Experimental Psychology PDF

Chapter 1 Prior to 1879: Mental and behavioral disturbances were caused by evil spirits and demons -​ Trepanation- drill a hole in peoples head so evil can escape -​ Exorcisms -​ Insane asylums: getting wrapped and locked in a cage The term used for mental illness was “freak show” -...

Chapter 1 Prior to 1879: Mental and behavioral disturbances were caused by evil spirits and demons -​ Trepanation- drill a hole in peoples head so evil can escape -​ Exorcisms -​ Insane asylums: getting wrapped and locked in a cage The term used for mental illness was “freak show” -​ People would pay money to come watch them! 1879: First psychology laboratory Wilhelm wundt Leipzig, germany Influential research examples: -​ Identifications of mental illness -​ Use of medications to treat schizophrenia, bipolar, ect -​ The use of therapies to treat depression, ptsd, anxiety, eating disorders, ect -​ Milgram's obedience studies -​ Zimbardo's prison study -​ Racial bias/ stereotypes/ group cooperation v.s conflict Research is our foundation: To effectively treat a disorder, you must understand the underlying cause of disorder -​ Better understanding —---> better treatment How do we know things: -​ Intuition - based on previous knowledge (poker hand) -​ deduction - the act of using knowledge to make inferences (If:Then reasons) -​ Authority - a source of information that is most likely accurate ( GOT: “it is known”) -​ Observation: direct gathering of information ( true or not true) Primary facets or cannons of scientific methods: Empiricism: -​ gaining knowledge through systematic observation/ scientific method -​ Observation provides more accurate understanding than other methods -​ Show me the DATA!!! Determinism: -​ All phenomena have identifiable cases -​ Studies conducted to understand factors that cause certain behaviours -​ Assumption: behaviors have a specific cause or set if causes Parsimony: -​ Simple explanations are more likely to be correct  -​ Developing complex explanations only when research doesn’t support simple explanations Testability: -​ Only ideas that can be tested through observation are examined by the scientific method -​ Confirm bias -​ What news stories we are fed by Google/Facebook/Twitter, etc -​ Falsification -religions - Sigmund Freud’s ideas difficult to test using scientific method Basic research: research we do to get a better understanding Applied research: done to solve the problem Chapter 2 Developing a research question: ​ First step in a research process ​ Questions can be real world problems ○​ “How can we reduce racial bias?” ​ Questions can be descriptive or causal ○​ “What percentage of Americans are vegetarians?” ○​ “Is a vegetarian diet healthier?” ​ Behavior of cause of behavior is questioned ○​ “What are some predictors of someone developing an eating disorder?” ​ Make questions as descriptive as possible ○​ “Do vegetarians have a lower average BMI?” ​ Conduct literature review before preparing questions ​ Literature review helps find existing info on topic ​ New study should add to what is already known How to conduct a literature review: -​ Primary step is searching databases of peer-reviewed research -​ Psycinfo -​ PubMed & ERIC -​ Google Scholar PsycINFO: -​ Useful database for conducting literature review  -​ Contains articles, books and book chapters -​ Simples ways is searching for “keywords” -​ Finding the key word can be tricky -​ Start broad ( 1-2 keywords) -​ If too many results, add more keywords to narrow your search -​ Can also search by author -​ And/Or?Not feature -​ Search options -​ Publication date -​ May want to filter out dissertations Details of an individual search result -​ Author, source, abstract, ect. -​ Save email features -​ Cite feature -​ Find full text PubMed and ERIC: -​ Contains articles with topics that overlap with psychology -​ Research in biological and medical areas can be found -​ Search by topic, author, journal with year, and language of publication Other sources: -​ Google scholar can be used to find journals -​ Search engines may yield non peer reviewed articles -​ wikipedia provides unverified information -​ Psychology conferences provides most up to date information Three types of publications: 1. Research articles -​ Research article may describe one or more studies -​ Researcher submitted article ton psychological journal to publish it -​ Article is reviewed by experts ( peer reviewed) -​ Meta-Analysis: a study that combines results from multiple studies What you find in a literature review: Structure of research article: Abstract -​ Short summary of the study which includes -​ General topic -​ Description of methodology -​ Result of study -​ What was learned Structure of research article: Introduction -​ Introduction to topic of study -​ Gives reader background info necessary to understand the current study(ies) -​ Justification of present study -​ Problem that study addresses -​ Hypotheses Structure of research article: Method -​ Info about how study was conducted -​ Has four subsections -​ Participants - number and type -​ Design of the study -​ Materials (and apparatus) used -​ Procedure that participants went through Structure of research article: Results -​ Author provides summary of data -​ Provides description of findings Structure of article: Discussion -​ Compare findings to predictions -​ If predictions are correct, what is learned is shown -​ Explanation provided if predictions are wrong Structure of research article: Reference -​ Alphabetical list of references for all cited papers Structure of research article: Multiple experiment/ study articles -​ Some articles have multiple studies -​ Introduction, method, result for each study -​ Separate as well as general discussion of results 2. Reviews -​ Summarize past findings (do not present new findings) -​ Systematic review: summarize ALL papers in a particular area -​ Some journals are dedicated to review papers, often present new theories 3. Books and book chapters -​ Summarizes past finings -​ More extensive than a