Myers

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Myers EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY (4th Ed)

• Chapter 1
• Introduction Thinking Critically with
  Psychology
• James A. McCubbin, PhD
• Clemson University
• Worth Publishers

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What is Psychology?

• Psychology
• the science of behavior and mental processes
• Nature-Nurture Issue
• the long-standing controversy over the relative
  contribution of genes and experience to the
  development of psychological traits and behaviors

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What is Psychology?

• Basic Research
• pure science that aims to increase the scientific
  knowledge base
• Applied Research
• scientific study that aims to solve practical
  problems

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What is Psychology?

• Clinical Psychology
• a branch of psychology that studies, assesses,
  and treats people with psychological disorders
• Psychiatry
• a branch of medicine dealing with psychological
  disorders
• practiced by physicians who provide medical
  (drug) treatment as well as psychological therapy

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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

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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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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
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Research Strategies

• Replication
• repeating the essence of a research study to see
  whether the basic finding generalizes to other
  subjects and circumstances
• usually with different subjects in different
  situations
• Case Study
• an observation technique in which one person is
  studied in depth in the hope of revealing
  universal principles

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Research Strategies

• Survey
• technique for ascertaining the self-reported
  attitudes or behaviors of people
• usually by questioning a representative, random
  sample of them
• False Consensus Effect
• tendency to overestimate the extent to which
  others share our beliefs and behaviors

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Research Strategies

• Population
• all the cases in a group, from which samples may
  be drawn
• Random Sample
• a sample that fairly represents a population
  because each member has an equal chance of
  inclusion

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Research Strategies

• Naturalistic Observation
• observing and recording behavior in naturally
  occurring situations without trying to manipulate
  and control the situation

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Research Strategies

• Correlation
• a statistical measure that indicates the extent
  to which two factors vary together and thus how
  well either factor predicts the other
• Illusory Correlation
• the perception of a relationship where none exists

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Illusory Correlation

• Do you believe that previously infertile couples
  become more likely to conceive a child after
  adopting a baby?

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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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Correlation and Causation

• Three possible cause-effect relations

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Research Strategies

• Experiment
• a research method in which the investigator
  manipulates one or more factors (independent
  variables) to observe their effect on some
  behavior or mental process (the dependent
  variable) while controlling other relevant
  factors by random assignment of subjects

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Research Strategies

• Experimental Condition
• the condition of an experiment that exposes
  subjects 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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Perceptions of Violence

• Perception of illegal play when players seen to
  wear black

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Research Strategies

• Random Assignment
• assigning subjects to experimental and control
  conditions by chance
• minimizes pre-existing differences between those
  assigned to the different groups

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Research Strategies

• Independent Variable
• the experimental factor that is manipulated
• the variable whose effect is being studied
• Dependent Variable
• the experimental factor that may change in
  response to manipulations of the independent
  variable
• in psychology it is usually a behavior or mental
  process

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Research Strategies
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Research Strategies

• Operational Definition
• a statement of the procedures (operations) used
  to define research variables
• 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

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Research Strategies

• Design of the subliminal tapes experiment

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Research Strategies

• Double-blind Procedure
• an experimental procedure in which both the
  subject and the research staff are ignorant
  (blind) about whether the subject has received
  the treatment or a placebo
• commonly used in drug-evaluation studies
• Culture
• enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and
  traditions shared by a large group of people
• transmitted from one generation to the next

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Duck or Rabbit?

• Our preconceptions can bias our observations and
  interpretations

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Studying Psychology

• SQ3R
• a study method incorporating five steps
• Survey
• Question
• Read
• Rehearse
• Review