Psychology As A Science Lecture 2 PDF

PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE  THEORY VS. HYPOTHESIS What is a theory? The systematic explanation of a phenomenon. A theory is a general principle or a collection of interrelated general principles that is put forward as an explanation of a set of kno...

PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE  THEORY VS. HYPOTHESIS What is a theory? The systematic explanation of a phenomenon. A theory is a general principle or a collection of interrelated general principles that is put forward as an explanation of a set of known facts and empirical findings. A common misconception is that a theory explains ‘one’ specific event. Or that it is an educated guess. What is a hypothesis? A hypothesis is any statement, proposition or assumption that serves as a tentative explanation of certain facts. Hypotheses can be tested.  CRITICAL THINKING When we refer to critical thinking, it is not that we are saying that you should ‘attack’ the psychological claims. It simply means that you should have skills necessary to carefully and open-mindedly evaluate claims. There are six critical ways of thinking that is introduced by Lilienfeld et al (2008).  CRITICAL THINKING 1. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence: David Humes, Scottish philosopher suggests that if we are to accept a claim that contradicts what we know we must be presented with persuasive evidence. 2. Falsifiability: According to Sir Karl Popper, science philosopher, a claim must be capable of being disproved. 3. Principle of parsimony- Occam’s Razor: named after British philosopher and monk Sir William of Occam. This calls for simple logistics; if presented with two explanations of the data one should choose the simplest one.  CRITICAL THINKING 4. Replicability: this means that the findings can be duplicated by other researchers. 5. Ruling out rival hypotheses: we need to ensure that we have looked at all possible explanations. 6. Correlation does not mean causation: because variables are related to each other, it does not mean that they cause each other. If we do this, then it is correlation-causation fallacy.  TYPES OF RESEARCH Methodology refers to the process of doing research. Different types of research will have different Methodologies 1. Archival research 2. Observational research 3. Surveys 4. Case studies 5. Correlational research 6. Experimental research  ARCHIVAL RESEARCH This method of data collection involves a systematic search of record that have been collected for other purposes. Archival research is a: Good starting point for research Good way to generate research hypotheses and A good way to test predictions in times and places which are otherwise inaccessible  OBSERVATIONAL RESEARCH There are two basic methods: 1. Naturalistic observation – unobtrusive observation of behaviour as it occurs in real life environments. Advantage: high external validity that is we can generalize the findings to other real life settings. Disadvantage: low internal validity, we cannot make causal inferences. 2. Participant observation – here the researcher actually gets involved in the scene being observed, and exercises a deliberate influence on the behaviour.  CASE STUDIES Involve detailed study of one person or a small number of people, usually over an extended period of time. Information is used to formulate principles or reach conclusions that can aid in understanding a particular phenomenon. o The advantage: provides the psychologists with insights into different aspects of behaviour, sometimes into rare and special cases that we cannot recreate in the laboratory. o Disadvantage: cannot generalize as psychologically individuals are unique.  SURVEY METHOD Surveys – a systematic way of asking people about a topic- getting people to indicate what they are thinking or feeling. There are two kinds of surveys: Interviews- face-to- face interaction Questionnaires- written forms on which respondents indicate their opinions or rate their perceptions of an issue on a scale Surveys allow for representative samples and a multivariate approach but, questions must be carefully phrased as well as the accuracy of subjects’ responses must be ensured as much as possible Halo effect/horns effect (when one trait of a person or thing is used to make an overall judgment of that person or thing) Leniency effect (rating all responses in a similar way, i.e. negatively or positively) Error of central tendency effect (the avoidance of making extreme ratings)  CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH Measures the relationship between two or more variables, looking at events that appear to be related to each other. It is useful for finding variables that co- vary (one changes as the other changes) but it does not mean that one causes another. Correlation DOES NOT mean causation.  CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH CONT. It involves careful observation and statistical analyses to test correlation. Measures the relationship between two or more variables, looking at events that appear to be related to each other. Useful for finding variables that co-vary (one changes as the other changes) but it does not mean that one causes another. Correlation DOES NOT mean causation. Involves careful observation and statistical analyses to test correlation. Correlation coefficient, indicated by r. Correlations range from –1.00 - + 1.00 (represents the magnitude and direction of the correlation)  ILLUSORY CORRELATION At times we tend to perceive that a correlation exists between variables when there are no evidence for it. Such as: Don’t open the umbrella over your head in the house you won’t get married. Full moon and increase in mental illness. Arthritis pain increases with rainy weather.  Up to this point, all the methods mentioned allow us to examine the relationship between two or more variables. However, none of them allow us to say convincingly that any of those variables cause any of the others!  EXPERIMENTAL METHODS Experimental procedures allow researchers to manipulate and control factors being studied so that CAUSAL statements can be made about how variables influences each other. These methods allow for the study of social variables under more carefully controlled and standardized conditions. A valid experiment is when the level of independent variable is the “only” difference between the experimental and the control group. Any other difference is referred to as a confound. There are two ingredients for an experiment Random assignment of participants to conditions Manipulation of independent variables These methods include laboratory, field and natural experiments  PROBLEMS THAT CAN OCCUR IN EXPERIMENTS Placebo effect: there will be an effect because it was expected. To control for this subjects should not know which group they are placed into (blind). Nocebo effect: there will be harm because harm is expected. The experimenter expectancy/Rosenthal effect: the researchers’ hypotheses unintentionally leads them to bias the outcome of the results. Counter this by not letting the researcher or participant know which group they are in (double-blind). Hawthorne effect: participants change their behaviour because they knew they were being studied. Demand characteristics- participants pick up cues from the experiment that help them guess the hypotheses.  