PSY381 Research Methods PDF

PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Independent & Dependent Variable 2 Research Methods  A researcher is interested in studying the effects of viewing television violence on aggression in children. She shows one group of participants an extremely violent movie, another group a moderately...

PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Independent & Dependent Variable 2 Research Methods  A researcher is interested in studying the effects of viewing television violence on aggression in children. She shows one group of participants an extremely violent movie, another group a moderately violent movie, and a third group a nonviolent movie. In this case, the level of movie violence shown to the children would be considered the _______ variable, and the children’s subsequent level of aggressive behavior would be the ________ variable. 1 Basic terms and methods of behavioral research 10/5/2023 10/5/2023 Independent & Dependent Variable Functional Relationships 3 4  In an experiment concerning the effects of time-out on noncompliant behavior, _____ is the independent variable.  In an experiment concerning the effect of food deprivation on activity level, activity level is the _____ variable.  Suppose you are experimenting with the effects of sleep deprivation on memory. In this case, sleep deprivation is a(n) ____ variable.  The independent variable is what is manipulated in an  The relationship between changes in an independent variable and changes in a dependent variable.  Behaviorists are interested in the functional relationships between environmental events (IV) and behavior (DV). experiment.  The dependent variable is what is measured in an experiment. 10/5/2023 10/5/2023 1 PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Stimulus & Response Overt & Covert Behavior 5 6  Stimulus is the one which can potentially influence behavior.   A rat’s response of pressing a lever is ____ behavior. Is reward a stimulus? What about punishment?  Overt: it is behavior that could be publicly  Response is a particular instance of a behavior.  Food is a (stimulus/response) _____ that elicits the _____ of salivation when it is presented to a hungry dog.  A smile from Sanem is a stimulus that encourages Naim to say hello; Naim’s hello is in turn a stimulus that encourages Sanem to introduce herself. 10/5/2023 observed. directly observed by an individual other than the one performing the behavior.  Thinking about your darling is an example of ____ behavior.  Covert: it is behavior that is subjectively perceived and is not publicly observable (can be perceived only by the person performing the behavior). 10/5/2023 Overt & Covert Appetitive & Aversive Stimuli 7 8  A feeling of anxiety is ___ behavior, while an  Food is an ____ stimulus when we are hungry; increment in heart rate is ____ behavior.  Whenever Mehmet listens to a lecture by Dr. Akın, he begins to daydream. The daydreaming is a(n) ________ while the lecture by Dr. Akın is a ________. overt response; covert response stimulus; covert response  overt response; stimulus  covert response; stimulus   10/5/2023 water is an ____stimulus when we are thirsty.  Appetitive: is an event that an organism will seek out. (mostly pleasant)  Electric shock and extreme heat are examples of ____ stimuli.  Aversive: is an event that an organism will avoid. (mostly unpleasant)  A thing which is an appetitive stimuli for one might be an aversive stimuli for another person. 10/5/2023 2 PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Establishing Operations: Deprivation and Satiation Appetitive & Aversive Stimuli 9 10  Julie dislikes Jake, one of the sales personnel who works in her department. Because Julie avoids Jake like the plague, Jake can be considered an ___________stimulus. For example, Julie closes her office door when Jake is nearby, which is an example of a(n) (overt/covert) ______ behavior.  Julie also thinks unkind thoughts about Jake and feels anxious when she sees him in the hallway, both of which are examples of __________________ behavior.  If we think before we act, then our (covert/overt) _____ behavior serves as a stimulus that influences our (covert/overt) _______ behavior. If we act first and then feel regret later, then our _____ behavior serves as a stimulus that influences our ______ behavior.  Appetitiveness or aversiveness of an event depends on a particular state or condition.  Food is an appetitive stimulus to a hungry rat but might not be an appetitive stimulus to a rat that has just eaten.  A procedure that affects the appetitiveness or aversiveness of a stimulus is called an establishing operation.  Deprivation and satiation are two types of establishing operations. 10/5/2023 10/5/2023 Establishing Operations: Deprivation and Satiation Establishing Operations: Deprivation and Satiation 11 12  Deprivation is the prolonged absence of an event that tends to increase the appetitiveness of that event.  In contrast to deprivation, satiation refers to the prolonged exposure to (or consumption of) an event, which tends to decrease the appetitiveness of that event.  