MODULE 2 Myers Exploring Psychology 5th Ed'

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MODULE 2 Myers Exploring Psychology 5th Ed.

• Research Strategies How Psychologists Ask and
  Answer Questions

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How About Common Sense?

• Absence makes the heart grow fonder vs. Out of
  sight, out of mind.
• We look for patterns.
• We learn from experience.
• Sometimes we are wrong.
• Data helps, but is no guarantee.

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Why do Psychology?

• Hindsight Bias
• tendency to believe, after learning an outcome,
  that one would have foreseen it
• the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon
• Overconfidence
• we tend to think we know more than we do

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Show me the evidence!

• Some things seem true that are not.
• Some things seem false that are true.
• Some things we just dont know.
• And some things we discover, disproving what we
  thought we knew!

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Critical Thinking

• Humility Required!

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Why do Psychology?

• Critical Thinking
• thinking that does not blindly accept arguments
  and conclusions
• examines assumptions
• discerns hidden values
• evaluates evidence
• assesses conclusions

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The Scientific Method

• Theory
• an explanation using an integrated set of
  principles that organizes and predicts
  observations
• Hypothesis
• a testable prediction
• often implied by a theory

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The Scientific Method

• Case Study
• an observation technique in which one person is
  studied in depth in the hope of revealing
  universal principles

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The Scientific Method

• Naturalistic Observation
• Watching and recording the behavior of organisms
  in their natural environment
• Be careful not to see what you expect to see.
• Be aware that organisms are reactive!

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The Scientific Method

• Survey
• technique for ascertaining the self-reported
  attitudes or behaviors of people
• usually by questioning a representative, random
  sample of them

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The Scientific Method

• Survey
• Ask the right questions of the right people.
• You must use a representative (random) sample.
• You must be careful to ask the question that you
  intended in an unbiased manner?

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The Scientific Method

• Survey
• Sampling Shere Hite
• Sampled 100,000 people
• 4500 returns
• 70 of women were having affairs
• (Other surveys found only 1/7)

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The Scientific Method

• Correlation Coefficient
• a statistical measure that indicates the extent
  to which two factors vary together and thus how
  well either factor predicts the other

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The Scientific Method

• Correlation Coefficient
• Ranges from 1 to -1 (0no relationship)
• Shows strength direction of relationship
• Can be used to predict one variable from another

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The Scientific Method

• Correlation Coefficient cannot be used as
  evidence of causality!!
• A caused B
• B caused A
• C caused both

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Correlation and Causation

• Three possible cause-effect relations

could cause
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Random Sequences

• Your chances of being dealt either of these hands
  is precisely the same 1 in 2,598,960.

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The Scientific Method

• Experiment
• a research method in which an investigator
  manipulates one or more factors (independent
  variables) to observe their effect on some
  behavior or mental process (the dependent
  variable)
• The key to showing evidence of causality through
  experimentation is control.

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The Scientific Method

• Independent Variable
• manipulated (different in each group)
• cause of the change in the dependent variable
• Dependent Variable
• measured effect
• may change in response to manipulations of the
  independent variable

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The Scientific Method

• Experimental Condition
• the condition of an experiment that exposes
  participants to the treatment, that is, to one
  version of the independent variable
• Control Condition
• the condition of an experiment that contrasts
  with the experimental treatment
• serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect
  of the treatment

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The Scientific Method

• Random Assignment
• assigning participants to experimental and
  control conditions by chance
• minimizes preexisting differences between those
  assigned to the different groups

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The Scientific Method

• Placebo
• an inert substance or condition that may be
  administered instead of a presumed active agent,
  such as a drug, to see if it triggers the effects
  believed to characterize the active agent
• Placebo Effect
• any effect on behavior caused by a placebo

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The Scientific Method

• Double-blind Procedure
• an experimental procedure in which both the
  research participants and the research staff are
  ignorant (blind) about whether the research
  participants have received the treatment or a
  placebo
• commonly used in drug-evaluation studies

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The Scientific Method
Comparing Research Methods
Research Method Basic Purpose
How Conducted What is
Manipulated
Descriptive To observe and
Case studies, surveys, Nothing record
behavior and naturalistic
observations
Correlational To detect naturally
Computing statistical Nothing occurring
relationships association, sometimes to
assess how well among survey one variable
predicts responses
Experimental To explore cause Manipulating
one or Independent and effect more
factors and using variable(s) random
assignment to eliminate preexisting diff
erences among subjects
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The Scientific Method

• Replication
• repeating the essence of a research study to see
  whether the basic finding generalizes to other
  participants and circumstances
• usually with different subjects in different
  situations