Psychology Around Us: Chapter 2 - Psychology as a Science PDF

Psychology Around Us: Chapter 2 Psychology as a Science  Learning Objectives (1 of 2) 1. List two core beliefs of science, and describe the steps in the scientific method. 2. Compare and contrast psychology with other natural sciences, such as biology, chemistry, and phys...

Psychology Around Us: Chapter 2 Psychology as a Science  Learning Objectives (1 of 2) 1. List two core beliefs of science, and describe the steps in the scientific method. 2. Compare and contrast psychology with other natural sciences, such as biology, chemistry, and physics, and with pseudosciences such as astrology. 3. List steps in the research process and key characteristics of descriptive and experimental psychological research methods. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 2  Learning Objectives (2 of 2) 4. Describe what information is conveyed by statistics, including correlation coefficients, means, and standard deviations, and explain how psychologists draw conclusions about cause and effect. 5. Describe what ethical steps psychologists take to protect the rights of human research participants. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 3  What Is a Science? Two core tenets of science: 1. The universe operates according to certain natural laws 2. Such laws are discoverable and testable Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 4 The Scientific Method – How We Discover the Laws Governing the Universe Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 5  Reasoning Types Deductive reasoning – reasoning proceeding from broad basic principles applied to specific situations. Inductive reasoning – reasoning proceeding from broad basic principles applied to specific situations. Hypothetico-deductive reasoning – process of modern science where scientists begin with an educated guess, perhaps based on previous research, about how the world works, and then set about designing small controlled observations to support or invalidate that hypothesis. LET’S TALK ABOUT VIOLENT MEDIA  Does Violent Media Make Kids Violent? Or is there some other explanation? How do we know? To help make today’s content personally relevant, think of any question like this you’re curious about.  The Science of Psychology Psychology – Using the scientific method to study human behaviour and mental processes Pseudopsychology (pseudoscience) – No use of the scientific method when commenting on human behaviour and mental processes o Examples: some types of hypnosis; crystal therapy Many people “do psychology” in some way but not all of them are grounded in scientific inquiry. o Examples? Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 9 SCIENTIFIC METHOD HELPS AVOID BIAS How Do Psychologists Conduct Research? Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 11 Step 1: Research Question and Background Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 12  Research Topics Questions of interest o E.g. “Does violent media make kids violent?” Literature review o PsycINFO (and other databases) o Elicit.org (and other AI-connected academic search engines) o Google scholar Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 13 Step 2: Hypothesize and Operationalize Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 14  The Hypothesis (1 of 2) A hypothesis: o states your prediction in a way that it can be tested o is found to be true or false o E.g. “playing a violent video game will make kids act out violently” Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 15  The Hypothesis (2 of 2) Variable – condition, event, or situation that is studied Types of variables: o Independent variable (IV)—the variable that you manipulate o Dependent variable (DV)—the variable that you measure (or the variable that is changed by the IV) “playing a violent video game will make kids act out violently” IV DV Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 16 Independent and Dependent Variables (1 of 3) Identify the independent and dependent variables in the following example. Dr. Smith examines how daily exposure to a sun lamp (one hour of exposure or no exposure) impacts people’s depression levels in the winter Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 17  Independent and Dependent Variables (2 of 3) Identify the independent and dependent variables in the following example. Does watching aggressive TV cartoons influence a child’s level of aggressive behaviour? Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 18  Independent and Dependent Variables (3 of 3) Identify the independent and dependent variables in the following example. Does the amount of time reading this textbook (every day, once a week, or none) influence how well you will do on the exams? Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 19  Operationalize the Variables (1 of 2) Variables must be operationalized o An operational definition is how we (the researcher) decide to measure our variables o There are often hundreds of ways to measure a variable (e.g., aggression, depression) o When you do research, you have to decide how you are going to measure the IV and DV Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 20  Operational Definitions (2 of 2) Operationally define the following items: shyness love memory loss “act out violently” Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 21 Step 3: Design Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 22  Choose Participants (1 of 3) Population – The entire group that is of interest to researchers Sample – A portion of the population that is selected for the study o Must represent the population “playing a violent video game will make kids act out violently” o What’s the population? What’s an appropriate sample? Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 23  Choose Participants (2 of 3) Use random selection – everyone in the population of interest has an equal chance of being selected Minimize sampling bias – selecting a group that is especially likely to confirm your hypothesis Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 24  Choose Participants (3 of 3) A sample or a population? Professional hockey players Ten students from the University of Toronto Albino rats One hundred adults over the age of 65 Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 25 BREAK TIME! Descriptive and Experimental Research Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 27  Descriptive Research – The Case Study An intensive study of one person Advantages: o Helps develop early ideas about phenomena Disadvantages: o Researcher bias o You cannot generalize your results to all people Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 28 What would a case study look like? “playing a violent video game will make kids act out violently” What are some pros and cons of this approach to this question?  Descriptive Research – Naturalistic Observation Observe people behaving as they normally do Advantages: o More reflective of actual human behaviour Disadvantages: o Research bias o Hawthorne effect Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 30 What would a naturalistic observation study look like? “playing a violent video game will make kids act out violently” What are some pros and cons of this approach to this question?  