Farah has been working out of town and has not seen a movie for over a year. It is likely that the reward value of going to a movie has (increased/decreased)___ as a function of (satiation/deprivation) ____. 10/5/2023  An exception  Food might lose its appetitive value. who undertake severe diets sometimes acquire a disorder known as anorexia nervosa. In these cases, severe food deprivation seems to decrease the appetitive value of food rather than increase it, and these individuals begin to eat even less food!  People 10/5/2023 3 PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Contiguity and Contingency Contiguity and Contingency 13 14  Contingency: a predictive relationship between two  Contiguity: closeness or nearness  Temporal contiguity (in time)   Thunder and lightning are temporally contiguous Spatial contiguity (in space)  food dispenser is close to the lever pressed by a rat.  Erin says that she once experienced a strong pain in her leg at the precise moment that her son, who was away on a mountain-climbing expedition, broke his leg. Because of the t/s_____________ ____________ between her feeling of pain and her son’s injury, Erin now claims that she must have some type of psychic ability.  People who live close to each other are more likely to date and fall in love. Thus, t/s______ c________ seems to have a strong effect on the development of romantic relationships. 10/5/2023 Contiguity and Contingency Recording methods 15 16  If a dog receives a dog biscuit only when it begs, then receiving the dog biscuit is c________ upon the behavior of begging.  Stimulus is contingent upon the behavior.  If a child receives a big balloon every time she goes to the dentist, then a contingency exists between visiting the dentist and receiving the balloon.  events, such that the occurrence of one event predicts the probable occurrence of another.  If a rat receives a food whenever it presses a lever, then a contingency exists between lever pressing and food.  the presentation of food is contingent on lever pressing. Sasha obtains a high mark on her exams only when she studies diligently. For Sasha, there is a c_____ between studying diligently and doing well on her 10/5/2023 exams.  Measuring the behavior.  Rate of response: the frequency with which a response occurs in a certain period of time.  The duration is with a well-defined start and finish (i.e., onset and offset).  E.g. The number of cigarettes smoked per day, the number of words written in a 1-hour writing session, number of lever presses per session. So, receiving the balloon is c________ upon visiting the dentist. 10/5/2023 10/5/2023 4 PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Recording methods Recording methods 17 18  A cumulative recorder is a classic device that measures the total number of responses over time.  A device commonly used to measure the ongoing rate of a behavior is a c_____ r__________. On this device, a flat line indicates (no/slow/fast) ________ responding, a steep line indicates ________ responding, and a shallow line indicates _______ responding. 10/5/2023 10/5/2023 The length of time it takes for a rat to run through a maze from the start box to the goal box is a measure of speed Recording methods Recording methods 19 20  Intensity: force or magnitude of the behavior.  More salivation indicates stronger conditioning.  force with which a rat presses a lever to obtain food.  Teaching a child to speak softly.  Duration: the length of time that an individual repeatedly or continuously performs a certain behavior.  a student may attempt to increase the amount of time s/he spends studying each week  Speed: rapidity. How rapid you are when performing a behavior. You may run for an hour, but the speed at which you run will be a much more accurate indicator.  a measure of how quickly or slowly a behavior occurs 10/5/2023 10/5/2023 5 PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Recording methods Recording methods 21 22  Latency: how late or how soon the behavior starts to exhibit.  The latency of a behavior is the length of time required for the behavior to begin.  E.g. how soon the dog begins salivating after it hears the tone.  How quickly a musician plays a musical piece from beginning to end is a measure of ______, whereas the number of hours the musician practices each week is a measure of _________. The amount of time it takes the musician to commence playing following the conductor’s cue to begin is a measure of _______________.  Latency:  E.g. an athlete  The amount of time it takes for her to start running when she hears the starting pistol is a measure of latency, whereas the amount of time it takes for her to complete the race is a measure of speed. The amount of time she trains each day is a measure of duration. 10/5/2023 Recording methods 10/5/2023 Recording methods 23 24  Interval Recording: the measurement of whether or not a behavior occurs within a series of continuous intervals.  whether the behavior occurred within each successive 10minute interval or not.  Not interested in how many target behavior occurred in each interval. Even one response is enough. 