Psychology Notes PDF

Thinking like a psychological scientist - Induction- to draw specific conclusions from general conclusions - Hypothesis- a tentative explanation that is subject to testing - Probability- a measure of the degree of certainty of an occurrence of an event - Probabilities are always a m...

Thinking like a psychological scientist - Induction- to draw specific conclusions from general conclusions - Hypothesis- a tentative explanation that is subject to testing - Probability- a measure of the degree of certainty of an occurrence of an event - Probabilities are always a matter of degree; they may be extremely likely or unlikely - Deductive reasoning - a form of reasoning in which a given premise determines the interpretations of specific observations - Inductive reasoning - a form of reasoning in which a general conclusion is inferred from a set of observations - Anecdotal evidence - a piece of biased evidence, usually drawn from personal experience, used to support a conclusion that may or may not be correct - Null-hypothesis significance testing - a test created to determine chances that an alternate hypothesis would produce a result as extreme as the one observed if the null hypothesis were actually true Lecture 9/6 Notes - What is science? a. Science is an approach to inquiry that is tied to actual measurement and observation. b. Hypothesis - a logical idea that can be tested c. Observation - careful examination of the real world  d. Theory - conclusions drawn from closely related phenomena or multiple observations - Psychological Science a. A branch of science dealing with the mental processes and behavior of individuals and groups. b. Applied Science - application of scientific knowledge to practical problems or situations c. Overview of research process i. Idea for study ii. Designing the study iii. Application to IRB iv. Collecting data v. Analyzing data vi. Peer review publication process - Thinking like a psychological scientist a. Testing hypothesis based on samples using inductive reading - Features of good scientific theories - Accuracy - Consistency - Scope - Simplicity - Fruitfulness - Falsifiable - Why learn about psych? - To understand people more - To be better able to influence others - To learn how to better help others and improve the world - To learn a skill that will lead to a profession - To learn how to evaluate the research claims you read or hear about - Research Designs - Correlations - researchers measure variables as they naturally occur in people and compute the degree to which two variables go together - Experiments - researchers actively make changes in one variable and watch for changes in another variable - Operational Definitions - how researchers specifically measure a concept - Independent Variables - The variable that the researchers control and manipulate throughout the experiment - Dependent Variables - The variable the researcher measures but doesn’t manipulate throughout the experiment.  - Random Assignment - assigning participants to receive different conditions of an experiment by chance - Random assignment is critical to experiments b/c they ensure there is an even distribution of factors across groups - Confounds - factors that undermine the ability to draw causal inferences from an experiment - Placebo effect - when receiving special treatment or something new affects human behavior - Participant demand - when a participant behaves in a manner they think the experimenter wants them to behave - Experimenter expectations - when the experimenters expectations can influence the outcome of a study - Double-blind procedure - neither the participant or experimenter knows which condition the participant is in. - Correlational designs - when scientists passively observe and measure phenomena - Identify patterns of relationships but cannot infer what causes what - Only two variables can be examined at a time - Qualitative designs - Participant observation - a distinct methodology that involves the researcher embedding him- or herself into a group in order to study its dynamics. - Case study - an intensive examination of specific individuals or specific contexts. - Narrative analysis - centers around the study of stories and personal accounts of people, groups, or cultures. In this methodology, rather than engaging with participants directly, or quantifying their responses or behaviors, researchers will analyze the themes, structure, and dialogue of each person’s narrative. - Quasi-experimentational designs - an experiment that does not require random assignment to conditions. - Longitudinal study - an experiment that follows the same group of people over time - No random assignment - Different independent variables - Problems - Surveys - A way of gathering info using questionnaires or the internet - Precision and reliance on empirical evidence - Precision - Begin with a theory  - Develop a hypothesis - Make a prediction using operational definitions - Reliance on empirical evidence - Scientific theories and hypotheses must be backed by empirical evidence - Skepticism - Do not accept explanations of phenomena based on faith or authority - Willingness to make “risky predictions” - State an idea in such a way that it can be refuted or disproved by counterscience - Principle of falsifiability - Confirmation bias - Openness - Scientist must be willing to tell others: - Where they got their ideas - How they tested them - What the results were - Replication is an essential part of the scientific process - Research participants - Population - Random sample - Representative sample - Descriptive metho - Case studies - - Advantages - Good source of hypothesis - Provides in depth info - Unusual examples can shed light on situations or problems that are unethical or impractical to study in other ways - Disadvantages - Vital info may be missing - Persons memories may be selective or inaccurate - Individual may not be representative or typical - Naturalistic observation - Advantages - Allows description of behavior as it occurs in the environment - Often useful in first stages of a research program - Disadvantages - Allows researcher little or no control of the situation - Observations may be biased - Does not allow firm conclusions about cause and effect - Laboratory observation  - Advantages - Allows more control than naturalistic observation - Allows use of sophisticated equipment - Disadvantages - Allows researcher only limited control of situation - Observations may be biased - Doesn’t allow firm conclusions about cause and effect - Behavior may differ from behavior in natural environment - Survey - Advantages - Provides a large amount of info on large numbers of ppl - Disadvantages - If sample is non representative or biased, it may be impossible to generalize from results - Responses may be inaccurate or untrue - Tests - Advantages - Yields info on personality traits, emotional states, aptitudes and abilities - Disadvantages - Difficult to construct measures that are reliable and valid - Correlations - A measure of how strongly two variables are related to one another - Cautions about correlations - Advantages - Shows whether two or more variables are related - Allows general predictions - Disadvantages - Usually does not permit identification of cause and effect - Correlation doesn’t mean causation - Experimenter effects - Single-blind study - Experimenter knows who is in which group - Participants do not - Double-blind study - Neither experimenter nor participants know who is in which group - Experiment - Advantages - Allows researcher to control the situation - Permits researcher to identify cause and effect and to distinguish placebo effects from treatment effects  - Disadvantages - Situation is artificial, and results may not generalize well to the real world - Sometimes difficult to avoid experimenter effects - Research issues - Measurement - The better our measurement, the better our science - invisible /mental phenomena “soft science” - Can be hard to establish valid and reliable measures - WEIRD samples - Western - Educated - Industrialized - Rich - Democratic - Ethics - Institutional review boards (IRB) - Confidentiality - Harm - Deception - Tuskegee syphilis study unethical choices - Participants weren’t treated respectfully - Participants were harmed - Participants were targeted/discriminated against - The ethics of studying human beings - Informed consent - Freedom to withdraw at any time - Minimize discomfort - Keep data confidential - If deception is necessary, debriefing must occur - Core ethical principles - The belmont report - The principle of respect for persons - Informed consent - The principle of beneficience - The principle of justice - The ethics of studying animals - Why study animals? - To conduct basic research on a particular species - To discover practical applications - To clarify theoretical questions  - To improve human welfare - Animal research - Legal protection for lab animals - Animal care guidelines and the three Rs - Replacement, refinement, reduction - Attitudes of scientists and students toward animal research - Attitudes of animal rights groups - Ethically balancing animal welfare, animal rights, and animal research - Ethical decision making: a thoughtful balance -