single paper -​ Sometimes includes new data Using literature review to make hypotheses: -​ Primary goals of literature review -​ Avoid duplicating previous research -​ Make informed hypotheses -​ We cannot prove but only support hypotheses! Chapter summary: -​ Research questions should be relevant to current knowledge -​ Research questions add to knowledge in a field -​ Literature reviews are the foundation to achieving the two goals above Exam question: What's the difference between a systematic review and a meta - Analysis? -​ A Meta - Analysis is data driven where a Systematic review is not Chapter 3 Historical context for Ethical Guidelines: -​ Difficult for researchers to be objective about effects of a study on participants -​ I’ll treatment of participants in the name of research raised questions against ethics of research Nuremberg Code -​ Formed as a result of learnings of Nazi experiments -​ Focussed on issues like: -​ Informed consent & -​ Coercion -​ Stated that: -​ Participation is voluntary -​ Participants must be informed about risks -​ Research must contribute to scientific knowledge -​ Research must be conducted by qualified researchers -​ Researchers must: -​ Avoid unnecessary harm -​ Take precautions against risk -​ Ensure benefits outweigh the risk -​ Terminate study if unforeseen harm is caused -​ Allow participants to discontinue upon will APA Code: -​ APA: American Psychological Association -​ Includes two additional guidelines -​ Researcher must reduce harm by deception -​ Ensure confidentiality of participant data -​ APA Code - Milgram obedience study (1963) -​ Conducted by Stanley Milgram to answer questions raised during nuremberg trials -​ Participants recruited to administer a memory task to a confederate -​ Study concluded that presence of authority greatly influences people's behavior Current ethical guidelines for human participants research Respect for persons -​ Provide information about the study before it begins -​ Obtain consent from participants -​ Give participants opportunity to ask questions -​ Inform participants of the right to withdraw Beneficence -​ Reduce risk of harm to participants -​ Benefits of study most outweigh risk -​ Confidentiality must be maintained -​ Inhumane treatments of participants is never justified Justice -​ Selection of participants must be fair -​ All participants must receive benefits of research -​ No participant may be selected for harmful research Nazi Experiments -​ Twins -​ Bone, muscle, and nerve transplants -​ Freezing -​ Sea water -​ High altitude Unit 1731 -​ Imperial japanese army (WWII) -​ General Shiro Ishii (combat doctor) -​ criminals , political prisoners, homeless, handicapped -​ Removed organs, limbs on live patients -​ Injected with typhoid, bubonic plague, forced syphilis (via rape) -​ Women impregnated and given diseases -​ 500,000k dead Institutional review boards -​ All institutions that conducted research must have an IRB -​ Review all research proposed to provide objective evaluation of ethics -​ Oversee research to ensure ethical guidelines are followed -​ Expedited studies: -​ Studies that are reviewed by only one member of IRB -​ Small amount of physical or psychological risk -​ For example: noninvasive medical procedures -​ Full review studies: -​ Each member if the IRB reviews the study -​ There is high risk of harm -​ For example: invasive medical procedures or emotional distress -​ Criteria for IRB approval: -​ Researcher minimize unnecessary risk] -​ Risk is justified by benefits -​ Selection of participants is fair -​ Informed consent process is included -​ Researcher monitors data to ensure safety of participants -​ Confidentiality of participants is protected -​ Procedures must be included to protect rights of special; participants -​ Deception and debriefing: -​ Must justify of deception -​ Mention why alternative procedures aren’t employed -​ Cannot use deception if harm is involved -​ Different from not disclosing purpose of study Current ethical guidelines for non-human subjects: -​ For studies involving animals -​ Only 7% of all psychological research -​ Mostly birds and rodents -​ Primates rarely used -​ Specific criteria regarding justification, personnel, cre and housing, acquisition, procedures Justification -​ Must include a clear scientific purpose for study -​ Must contribute important knowledge of behavior -​ Must justify use of specific chosen species Personnel -​ Only trained personnel may be involved in research -​ Effects on animals must be anticipated -​ Must have knowledge about the species being studied Care and housing -​ Researchers are responsible for care of animals -​ Animals welfare act provides standards for care of animals -​ Housing must be provided to keep them in good health Acquisition of the animals -​ APA has criteria for ethically obtaining animals for research -​ Must be carefully transported to faculty -​ Must be humanely obtained from wild Procedures used in the study -​ Must treat animals humanely during procedures -​ Discomfort should be minimized -​ Must be monitored for unanticipated negative effects -​ Cannot be released into wild when study is over Institutional animal care and use committee -​ IACUC’s oversee research conducted with animals -​ Members must know APA ethics code -​ Animals cannot verbally indicated discomfort unlike humans -​ Risk benefit analysis of the research is important Ethics in reporting research: -​ APA has guidelines for reporting research ethically -​ Two primary issues addressed are: -​ Errors in the reported data -​ Plagiarism -​ Reports must be accurate since errors may be carried for years -​ Researches must properly cite the source -​ Plagiarism can occur while writing directly from source -​ Always make sure the writing does not contain plagiarism -​ Institutional Review Board = IRB Exam review Canons of scientific method -​ testability -​ Determinism Exam question: What's the difference between a systematic review and a meta - Analysis? -​ A Meta - Analysis is data driven where a Systematic review is not