An Intro to Psychological Science University Of Guelph Fall 2024 PDF

University Of Guelph Fall Semester 2024 An Intro to Psychological Science THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY Readings Module 1.1 What Is Psychology? Psychology is the scientific study of behavior, thought, and experience, and how they can be affected by physical, mental, social and environmental factors...

University Of Guelph Fall Semester 2024 An Intro to Psychological Science THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY Readings Module 1.1 What Is Psychology? Psychology is the scientific study of behavior, thought, and experience, and how they can be affected by physical, mental, social and environmental factors Goals Of Psychology ○ To understand how different brain structures work together to produce our behavior. ○ To understand how nature (our genetics) and nurture (our upbringing and environment) interact to make us who we are. ○ To understand how previous experiences influence how we think and act. ○ To understand how groups - such as family, culture, and crowds - affect the individual. ○ To understand how feelings of control can influence happiness and health. ○ To understand how each of these factors can influence our well-being and could contribute to psychological disorders. The Scientific Method The science of Psychology would be nothing without the scientific method. The Scientific Method is a way of learning about the world through collecting observations, developing theories to explain them, and using the theories to make predictions. It involves a dynamic interaction between hypothesis testing and the construction of theories. Hypotheses Scientific thinking and procedure revolves around the concepts of a hypothesis and a theory. A Hypothesis is a testable prediction about processes that can be observed and measured. ○ A hypothesis can be supported or rejected. You cannot prove a hypothesis because it is always possible that a future experiment could show that it is wrong or limited in some way. For a hypothesis to be testable, it must be Falsifiable, meaning that the hypothesis is precise enough that it could be proven false. Pseudoscience An idea that is presented as science but does not actually utilize basic principles of scientific thinking or procedure. What Is A Theory? A theory is an explanation for a broad range of observations that also generates new hypotheses and integrates numerous findings into a coherent whole. Theories are general principles or explanations of some aspect of the world (including human behavior), whereas hypotheses are specific predictions that can test the theory or, more realistically, specific parts of that theory. Theories are built from hypotheses that are repeatedly tested and confirmed. Theories can also be supported or proved false with new evidence. Hypothesis testing eventually leads back to the theory from which it was based, and how theories can be updated with new evidence. Self-correcting - bad ideas typically do not last long in the sciences. Common Misperceptions About Theories Theories are not the same as opinions or beliefs. A theory can help scientists develop testable hypotheses; opinions do not need to be textable or logical. All theories are not equally plausible. Groups of scientists might adopt different theories for explaining the same phenomenon. For example, several theories have been proposed to explain why people become depressed. A good theory can explain previous research and can lead to even more testable hypotheses. The quality of a theory is not related to the number of people who believe it to be true. The National Center for Science Education reports that, according to a 2018 poll, only 68% of Canadians believe in the theory of evolution by natural selection (Branch, 2018), despite the fact that it is the most plausible, rigorously tested theory of biological change and diversity. The Biopsychosocial Model The Biopsychosocial Model is a means of explaining behavior as a product of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. Biological influences on our behavior involve brain structures and chemicals, hormones, and external substances such as drugs. Psychological influences involve our memory, emotions, and personalities, and how these factors shape the way we think about and respond to different people and situations. Social factors such as our family, peers and ethnicity, and culture can have a huge effect on our behavior. ○ One of the most challenging aspects of psychology is that all of these factors can affect your behavior simultaneously and can even affect each other. ○ EXAMPLE:Everyday activity like having a meal: Your hormones signal that your body needs energy, thinking about the pizza shop down the street can make your mouth water, and a friend may text you asking you to join them for a bite. These are only a fraction of the biopsychosocial causes of eating. Teasing apart the multiple influences of behavior makes psychology a complex, yet fascinating, discipline. Building Scientific Literacy Scientific Literacy is the ability to understand, analyze, and apply Scientific information. Critical Thinking, Curiosity, And A Dose Of Healthy Skepticism Critical Thinking involves exercising curiosity and skepticism when evaluating the claims of others, and with our own assumptions and beliefs. ○ Does not mean being negative or arbitrarily critical, it means that you intentionally examine knowledge, beliefs, and the means by which conclusions were obtained. ○ Critical thinking involves cautious skepticism ○ EXAMPLE: Is there sound evidence that this psychological weight-management program helps people to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight? ○ Being curious and skeptical leads you to ask important questions about the science underlying such claims. Developing Critical Thinking Be curious. Simple answers are sometimes too simple, and common sense is not always correct ( or even close to it). EXAMPLE: Giving your brain some time to rest after having a stroke ( a form of brain damage) hinders rather than helps your recovery. (Module 3.3). Examine the nature and source of the evidence; not all research is of equal quality. EXAMPLE: Some studies use flawed methods or, in the case of an infamous study linking vaccines and autism, were performed by someone who would benefit financially if the results told a particular story. (Module 2.3). Examine assumptions and biases. This includes your own assumptions as well as the assumptions of those making the claims. EXAMPLE: Research examining the impact of human behavior on climate change may be biased if it is funded by oil companies. (Module 2.1). Avoid overly emotional thinking. Emotions can tell us what we value, but they are not always helpful when it comes to making critical decisions. EXAMPLE: You may have strong responses when hearing about differences in the cognitive abilities between genders (Module 3.1); however, it is important to put those aside to examine the studies themselves. Tolerate ambiguity. Most complex issues do not have clear-cut answers. EXAMPLE: Psychologists have identified a number of factors leading to depression, but no single factor guarantees that a person will suffer from this condition. (Module 15.3) Consider alternative viewpoints and alternative interpretations of the evidence. EXAMPLE: It is clear that we require sleep in order to function properly; however, there are several theories that can explain the functions that sleep serves. (Module 5.1) Myths In Mind: Abducted by Aliens! True or False? Complicated explanations are always necessary when discussing complex experiences The answer is False. The Principle Of Parsimony states that the simplest of all competing explanations (the most “parsimonious") of a phenomenon should be the one we accept. In the case of alien “abductions”, it is much simpler to assume that the experiences involve unusual psychological processes (e.g. hallucinations) than to assume that intelligent aliens visit earth to abduct and examine (and then safely return) humans. True or False? Psychologists - and people in general - should be willing to consider more than one explanation for an experience or scientific result. The Answer is True. For example, psychologists who study alien abduction cases have discovered a number of alternative explanations for these experiences. First, historical reports of abductions typically spike just after the release of science fiction movies featuring space aliens. Details of the reports often follow specific details seen in these movies (Clancy, 2005). Second, it probably would not be too surprising to learn that people who report being abducted are prone to fantasizing and having false memories (vivid recollection and belief in something that did not happen; Lynn and Kirsch, 1996; Spanos et al.,1994). Finally, people who claim to have been abducted are likely to experience sleep paralysis (waking up and becoming aware of being unable to move - a temporary state that is not unusual) and hallucinations while in the paralyzed state (McNally at al., 2004). True or False? Simple, uncomplicated explanations for phenomena are not valued by scientists. The answer is False. There are some human behaviors that can only be explained through complicated statistics. However, there are also many behaviors with more straight-foward explanations. Scientists respect both - as long as the researchers used critical thinking and the scientific method to obtain their results. Module 1.2: How Psychology Became A Science How Psychology Became A Science The Egyptians' attempt to link a brain-based injury to a change in behavior marked the first step toward our modern study of psychology. Psychologists have wrestled with the issue of whether our behavior is determined by external events, or if we have free will to act. Psychology’s Philosophical And Scientific Origins Empiricism is a philosophical tenet that knowledge comes through experience. ○ “Seeing is believing” empiricism means that knowledge about the world is based on careful observation, not on common sense or speculation. Whatever we see or measure should be observable by anyone else who follows the same methods. Scientific theories must be logical explanations of how the observations fit together. Determinism is the belief that all events are governed by lawful, cause-and-effect relationships. ○ Example: gravity, we know that if we drop something it will hit the ground. ○ But does the lawfulness of nature apply to the way we humans think and act? In some cases, it is easy to see how human