Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology PDF

Copyright 2022 © McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC. 1 The Science of Psychology Pascal Broze/Getty Images...

Copyright 2022 © McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC. 1 The Science of Psychology Pascal Broze/Getty Images © McGraw Hill LLC CHAPTER PREVIEW Approaches Scientific Definition Method Types of Samples & Ethical Research Settings Research © McGraw-Hill Education © McGraw Hill LLC PSYCHOLOGY How many of you have an acquaintance who is a psychologist? Those of you who do not personally know a psychologist still have an idea of what psychology is. Where did your idea come from? Yeti Crab/Shutterstock © McGraw Hill LLC PSYCHOLOGY The scientific study of behavior and mental processes Systematic methods What can be directly observed Thoughts, feelings, motives © McGraw Hill LLC EXAMPLE: KISSING ▪ Behavior includes the observable act of two people kissing. ▪ Mental processes include their unobservable thoughts about kissing. Nora Pelaez/Visual Ideas/Getty Images © McGraw Hill LLC THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FRAME OF MIND What makes for a good job, a good marriage, or a good life? Psychologists approach these big life questions as scientists. Psychologists conduct research and rely on that research to provide evidence for their conclusions. They examine the available evidence about some aspect of mind and behavior, evaluate how strongly the data (information) support their hunches, analyze disconfirming evidence, and carefully consider whether they have explored all possible factors and explanations. Design Pics / Hanson Ng © McGraw Hill LLC THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FRAME OF MIND At the core of this scientific approach are four attitudes: – Critical thinking is the process of thinking deeply and actively, asking questions, and evaluating the evidence – Curiosity Scientists are also curious. – Skepticism Scientists are skeptical. Skeptical people challenge whether a supposed fact is really true. Being skeptical can mean questioning what “everybody knows.” – Objectivity Being objective involves trying to see things as they really are When we’re thinking about behavior and mental processes, why would we want our thinking to be “critical”? Design Pics / Hanson Ng © McGraw Hill LLC THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FRAME OF MIND Knowing if what we think we know is true requires scientific evidence. To gather objective evidence, scientists rely on empirical methods. Unexpected results Counterintuitive results Empirical method: observation of events, collection of data, and logical reasoning Design Pics / Hanson Ng © McGraw Hill LLC PSYCHOLOGY AS THE SCIENCE OF ALL HUMAN BEHAVIOR Design Pics / Hanson Ng © McGraw Hill LLC PSYCHOLOGY AS THE The murder in 2006 of five Amish SCIENCE OF ALL HUMAN schoolgirls evoked feelings in the community not of hatred and BEHAVIOR revenge but of forgiveness. © McGraw Hill LLC PSYCHOLOGY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Psychology seeks to answer questions that people have been asking for thousands of years—for example: How do we learn? What is memory? Why does one person grow and flourish while another struggles? (top) bilwissedition/imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock; (bottom) Historia/REX/Shutterstock © McGraw Hill LLC PSYCHOLOGY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Philosophical debate on link between mind and body Wilhelm Wundt explored structures of consciousness. – Structuralism – Introspection William James explored the purposes of the mind and behavior. – Functionalism – Adaptation to the environment – Darwin's theory of evolution: Natural selection (top) bilwissedition/imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock; (bottom) Historia/REX/Shutterstock © McGraw Hill LLC CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO PSYCHOLOGY Biological Behavioral Psychodynamic Humanistic Cognitive Evolutionary Sociocultural Jiang Hongyan/Shutterstock © McGraw Hill LLC  BIOLOGICAL APPROACH Body, especially brain and nervous system Neuroscience – Scientific study of nervous system Structure, function, development, genetics, biochemistry – Physical basis in brain for behavior, thought, emotion Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock © McGraw Hill LLC BEHAVIORAL APPROACH Environmental determinants of observable behavior Reject explanations referencing thought Notable behaviorists – John Watson – B.F. Skinner © McGraw Hill LLC  PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH Unconscious thought—biological drives vs. societal demands Childhood family experiences Sexual and aggressive impulses Freud Psychoanalysis Bettmann/Getty Images © McGraw Hill LLC  HUMANISTIC APPROACH Positive human qualities and capacity for growth Free will, personal