Psychology Research Methods

• Exam

Lecture 1

• Psychology seeks to understand behavior through physiological and mental aspects.
• Empiricism involves learning through systematic observation, rather than speculation.
• Experiments determine cause-and-effect relationships.
• Correlational studies identify relationships between behaviors.

Two Types of Behavior

• Covert behavior cannot be observed.
• Overt behavior can be seen.

Key Terms

• Experimental Group
• Control Group
• Independent Variable
• Dependent Variable
• Random Assignment

Lecture 2

• Empiricism is used when experimental findings are not possible.
• Correlation is used to figure out data by systematic observation.
• Correlation coefficients (between 0 and 1) are found with correlation.

Coefficient Meaning

• Coefficients indicate the direction of a correlation (positive or negative.)
• Coefficients indicate the strength of a relation, with higher numbers (closer to 1) being stronger.
• A Positive correlation means that both variables increase or decrease together.
• A Negative correlation means that when one variable increases, the other decreases, and vice versa.

Data Collection Methods for Systematic Observation

• Naturalistic observation
• Interview
• Questionnaire
• Standardized test
• Physiological test
• Archived data

Defining Good Books

• Written by authors with credentials
• Based on science
• Contain detailed directions
• Focus on a specific problem or behavior
• Avoid over promising

Things Required to Promote Good Study Habits

• Study schedule
• Study environment
• Rewards

Mnemonic Devices

• Acronyms
• Link method: using mental images to link items together
• Method of loci: immersing oneself with images within an environment
• Acrostics: "Dumb King Phillip Ordered Fairly Good Soup" as an example

Lecture 3

• Stress is any event presumed to be threatening to a person's well-being.
• Stress can be major or minor.
• One type of stress can induce the other.
• Stress can have a cumulative detrimental effect.

Types of Stressors

• Acute stress has a definite end point and short duration.
• Chronic stress is long-term with no time limit.
• Ambient stress is based on environment (poverty, noise, pollution, crowding.)
• Anticipatory stress is stress related to upcoming events.

Physiological Stress Sources

• Frustration arises when the pursuit of a goal is thwarted.
• Internal conflict is when there are two or more incompatible motivations.
• Pressure is the pressure to perform and meet others' expectations (conform.)

Types of Conflict

• Approach-Approach: only one correct choice leading to a happy outcome exists.
• Avoidance-Avoidance: choosing the best out of two negative choices must be done
• Approach Avoidance: A choice that includes both positive and negative outcomes is presented
• Stress is subjective and varies based on individual interpretation, or "appraisal."

Types of Appraisal

• Primary appraisal determines whether an event is harmful/ a threat or not.

• Secondary appraisal determines whether coping mechanisms are adequate.

  • If coping mechanisms are adequate there is no stress.
  • If coping mechanisms are inadequate then stress will occur.
  • If an event not harmful there is no stress.
  • If an event is harmful, proceed to secondary appraisal.

• Stress can have two outcomes.

  • It can cause fear and harm, leading to a stress-debilitating mindset.
  • It can be viewed as a challenge, fostering a stress-enhancing mindset.

Stress Responses

• Emotional (feeling sad, mostly negative emotions.)
• Physiological (e.g., sweaty hands)
• Behavioral (e.g., yelling at others)

Inverted U-Hypothesis

• Stress is beneficial up to an optimal threshold of arousal.
• Performance increases with the level of stress up until this point.
• After the, performance declines.
• The optimal arousal level is lower for complex tasks and higher for easier tasks.

Main Idea of Stress Response

• Fight or flight response is controlled by the autonomic nervous system.
• The sympathetic nervous system activates fight or flight.
• The parasympathetic nervous system deactivates fight or flight.

Lecture 4

• Response to stress is a general adaptation syndrome.
  • Phase 1: Alarm -> Shock
  • Phase 2: phase of resistance occurs if stress continues = physiological arousal.
  • Phase 3: phase of exhaustion occurs after prolonged stress leads to illness (disease of adaptation).

Two Brain Body Pathways

• Physical response to stress occurs via the endocrine pathway.
  • Pathway 1: The hypothalamus activates the ANS, activating the adrenal glands, which releases increased catecholamines into the bloodstream.
  • Pathway 2: The hypothalamus activates the pituitary gland, which activates the adrenal gland and releases corticosteroids.
• Catecholamines and corticosteroids are stress response hormones for the flight or fight response.

Negative Effects of Stress

• Stress disorders such as PTSD.