behavior is deterministic. FOR EXAMPLE, if you smell cookies baking (cause), you might show signs of hunger (effect). Or, if your friend looks sad (cause), you might give them a hug (effect). ○ People object that we have no control over whether we experience the effects. To be a psychologist, you do not have to believe that every single thought, behavior, or experience is determined by natural laws. That behavior is determined by both internal (genes, brain chemistry) and external (cultural) influences. Psychological science is both empirical and deterministic. Behavior can only be understood by making observations and testing hypotheses. Behavior occurs at several levels, ranging from cells to societies. Psychology until the late 1800s became scientific. Zeitgeist, a german word meaning “spirit of the times” Zeitgeist refers to a general set of beliefs of a particular culture at a specific time in history. ○ It can be used to understand why some ideas take off immediately, whereas other perfectly good ideas may go unnoticed for years. Dualism is the idea that there are properties of humans that are not material (i.e. there is a mind or soul separate from the body). Materialism, the belief that humans, and other living beings are composed exclusively of physical matter. Early influences on psychology came from the natural and physical sciences. Facts From This Subchapter Damage to different brain areas led to vastly different impairments. In ancient Greece, the physician Hippocrates (460-360 BCE) developed the world’s first personality classification scheme. The ancient Greeks believed that four humors or fluids flowed throughout the body and influenced both health and personality. The four humors included blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. The four humors were thought to lead to specific moods and behaviors. Galen of Pergamon (127-217 CE), arguably the greatest of the ancient Roman physicians, refined Hippocrates' more general work and suggested that the four humors combined to create temperaments, or emotional and personality characteristics that remained stable throughout the lifetime. ○ Sanguine (blood), a tendency to be impulsive, pleasure-seeking, and charismatic. ○ Choleric (yellow bile), a tendency to be ambitious, energetic, and a bit aggressive. ○ Melancholic (black bile), a tendency to be independent, perfectionistic, and a bit introverted. ○ Phlegmatic (phlegm), a tendency to be quiet, relaxed and content with life.  ○ The power of zeitgeist can be very strong, and there are several ways it prevented psychological science from emerging in the 1600s. Materialism was a dangerous topic to discuss in the 1600s given that several countries burned people at the stake for having ideas that threatened traditional teachings. Influences From Physics: Experimenting With The Mind Gustav Fechner (1801-1887), who studied sensation and perception. He turned his knowledge to psychological questions about how the physical and mental worlds interact. Fechner coined the term psychophysics, which is the field of study that explores how physical energy such as light and sound and their intensity relate to psychological experience. ○ EXAMPLE: imagine you are holding a one-pound (0.45kg) weight in your right hand and five-pound (2.27kg) weight in your left hand. Obviously, your left hand will feel heavier, but that is not what interested Fechner. ○ What if a researcher places a quarter-pound weight (113g) in each hand, resting on the tip of the weight that is already there? Although both weigh the same amount, the quarter-pound weight in your right hand will be more noticeable than the quarter-pound weight added to your left hand, almost as if it were heavier. Fechner developed an equation to precisely calculate the perceived change in weight, and then extended this formula to apply to changes in brightness, loudness, and other perceptual experiences. Influences From Evolutionary Theory: The Adaptive Functions Of Behaviour. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) Darwin noticed that animal groups that were isolated from one another often differed by only minor variations in physical features. ○ These variations seemed to fine-tune the species according to the particular environment in which they lived, making them better equipped for survival and reproduction. Natural Selection was based on his observations that the genetically inherited traits that contribute to survival and reproductive success are more likely to flourish within the breeding population. These specific traits differ across locations because different traits will prove beneficial in different environments. Diversity of life on earth. The Expression Of The Emotions In Man And Animals (1872), behavior is shaped by natural selection, just as physical traits are. A certain range of behaviors helped our ancestors survive and reproduce. ○ Such as memory, emotions, forming social bonds and so on- these helped our ancestors flourish. Influences From Medicine: Diagnosis and Treatment. Clinical Psychology is the field of psychology that concentrates on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. Localization of brain function, the idea that certain parts of the brain control specific mental abilities and personality characteristics. Phrenology, which gained considerable popularity for more than 100 years thanks to physicians Franz Gall (1758-1828), and Johann Spurzheim (1776-1832). ○ They believed that the brain consisted of 27 “organs” corresponding to mental traits and dispositions that could be detected by examining the surface of the skull. ○ Believed that different traits and abilities were distributed across different regions of the brain. EXAMPLE: if a person possessed a particular trait or ability, then the brain area related to that characteristic would be larger in the same way that the muscles in your arms would be larger if your job required you to lift things. Larger brain areas would cause bumps on a person’s head, just as muscles would under a tight t-shirt. The other approach to localization entailed the study of brain injuries and the ways in which they affect behavior. ○ Physician Paul Broca found that a patient who had difficulty producing spoken language had brain damage in an area of the left frontal lobes of the brain (near his left temple).  ○ Prussian physician Karl Wernicke found that damage to another area in the left hemisphere led to problems comprehending language. ○ Doctors in Vermont described a railway employee who became impulsive and somewhat childlike after suffering damage to part of his frontal lobe. Franz Mesmer, an 18th century Austrian physician practicing in Paris, believed that prolonged exposure to magnets could redirect the flow of metallic fluids in the body, thereby curing disease and insanity. Some patients seemed to be cured after being lulled into a trance. ○ Some might call this the placebo effect. ○ He named this practice hypnosis Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), who began to use hypnosis to treat his own patients. Hysterical paralysis is a condition in which an individual loses feeling and control in a specific body part, despite the lack of any known neurological damage or disease. ○ This leads to psychoanalysis which is a psychological approach that attempts to explain how behavior and personality are influenced by unconscious processes. ○ Freud acknowledged that conscious experience includes perceptions, thoughts, a sense of self, and the sense that we are in control of ourselves. He also believed in an unconscious mind that contained forgotten episodes from early childhood as well as urges to fulfill self-serving sexual and aggressive impulses. ○ He proposed that because these burgers were unconscious, they could exert influence in strange ways, such as restricting the use of a body part. When a patient is unconscious or in a trance-like state the psychoanalyst could have more direct access into the individual’s unconscious mind. ○ Once Freud gained access, he could attempt to determine and correct any desires or emotions he believed were causing the unconscious to create the physical symptoms. Freud also placed great emphasis on how early life experiences influence our behavior as adults. The Influence Of Social Sciences: Measuring And Comparing Humans. Sir Francis Galton was influential in the study of individual differences between people. He noticed that great achievement tended to run in families. ○ As a result, Galton came to believe that heredity (genetics) could explain the physical and psychological differences found in a population. To Galton, it seemed natural that people who did better in scholarship, business, and wealth were able to do so because they were better people (genetically speaking). Eminence - a combination of ability, morality, and achievement. ○ The closer a relative, the more similar the traits. Nature and Nurture Relationships, the inquiry into how heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) influence behavior and mental processes. Eugenics which means “good genes”. He promoted the belief that social programs should encourage intelligent, talented individuals to have children, whereas criminals, those with physical or mental disability, and non white races should not receive such encouragement. Facts From This Subchapter An early pioneer in measuring perception and in applying statistical analyses to the study of behavior was Sir Franis Galton. Galton’s cousin - some guy named Charles Darwin - was a great naturalist, his uncle Erasmus was a celebrated physician and writer, and Galton himself was no slouch (he began reading as a 2-year-old child, and was a fan of Shakespeare by age 6). Galton came down decidedly on the nature side, seemingly ignoring the likelihood that nurturing influences such as upbringing and family resources, rather than biological endowments, could explain similarities among relatives. The eugenics movement was based largely on what the researchers wanted to believe was true, not on quality research methods. It ultimately led to the mistreatment of many individuals, particularly immigrants and the descendants of  slaves who were not of Galton’s own demographic group. It also influenced the thinking of Adolf hitler, with chilling consequences. Structuralism And Functionalism: The Beginnings Of Psychology Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) was largely responsible for establishing psychology as an independent scientific field. Introspection, meaning to “look within” Introspection required trained volunteers to experience a stimulus