Module 2

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Module 2

• Psychology Science

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Levels What is studied?
Genetic Gene function, heritability, twin and adoption studies
Neurochemical Neurotransmitters, hormones animal studies, pharmaceutical drug studies,
Brain systems Neuroanatomical structures, animal studies, brain imaging
Behavioral Observable actions, responses, physical movements
Perceptual and Cognitive Thinking, decision-making, language, memory, motivation, beliefs
Social Situations, context, cultural norms, group decision-making, group behavior
Individual Personality traits, sex differences, human development
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SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Advantages of scientific method
• scientific Method
• approach of gathering information and answering
  questions so that errors and biases are minimized

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SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Conducting Research seven rules
• Rule 1 Ask
• Rule 2 Identify
• Rule 3 Choose
• Rule 4 Assign
• Rule 5 Manipulate
• Rule 6 Measure
• Rule 7 Analyze

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SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Rule 1 Ask
• hypothesis
• educated guess about some phenomenon stated in
  precise, concrete language to rule out any
  confusion or error in the meaning of its terms

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SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Rule 2 Identify
• independent variable
• a treatment or something that the researcher
  controls or manipulates
• dependent variable
• one or more of the subjects behaviors that are
  used to measure the potential effects of the
  treatment or independent variable

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SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Rule 3 Choose
• random selection
• each participant in a sample population has an
  equal chance of being selected for the experiment
• Rule 4 Assign
• experimental group
• those who receive the treatment
• control group
• participants who undergo all the same procedures
  as the experimental participants except that the
  control participants do not receive the treatment

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SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Rule 5 Manipulate
• double blind procedure
• neither participants nor researchers know which
  group is receiving which treatment
• Rule 6 Measure
• by manipulating the treatment so that the
  experimental group receives a different treatment
  than the control group, researchers are able to
  measure how the independent variable (treatment)
  affects those behaviors that have been selected
  as the dependent variables

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SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Rule 7 Analyze
• statistical procedures
• used to determine whether differences observed in
  dependent variables (behaviors) are due to
  independent variables (treatment) or to error or
  chance occurrence

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ANSWERING QUESTIONS

• Researchers use all five methods
• Survey
• Case Study
• Experiment
• Observation
• Correlational Comparison
• each method provides a different kind of
  information

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SURVEYS

• Survey
• way to obtain information by asking many
  individuals
• answer a fixed set of questions about particular
  subjects

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SURVEYS

• Disadvantages
• information can contain errors
• results can be biased
• Advantage
• efficient way to obtain much information from a
  large number of people

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CASE STUDY

• Case study
• an in-depth analysis of the thoughts, feelings,
  beliefs, experiences, behaviors, or problems of a
  single individual

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CASE STUDY

• Disadvantage
• detailed information about a particular person
  may not apply to others
• Advantage
• detailed information allows greater understanding
  of a particular persons life

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EXPERIMENT

• Experiment
• a method for identifying cause-and-effect
  relationships by following a set of rules and
  guidelines that minimize the possibility of
  error, bias, and chance occurrences.

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EXPERIMENT

• Disadvantage
• information obtained in one experimental
  situation or laboratory setting may not apply to
  other situations
• Advantage
• has the greatest potential for identifying
  cause-and-effect relationships with less error
  and bias than either surveys or case studies

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OBSERVATION

• Naturalistic
• Performing an observation in a natural setting,
  sometimes hiding from the subjects being studied
• Advantage
• Often yields genuine data, since subjects are
  unaware of study
• Disadvantage
• - Reactivity
• - Observer Bias

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OBSERVATION
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Measures of Central Tendency

• When studying and comparing statistics, often
  times you want to give what is common, typical,
  average etc. To do this you use mean, median, and
  the mode.
• Mean the arithmetic average of all the
  individual measurements in a distribution

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Measures of Central Tendency

• Mean the arithmetic average of all the
  individual measurements in a distribution
• 1. 000(zero) 8. 80,000
• 2. 5,000 9. 100,000
• 3. 10,000 10. 150,000
• 4. 20,000 11. 200,000
• 5. 40,000 12. 400,000
• 6. 40,000 13. 10,000,000
• 7. 40,000
• Add together and divide by 13 11,085,000
  divide this by 13 and you get the mean of 852,
  692.31

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Measures of Central Tendency

• Mode figure that occurs most frequently in a
  given set of data.
• 1. 000(zero) 8. 80,000
• 2. 5,000 9. 100,000
• 3. 10,000 10. 150,000
• 4. 20,000 11. 200,000
• 5. 40,000 12. 400,000
• 6. 40,000 13. 10,000,000
• 7. 40,000
• In this example it is 40,000.

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Measures of Central Tendency

• Median the middle of any set of figures.
• 1. 000(zero) 8. 80,000
• 2. 5,000 9. 100,000
• 3. 10,000 10. 150,000
• 4. 20,000 11. 200,000
• 5. 40,000 12. 400,000
• 6. 40,000 13. 10,000,000
• 7. 40,000
• In this example, the median would be 40,000.

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CORRELATION

• Correlation
• an association or relationship between the
  occurrence of two or more events (a.k.a. a
  correlational relationship)
• Correlation coefficient
• a number that indicates the strength of a
  relationship between two or more events the
  closer the number is to 1.00 or 1.00, the
  greater is the strength of the relationship

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Correlational Research

• Another tool for the researcher
•  1) As a first step prior to experimentation
• 2) When causations cannot be found  3) When
  experiments cannot be conducted (for ethical or
  practical reasons)

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Correlational Research

• Types of correlational studies
• 1) Observational Research
•  e.g., class attendance and grades 2)  Survey
  Research
•  e.g., living together and divorce rates 3)
  Archival Research
•  e.g., violence and economics

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Correlational Research

• Example   Why are children aggressive?
•  Hypothesis aggression is a learned behavior as
  a result of modeling.
•  Test  look for associations between aggressive
  behavior and . .