PTSD Symptoms

• Nightmares
• Alienation, social issues
• Sleep disturbances
• Guilt

Minor Stress Disorders

• Acute: PTSD symptoms for a shorter duration (up to 3 months).
• Adjustment: emotional/behavioral symptoms that remit within 6 months (otherwise, it's an anxiety-related illness).

Positive Effects of Stress

• Posttraumatic growth
• Forced to learn new skills and grow
• Builds mental toughness

Moderator Variables

• Social support

• Hardiness

• Optimism

• The buffer hypothesis reduces the impact of stressful events.

• Social support encourages healthy behavior such as constructive coping strategies like exercise.

• Non-constructive coping strategies like drinking discourage unhealthy behaviors.

Hardiness

• Hardiness Personality trait.
• Hardier individuals are less susceptible to negative impacts of stress.
• By making stress viewed in positive aspect

Optimism

• Viewing things in a positive way
• Coping flexibility: ability to use multiple coping skills increases resilience.

Learned Helplessness

• Passive behavior produced by unavoidable disliked events occurs from suppressing feelings.
• People's views on stress influence how they learn to cope with.
• Changed goals help to adapt to stress if stress is due to a goal discrepancy.
• Aggression can be physical or verbal
• Anger impairs the ability to think and reason.
• Catharsis releases emotional tension
• Research suggests catharsis is not a healthy coping mechanism, since the research indicates catharsis fuel anger by releasing anger.

Lecture 5

• Self-indulgence is a poor form of self-control, an inability to resist desires.

Defense Mechanisms Against Stress

• Largely unconscious
• Protect from emotional discomfort from stress; lead to deception

Common Defense Mechanisms

• denial- refusal to acknowledge the stress.

• Fantasy- fulfilling wishes through imagination

• Overcompensation- excelling in stronger things in order to make up for certain deficiency

• Undoing- making reparations for wrongdoings

• Intellectualization- looks at stress from a detached manner, in which where emotion is suppressed

• Optimal margin of illusion- When we see something in a too optimistic and too pessimistic perspective is still bad way of coping therefore this explains the idea of equilibrium.

• Constructive coping is effort to deal with stress in a healthier way.

• Constructive coping Involves planning

• Constructive coping Involves dealing with the situation instantly

• Constructive coping Involves realistic coping resources

• Constructive coping Includes emotional and behavioral self control.

Three Ways of Constructive Coping

- Appraisal Focused: everything happens mentally or all about interpretation.
- Problem Focused: actively doing things and verb based
- Emotion Focused: taking care of emotional well-being in a good manner, includes catharsis.

Ellis A-BC View

1. A (Stress) -> B (Rational Thinking) -> C (Emotionally Stable)
2. A (Stress) -> B (Irrational Thinking) -> C (Emotionally Unstable)

Humors Affect Stress

• Helps to look at stress in a positive way

• Emotionally feeling good

• Positive social interactions

• Expressing emotions leads to decreased stress.

• Emotions should be expressed through writing and talking rather than catharsis.

• Exercise is beneficial for overall well-being (physically and mentally).

Lecture 6

• Meditation is a good mental exercise that reduces stress and anxiety.

• It is also physiologically good.

• Spirituality is good to avoid suicide tendency.

• Sleep is important for mental and physical state,it helps the immune system and control stress.

• Coronary heart disease involves the buildup of plaque in coronary articles.

  • It is most related to Type A personality.

• Type B people are generally more relaxed.

• Elevated rates of depression can lead to heart disease.

• There is typically no relation between personality and cancer.

• Smoking has a greater risk of cardiovascular disease.

• Long-term heavy consumption of alcohol is bad.

• Alcohol use disorder involves alcohol dependence and alcoholism, which it chronically interferes with social behavior.

• Obesity is a risk factor for developing diseases.

Food Pyramid

• It is criticized for failing to differentiate between types of fats and carbs.
• Polyunsaturated and monosaturated fats are healthy.
• Whole grains provide good source of carbohydrates.

Lecture 7

• Ideas of adherence and non-adherence.
• Tolerance: The effect of a drug starts to decrease when taken for a prolonged period.
• Physical dependence: wanting to take a medicine to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
• Psychological dependence: taking a drug to satisfy emotional craving.
• Overdose: overconsumption of drugs leading to threatening life conditions.

This quiz covers different research methods used in psychology, including correlational studies and experimental designs. It also tests knowledge of variables and mnemonic devices. Suitable for psychology students.