and then report each individual sensation they could identify. ○ EXAMPLE: If the volunteers were given a steel ball to hold in one hand, they would likely report the sensations of cold, hard, smooth, and heavy. To Wundt, these basic sensations were the mental “atoms” that combined to form the molecules of experience. ○ He also developed “reaction time” Volunteers watched an apparatus in which two metal balls swung into each other to make a clicking sound. The volunteers required about one-eighth of a second to react to the sound, leading Wundt to conclude that mental activity is not instantaneous, but rather requires a small amount of effort measured by the amount of time it takes to react. Edward Tichtner: his line of research is Structuralism, which was an attempt to analyze conscious experience by breaking it down into basic elements, and to understand how these elements work together. ○ He used the term “elements” as an analogy with the periodic table in the physical sciences. According to Tichener, different sensations can form and create complex compounds, just like hydrogen and oxygen can combine to form water or the hydroxide ion. William James (1842-1910) set out to write the first textbook in psychology, The Principles of Psychology, which was eventually published in 1890. ○ He combined his knowledge of physiology with his interest in the philosophy of mental activity. Functionalism is the study of the purpose and function of behavior and conscious experience. ○ In order to fully understand a behavior, one must try to figure out what purpose it may have served over the course of our evolution. ○ Evolutionary Psychology is an approach that interprets and explains modern human behavior in terms of forces acting upon our distant ancestors. ○ According to this approach, our brains and behaviors have been shaped by the physical and social environment that our ancestors encountered. ○ What function does the behavior we’re investigating serve? Why do we behave the way we do? Facts From This Subchapter Wundt established the first laboratory dedicated to studying human behavior in 1879 at the university of Leipzig. In contrast to structuralism, which looks for permanent, unchanging elements of thought, James was influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary principles. He preferred to examine behavior in context and explain how our thoughts and actions help us adapt to our environment. The Rise Of Behaviourism Edwin Twitmyer (1873-1943), an American psychologist interested in reflexes. ○ His work involved a contraption with a rubber mallet that would regularly tap the patellar tendon just below the kneecap. (causes a reflex). ○ To make sure his volunteers were not startled by the mallet, the contraption would ring a bell right before the mallet struck the tendon. As is often the case in experiments, the technology failed after a number of these bell-ringing and hammer-tapping combinations. The machine rang the bell, but the hammer did not come down on the volunteer’s knee. But the real surprise was the - volunteer’s leg kicked anyway. Because the sound of the bell successfully predicted the hammer, the ringing soon had the effect of the hammer itself, a process now called classical conditioning.  Behaviourism is an approach that dominated the first half of the 2oth century of North American psychology and had a singular focus on studying only observable behavior, with little to no reference to mental events or instincts as possible influences on behavior. The credit for discovering classical conditioning typically goes to a Russian physiologist named Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936). Pavlov you won the 1904 nobel prize for his research on the digestive system, noticed that the dogs in his laboratory began to salivate when the research technician entered the room and turned on the device that distributed the meat powder (food). Importantly, salivation occurred before the delivery of food, suggesting that the dogs had learned an association between the technician and the machine noises and the later appearance of food. John B.Watson, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (1878-1958) ○ Watson began to believe that all behavior could ultimately be explained through conditioning. Facts From This Subchapter Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods. (Watson, 1913) Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specific world to bring them up in and i’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any types of specialist i might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. (Watson 1930) Radical Behaviorism In 1905, psychologists such as Edward Thorndike (1874-1949) had shown that the frequency of different behaviors could be changed based on whether or not that behavior led to positive consequences of “satisfaction”. B.F Skinner (1904-1990), another behaviorist who had considerable influence over North American psychology for several decades ○ Radical Behaviorism is the foundation of behavior and how an organism responds to rewards and punishments. ○ We tend to repeat actions that are rewarded and avoid actions that lead to punishment Studying for exams leads to better grades, so we study for other exams. You receive a ticket for speeding, so you don’t go over the speed limit as much as you previously did. Skinner used rats and pigeons. ○ The experiment would control when rewards were available, and would observe the effects that changing the reward schedule had on the animals’ behavior The behaviorists believed that the principles of reward and punishment could apply to all organisms, both human and nonhuman. “Recognizes no line between man and brute” (watson). Social And Cultural Influences Cognitive psychology research focuses on an individual’s responses to some sort of stimulus. ○ Missing from this equation, however, is the fact that people often have to respond to stimuli or events in the presence of other people. Norman Triplett (1861-1931), conducted one of the first formal experiments in this area, observing the cyclists ride faster in the presence of other people than when riding alone. Triplett published the first social psychology research in 1898, and a few social psychology textbooks appeared in 1908. Social psychology is the study of the influence of other people on our behavior. ○ Some people are talkative and outgoing while others are quiet. These observations led to the development of personality psychology, which is the study of how different personality characteristics can influence how we think and act. ○ Your personality and the social situations you are in interact. Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), the founder of modern social psychology. Lewin suggested that behavior is a function of the individual and the environment, or, if you’re a fan of formulas, B=f{I,E}. What Lewin meant was that all behaviors could be predicted and explained through understanding how an individual with a specific set of traits would respond in a context that involved a specific set of conditions.  ○ EXAMPLE: Take two individuals, one tends to be quiet and engages in solitary activities such as reading, whereas the other is talkative and enjoys being where the action is. Now put them in a social situation, such as a large party or a friend's house. How will the two behave? Given the disparity between the individuals and between the two environments, we would suspect that very different behaviors would emerge from these two individuals in the different settings. The outgoing person may have a wonderful time at the big party, while the quiet person desperately tries to find someone to talk to or pretends to be fascinated by something on their phone. But, at the smaller get-together, the quieter person will likely be much more relaxed, while the outgoing person might be bored. Neither behavior is better, but they are different. Facts From This Subchapter The events in Nazi-controlled Germany before and during World War 2 contributed to the development of this new perspective in psychology. The Cognitive Revolution The German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) collected reams of data on remembering and forgetting. Frederick Bartlett (1886-1969) found that our memory was not like a photograph. Instead, our cultural knowledge and previous experiences shape what elements of an event or storyline are judged to be important enough to remember. Gestalt psychology, an approach emphasizing that psychologists need to focus on the whole of perception and experience, rather than its parts. ○ EXAMPLE: If Wundt or Titchner were to hand you an apple, you would not think, “Round, red, has a stem…”; you would simply think to yourself, “this is an apple,” Gestalt psychologists argued that much of our thinking and experience occurs at a higher, more organized level than Wundt emphasized. Linguists such as Noam Chomsky argued that grammar and vocabulary were far too complex to be explained in behaviorist terms; Ulrich Neisser (1928-2012). Cognitive psychology is a modern psychological perspective that focuses on processes such as memory, thinking, and language. Humanistic Psychology Emerged To the behaviorists, human experience was the product of a lifetime of rewards, punishments, and learned associations. To the psychoanalysts, human experience was the result of unconscious forces at work deep in the human psyche. Humanistic psychology focuses on the unique aspects of each individual human, each person’s freedom to act, their rational thought, and the belief that humans are fundamentally different from other animals. Carl Rogers (1902-1987) and Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) both focused on the positive aspects of humanity and the factors that lead to a productive and fulfilling life. They sought to understand the meaning of personal experience. They believed that people could attain mental well-being and satisfaction through gaining a greater understanding of themselves, rather than by being diagnosed with a disorder or having their problems labeled. Both believed that humans strive to develop a sense of self and are motivated to personally grow and fulfill their potential. The Brain And Behaviour Donald Hebb (1904-1985), conducted numerous studies examining how cells in the brain change over the course of learning. He observed that when a brain cell consistently stimulates another cell, metabolic and physical changes occur to strengthen this relationship. Cells that fire together wire together ○ Known as Hebb’s law, it demonstrated that memory - behavior that we can measure and that affects so many parts of our lives - is actually related to activity occurring at the cellular level. ○ That behavior can be studied at a number of levels ranging from neurons to the entire brain. Wilder Penfield (1891-1979), founder and original director of the Montreal Neurological Institute. Herbert Jasper, Penfiled developed a surgical procedure to help patients with epilepsy.  ○ However, before operating, Penfield needed to find a way to map out the functions of the surrounding brain regions so that he could try to avoid damaging areas that perform important functions such as language. To do this, Penfield electrically stimulated specific areas of each patient’s brain while the patient was under local anesthetic. The patient was then able to report the sensations they experienced after each burst of electricity. Psychology Of Women Anna Freud (1895-1982) and Karen Hoeney (1885-1952) made groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of personality. Sandra Bem began to change these views. Researchers began examining how sex differences in power were due in large part to the rampant sexism in politics, the business world, academia, and the home. They also examined how stereotypes could affect women’s beliefs about their own abilities. Examine important issues such as women’s health, violence toward women, and experiences that are unique to females. Module 14.2 Comparing Cultures Cross-cultural psychology is the field that draws comparisons about the individual and group behavior among cultures. Many cross-cultural studies compare the responses of North-American research participants to those of individuals in non-western countries such as China or Japan. This type of research therefore allows us to examine how people respond when being pulled in different directions by family history and the culture of their current country of residence. The Neuroimaging Explosion Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was developed. fMRI allows us to reliably detect activity throughout the entire brain and to depict this activity on clear three-dimensional images. It has become the “go-to” tool for researchers interested in understanding the neural mechanisms for cognitive behaviors such as memory, emotion, and decision making. This field, which combines elements of cognitive psychology and biopsychology is known as cognitive neuroscience. fMRI began being incorporated into psychological studies, ranging from topics such as social behavior to racism to relationships, this new field is known as social neuroscience. The Search For The Positive The goal of positive psychology is to help people see the good in their lives by promoting self-acceptance and improving social relationships with others. The eventual goal of this field is to help people experience feelings of happiness and fulfillment; in short to help them flourish. Positivity has been linked with improvements in some cognitive abilities and to changes in neural pathways associated with controlling your attention. Positive psychology can be found in a number of areas of psychological study, ranging from our motivation to achieve to techniques for coping with stress and psychological disorders. Psychology In The Real World Applied Psychology can take place in schools, in the workplace, in the military, or in a number of other settings. ○ EXAMPLE: Researchers at Memorial University in Newfoundland are performing research that will lead to improvements in how children are interviewed in the legal arena. ○ Researchers at other universities examine other areas of psychology in law, ranging from psychopathy to eyewitnesses. Industrial/organizational psychologists at the University of Guelph and other universities apply psychological research to the workplace, helping to ensure that the work environment is fair for all employees. Human factors psychologists help to ensure that our interactions with technologies ranging from computer programs to airplane cockpits are intuitive and efficient. Recently psychologists have begun investigating human behaviors in the digital word as well. Module 2.1 Principles Of Scientific Research Introduction Prompt Can changing your posture make you more confident and powerful while reducing your body’s stress response? In June 2012, a Harvard psychologist made this claim during a TED talk that became a numerous hit — it has been viewed nearly 63 million times on the TED channel (TED,2021) and 20 million more on Youtube (Youtube, 2021). This idea is that we can gain these benefits by assuming a power pose. Imagine the stance of a superhero, standing tall and straight, fists on hips with elbows out, widening the pose. This is the posture of an individual confident in their power. Adopting this type of power pose for a mere two minutes is enough to change the way you think and feel, according to the speaker. Moreover, she linked power posing to increases in hormones contributing to assertiveness while stress hormones were reduced. Before you stand up and assume that position, however, you should know that other researchers have tried the same types of experiments without finding the same results, particularly regarding the hormonal changes. In another scientific paper, two statisticians argued that the outcome of the original research resulted from inappropriate data analysis. In fact, enough evidence emerged that the lead author in the original research has since come out against power posing, describing flaws they overlooked in earlier studies. This is not meant to damage the reputation of the original researchers, but instead to emphasize how important it is for psychologists to carefully follow established research methods and procedures – the topic of this chapter. The goal of this chapter is to help you separate the good from the questionable, and to show you that asking tough questions about how research was designed and conducted is never a bad thing. Doing so prevents you from being manipulated into buying products and accepting campaign promises that do not hold up to scrutiny. Objectively assumes that curtain facts about the world can be observed and tested independently by the individual who described them (e.g. the scientist). Everyone – not just the experts – should be able to agree on these facts given the same tools, the same methods, and the same context. Achieving objectively is not a simple task ○ As soon as people observe an event, theri interpretation of it becomes subjective, meaning that their knowledge of the event is shaped by prior beliefs, expectations, experiences, and even their mood. ○ A scientific, objective approach to answering questions differs greatly from a subjective one. Five Characteristics Of Quality Scientific Research Five ways Quality scientific research meets the following criteria. ○ It is based on measurements that are objective, valid, and reliable. ○ It can be generalized. ○ It uses techniques that reduce bias. ○ It is made public. ○ It can be replicated. Scientific Measurement: Objectivity The foundation of scientific methodology is the use of objective measurements, the measure of an entity or behavior that, within an allowed margin of error, is consistent across instruments and observers. In other words, the way that a quality or a behavior is measured must be the same regardless of who is doing the measuring and the exact tool being used. ○ EXAMPLE: weight is measured in pounds or kilograms. One kilogram in St.John’s is the same as one kilogram in Victoria – researchers don’t get to choose how much mass a kilogram is worth. Similarly, your weight will be the same regardless of whether your weight will be the same regardless of whether you’re using the scale in your bathroom or the scale in the change room at the gym. However, your weight will vary slightly from scale to scale – this is the margin of error mentioned in the definition. ○ Scientists in a given field have to agree upon how much variability in a given field has to agree upon how much variability is allowable. Most people will be comfortable if theri weight differs by a kilogram depending on the scale being used. ○ In this example, weight would be considered a variable, the object, concept, or event being controlled, manipulated, or measured by a scientist.  Variables are an essential part of the research described in every chapter of this text ranging from perceptual processes, to learning and memory, to how we interact with each other, and so on. High-tech equipment, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), allows researchers to view the brain and see which areas are activated while you perform a variety of tasks such as remembering words or viewing emotional pictures. Other psychologists measure involve gathering samples of blood or saliva, which can then be analyzed for enzymes, hormones, and other biological variables that are related to behavior and mental functioning. ○ With this greater number of measurement options, it’s now possible to examine the same variable using a number of different techniques. Regardless of the specific experimental question being asked, any method used by a researcher to measure a variable needs to include carefully defined terms. Researchers must decide upon a precise definition that other researchers can understand. ○ These operational definitions are statements that describe the procedures (or operations) and specific measures that are used to record observations. EXAMPLE: depression could be operationally defined as “ a score of 20 or higher on the Beck Depression Inventory”, with the measure being a common and widely accepted clinical questionnaire. Scientific Measurement: Validity And Reliability Once researchers have defined their terms, they then turn their attention toward the tools they plan to use to measure their variable of interest. The behavioral measurements that psychologists make must be valid and reliable. Validity refers to the degree to which an instrument or procedure actually measures what it claims to measure. ○ As in the case with operational definitions, creating a valid measurement may seem like a simple task. In reality, developing valid measures of complex behaviors is quite challenging. To go back to the depression example, researchers cannot simply ask people a few questions and then randomly decide that one score merits a diagnosis of “clinical depression” while another does not. Instead, for the measure to be valid, a particular score would have to differentiate people who are experiencing depression from those who are not. The creation of valid measures is