MyersExpPsych7e IM Module 02

7/29/2019 MyersExpPsych7e IM Module 02

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Research Strategies: HowPsychologists Ask and Answer

Questions

Module 2

How Do Psychologists Ask

and Answer Questions?

The Scientific Method

Goals and Tools of Psychology

Description Correlation Experimentation

Why Do Psychology?

How can we differentiate betweenuniformed opinions and examinedconclusions?

The science of psychology helps makethese examined conclusions , which leadsto our understanding of how people feel,

think, and act as they do!

What About Intuition & CommonSense?

Personal interviewers may rely toomuch on their “gut feelings” when

meeting with job applicants.

T a xi /

G e t t yI m

a g e s

Many people believe thatintuition and common sense

are enough to bring forthanswers regarding humannature.

Intuition and common

sense may aid queries, butthey are not free of error.

Hindsight Bias and Overconfidence

Hindsight Bias is the “I-knew-it-all-along”phenomenon.

After learning the outcome of an event, manypeople believe they could have predicted that

very outcome.Anything seems commonplace once explained.

Overconfidence: Sometimes we think we know

more than we actually know.

Both hindsight bias and overconfidence lead us tooverestimate our intuition.

The Scientific Attitude

The scientific attitude is composed of

curiosity (passion for exploration),

skepticism (doubting and questioning) and

humility (ability to accept responsibility whenwrong).

Critical thinking does not accept arguments andconclusions blindly. It examines assumptions,evaluates evidence and assesses conclusions.

The Scientific Approach

• Most people have greater difficulty thinking ofpsychology and other behavioral sciences asscience. In part this is because many peoplemisunderstand what science is. Researchinvolving molecules and chromosomes seemsmore scientific than research involving emotions,memories, or social interactions, for example.

• Whether an area of study is scientific has little todo with the topics it studies. Rather science isdefined in terms of the approaches used to studythe topic.

Can we study EVERYTHING

scientifically?

• Is there life after death?

• Are there angels?

Solvable Problems • Science only deals with solvable problems.

Researchers can investigate only those questionsthat are answerable, given current knowledge andresearch techniques.

• In sum, to be considered scientific:

1. the questions addressed must be potentiallysolvable

2. observations must be systematic and empirical3. research must be conducted in a manner that is

publicly verifiable

• Pseudoscience involves evidence that masqueradesas science but that fails to meet one or more of thethree criteria used to define science.

How Do Psychologists Ask &

Answer Questions?

Psychologists, like all scientists, use the

scientific method to construct theories thatorganize, summarize and simplify

observations.

Theory

A theory is an explanation that integrates principlesand organizes and predicts behavior or events.

For example:Social Learning Theory

People learn through observing others' behavior.

Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a testable prediction , often prompted by a theory, to enable us to accept, reject or revise the

theory.

For example:

One hypothesis from the Social Learning Theory:

People who watch violent films display moreaggressive behavior.

Research

Research would require us to administer surveys orexperiments.

For example:

Conduct a research study to examine if there isa relationship between frequency of watching

violent films and aggressive behaviors.

Operational Definition

a statement of procedures (operations)used to define research variables

How you are going to measure aggression isyour operational definition for aggression.

Operational definition for violent films.

Example

• violent movies and aggression

• Hypothesis?

– There is a relationship between frequency of watching

violent films and aggressive behaviors

• Operational definition of variables?

– Exposure to violent movies: number of times a personwatches violent movies in a week in the last 3 months

– Aggression: Frequency of behavior that aims to harmother people.

Research Process

(1) Theory: Social learning theoryPeople learn through observing others'behavior.

(2) Hypothesis:

People who watch violentfilms display moreaggressive behavior.

(3) Research and observations:

Is there a relation betweenfrequency of watching violentfilms and aggressive behaviors

Theory explains theunderlying reason

Replication

repeating the essence of a research studyto see whether the basic finding extends toother participants and circumstances

usually with different participants in

different situations

Example

Goals of Psychology

1. To describe behavior and mentalprocesses

2. To predict behavior and mentalprocesses

3. To explain and understand behaviorand mental processes

4. To influence/control behavior andmental processes

Descriptive Methods

1.To describe human and animal behavior and mental processes

• Case study• Surveys

• Observations (naturalistic or lab)

Goals and Tools of Psychology

Descriptive Methods

Case Study

A technique in which one person is studied indepth to reveal underlying behavioral principles.

Example: Is language uniquely human?

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R e s e a r c h

Descriptive Methods

Case Study

Researchers make case studies to examine rarecases:

Example: school shooting

Case studies can suggest hypotheses for

further studies.

Problems: Cannot make generalizations.Conclusions can be misleading.

SurveyA technique for ascertaining the self-reportedattitudes, opinions or behaviors of people

(usually done by questioning a representative,

random sample of people)Examples: Media surveys Koç University student satisfaction survey

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Descriptive Methods

Survey

Wording can change the results of a survey.

Q: Should cigarette ads be allowed on television?

Q: Should cigarette ads be forbidden on television?