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Correlational Research

• Interpreting Correlations
• Scores range from -1 to 1
• -1, negative relationship example of a
  negative   drinking in college and GPA  
• 0, no relationshipexample of a near zero  
  hair length and GPA
•   1, positive relationship example of a
  positive GPA and scores on SAT

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CORRELATION

• Perfect positive correlation coefficient
• 1.00 means that an increase in one event is
  always matched by an equal increase in a second
  event
• Positive correlation coefficient
• indicates that as one event tends to increase,
  the second event tends to, but does not always,
  increase
• increases from 0.01 to 0.99 indicate a
  strengthening of the relationship between the
  occurrence of two events

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CORRELATION

• Zero correlation
• indicates that there is no relationship between
  the occurrence of one event and the occurrence of
  a second event
• Negative correlation coefficient
• indicates that as one event tends to increase,
  the second event tends to, but does not always,
  decrease
• -0.01 to -0.99 indicates a strengthening in the
  relationship of one event increasing and the
  other decreasing

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CORRELATION

• Perfect negative correlation coefficient
• -1.00 means that an increase in one event is
  always matched by an equal decrease in a second
  event
• correlations such as 1.00 are virtually never
  found in applied psychological research

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DECISIONS ABOUT DOING RESEARCH

• What is the best technique for answering a
  question?
• Questionnaires and interviews
• Laboratory experiments
• Standardized tests
• Animal models

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DECISIONS ABOUT DOING RESEARCH

• Interview
• technique for obtaining information by asking
  questions, ranging from open-ended to highly
  structured, about a subjects behaviors and
  attitudes, usually in a one-on-one situation
• Questionnaire
• technique for obtaining information by asking
  subjects to read a list of written questions and
  check off specific answers

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DECISIONS ABOUT DOING RESEARCH

• Laboratory experiments
• techniques to gather information about the brain,
  genes, or behavior with the lease error and bias
  by using a controlled environment that allows
  careful observation and measurement
• Standardized tests
• technique to obtain information by administering
  a psychological test that has been given to
  hundreds of people and shown to reliably measure
  thought patterns, personality traits, emotions,
  or behaviors

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DECISIONS ABOUT DOING RESEARCH

• Animal Models
• involves examining or manipulating some
  behavioral, genetic, or physiological factor that
  closely approximates some human problem, disease,
  or condition

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DECISIONS ABOUT DOING RESEARCH

• Choosing research settings
• Naturalistic setting
• Laboratory setting

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DECISIONS ABOUT DOING RESEARCH

• Naturalistic setting
• relatively normal environment in which
  researchers gather information by observing
  individuals behaviors without attempting to
  change or control the situation
• Laboratory setting
• involves studying individuals under systematic
  and controlled conditions, with many of the
  real-world influences eliminated

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ETHICS

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APPLICATION RESEARCH CONCERNS

• Concerns about being a subject
• human and animal
• Code of ethics
• the American Psychological Association publishes
  a code of ethics and conduct for psychologists to
  follow when doing research, counseling, teaching,
  and related activities

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APPLICATION RESEARCH ETHICS

• Informed Consent
• Subject must have a reasonable understanding of
  the research, voluntarily agree to take part and
  be aware of any possible harm.
• Safety
• Mental and Physical safety must be the top
  priority, a research subject should never be in
  danger.

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APPLICATION RESEARCH ETHICS

• Role of deception
• one way that researchers control for
  participants expectations is to use bogus
  procedures or instructions that prevent
  participants from learning the experiments true
  purpose
• Debriefed
• If a subject is deceived they must be informed of
  the truth as soon as possible

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APPLICATION RESEARCH CONCERNS

• Ethics of animal research
• How many animals are used in research?
• 18 to 22 million animals are used each year in
  biomedical research
• Are research animals mistreated?
• Of the millions of animals used in research, only
  a few cases of animal mistreatment have been
  confirmed.

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APPLICATION RESEARCH CONCERNS

• Ethics of animal research
• Is the use of animals justified?
• researchers are currently using animals to study
  epilepsy, Alzheimers disease, fetal alcohol
  syndrome, schizophrenia, AIDS, and
  transplantation of brain tissue
• none of which is possible with human subjects

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APPLICATION RESEARCH CONCERNS

• Ethics of animal research

Who checks on the use of animals in research?

• U. S. Department of Agriculture
• Universities hire veterinarians
• Universities have animal subject committees

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APPLICATION RESEARCH CONCERNS

• Ethics of animal research
• How do we strike a balance?
• many experts in the scientific, medical, and
  mental health communities believe that the
  conscientious and responsible use of animals in
  research is justified and should continue

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USE OF PLACEBOS

• Placebo
• intervention, such as taking a pill, receiving
  and injection, or undergoing an operation, that
  resembles medical therapy but which in fact, has
  no medical effects
• Placebo effect
• change in the patients illness that is
  attributable to an imagined treatment rather than
  to a medical treatment

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USE OF PLACEBOS

• researchers believe that placebos work by
  reducing tension and distress and by creating
  powerful self-fulfilling prophecies
• individuals think and behave as if the drug,
  actually a placebo, is effective