therefore quite time-consuming and requires a great deal of testing and revising before the final product is ready for use. In addition to being valid, a measurement tool must also be reliable. ○ A measure demonstrates reliability when it provides consistent and stable answers across multiple observations and points in time. Test-retest reliability examines whether scores on a given measure of behavior are consistent across test sessions. If your scores on a test of depression vary each time you take the test, then it is unlikely that your test is reliable. Alternate-forms reliability is a bit more complicated. This form of reliability examines whether different forms of the same test produce the same results. Why would you need multiple forms of a test? In many situations, a person will be tested on multiple occasions. For instance, individuals with brain damage might have their memory tested soon after they arrive at the hospital and then at one or more points during their rehabilitation. By having multiple versions of a test that produces the same results (e.g. two equally difficult lists of words as stimuli for memory tests), researchers and hospital workers can text individuals on multiple occasions and know that their measurement tools are equivalent. A third type of reliability takes place when observers have to score or rate a behavior or response. ○ EXAMPLE: psychologists might be interested in the effects of nonverbal behavior when people interact, so they might videotape participants solving a problem and then have trained raters count the number of touches of the amount of eye contact that occurred during the experiments. ○ EXAMPLE: Participants might write down lengthy, open ended responses to an experimenter’s questions. These responses would then be rated on different variables by laboratory personnel. The catch is that more than one person must do the rating; otherwise it is impossible to determine if the responses were accurately measured or if the results were due to the training, expertise, or expectations of the single rater. Having more than one rater allows you to have inter-rater reliability, meaning that the rater arrives at very similar conclusions. If you design an experiment with clear operational definitions and criteria for the raters, then it is likely that you will have high inter-rater reliability.  In addition, it is usually very important that your results are not limited to a small group of people in a single laboratory. Instead, it is ideal for these results to be related to other groups and situations – in other words, to be generalizable. Generalizability Of Results Psychologists are primarily interested in understanding behavior in general. This involves examining trends and patterns that allow us to predict how most people will respond to different stimuli and citations. Generalizability refers to the degree to which one set of results can be applied to other situations, individuals, or events. ○ EXAMPLE: imagine that one person you know claimed that a memory-improvement course helped them raise their grades. How useful is the course? Based on this information, you might initially view the course favorably. However, upon further reflection, you’d realize that a number of factors could have influenced your friend’s improvement, not the least of which is that they are suddenly paying attention to their grades. At this point, you would wisely decide to wait until you’ve heard more about the course before investing your hard-earned money. But, if you found out that several hundred people in your city had taken the same course and had experienced similar benefits, then these results would appear more likely to predict what would happen if you or other people took the course. They are generalizable. As you can see from this example, one way to increase the possibility that research results will generalize is to study a large group of participants. By examining and reporting an average effect for that group, psychologists can get a better sense of how individuals are likely to behave. But how large of a group is it possible to study? Ideally, it would be best to study an entire population. ○ The group that researchers want to generalize about. ○ It is impossible in more cases. ○ Instead, psychologists typically study a sample, a select group of population members. Once the sample has been studied, then the results may be generalized to the population as a whole. Random sampling, a sampling technique in which every individual of a population has an equal chance of being included. ( this is the ideal method of you are hoping that your results generalize to a large population or to all of humanity. ○ EXAMPLE: If you wanted to study the population of students at your school, the best way to obtain a true random sample would be to have a computer generate a list of names from the entire student body. Your random sample – a subset of this population – would then be identified, with each member of the population having an equal chance of being selected regardless of the class standing, gender, major, living situation and other factors. It isn’t always possible to use random sampling. In these cases, researchers often have to settle for convenience samples, samples of individuals who are the most readily available – for example, Introductory Psychology Students. Ecological Validity, meaning that the results of a laboratory study can be applied to or repeated in the natural environment. Although generalizability and ecological validity are important qualities of good research, we need to be careful not to over-generalize. ○ EXAMPLE: results from a convenience sample of university students might not predict how a group of elderly people would do on the same task; it’s simply not possible to know for sure until someone conducts research on a sample from the other population. Sources Of Bias In Psychological Research Generalizability is only important if the experiment itself was conducted without bias. Various types of bias can be unintentionally introduced by the researchers; this is known as a researcher bias. ○ The experimenter may treat participants in different experimental conditions differently, thus making it impossible to know if any differences were ue to the experimental manipulation being tested or were instead due to the experimenter's behavior ○ It is also possible for the participants, even animals, to introduce their own bias; these effects are known as subject biases or participant biases. Sometimes this bias will involve a participant trying to figure out what the experimenters are testing or trying to predict the response that the researchers are hoping to find and then responding accordingly.  ○ EXAMPLE: The Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne Works, a chicago-area factory in the 1920s. Researchers went to the factory to study the relationship between productivity and working conditions. When the researchers introduced some minor change in working conditions, such as an adjustment to the lighting, the workers were more productive for a period of time. When they changed another variable in different study - such as having fewer but longer breaks – productively increased again. What was not obvious to the researchers was that any change in factory conditions brought about increased productivity, presumably because the changes were always followed by close attention by the factory supervisors. In honor of these observations, a behavior change that occurs as a result of being observed is now known as the Hawthorne Effect. In most psychological research, the participants are aware that they are being observed. This presents a different form of problem. ○ Participants may respond in ways that increase the chances that they will be viewed favorably by the experimenter and/or other participants, a tendency known as social desirability. ○ This type of bias is particularly relevant when the study involves an interview in which the researcher has face-to-face contact with the volunteers. ○ In these situations, the participants may look for feedback – intentional or unintentional – and then adapt their responses to be consistent with what they think is expected of them. ○ FINISH In response to this issue, many researchers now collect data using computers; this allows the participants to respond with relative anonymity, thereby reducing the desire to appear likable. In a related issue, participant anxiety about the experiment – which often leads to changes in how people respond to questions – can be reduced if researchers provide full information about how they will eventually use the data. FINISH Patients enter treatment programs (and experiment) with a number of expectations, and these expectations can lead to a placebo effect, a measurable and experienced improvement in health or behavior that cannot be attributable to a medication or treatment. ○ When researchers test the effectiveness of a new drug, it is standard procedure for one group of volunteers to be treated with the drug while a second group is given an inactive substance (the placebo). Regardless of the group, no volunteers are told whether they have received the drug or the placebo. What sometimes happens is that people in the placebo group report as much improvement as the people who actually received the drug. This does not mean the placebo magically turned into a drug, only that the volunteer’s expectations about the drug affected their brain and body. This effect is not limited to medications – it can be found with other medical treatments as well. Techniques That Reduce Bias One of the best techniques for reducing subject bias is to provide anonymity and confidentiality to the volunteers. ○ Anonymity means that each individual’s responses are recorded without any name or other personal information that could link a particular individual to specific results. ○ Confidentiality means that the results will be seen only by the researcher. Ensuring anonymity and confidentiality are important steps toward gathering honest responses from research participants. Participants are much more likely to provide information about sensitive issues like their sexual history, drug use, or emotional state if they can do so confidentially and anonymously. Placebos are also an important means of reducing bias. ○ If they knew that they were receiving a placebo instead of a pain medication, they would not experience any pain relief. Therefore, it is important that experiments involving drugs (recreational or therapeutic) utilize what are known as blind procedures. In a single-blind study, the participants do not know the true purpose of the study, or else do not know which type of treatment they are receiving. In this case, the subjects are “blind” to the purpose of the study. Researchers can also introduce bias, especially if they believe a research participant is taking the actual medication instead of a placebo.  ○ They might unintentionally interpret that the symptoms are improving, or perhaps treat individuals in the two conditions differently, thus biasing the results. ○ In order to eliminate this possibility, researchers often use a technique known as a Double-Blind Study, a study in which neither the participant nor the experimenter knows the exact treatment for any individual. To carry out a double-blind procedure, the researcher must arrange for an assistant to conduct the observations or, at the very least, the researcher must not be told which type of treatment a person is receiving until after the study is completed. ○ Double-blind procedures are also sometimes used when researchers are testing groups that differ on variables such as personality characteristics or subtle demographic factors such as sexual orientation. ○ If the experimenters know that participants have scored high on a test of psychopathy, experimenters might treat them differently than a person who scored low on the same test. Keeping the experimenter (and participants) blind to these results allows the research to remain objective. Sharing The Results Psychology’s primary mode of communication is through academic journals.Academic journals resemble magazines in that they are periodicals with a number of articles by different authors. Unlike magazines, however, journal articles represent primary research or reviews of multiple studies on a single topic. Before research findings can be published, they must go through Peer review, a process in which papers submitted for publication in scholarly journals are read and critiqued by experts in the specific field of study. ○ Peer reviews involves two main tasks: First, an editor receives the manuscript from the researcher and determines whether it is appropriate subject matter for the journal. Second, the editor sends copies for the manuscript to a select group of peer reviewers - peer in the case refers to another professional working within the same field of study. These reviewers critique the methods and results of the research and make recommendations to the editor regarding the merits of the research. Replication Once research findings have been published, it is then possible for other researchers to build upon the knowledge that you have created. It is also possible for researchers to double check whether or not your results occurred simply by chance. Replication is the process of repeating a study and finding a similar outcome each time. ○ As long as an experiment uses sufficiently objective measurements and techniques, and if the original hypothesis was correct, similar results should be achieved by later researchers who perform the same types of studies. Replication Crisis ○ EXAMPLE: Psychology, like all sciences, experiences a publication bias in which successful and novel results are published and studies that show no effects are not. If a single replication attempt is unsuccessful, which result should we believe – the original published experiment or the failed attempt to replicate it? The solution appears to involve performing the same study a number of times and across a number of locations to see if it generally produces similar results. Several projects have attempted this and found that the original studies continuously fail to replicate. Five Characteristics Of Poor Research 1. It produces unstable hypothesis a. For a hypothesis to be testable, it must be falsifiable, meaning that the hypothesis is precise enough that it could be proven false. If a hypothesis is not falsifiable, that means there is no pattern of data that could possibly prove that this view is wrong. Instead, there is always a way to reinterpret the results to make the hypothesis, there is no point in testing it.  2. It relies on anecdotes and personal experiences. a. Anecdotal evidence, an individual’s story or testimony about an observation or event that is used to make a claim as evidence. i. EXAMPLE: A personal testimonial on a products Web page might claim that a man used subliminal weight-loss recordings to lose 20kg in six months. But there is no way of knowing whether the recordings were responsible for the person’s weight loss. The outcome could have been due to any number of things, such as a separate physical problem or changes in food intake and lifestyle that had nothing to do with the subliminal messages. The ‘Before' and the 'after' pictures could easily have been doctored. ii. Anecdotal evidence is also misused in attempts to argue against sound research. 3. It includes a biased selection of data a. We still need to be careful even if a scientific claim is backed up by published data. It is possible that some individuals – particularly politicians and corporations – might present only the data that support their views. i. An example of this data selection bias is shown in the debate whether human behavior is a major cause of climate change. A climate change denier could identify a few peer-reviewed scientific studies that cast doubt on whether human behavior is a cause of global warming, producing the, as evidence in a debate. ii. A very selective slice of the data would present one (biased) result, but a thorough and scientific representation of the data would present an entirely different view of the same issue. 4. It makes appeals to authority rather than facts a. Appeal to authority – the belief in an “experts” claim even when no supporting data or scientific evidence is present. b. True experts are good at gathering and summarizing evidence in their field and they are willing to cite their sources of information; without offering evidence, their claims are not much more reliable than anyone else’s. 5. It makes appeals to common sense a. A claim that appears to be sound but lacks supporting scientific evidence. i. EXAMPLE: b. In addition to common sense, beliefs can originate from other potentially unreliable sources i. EXAMPLE: Module 2.2 Scientific Research Designs Psychologists create a research design, which is a set of methods that allows a hypothesis to be tested. Research designs influence how investigators: Organize the stimuli used to test the hypothesis. Make observations and measurements Evaluate the results Psychologists must choose the one that best addresses the research question and that is most suitable to the subject of their research Research designs have characteristics that all of them have in common. ○ Variables: A variable is a property of an object, organisms, event, or something else that can take on different values. ○ Operational Definitions: Operational definitions are the details that define exactly how the variable will be controlled or measured for specific study. ○ Data: When scientists collect observations about the variables of interest, the information they record is called data. Descriptive Research Descriptive research answers the question of “what” a phenomena is; it describes its characteristics. Once these observations have been performed and the data examined, they can be used to inform more sophisticated future studies that ask “why” and “how” that phenomenon occurs.  ○ Qualitative research involves examining an issue or behavior without performing numerical measurements of the variables. Takes the form of interviews in which participants describe their thoughts and feelings about particular events or experiences. Qualitative research allows for a lot of flexibility and creativity beyond traditional interviews. EXAMPLE: ○ Quantitative research involves examining an issue or behavior by using numerical measurements and/or statistics The majority of psychological studies are quantitative in nature These designs can involve complex manipulations; but it is also possible to perform more descriptive studies using numbers. EXAMPLE: Examples of descriptive research questions: ○ How many words can the average 2-year-old speak ○ How many hours per week does the typical university student spend on homework? Case Studies A case study is an in-depth report about the details of a specific case. Rather than developing a hypothesis and then objectively testing it on a number of different individuals, scientists performing a case study describe an individual's history and behavior in great detail. Case studies are not performed on just anyone. They are generally research for individuals who have a very uncommon characteristic or have lived through a very unusual experience. PHINEAS GAGE Naturalistic Observation When psychologists engage in such naturalistic observations, they unobtrusively observe and record behavior as it occurs in the subject’s natural environment. The key word here is unobtrusively; in other words, the individuals being observed shouldn’t know that they are being observed. Otherwise, the mere act of observation could change the participants' behavior. When a scientist conducts naturalistic observation research, they are making systematic observations of specific variables according to operational definitions Researchers using naturalistic observations can improve the reliability of their work. The same environment would score the same behaviors in the same way. EXAMPLE Naturalistic observations can occur anywhere that behaviors occur, be it in”nature”, in a hockey rink or even in a bar. ○ The key point is that the researchers must pay attention to specific variables and use operational definitions. However, naturalistic observations may not always provide researchers with the specific types of information they are after. Surveys And Questionnaires. Another common method of descriptive research used by psychologists is self-reporting, a method in which responses are provided directly by the people who are being studied, typically through face-to-face interviews, phone surveys, paper-and-pencil tests and web-based questionnaires. These methods allow researchers to assess attitudes, opinions , beliefs, and abilities. Their common element is that the individuals speak for themselves. Care must be taken not to create biased questions that could affect the results one way or another. It is important to develop questions that touch on the issue without being too off-putting. EXAMPLE:  For questionnaires examining other phenomena, researchers perform a large amount of presting in order