Transcript Module 3

Module 2
 Psychology
& Science
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Levels
What is studied?
Module 2: Psychology and Science
Genetic
Gene function, heritability, twin and adoption
studies
Neurochemical
Neurotransmitters, hormones animal studies,
pharmaceutical drug studies,
Brain systems
Neuroanatomical structures, animal studies,
brain imaging
Behavioral
Observable actions, responses, physical
movements
Perceptual and Cognitive
Thinking, decision-making, language, memory,
motivation, beliefs
Social
Situations, context, cultural norms, group
decision-making, group behavior
Individual
Personality traits, sex differences, human
development
SCIENTIFIC METHOD:
 Advantages
of scientific method
– scientific Method
– approach of gathering information
and answering questions so that
errors and biases are minimized
SCIENTIFIC METHOD:

Conducting Research: seven rules
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Rule 1:
Rule 2:
Rule 3:
Rule 4:
Rule 5:
Rule 6:
Rule 7:
Ask
Identify
Choose
Assign
Manipulate
Measure
Analyze
SCIENTIFIC METHOD:
 Rule
1: Ask
– hypothesis
– educated guess about some
phenomenon stated in precise,
concrete language to rule out any
confusion or error in the meaning of
its terms
SCIENTIFIC METHOD:

Rule 2: Identify
– independent variable

a treatment or something that the
researcher controls or manipulates
– dependent variable

one or more of the subjects’ behaviors
that are used to measure the potential
effects of the treatment or independent
variable
SCIENTIFIC METHOD:

Rule 3: Choose
– random selection
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each participant in a sample population has an
equal chance of being selected for the
experiment
Rule 4: Assign
– experimental group
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those who receive the treatment
control group
participants who undergo all the same
procedures as the experimental participants
except that the control participants do not
receive the treatment
SCIENTIFIC METHOD:

Rule 5: Manipulate
– double blind procedure

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neither participants nor researchers
know which group is receiving which
treatment
Rule 6: Measure
– by manipulating the treatment so that the
experimental group receives a different
treatment than the control group, researchers
are able to measure how the independent
variable (treatment) affects those behaviors
that have been selected as the dependent
variables
SCIENTIFIC METHOD:

Rule 7: Analyze
– statistical procedures

used to determine whether
differences observed in dependent
variables (behaviors) are due to
independent variables (treatment)
or to error or chance occurrence
ANSWERING QUESTIONS
 Researchers
use all five
methods

– Survey
– Case Study
– Experiment
– Observation
– Correlational Comparison
each method provides a different kind of
information
SURVEYS
 Survey
– way to obtain information by asking
many individuals
– answer a fixed set of questions about
particular subjects
SURVEYS
 Disadvantages
– information can contain errors
– results can be biased
 Advantage
– efficient way to obtain much
information from a large number of
people
CASE STUDY
 Case
study
– an in-depth analysis of the thoughts,
feelings, beliefs, experiences,
behaviors, or problems of a single
individual
CASE STUDY
 Disadvantage
– detailed information about a particular
person may not apply to others
 Advantage
– detailed information allows greater
understanding of a particular person’s
life
EXPERIMENT
 Experiment
– a method for identifying cause-and-
effect relationships by following a set
of rules and guidelines that minimize
the possibility of error, bias, and
chance occurrences.
EXPERIMENT

Disadvantage
– information obtained in one
experimental situation or laboratory
setting may not apply to other situations

Advantage
– has the greatest potential for identifying
cause-and-effect relationships with less
error and bias than either surveys or
case studies
OBSERVATION

Naturalistic:
– Performing an observation in a natural
setting, sometimes hiding from the
subjects being studied

Advantage
– Often yields genuine data, since
subjects are unaware of study

Disadvantage
- Reactivity
- Observer Bias
OBSERVATION
Measures of Central Tendency

When studying and
comparing statistics,
often times you want to
give what is common,
typical, average etc. To
do this you use mean,
median, and the mode.
1.
Mean: the arithmetic
average of all the
individual
measurements in a
distribution
Measures of Central Tendency
1.
Mean: the arithmetic average of all the
individual measurements in a distribution
1. $ 000(zero)
8. $80,000
2. $ 5,000
9. $100,000
3. $10,000
10. $150,000
4. $20,000
11. $200,000
5. $40,000
12. $400,000
6. $40,000
13. $10,000,000
7. $40,000

Add together and divide by 13 = $11,085,000; divide
this by 13 and you get the mean of $852, 692.31
Measures of Central Tendency
1.
Mode: figure that occurs most frequently
in a given set of data.
1. $ 000(zero)
8. $80,000
2. $ 5,000
9. $100,000
3. $10,000
10. $150,000
4. $20,000
11. $200,000
5. $40,000
12. $400,000
6. $40,000
13. $10,000,000
7. $40,000
 In this example it is $40,000.
Measures of Central Tendency
1.
Median: the middle of any set of figures.
1. $ 000(zero)
8. $80,000
2. $ 5,000
9. $100,000
3. $10,000
10. $150,000
4. $20,000
11. $200,000
5. $40,000
12. $400,000
6. $40,000
13. $10,000,000
7. $40,000
 In this example, the median would be $40,000.
CORRELATION

Correlation
– an association or relationship between the
occurrence of two or more events (a.k.a. a
correlational relationship)

Correlation coefficient
– a number that indicates the strength of a
relationship between two or more events:
the closer the number is to
–1.00 or
+1.00, the greater is the strength of the
relationship
Correlational Research
 Another tool
for the researcher
 1) As a first step prior to experimentation
2) When causations cannot be found
3) When experiments cannot be conducted
(for ethical or practical reasons)
Correlational Research
Types of correlational studies

1) Observational Research
 e.g., class attendance and grades
2) Survey Research
 e.g., living together and divorce rates
3) Archival Research
 e.g., violence and economics
Correlational Research
Example:
Why are children aggressive?
 Hypothesis: aggression is a learned behavior
as a result of modeling.