choice Blend Images/Alamy Stock Photo © McGraw Hill LLC  COGNITIVE APPROACH Mental processes involved in knowing and thinking Memory, planning, problem solving, perceiving Mind as active, not passive Hill Street Studios/Blend Images LLC © McGraw Hill LLC EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH Explanations of human behavior: – Adaptation – Reproduction – Natural selection Notable evolutionary psychologist – David Buss © McGraw Hill LLC SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACH Social and cultural environments Differences – Comparisons of behavior across countries – Comparisons of behavior among different groups within countries © McGraw Hill LLC  Areas of Specialization in Psychology Psychology has many overlapping subfields. © McGraw Hill LLC SCIENTIFIC METHOD Science is a method. It’s not what you study, but how you study it. © McGraw Hill LLC SCIENTIFIC METHOD 1. Observe 2. Hypothesize 3. Test 4. Conclusions 5. Evaluate © McGraw Hill LLC SCIENTIFIC METHOD 1. Observe Step 1 Observe some phenomenon 2. Hypothesize Curiosity Variables 3. Test Theory Falsifiable 4. Conclusions 5. Evaluate © McGraw Hill LLC SCIENTIFIC METHOD 1. Observe Step 2 Formulate hypotheses 2. Hypothesize and predictions Testable prediction 3. Test Derived from theory 4. Conclusions 5. Evaluate © McGraw Hill LLC SCIENTIFIC METHOD 1. Observe Step 3 Test through empirical research 2. Hypothesize Operational definition of variables Analyze data using statistical 3. Test procedures 4. Conclusions 5. Evaluate © McGraw Hill LLC SCIENTIFIC METHOD 1. Observe Step 4 Draw conclusions 2. Hypothesize Replication of results Reliability 3. Test 4. Conclusions 5. Evaluate © McGraw Hill LLC SCIENTIFIC METHOD 1. Observe Step 5 Evaluate the theory 2. Hypothesize Change the theory? Peer review and publication 3. Test 4. Conclusions 5. Evaluate © McGraw Hill LLC © McGraw Hill LLC TYPES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH General categories: – Descriptive – Correlational – Experimental © McGraw Hill LLC DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH Goal: Describing a phenomenon – Observation – Surveys and interviews – Case studies © McGraw Hill LLC DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH Descriptive research does not answer questions about why things are the way they are. Jamen Percy/Shutterstock © McGraw Hill LLC CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH Goal: Identify relationships between variables: How two variables change together Correlation coefficient: r -1.00 ≤ r ≤ 1.00 Strength of relationship: magnitude Direction of relationship: + / - © McGraw Hill LLC CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS: STRENGTH OF RELATIONSHIP 1.00 Perfect Very strong.75 Strong.50 Moderate.25 Weak 0 None © McGraw Hill LLC SCATTER PLOTS Positive Correlation Negative Correlation The longer the lecture, The longer the lecture, the the more yawns lower student attentiveness Long Long Long lecture, many yawns Long lecture, low attention Medium lecture, medium yawns Medium lecture, Short lecture, medium attention high attention Short lecture, few yawns Short Short Few Many Low High Factors vary in same direction Factors vary in opposite direction © McGraw Hill LLC  FIGURE 4: SCATTER PLOTS SHOWING CORRELATIONS A positive correlation is a relationship in which two factors vary in the same direction, as shown in the scatter plot on the left. A negative correlation is a relationship in which two factors vary in opposite directions, as shown in the scatter plot in the middle. Note that each dot on these graphs represents one person’s (or one class’s) score on the two variables of interest. © McGraw Hill LLC (Yawning): Doug Menuez/Getty Images; (Attentiveness): Ariel Skelley/Blend Images LLC; (Mechanics): ColorBlind Images/Getty Images. LONGITUDINAL DESIGNS A special kind of systematic observation, used by correlational researchers, that involves obtaining measures of the variables of interest in multiple waves over time. © McGraw Hill LLC CORRELATION AND CAUSATION Correlation does not equal causation. Why is parental harshness correlated with child rebellion? 1. Harsh parents drive their kids to rebellion (?) 2. Rebellious kids drive their parents to harshness (?) 3. In stressed-out families, both parents and kids are at worst (?) 4. Argumentative families are genetically disposed to such behavior (?) 5. Other possibilities (?) Any combination of the above may be true or false. A correlation does not settle why behavior occurs. Third variable problem (consider stress & genetics above) © McGraw Hill LLC CORRELATION AND CAUSATION Correlation does not equal causation. Why is a happy mood correlated with sociability? 1. Being with others lifts our spirits (?) 2. Happy people seek out company (?) 3. Demands of working on own are oppressive (?) 4. Neurotransmitters that underlie happiness also promote sociability (?) 