to calculate norms, on average patterns of data. Correlational Research Correlational research, measuring the degree of association between two or more variables. Correlations can be visualized when presented in a graph called a scatter plot. Two main characteristics that describe correlations ○ Direction: the pattern of the data points on the scatterplot will vary based on the relationship between the variables. If correlations are positive it means that the two variables change values in the same direction. And if the value of one variable decreases the value of the other variable decreases. ○ Magnitude (or strength): This refers to how closely the changes in one variable are linked to changes in another variable (e.g. if variable A goes up one unit, will variable B go up one unit?) ○ Correlation coefficient A correlation coefficient of zero means that there is no relationship between the two variables (+1.0 is the most positive correlation coefficient possible). A coefficient of -1.0 means that there is a very strong negative correlation between the variables. (-1.0 is the most negative correlation coefficient possible) Importantly, +1.0 and -1.0 coefficients gave an equal magnitude or strength; however, each has a different direction. ○ One key point to remember is that the correlation coefficient is a measure of association only - it is not a measure of causality. In other words, correlation doesn't equal causation. ○ Correlation gives the impression that one variable causes the other, but that relationship cannot be determined from correlational research. Third Variable problem is the possibility that a third, unmeasured variable is responsible for a well-established correlation between two variables. Experimental Research Experimental designs improve on descriptive and correlational studies because they are the only designs that can provide strong evidence for cause-and-effect relationships. Like correlational research, experiments have a minimum of two variables, but there are two key differences between correlational research and experiments: the random assignment of the participants and the researcher's experimental control over the variables being studied. The Experimental Method A critical element of experiments is random assignment, a technique for dividing samples into two or more groups in which participants are equally likely to be placed in any condition of the experiment. Random assignments allow us to assume the two groups will be roughly equal. Confounding variables - a variable outside of the researcher’s control that might affect or provide an alternative explanation for the results - could potentially enter the picture. The vairale that the experimenter manipulates to distinguish between two or more groups is known as the independent variable. The participants cannot alter these variables, as they are controlled by the researcher. The dependent variable is the observation or measurement that is recorded during the experiment and subsequently compared across all groups. The levels of this variable are dependent upon the participants’ responses or performances. Between-subject design, an experiment design in which we compare the performance of participants who are in different groups. ○ One of these groups, the experimental group, is the group in the experiment that receives a treatment of the stimuli targeting a specific behavior. Control group is the group that does not receive the treatment or stimuli targeting a specific behavior; this group therefore serves as a baseline to which the experimental group is compared. A between-subjects design allows the researcher to examine differences between groups; however, it is also open to criticism.  Within-subject designs, an experimental design in which the same participants respond to all types of stimuli or experience all experimental conditions. Designing an experiment requires the experimenter to make many decisions. However, in some cases, some of these decisions are taken out of the researchers’ hands. The Quasi-Experimental Method Random assignment and manipulation of a varbake are required for experiments. They allow researchers to make the cse that differences between the groups originate from the independent variable. In some cases, though, random assignment is not possible. Quasi-experimental research is a research technique in which the two or more groups that are compared are selected based on predetermined characteristics, rather than random assignment. Quasi-experiments are essentially correlational; they can point out relationships among pre-existing groups, but they cannot determine what it is about those groups that leads to the differences. Module 2.3 Ethics In Psychological Research Promoting The Welfare Of Research Participants Most research with human participants involves short-term, low-risk methods, and there are now ethical guidelines and procedures for ensuring the safety and well-being of all individuals involved in research. Research Ethics Board (REB), a committee of researchers and officials at an institution charred with the protection of human research participants. ○ REBs help the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, a set of requirements created by the Government of Canada’s Panel of Research Ethics. ○ The REBs are intended to protect individuals in two main ways: (1) the committee weighs potential risks to the volunteers against the possible benefits of the research, and (2) it requires that volunteers agree to participate in the research. Weighing The Risks And Benefits Of Research It must be stressed that physical risks are less common than cognitive and emotional stress in psychological research. ○ EXAMPLE: think about a volunteer who experienced recent trauma such as the death of a loved one or a violent crime. They might be asked to answer questions or write about their experiences in great detail, sometimes repeatedly, engaging in that activity is likely to stir up powerful and unpleasant emotions, so the researchers must put safeguards in place to reduce that risk. Another source of risk is related to the fact that some studies ask participants to provide the experimenter with sensitive and/or personal information. Disclosing certain information is a potential threat to a person’s reputation, friends, and family. Some stressors may includes ○ Research about trauma: although revising a stressful experience can be difficult, researchers learn how coping through expression can help emotional adjustment and physical health. ○ Reporting sensitive, private information: many individuals in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction prefer to remain anonymous. However, if they share their experiences in a confidential and anonymous way, psychologists can learn about the common experiences that put people at a higher risk for addiction. The REB serves as a third party that weighs the risks and benefits of research without being personally invested in the outcome. Today, it is mandatory that research participants be informed of any risks to which they may be exposed and volunteer of their own free will to take part in a study. Obtaining Informed Consent To ensure that human volunteers truly are volunteers.  All participants must provide informed consent: a potential volunteer must be informed (know the purpose, tasks, and risks involved in the study) and give consent (agree to participate based on information provided) without pressure). To be truly informed about the study, volunteers should be told, at minimum, the following details ○ The topic of the study ○ The nature of any stimuli to which they will be exposed (e.g. images, sounds, smells) ○ The nature of any tasks they will complete (e.g. tests, puzzles) ○ The approximate duration of the study ○ Any potential physical, psychological, or social risks involved ○ The steps that the researchers have taken to minimize those risks. Deception: misleading or only partially informing participants of the true topic or hypothesis under investigation. “White lie” The participants are given enough information to evaluate their own risks. For a study on nonconscious mimicry, there are no serious risks to the participants, so the researcher is likely to tell them only that they are being asked to engage in a conversation while being videotaped. Research includes the following elements in determining whether full consent is given: ○ Freedom to choose: individuals should not be at risk for financial loss, physical harm, or damage to their reputation if they choose not to participate. ○ Equal Opportunities: Volunteers should have choices. For example, if the volunteers are introductory psychology students seeking course credit, they must have non-research alternatives available to them for credit should they choose not to participate in a study. ○ The Right To Withdraw: volunteers should have the right to withdraw from the study, at any time, without penalty. The right to give informed consent stays with the participants throughout the entire study. ○ The Right To Withhold Response: Volunteers responding to surveys or interviews should not have to answer any question that they feel uncomfortable answering. After participating in the research study, participants must undergo a full debriefing, meaning that the researcher should explain the true nature of the study, and especially the nature of and reason for any deception. The Right To Anonymity And Confidentiality Anonymity means that the data collected during a research study cannot be connected to individual participants. ○ Without recording their name Confidentiality includes at least two parts. First, researchers cannot share specific data or observations that can be connected with an individual. Second, all records must be kept secure so that identities cannot be revealed unintentionally. Psychology does include the behavior of animals. ○ Scientists can administer treatments to animals that could never be applied to humans, such as lesioning (damaging) specific areas of the brain in order to examine the resulting behavioral impairments. In addition, genetic research requires species with much shorter lifespans than our own so that several successive generations can be observed. Finally, scientists can manipulate the breeding of laboratory animals to meet the needs of their experimental procedures. Is it ethically acceptable to create disease-like symptoms in animals if it could lead to discorvers that could help thousands - or sometimes millions - of people? Ethics For Animal-Based Research Three main areas of ethical treatment are emphasized by