Test: look for associations between aggressive
behavior and . .
Correlational Research

Interpreting Correlations
 Scores range from -1 to +1
 -1, negative relationship
example of a negative : drinking in college
and GPA
 0, no relationship
example of a near zero : hair length and
GPA
 +1, positive relationship
example of a positive : GPA and scores on
SAT
CORRELATION
CORRELATION

Zero correlation
– indicates that there is no relationship
between the occurrence of one event and
the occurrence of a second event

Negative correlation coefficient
– indicates that as one event tends to
increase, the second event tends to, but
does not always, decrease
– -0.01 to -0.99 indicates a strengthening in
the relationship of one event increasing
and the other decreasing
CORRELATION
 Perfect
negative correlation
coefficient
– -1.00 means that an increase in one
event is always matched by an equal
decrease in a second event
– correlations such as –1.00 are
virtually never found in applied
psychological research
DECISIONS ABOUT DOING
RESEARCH
 What
is the best technique for
answering a question?
– Questionnaires and interviews
– Laboratory experiments
– Standardized tests
– Animal models
DECISIONS ABOUT DOING
RESEARCH

Interview
– technique for obtaining information by
asking questions, ranging from openended to highly structured, about a
subject’s behaviors and attitudes,
usually in a one-on-one situation

Questionnaire
– technique for obtaining information by
asking subjects to read a list of written
questions and check off specific
answers
DECISIONS ABOUT DOING
RESEARCH

Laboratory experiments
– techniques to gather information about the
brain, genes, or behavior with the lease
error and bias by using a controlled
environment that allows careful
observation and measurement
 Standardized tests
– technique to obtain information by
administering a psychological test that has
been given to hundreds of people and
shown to reliably measure thought
patterns, personality traits, emotions, or
behaviors
DECISIONS ABOUT DOING
RESEARCH
 Animal
Models
– involves examining or manipulating
some behavioral, genetic, or
physiological factor that closely
approximates some human problem,
disease, or condition
DECISIONS ABOUT DOING
RESEARCH
 Choosing
research settings
– Naturalistic setting
– Laboratory setting
DECISIONS ABOUT DOING
RESEARCH

Naturalistic setting
– relatively normal environment in which
researchers gather information by observing
individuals’ behaviors without attempting to
change or control the situation

Laboratory setting
– involves studying individuals under systematic and
controlled conditions, with many of the real-world
influences eliminated
ETHICS

APPLICATION: RESEARCH
CONCERNS

Concerns about being a subject
– human and animal

Code of ethics
– the American Psychological Association
publishes a code of ethics and conduct for
psychologists to follow when doing
research, counseling, teaching, and related
activities
APPLICATION:
RESEARCH ETHICS
•Informed Consent
Subject must have a reasonable
understanding of the research,
voluntarily agree to take part and be
aware of any possible harm.
•Safety
Mental and Physical safety must be
the top priority, a research subject
should never be in danger.
APPLICATION: RESEARCH
ETHICS
 Role of deception
– one way that researchers control for
participants’ expectations is to use
bogus procedures or instructions that
prevent participants from learning the
experiment’s true purpose
– Debriefed
If a subject is deceived they must be
informed of the truth as soon as
possible
Ethics
…for the researcher in any social science, the first
question is anyone being exposed to any type of
physical, psychological, or social harm?
..we shall look at another the infamous Stanley Milgram
experiment.
Controversial
Experiments
APPLICATION: RESEARCH
CONCERNS

Ethics of animal research
– How many animals are used in research?

18 to 22 million animals are used each
year in biomedical research
– Are research animals mistreated?

Of the millions of animals used in
research, only a few cases of animal
mistreatment have been confirmed.
APPLICATION: RESEARCH
CONCERNS

Ethics of animal research
– Is the use of animals justified?
researchers are currently using animals
to study epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease,
fetal alcohol syndrome, schizophrenia,
AIDS, and transplantation of brain tissue
 none of which is possible with human
subjects

APPLICATION: RESEARCH
CONCERNS
Ethics
of animal research
Who checks on the use of animals in research?
•U. S. Department of Agriculture
•Universities hire veterinarians
•Universities have animal subject
committees
APPLICATION: RESEARCH
CONCERNS

Ethics of animal research
– How do we strike a balance?

many experts in the scientific,
medical, and mental health
communities believe that the
conscientious and responsible use of
animals in research is justified and
should continue
USE OF PLACEBOS

Placebo
– intervention, such as taking a pill, receiving
and injection, or undergoing an operation,
that resembles medical therapy but which
in fact, has no medical effects

Placebo effect
– change in the patient’s illness that is
attributable to an imagined treatment rather
than to a medical treatment
USE OF PLACEBOS
– researchers believe that placebos
work by reducing tension and distress
and by creating powerful self-fulfilling
prophecies
– individuals think and behave as if the
drug, actually a placebo, is effective