Transcript Document
Agenda – Tuesday, January 14th • Psychologist Speed Dating • Research terms – Research steps – Operational Definition • Homework: Reading Guide #2 & Reading quiz WEDNESDAY Speed Dating • 1.) Introduce yourself • 2.) Share your accomplishments and other information about yourself • 3.) Explain your prop • 4.) Listen for the question • Be sure to take notes while listening to fellow psychologists! Questions • What influenced you to enter the field of Psychology? • What are you most proud of from your career? • If given the choice, what other psychologist(s) would you collaborate with? Agenda – Wednesday, January 14th • Research reading quiz • Operational Definitions – Bizarre Facts – Handedness activity • Homework: Exam #1 Wednesday, January 21st Psychology = SCIENCE • Relies on the Scientific Method – Coming up with a research question – Forming a hypothesis – Testing the hypothesis – Analyzing the results – Drawing a conclusion – Creating a theory Psychology = SCIENCE • Research relies on OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS – A statement of procedures used to define research variables • Examples – Right vs. left handed – When is homework “on time?” – Self-actualization Operational Definitions • What does it really mean to be “right handed” or “left handed?” – Example: Right handed people tend to live longer than left handed people. • Memory improves with regular exercise • Participating in team sports builds character Agenda – Thursday, January 16th • Review exam components • Research terms – Pseudoscience – Confirmation Bias • Types of studies notes • Begin research FRQ Exam #1 • Date: Wednesday, January 21st • Exams are 40% of total grade • Will take the entire hour (may NOT return later to finish questions) • Will consist of… – 25-35 multiple choice questions from past AP exams – One FRQ with a provided checklist Pseudoscience • Claims presented as science, but without research adequate research to support it. • To be science, something must be falsifiable (able to be disproven) – Remember…Psychology = SCIENCE Religious explanations are respected and taken into account in psychology, but they are not Falsifiable, and thus separate from Science. Examples of Pseudoscience • • • • • Holding Therapy for Attachment. Vaccines cause Autism. Balance bands (for arms and necks) Amber baby teething necklaces Astrology (Events determined by placements of planets & stars) • Freudian Thought (It used to be the best explanation) Confirmation Bias Contributes to Overconfidence in our beliefs Causes Illusory Correlations • Thinking welfare recipients are lazy & only noticing individuals that fit that belief. • Accurately predicting the next song on the radio, but not remembering times you were wrong. • Focusing only on vaccinated individuals who came down with Autism, while ignoring those without. • Thinking violent video games cause violent acts & only noticing mass shooters who played them. Agenda – Friday, January 16th • Finish research problems • Types of studies – Experimental elements – Practice FRQ • Homework: NONE Accepted Research must be… Both Reliable & Valid • If your scale is off by five pounds and you weigh yourself each day…it is reliable in that you receive consistent results each day because the scale is ALWAYS five pounds off, but it is INVALID because you are not truly measuring what you intend to measure. Reliability: Hitting the same mark consistently; producing consistent and stable results Reliability does not ensure Validity!!!! Validity: How well a test measures that it intends to Error and Bias Error (associate with reliability) • Error, as a technical term, refers to random variability in results. Some degree of error is inevitable in psychological research, as a researcher can never precisely control all the extraneous variables that can influence a measure of behavior • Too much error is what causes unreliability Bias (associate with validity) • Bias, as a technical term, refers to nonrandom effects caused by some factor or factors unnecessary to the research hypothesis • i.e. Confirmation bias, hindsight bias, gambler’s fallacy, etc. Agenda – Tuesday, January 20th • Finish research notes! – Group assignments – Groups share • Homework: Exam #1 TOMORROW Case Studies Detailed analysis of a single or a few subjects (Ex. Freud’s Research) Pros Phineas Gage Cons Surveys gather information on personal characteristics Stratified Sampling Representative Sample Population (The ENTIRE group) (Larger=Better) (Race, Class, Gender Proportions) Random Selection (Everyone has = chance) Pros Cons Naturalistic Observation Observe behavior in a natural setting • Can’t impact the behavior of participants! (Otherwise a Field Experiment) Paul Ekman Cons David Rosenham Participant Observation Pros Experiments Only way to establish Causation!!! Subjects selected (Random or Stratified) from Population. Con: Hawthorne Effect Limits Participant Bias Single-Blind: Subjects uninformed of group. Can be given a placebo. Controls for psychological effects. Subjects should be randomly assigned to either group Control Group (No Ind. Var.) Dependent Variable Double-Blind: Researchers also uninformed. Experimental Group (Indp. Var.) Dependent Variable The IV is what you expect to cause a change in the DV. Limits Experimenter Bias Experimental Example • A psychologist is curious about the effects of explanation before a procedure and if people truly have a “sixth sense.” He takes one group of people, blindfolds them, and asks if they can feel any energy when he holds a quarter within 10-12 inches of their palms. 25% of participants say yes, they feel energy. He repeats this process with another group, but tells them before the procedure that it’s very common for people to experience a “knowing feeling” when the quarter is held near them. This time, 68% of participants say yes, they feel energy. Correlational Studies •Trying to establish a relationship between 2 variables. •Helps predict behavior •Corelation≠Causation (Ex. Shoe Size & Intelligence) Scatterplot 1 Shows a Negative Correlation As one variable ↓, the other ↑ Regression Line Y’=a+bx Scatterplot 2 Shows a Positive Correlation Both Variables Move Together Closer points=stronger correlation CC=-.63 CC=+.79 Correlational Coeffecient: Shows Strength of Correlation -1--------------------0--------------------1 Perfect Negative Correlation No Correlation Perfect Positive Correlation • http://www.tylervigen.com/ Correlational Studies • Correlation is NOT Causation • Example…Ice-cream sales and drowning numbers have a positive correlation. Does ice-cream cause drowning?! ?? Correlational Studies • Age and fluid intelligence have a negative correlation • Does age cause a decline in fluid intelligence? Standard Deviation