EVALUATING MEASURES When given the results from the dependent variable we always must ask is it reliable and valid? Reliability: the consistency of measurement. Validity: the extent to which a measure assesses what it proclaims to measure.  ETHICAL ISSUES IN PSYCHOLOGY CONDUCT- Psychologists should avoid causing participants unnecessary stress and discomfort (harm). INFORMED CONSENT- Psychologists should obtain informed consent from the participants, specifying the nature of the experiment before the experiment is conducted. CONFIDENTIALITY- research records should be regarded as confidential and not released to the public without the consent of participants. COMPETENCE- researchers should work within their own limits of competence.  ETHICAL ISSUES CONT. DECEPTION- In some cases, full disclosure of the procedures could influence the nature of the results, in which case only partial or incomplete information about the procedure is given to the participants in advance. Whenever deception is used in experiments, the experimenters should conduct a debriefing- an explicit statement to the participants about what deception was used and why it was necessary. During the debriefing researchers try to alleviate any discomfort that might have occurred during the experimental session, and discuss the research with them, which is educational to both parties. Studies examining the impact of deception in experiments on participants have typically found that participants do not object to the mild discomfort that is typically produced, and often, they find such experiments more interesting than ‘nondeception’ experiments.  DIVERSITY IN PSYCHOLOGY (MULTICULTURALISM) It was believed that if psychology was a science, then it should apply to all human beings regardless of where they live, their cultural background, or their cultural identity. That frame of thought has changed, and Psychology has now adapted a multicultural perspective that examines cultural differences in the role of human behavior. We need to realize that what is normal in one culture is not normal in other cultures.  STATISTICS IN PSYCHOLOGY Psychologists use statistics to analyze their findings. There are two types of statistics: Descriptive and Inferential Descriptive statistics describe data: 1. Central tendency: shows us where the group clusters Mean: Common average Median: middle score of the data set Mode: most frequent score 2. Dispersion: how loosely or tightly clustered the scores are; the spread of the data (e.g., range, variance, standard deviation).  STATISTICS IN PSYCHOLOGY Inferential Statistics: helps us to determine whether or not we can generalize our findings. Statistical Significance: this helps us to know if the difference we have observed is valid and generalizable. Confidence interval of.05 (1 out of every 20 times) When the probability that our finding would have occurred by chance alone is less than 1 in 20 times then our finding is statistically significant.  STATISTICS IN PSYCHOLOGY A finding can be significant but does not relate to the real world. For it to do so we must keep in mind the sample size. The bigger the sample size the greater the chance of it being statistically significant. People can lie with statistics by: Misrepresenting the central tendency Using truncated line graph (adjusting the axes of a graph to emphasize what you want to highlight) The base rate fallacy (Ignoring statistical information in favor of using irrelevant information) E.g., Only 6% of the applicants make it into this school, but my son is brilliant! They are certainly going to accept him!  ALONG THE LINES OF MORE CREDIBLE FINDINGS Papers that have been peer reviewed Be careful of the source: most reporters are scientists. Trusted psychological organizations include: American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science. Look out for excessive exaggeration of findings and minimizing of the details of study. Avoid pseudosymmetry (where scientific controversy appears when there is none).  PSYCHOLOGY: WHO AND WHAT A psychologist is a person highly trained in the methods, factual knowledge, and theories of psychology. Psychologists usually have a master’s degree or a doctorate. Psychologists may teach, do research, give psychological tests, or serve as consultants to business, industry, government, or the military. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who treats mental disorders. Most psychiatrists actually do psychotherapy, but they are also qualified to prescribe drugs, which is something a psychologist cannot do. Should psychiatrists be allowed to do psychotherapy?  CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES APA lists 350 subfields in psychology. Some of the fields include: Developmental psychology Abnormal psychology Social psychology Physiological psychology Experimental psychology Personality psychology Clinical psychology Community psychology Counseling and school psychology Industrial- organizational psychology Engineering and industrial- organizational psychology Developmental Psychology- Examines the function of age on behaviour. Examines the age at which people should be performing certain behaviours and how events that occur at various ages affect behaviour. Abnormal psychology- area in psychology that is focused on maladaptive behaviour- its causes, consequences and treatment. It tries to answer questions like: What is going on in a persons life that results in unhappiness and disordered behaviour? What can be done to alleviate this problem? Social Psychology- This is the study of the way people are affected by social situations. The field examines issues , such as how people form and change attitudes; how they form impressions about themselves and each other; why they are attracted to some people and repelled by others; and how being in a group affects their behaviours and beliefs.  Physiological psychology- studies the biological basis for behaviour. It is concerned with such issues as how the brain is structured to store and receive information, how signals are transmitted through the nervous system to excite our muscles to action, and our mood and actions are influenced by hormones Personality psychologist- focus on explaining and predicting the unique ways that people respond to their environment. It also helps to describe our personality and why it is different from that of others. Forensic psychology- concerned with behaviours that relate to our legal system. Forensic psychologists work with judges and lawyers who are trying to improve the reliability of witnesses and jury decisions, and are also consulted on the mental competency of accused people.  OVERVIEW QUIZ Psychology is considered to be a science because ________ The four main goals of psychology are _________ Psychologists use scientific methods such as __________ Psychologists adhere to ethical principles of research, which protects the rights of human participants by _____________ The major difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist is _____________