PSYCO 105: Individual and Social Behaviour

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PSYCO 105 Individual and Social Behaviour

• Lecture 1 The Ways and Means of Psychology

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What is psychology?

• Psychology is the scientific study of the mind
  and behaviour
• The scientific study of the causes of behaviour
  also the application of the findings of
  psychological research to the solution of
  problems (Carlson et al., 2000)

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Fields of Psychology

• Biological Foundations
• Individual and Social Behaviour
• Applied Psychology

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Biological Foundations

• Physiological Psychology
• Psychophysiology
• Comparative Psychology
• Behaviour Analysis
• Behaviour Genetics
• Cognitive Psychology
• Experimental Neuropsychology

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Individual and Social Behaviour

• Developmental Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Personality Psychology
• Cross-Cultural Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

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Applied Psychology

• Organizational Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Health Psychology
• Community Psychology
• Engineering Psychology (Human Factors)

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Ways of Knowing

• Tenacity (Faith)
• Authority
• Consensus
• Reason
• Observation

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Goals of Psychology

• To understand human behaviour
• Describe
• Explain
• Predict
• Control

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Research Strategies

• Experimentation
• Correlational Studies
• Descriptive Studies

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Experimentation

• Independent Variable
• The factor that is systematically manipulated so
  that the researcher can examine its effect on a
  dependent variable.

• Dependent Variable
• The variable (usually a behaviour) that is
  affected by the independent variable.

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Research Settings

• Laboratory Studies
• Field Studies

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Data Collection Methods

• Self-Report
• Questionnaires
• Interviews
• Observational Methods
• Naturalistic Observation
• Participant Observation
• Tests

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Ethics

• Informed Consent
• Risks and Benefits
• Deception
• Privacy, Confidentiality, and Anonymity
• Special Groups

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Informed Consent

• A description of the study should be provided in
  advance, including mention of the purpose of
  the research expected benefits of the research
  methods (tasks to be performed) any effects,
  risks or inconveniences of the procedure rights
  of the participant and any possible alternative
  procedures.

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Risks and Benefits

• The onus is on the researcher to avid or minimize
  risks to the subjects, both in carrying out the
  research and in publication of the results.

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Deception

• Deception is a situation in which subjects have
  essential information withheld and/or are
  intentionally misled about procedures and
  purposes. A thorough debriefing is particularly
  important in studies involving deception.

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Privacy, Confidentiality and Anonymity

• Personal information given by the subject will be
  confidential. Wherever possible, the researcher
  will take steps to ensure the anonymity of the
  subjects.

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Vulnerable Groups

• Special care must be taken with vulnerable groups
  to ensure ethical treatment (e.g., prisoners,
  people with mental disabilities, other cultures,
  etc.)

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Bias in Psychological Research

• Random Error
• Causes random variability in DV
• Systematic Error or Bias
• Causes nonrandom variability in DV other than
  that caused by the IV.

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Types of Bias

• Sample Bias
• Measurement Bias
• Observers (Researchers) Bias
• Subjects Bias

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Sample and Measurement Biases

• Sample Biases
• Random assignment

• Measurement Biases
• Validity
• Reliability

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Observers and Subjects Biases

• Observer-Expectancy Effects
• Single-blind studies

• Subject-Expectancy Effects
• Double-blind studies
• Placebo

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Descriptive Statistics

• Central Tendency
• Mean
• Median
• Variability
• Standard deviation

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Assessing Relations

• Correlation Coefficient
• A measurement of the degree to which two
  variables are related.
• Scatterplot
• A graphic representation of a correlation one
  value is plotted against the horizontal axis and
  the other against the vertical axis.

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Inferential Statistics

• Statistical Significance
• The likelihood that an observed relation or
  difference between two variables is not due to
  chance factors