researchers and animal welfare committees. The first is the basic care of laboratory animals - that is, providing appropriate housing, feeding, and sanitation for the species. The second is minimization of any pain or discomfort experienced by the animals. Third, although it is rare for a study to require discomfort, when it is necessary, the researchers must ensure that the pain can be justified by the potential benefits of the research. The same standards apply if animals are to be sacrificed for the research. MODULE 3.2 How the Nervous System Works: Cells and Neurotransmitters Introduction  Cells - particularly cells in the nervous system - play an incredibly important role in absolutely everything you do, from moving and sensing to thinking and feeling. Understanding how the nervous system’s cells function and communicate with each other as part of networks will help you better understand topic discussed in other modules, such as how we learn, (6.1,6.2 and 7.1) how different drugs (both clinical and recreational) work (modeiles 5.3 and 16.3), and stress affects our bodies and brains (Module 14.2). Neural Communication Psychologists are most interested in neurons, one of the major types of cells found in the nervous system, which are responsible for sending and receiving messages throughout the body. Billions of these cells receive and transmit messages every day, including while you are asleep. Millions of them are firing as a result of you reading these words. The Neuron The primary purpose of neurons is to “fire”, to receive input from one group of neurons and to then influence the activity of other neurons. Doing so allows single neurons to work together as part of networks involving thousands ( and sometimes millions) of other cells; this will eventually lead to some form of behavior. Neurons are designed in such a way that there are parts of the cell specialized for receiving incoming information from other neurons and parts of the cell specialized for transmitting information to other neurons. ○ All neurons have a cell body (also known as the soma), the part of a neuron that contains the nucleus that houses the cell’s genetic material. ○ Genes in the cell body synthesize proteins that form the chemicals and structures that allow the neuron to function. The activity of these genes can be influenced by the input coming from other cells. This input is received by dendrites, small branches radiating from the cell body that receive messages from other cells and transmit those messages toward the rest of the cell. At any given point in time, a neuron will receive input from several other neurons (sometimes over 1000 other neurons). These impulses from other cells will travel across the neuron to the base of the cell body known as the axon hillock. If the axon hillock receives enough stimulation from other neurons, it will initiate a chemical reaction that will flow down the rest of the neuron. ○ This chemical reaction is the initial step in a neuron communicating with other cells. ○ The activity will travel from the axon hillock along a tail-like structure that protrudes from the cell body. This structure, the axon, transports information in the form of electrochemical reactions from the cell body to the end of the neuron. ○ When the activity reaches the end of the axon, it will arrive at axon terminals; bulb-like extensions filled with vesicles (little bags of molecules). These vesicles contain neurotransmitters, the chemicals that function as messengers allowing neurons to communicate with each other. The impulse travelling down the axon will stimulate the release of these neurotransmitters, thus allowing neural communication to take place. Many types of neurotransmitters exist, and each can have a number of functions. Although all neurons are designed to transmit information, not all neurons perform the same function. Sensory neurons receive information from the bodily senses and bring it toward the brain, often via the spinal cord. In contrast, motor neurons carry messages away from the brain and spinal cord and toward muscles in order to control their flexion and extension. Latter neurons will perform functions involving more communication between neurons. The key point is that these differences between neurons are not simply due to chance - they have a purpose.  The physical structure of a neuron is related to the function it performs. Until recently, researchers believed that people were born with all the brain cells they will ever have. They believed that the birth of new neurons stopped at (or soon after) we are born, and most certainly did not continue into adulthood. Glial Cells Neurons can not function without support from other cells. This support comes from different types of cells collectively known as glia. Glial cells are specialized cells of the nervous systems that are involved in mounting immune responses in the brain, removing waste, and synchronizing the activity of the billions of neurons that constitute the nervous system. Traditionally the ratio of glial cells to neurons has been estimated at 10 to 1; however, more recent investigations suggest that the number of glial cells and neurons in the brain is quite similar. Despite this revised number, there are still a large number of support functions that the almost 100 million glial cells can perform. A critical function served by certain glial cells is to insulate the axon of a neuron. ○ These glial cells form a white substance called myelin, a fatty sheath that insulates axons from one another, resulting in increased speed and efficiency of neural communication. ○ In the unmyelinated axon, the neural impulse decays quickly and needs to be regenerated along the axon. ○ The myelin protects the impulse from this decay, thus reducing how often the impulse needs to be regenerated. Axons without myelin transmit information at speeds ranging from 0.5 to 10 m/s (metres per second); myelinated axons transmit information at speeds of up to 150 m/s. ○ When the myelin sheath is damaged, the efficacy of the axon decreases substantially. ○ This can lead to a number of impairments. Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the immune system does not recognize myelin and attacks it - a process that can devastate the structural and functional integrity of the nervous system. ○ When myelin breaks down in multiple sclerosis, it impairs the ability of the affected neurons to transmit information along their axons. ○ Groups of brain structures that normally fire together to produce a behaviour can no longer work as a functional network. ○ The specific symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis differ depending upon where in the brain the myelin damage occurred. Numbness or tingling sensations could be caused by the disruption of sensory nerve cell signals that should otherwise reach the brain. Problems with voluntary, coordinated movement could be due to the breakdown of myelin that supports motor nerves. The Neuron’s Electrical System: Resting and Action Potentials Neural activity is based on changes in the concentrations of charged atoms called ions. When a neuron is not firing, the outside of the neuron has a relatively high concentration of positively charged ions – particularly sodium ions – compared to the inside of the neuron. This difference in charge between the inside and outside of the cell leaves the inside of the axon with a negative charge of approximately -70 millivolts (-70mV; see the first panel of figure 3.11). ○ This relatively stable state during which the cell does not transmit messages is known as its resting potential. ○ This seemingly stable resting state involves a great deal of tension. This is because of two forces: the electrostatic gradient and the concentration gradient. The electrostatic gradient just means that the inside and outside of the cell have different charges (negative and positive, respectively), and the concentration gradient just means that different types of ions are more densely packed on one side of the membrane than on the other (e.g. there are more sodium ions outside the cell than inside the cell). Most substances have a tendency to move from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration whenever possible. ○ Substances spread out whenever they can so that they are evenly distributed.  So, if ion channels, small pores on the neuron;s cell membrane, opened up, there would be a natural tendency for positively charged sodium ions to rush into the cell. This is what happens when a neuron is stimulated. ○ The surge of positive ions into the cell changes the potential of the neuron (e.g. changing from -70mV to -68mV). ○ These charges flow down the dendrites and cross the cell body to the axon hillock, where the cell body meets the axon. ○ If enough positively charged ions reach the axon hillock to push its charge past the cell’s firing threshold (e.g. -55mV), the neuron will then initiate an action potential, a wave of electoral activity that originates at the beginning of the axon near the cell body and rapidly travels down its length. ○ When an action potential occurs, the charge of that part of the axon changes from approximately -70mV to approximately +35mV; in other words, the cell changes from being negativity to positively charged. This change does not occur along the entire axon at once. Rather, as one part of the axon becomes depolarized, it forces open the ion channels ahead of it, thus causing the action potential to move down the length of the axon as positively charged ions rush through the membrane pores. This pattern continues until the action potential reaches the axon terminal. There are mechanisms in place to help our neurons return to their resting state (-70mV) so that they can fire again. At each point of the axon, the ion channels slam shut as soon as the action potential occurs. The sodium ions that had rushed into the axon are then rapidly pumped back out of the cell, returning it to a resting state. ○ This process of removing the sodium ions from the cell often causes the neuron to become hyperpolarized; this means that the cell is more negative than its normal resting potential (e.g.-72 mV instead of -70mV). ○ This additional negativity makes the cell less likely to fire. ○ It normally takes 2-3 milliseconds for the membrane to adjust back to its normal resting potential. ○ This brief period in which a neuron cannot fire is known as a refractory period. When the action potential reaches the axon terminal, it triggers the release of that cell’s neurotransmitters, a process that allows it to influence the firing of o