(allowed vs. forbid)

Wording Effects

Survey

If each member of a population has an equal chanceof inclusion into a sample, it is called a random

sample (unbiased).If the survey sample is not random, the results may

not be representative.Examples:

Media surveys Koç University student satisfaction survey

Random Sampling

Population

all the cases in a group, from whichsamples may be drawn for a study

Random Sample

a sample that (fairly) represents a

population because each member has anequal chance of inclusion

Randomly pick from the student list

Naturalistic Observation

Descriptive Methods

Naturalistic Observation observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring

situations (or in more controlled environments) withouttrying to manipulate and control the situation

Examples:

Observing and recording the behavior of animals in thewild

Observing preschool children’s social behaviors Recording self-seating patterns in a multi-racial school

lunch room.

Descriptive Methods

1. To describe human and animal behavior and

mental processes• Case study• Surveys• Observations (naturalistic/lab)

Summary

Goals of Psychology

2. To predict behaviors, thoughts, feelings,change and so on…

Mainly by way of assessing the relationship between two or more variables

- Correlational studies

Definition of Variable

VariableAny characteristic or attribute that variesin amount and kind

Examples:

•Age•Weight•Height•Self-esteem•Reaction time in a learning experiment•Stress level•Achievement motivation

Correlation

Correlation Coefficient is astatistical measure of the

relationship between two variables.

When one trait or behavior accompanies another,we say the two correlate.

Correlationcoefficient

Indicates directionof relationship

(positive or negative)

Indicates strength

of relationship(0.00 to 1.00)

r = 0.37+

Prediction

• Positive correlation: one variable incerases, theother one also increases, or vice versa.

Example: r = +.22 (age and intelligence)

• Negative correlation: one variable decreases, the

other one increases.

Example: r = -.85 (self-esteem and depression)

Correlation

Q: Which of the following correlationcoefficients reflects the strongest correlation?

• A) +.10

• B) -.64

• C) +.35

• D) -.10

Correlations do not permit inferring causality

Violenceviewing

Actualizedviolence

Violenceviewing

Inferring Causality

If we know that two variables are highlycorrelated, can we determine the causalrelationship between them?

Correlation does not mean causation!

Instability athome

Violenceviewing

Actualizedviolence

A third variable could cause A and B:

Another Example

In order to determine causality we mustturn to experimental methods.

CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLYCAUSATION

Goals of Psychology

3. To explain and understand behaviorand mental processes

• Experimentation

Like other sciences, experimentation is the backbone of psychological research.

Experiments isolate causes and their effects.

Experimentation

Experiment

an investigator manipulates one or morefactors (independent variables) to observe

their effect on some behavior or mentalprocess (the dependent variable).

Experimentation

Independent Variable (IV)

the experimental factor that is manipulated

the variable whose effect is being studied

Dependent Variable (DV)

the experimental factor that may change in

response to manipulations of theindependent variable

Experimentation

Wacth violentfilms

Aggressive behavior

Experimentation

Experimental Condition the condition of an experiment that exposes

participants to the treatment (to one versionof the independent variable)

Control Condition

the condition of an experiment that does notexpose participants to the treatment

serves as a comparison for evaluating theeffect of the treatment

Example:

The Bobo Doll ExperimentParticipants: 72 3- and 6-year-old children.

The total of 72 children were split

in to 2 groups.

One group was put into anaggressive model scenario: theadult attacked the Bobo doll by

hitting it.

Another group was used as acontrol group and not exposed toany adult model at all.

Example:

The Bobo Doll Experiment

Measure: The final stage of theexperiment took place in a roomin which the child was left alonefor 20 min. with a series of

aggressive and non-aggressivetoys to play with.

Results: Children exposed to theaggressive model were more

likely to act in physicallyaggressive ways than those whowere not exposed to theaggressive model.

Figure 7.1

Watch nothingWatch violent model/movie

Measureaggressivebehaviors

ExperimentalCondition

ControlCondition

Many factors influence our behavior. Experiments(1) manipulate factors that interest us, while other

factors are kept under (2) control. Effects generated by manipulated factors isolate cause and effect

relationships.

by random assignment of participants theexperiment controls other relevant factors

Exploring Cause & Effect

Figure 7.1

Watch nothingWatch violent movie

Measureaggressivebehaviors

ExperimentalCondition

Control Condition

Other variables here can be:

socioeconomic background (income)

Experimentation

Random Assignment

assigning participants to experimental andcontrol conditions by chance

minimizes pre-existing differences betweenthose assigned to the different groups

Experimentation

Single-Blind Procedure the research participants are uninformed

(blind) about what treatment, if any, they arereceiving.

Do antidepressant drugs really work?

Placebos can have significant antidepressanteffects

To show superior efficacy to placebo

Experimentation

Placebo

an inert substance or condition that may be administered instead of a presumed

active agent, to see if it triggers the effects believed to characterize the active agent.

E i t ti

Experimentation

Double-Blind Procedure both the research participants and the

research staff are ignorant (blind) aboutwhether the research participants have

received the treatment or a placebo commonly used in drug-evaluation studies

Another Example

• Study: One of the factors for prejudice is lack ofknowledge about members of the other group

Hypothesis: Watching a documentary filmabout the history of the outgroup will resultin change in prejudice (reduce prejudice)

• IV• DV

• Manipulation (Experimental stimulus)

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