10/5/2023  Interval Recording 10/5/2023 6 PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Research Methods Recording methods 25 26  Topography: the physical form of the behavior.  observe how a rat presses the lever, whether it uses its left paw or right paw.  In a dance competition, the judges are mostly concerned with the ______ of the behavior. Topography latency Duration intensity  Number of errors: the number of wrong turns a rat takes before it finds its way through a maze to the goal box.  the number of errors a student makes on an exam  The exact manner in which a person lifts a weight is called the t_______ of the behavior.  The number of fish a person catches in a 1-hour period is a measure of r_________.  Which methods to use to see the effect of Vs on behavior?  Descriptive (do not involve the manipulation of variables!!!)  Naturalistic  Case observation (e.g. bird-watching) studies (e.g. a rare type of psychiatric disorder)  Both approaches are susceptible to the problem of researcher bias in which the opinions and beliefs of the researcher can influence his or her observations.  It is difficult to specify which variables influence which behavior. inability to determine cause and effect relationships.  The results are limited because they can’t be generalized to other people, places, and times.  provides a valuable starting point for further investigations. 10/5/2023 10/5/2023 Research Methods  Experimental Research Methods 27 28 This approach is distinguished by the manipulation of variables.  Control group designs  random assignment of subjects to assigned to either an experimental (or treatment) group or a control group.  requires the largest number of subjects  Little attention is given to the performance of individual subjects. differences between groups in performance are the result of differences in the independent variable  Comparative design (without control group)  different species constitute one of IVs 10/5/2023  Experimental  Single-subject designs  require only one or a few subjects to conduct an entire experiment. • Simple-Comparison (AB) Design  Behavior in a baseline condition is compared to behavior in a treatment condition. 10/5/2023 7 PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Research Methods Research Methods 29 30  Reversal (ABA or ABAB) Design  Simple-Comparison (AB) Design baseline period should continue until the behavior stabilizes. Stronger functional relationship can be demonstrated self-punishment procedure Can be the results generalized to other subjects? It is possible by running the study with more than one subject. a poor experimental design. You caught a cold at the same time that you began self-punishment, and it is actually the cold that accounts for the reduction in smoking. 10/5/2023 Research Methods  Reversal (ABCAC) Design 10/5/2023 Research Methods 31 32  Reversal (ABA or ABAB) Design implementing a new treatment and see if it produces a stronger effect. 10/5/2023 The main disadvantage is that the behavior must revert to its original baseline frequency when the treatment is withdrawn; otherwise, it will be impossible to determine if the treatment has had an effect. 10/5/2023 8 PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Research Methods Research Methods 33  Multiple Baseline Design  Disadvantages of reversal designs: 34 some treatments are intended to produce long-lasting effects. E.g., a student who is exposed to a new method of teaching math will hopefully experience a permanent increase in his or her math ability.  it may be ethically inappropriate to remove a treatment once some improvement has been obtained. Like in the case of the elimination of a person’s severe drug addiction.  the treatment is implemented at different points in time across the 3 people.  A reversal design is inappropriate for an experiment in which the treatment produces a (temporary/permanent) _________ change in the behavior. 10/5/2023 Research Methods  Multiple Baseline Design a treatment is applied at successive points in time for two or more persons, settings, or behaviors. 10/5/2023 Research Methods 35  Multiple Baseline Design 10/5/2023 36 10/5/2023 9 PSY381-Assoc Prof Hande Kaynak 10/5/2023 Research Methods  Multiple Baseline Design a Research Methods 37 38  Changing-criterion Design multiple-baseline-across-settings design rate of smoking in three different settings: at work, at home, and at the coffee shop.  multiple-baseline-across-behaviors three of problematic behaviors—for example, smoking, swearing, and nail biting. we do not have to worry about withdrawing the treatment to determine that it is effective.  Advantage: 10/5/2023 When the behavior is intended to change gradually over time. how closely the behavior matches a criterion that is systematically altered. 10/5/2023 Use of Animals in Research 39  Two advantages of using animals in research are the ability to control their genetic makeup and their learning history.  3rd: Researchers are often able to more strictly control the experimental environment for animals than for humans. (like controling the rat’s feeding schedule)  4th: some research cannot ethically be conducted with humans (e.g. brain lesions, drug addiction, obesity). 10/5/2023 10