5. Other possibilities (?) Any combination of above may be true or false. A correlation does not settle why behavior occurs. © Image Source © McGraw Hill LLC EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH Goal: Determine Causation – Random assignment to groups Experimental Group – Hypothesized cause is manipulated Independent Variable Control Group – Treated equally, except no manipulation Observe / Measure any Effect – Resulting difference between groups Dependent Variable © McGraw Hill LLC EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH Goal: Determine causation Within-Participant (subject) Design: Experimental Group Participant serves as own control group Participant in all groups Control Group Quasi-Experimental Design: Observe / Measure any effect Groups not assigned randomly © McGraw Hill LLC EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH Goal: Determine Causation Experiments are one of the few research designs that allow you to directly test why something happens, that is, to test for cause and effect. © McGraw Hill LLC QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH Quasi-Experimental Design: Groups not assigned randomly because of assisgnment either impossible or unethical © McGraw Hill LLC SOME COUTIONS ABOUT EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH: VALIDITY External Validity – Representative of real-world issues? – Do results generalize to the real world? Internal Validity – Are dependent variable changes the result of independent variable manipulation? – Bias? Logical errors? © McGraw Hill LLC SOME COUTIONS ABOUT EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH: BIAS AND EXPECTATIONS Demand Characteristics – Experimenter Bias Research Participant Bias – Placebo Effect ❑Double-blind Experiment ©Neil Lockhart/Shutterstock © McGraw Hill LLC SOME COUTIONS ABOUT EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH: REPLICATION Replication is critical: – Large sample sizes to ensure equivalence between groups – Transparent and thorough in reporting methods to allow for replication © McGraw Hill LLC APPLICATIONS OF TYPES OF RESEARCH Descriptive research determines the basic dimensions of a phenomenon. Correlational research determines how variables change together. Experimental research determines whether a causal relationship exists between two variables. Each type has strengths and weaknesses. © McGraw Hill LLC RESEARCH SAMPLE Population – Entire group about whom conclusion is to be drawn Sample – Portion of population actually observed © McGraw Hill LLC RESEARCH SAMPLE Population – Entire group about whom conclusion is to be drawn Representative Sample – Characteristics similar to population – Opposite of “biased sample” © McGraw Hill LLC RESEARCH SAMPLE Population – Entire group about whom conclusion is to be drawn Random Sample – Each individual in population has equal chance of being selected © McGraw Hill LLC  RESEARCH SETTINGS “Artificial” World – Laboratory Setting – Controlled setting “Real” World - Natural Setting – Naturalistic observation What are the advantages and disadvantages of each setting? (woman with clipboard) (c) 2007 Keith Eng; (students on street) © McGraw-Hill Education/John Flournoy © McGraw Hill LLC RESEARCH ETHICS Research participants have rights! APA Guidelines – Informed consent – Confidentiality – Debriefing – Deception Institutional Review Board (IRB) Should psychologists take stands on issues about which they have expertise? What do you think? LightFieldStudios/Getty Images © McGraw Hill LLC ANIMAL RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY Animal research has benefited humans Used by 5% of researchers Rats and mice used 90% of time Standards of care in animal research: – Housing – Feeding – Psychological and physical well-being Rosa Jay/Shutterstock © McGraw Hill LLC THE PLACE OF VALUES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH Psychology is a complex field with debates about ethics, values, and standards. Some psychologists believe it should be value-free and morally neutral, while others argue it cannot be. Some argue psychologists should take stands on certain issues, such as the rights of gay individuals to adopt children or retain custody of their biological children. Psychologists may play a role in these debates. © McGraw Hill LLC A WISE CONSUMER…IS SKEPTICAL YET OPEN-MINDED! Cautions: – Avoid overgeneralizing results. – Exercise caution in applying group results to individual experience. – Look for converging evidence— beyond a single study. – Question causal inferences. – Consider the source. Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock © McGraw Hill LLC APPRECIATING PSYCHOLOGY AS THE SCIENCE OF YOU! Psychology is about you: – Your life – Your goals – The ways in which you can use the insights of thousands of scientists to make your life healthier and happier © McGraw Hill LLC