Descriptive Research – Surveys Use of a questionnaire or interview Advantages: o Gather information that can be obtained from other methods o May be able to measure relationship strength between variables Disadvantages: o Participant bias o Direction of relationship between variables is unknown Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 32  Survey Research Example Follow link labeled “Week 2 – Survey Example” under Lecture Materials module on Canvas Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 33  Experimental Research Examines how one variable (IV) CAUSES another variable to change (DV). Advantages: o Can establish cause and effect o Can eliminate outside influences Disadvantages: o Might not be generalizable o Sometimes unethical Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 34  Experimental and Control Group (1 of 2) Experimental group – the group that is exposed to the IV (manipulation or treatment) Control group – the group that isn’t exposed to the IV; this group is used to compare how the IV changes the DV Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 35  Experimental and Control Group (2 of 2) Random assignment o The researcher should randomly assign who goes in which group o Helps groups be balanced in terms of any other factor that could influence the results o Different from “random selection” of participants Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 36  Avoiding Bias in Your Experiment Double-blind procedure – neither the participant nor the researcher knows who is in which group Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 37  Research Design – Picking a Method Which type of research method would you use to examine the following: Do women smile more than men? Were serial killers abused as children? What type of students work out on campus? Does meditating help to reduce stress? Which type of drug (a, b, or c) helps to reduce anxiety levels? Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 38 Step 4: Analyze Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 39  How Do Psychologists Make Sense of Research Results? Statistics – describe and measure relationships between variables Descriptive research – correlations indicate if there is a relationship between the variables Experimental research – statistics indicate if the hypothesis has been supported or if there is a meaningful difference between the groups Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 40 Correlations Describe Relationships (1 of 2) Show how two or more things are related to each other Correlation coefficient – the strength and nature of the relationship (-1.00 to +1.00) Positive correlation – when one variable increases, the other increases Negative correlation – when one variable increases, the other decreases Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 41 Correlations Describe Relationships (2 of 2) Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 42  Correlation Is Not Causation Research has found a strong correlation between stress and clinical depression. However, this correlation does not tell us whether stress causes depression, depression causes stressful events, or other factors such as poverty produce both stress and depression. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 43  Spurious Correlations (accidental, meaningless correlations) correlates with. sightings atents granted. sightings reported in tah ource ational eporting enter Total number of patents granted in the ource T ,r. ,r. ,p. tylervigen.com spurious correlation  Experimental Analyses: Cause and Effect (1 of 3) Descriptive statistics – describe the data Mean – average of all of the scores Standard deviation – how much the participants’ scores vary from one another Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 45  Experimental Analyses: Cause and Effect (2 of 3) Inferential statistics – help to draw conclusions about the data Are the groups in the sample different, and are the differences statistically significant (not due to chance)? Using t-tests or ANOVAs, determine a p-value (the probability that the results of your experiment are not due to chance) o If the p-value is lower than.05, there is only a 5% likelihood that your results occurred by chance Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 46 Steps 5 and 6 Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 47  Conclusion of Research Replication – repeated testing of a hypothesis to ensure results from one experiment are not due to chance Also, use different types of research o If findings are similar, confidence in research results increases Allows theories and laws to be developed Share research findings through scientific journal articles Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 48  Conducting Research Ethicallly Code of Ethics – Canadian Psychological Association Research Ethics Boards (REBs) are considered the ethics police. They are a research oversight group that evaluates research to protect the rights of participants in the study. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 49  Ethical Research Guidelines Psychologists Follow – Human Research (1 of 2) Ethical guidelines: o Obtain informed consent – obtaining permission from the participant after they know what the study involves and the risks and benefits of participating o Protect participants from harm and discomfort Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 50  Ethical Research Guidelines Psychologists Follow – Human Research (2 of 2) Ethical guidelines o Protect confidentiality o Participation must be voluntary o Deception or incomplete disclosure o Provide complete debriefing – revealing to participants any information that was withheld during the study Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 51  Ethical Research Guidelines Psychologists Follow – Animal Research The Canadian Council on Animal Care oversees research involving animals as subjects o Animals are used only if the research promises significant benefit to humans or animals o Animals are used if there is no other alternative o Humane methods must be used o The smallest number of animals possible must be used o All pain and distress must be limited Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 52 How is psychology different from other disciplines and people who “do psychology”? IS PSYCHOLOGY A SCIENCE? THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY!  Copyright Copyright © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that permitted by Access Copyright (The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency) is unlawful. Requests for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. The purchaser may make back-up copies for his or her own use only and not for distribution or resale. The author and the publisher assume no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages caused by the use of these programs or from the use of the information contained herein. Copyright ©2022 John Wiley and Sons Canada, Ltd. 55