Psychology Lecture Notes Fall 2024 PDF

THE NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGY Chapter 1 Psychology for Public Health Fall 2024 Dr. Manar AlAwadhi  It is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes Brain damage and face recognition WHAT IS Attributing trai...

THE NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGY Chapter 1 Psychology for Public Health Fall 2024 Dr. Manar AlAwadhi  It is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes Brain damage and face recognition WHAT IS Attributing traits to people PSYCHOLOGY? Childhood amnesia Obesity Effects of violence on children’s aggression  DO YOU THINK A BEHAVIOR IS STRENGTHENED WHEN IT IS FOLLOWED BY A REWARD? WHY OR WHY NOT?  WHY DO YOU STUDY? a. Get a good grade b. Enjoy the material c. a and b d. None of the above Do you think grades in university are considered rewards for learning?  Law of effect The principle that any behavior that is followed by reinforcement is strengthened; from the infinite pool of possible responses, those that lead to reinforcement are repeated, whereas LAWS IN those that do not are extinguished PSYCHOLOGY Over justification effect Explaining one’s own behavior with too much emphasis on personal causes, like intrinsic interest  EXAMPLE- EXPERIMENT Group 1: paid to complete a puzzle Group 2: did not get paid to complete the puzzle When the “money” was removed: Group 1 was less motivated to complete the puzzle compared to Group 2 WHY DO WE STUDY PSYCHOLOGY?  Generating hypothesis Experiments Measurement RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY Correlation Tests Correlation and causation TWO STEPS IN RESEARCH: Generating a Testing the scientific hypothesis hypothesis  Hypothesis: a statement that can be tested Theory: interrelated set of propositions about a particular phenomenon GENERATING Scientific method: research HYPOTHESIS methods used to collect data are unbiased (do not favor one hypothesis over another) and reliable (other qualified people can repeat the observations and obtain the same results)  EXAMPLE: Hypothesis: “Individuals will preform better on a math problem if they are offered more money for a good performance”  EXPERIMENTS Experiments: the strongest test of hypothesis about cause and effect in which an investigator carefully controls conditions (laboratory) and takes measurements to discover the casual relationships among variables  EXAMPLE- EXPERIMENT 3 randomly assigned groups for the experiment: 10 KD 5 KD 0 KD  Experimental groups: Groups in which the hypothesized cause is present EXPERIMENTS CONT’D Control group: The group in which the hypothesized cause is absent Which of the following are experimental groups and which is the control group? 3 randomly assigned groups: 10 KD 5 KD 0 KD Which of the following are experimental groups and which is the control group? 3 randomly assigned groups: 10 KD 5 KD 0 KD (experimental) (experimental) (control)  EXPERIMENTS CONT’D Random assignment: each participant has an equal probability of being placed in any group One of the most important ingredients of an experiment What could happen if we do not randomly assign the participants? What if we made them choose the group (10 KD, 5 KD, 0 KD)?  If we made them choose: Most participants would want to be in the 10 KD The ones who are nervous by pressure might choose to be in a the not paid group Why is this a problem?  MEASUREMENT Measurement: a system for assigning numbers to variables Statistics: the mathematical discipline that deals with sampling data from a population of individuals and then drawing inferences about the population from those data Statistical significance: a statistical test has been applied to the data and the observed difference is unlikely to have arisen by chance or because of a few extreme cases  CORRELATION We can use the correlation method to determine whether some variable that is not under our control is associated “correlated” with another variable of interest Example: people with anorexia are more sensitive to changes in taste than normal weight people  Correlation coefficient: an estimate of the degree to which the two variables are related Positively correlated: the values of the two variables either increase or decrease together TYPES OF CO R R E LAT I O N Negatively correlated: the values of one variable increases, the value of the other decreases No correlation: values of both variables neither consistently increase nor decrease, but rather bounce around the horizontal line  TYPES OF CORRELATION https://www.mathwarehouse.com/statistics/correlation-coefficient/how-to-calculate-correlation-coefficient.php  WHICH ONE IS POSITIVE? NEGATIVE? NO CORRELATION? https://www.mathwarehouse.com/statistics/correlation-coefficient/how-to-calculate-correlation-coefficient.php  C O R R E L AT I O N VS C AU S AT I O N Example: “Studies show that more TV violence a young boy watches, the more aggressive he is” Does watching TV cause the aggression? Do more aggressive boys choose to watch more violent TV?  OBSERVATION Direct observation: to simply observe the phenomenon under study as it occurs naturally Survey method: simply ask people if they engage in the behavior of interest (questionnaire or interviews) Social desirability of effects: when some people try to present themselves in a favorable light  ETHICS OF PSYCHOLOGIC AL RESEARCH Research with humans (3 principles) Minimal risk: the risks anticipated in the research should be no greater than those ordinarily encountered in daily life Informed consent: participants must be told ahead of time about any aspects of the study that could influence their willingness to co-operate, they must enter voluntarily, and withdraw form it at any time without penalty Right to privacy: information about a person acquired during a study must be kept confidential and not made available to others without the research participant’s consent NEXT CLASS DEBATE Nature vs Nurture  NATURE VS NURTURE Nature-nurture debate: centers on the question of whether human capabilities are inborn or acquired through experience Nature view: human beings enter the world with an inborn store of knowledge and understanding of reality Nurture view: knowledge is acquired through experiences and interactions with the world CREATE GROUPS  DEB ATE GROUPS & TOPICS 1 2 3 4 5 6 Creativity artists Creativity- artist Obesity Obesity Personality- anger Personality- anger Nature Nurture Nature Nurture Nature Nurture