality characteristics
• Examines the relationship between categories
• Correlation reveals relationships among facts

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Coefficient of Correlation

• Numerical indication of magnitude and direction
  of the relationship between two variables
• Positive correlationtwo variables vary
  systematically in the SAME direction
• Negative correlationtwo variables vary
  systematically in OPPOSITE directions

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Correlational Study

• Correlation cannot prove causation
• Does playing video games cause a decline in
  academic achievement?
• Does playing video games cause more aggressive
  behavior?
• May be an unmeasured common factor
• e.g., maybe more aggressive people are attracted
  to video games.

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Experiments

• Direct way to test a hypothesis about a
  cause-effect relationship between factors
• Factors are called variables
• One variable is controlled by the experimenter
• e.g., type of video game--violent vs. non-violent
• The other is observed and measured
• e.g., aggressive behavior

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Definitions

• Hypothesistentative statement about the
  relationship between variables
• Variablesfactors that can vary in ways that can
  be observed, measured, and verified
• Operational definitionprecise description of how
  the variables will be measured

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Experimental Variables

• Independent variable (IV)
• the controlled factor in an experiment
• hypothesized to cause an effect on another
  variable
• Dependent variable (DV)
• the measured facts
• hypothesized to be affected

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Independent Variable

• Must have at least two levels
• categories male vs. female
• numeric ages 10, 12, 14
• Simplest is experimental vs. control group
• experimental gets treatment
• control does not

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Experimental Design

• Random sampleevery member of the population
  being studied should have an equal chance of
  being selected for the study
• Random assignmentevery subject in the study
  should have an equal chance of being placed in
  either the experimental or control group
• Randomization helps avoid false results

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Variations in Design

• Placebo control groupexposed to a fake IV
  (placebo), the effects of which are compared to
  group receiving the actual IV.
• Double-blind studytechnique in which neither
  experimenter nor participant is aware of the
  group to which participant is assigned

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Possible Bias

• Expectancy effectschange in DV produced by
  subjects expectancy that change should happen
• Demand characteristicssubtle cues or signals by
  the researcher that communicate type of
  responses that are expected.
• Both controlled through use of double blind
  procedures

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Natural Experiments

• Often used to measure impact of naturally
  occurring events
• Used when actual experiments are impossible or
  unethical to create
• Example Effects of chronic noise on stress in
  children

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Limitations

• Often criticized for having little to do with
  actual behavior because of strict laboratory
  conditions
• Ethical considerations in creating some more
  real life situations

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Ethical Guidelines

• Informed consent and voluntary participation
• Students as participants
• Use of deception
• Confidentiality of records
• Information about the study and debriefing

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Evaluating Media Reports

• Be skeptical of sensationalist claims
• Goal of shock media is ratings
• Look for original sources
• Separate opinion from data
• Consider methodology and operational definitions
• Correlation is not causality
• Skepticism is the rule is science.