History and Research Methods Psych – Unit 1. What is Psych? Psychology is a science that seeks to answer questions about ourselves – how we think, feel,

Psych Unit 1

History and Research MethodsPsych Unit 1 What is Psych?Psychology is a science that seeks to answer questions about ourselves how we think, feel, are motivated, etc.

It is the science of BEHAVIORS anything an organism does (observable) and.

MENTAL PROCESSES thoughts, beliefs, ideas, values, emotions (subjective)

Psychs RootsModern Psychology December 1879 GermanyWilhelm Wundt first psych experiment measured sensation responses

Psych = evolved from PHILOSOPHY & BIOLOGY

Early Schools of ThoughtSTRUCTURALISTS: (Wundt) wants to explore the structure of the mind. Looks inward (introspective) very subjective

VERSUS

FUNCTIONALISTS: (William James) interested in how mental and behavior processes actually function and how they enable us to adapt, survive and flourishPsychs Big Debates1.) Nature V. NurtureAre we are the way we are due to nature (genes, chemical imbalances, genetic predispositions) or nurture (our environment, culture). Twin and adoption studies are critical.why?

2.) Stability V. ChangePsychologys Perspectives in class1.) Behaviorists2.) Psychoanalysis3.) Humanists4.) Biopsychology5.) Cognitive6.) Social-Cultural7.) EvolutionaryPsychs SubfieldsBasic Research: builds the knowledge base answers content questions for the sake of knowledgeApplied Research: hands on research that tackles very specific, practical problems (work place consultants)Professional Services counselingPhD Psychologist - doctorate in psychology writes, researches, teaches at universityClinical Psychologist treats mentally illMD Psychiatrist - medical doctor specializing in psychiatry works in hospital or psych ward or out-patient counselingPsych as a SCIENCEPsychologists use the scientific method to conduct research and produce measurable, empirical evidence/dataPsych must pursue the scientific method due to the limitations of human intuitionHindsight Bias Monday morning QB, I knew it all along the tendency to believe after learning an outcome that one would have seen it comingOverconfidence we tend to think we know more than we do (all freshmen thought theyd graduate in 4 years)1.) Descriptive Research Methods(only describes doesnt explain)CASE STUDY: the study of one unit (i.e. one person)

Pro you can get detailed, in depth informationPro great method to study rare phenomenon Con You cannot generalize your case study may be atypical and you cannot make assumptions about the larger population

Ex: I want to write a book on the life of the American teenager and I select one 16 year old and spend a year studying that individual in detail shadowing them, interviewing them, their friends, etc.Descriptive Research Methods2.) SURVEY DATA uses a questionnaire to gather information from many people quickly often asks people to report behaviors and opinions about a given topicPros: quick, cheap, and efficient I can get a lot of data quicklyCons : surface level doesnt go in depthCons: people lie or may misunderstand the questionnaire or wording effect (censorship v. restrictions)Make sure your sample represents your population in order to generalizeExample: I want to research the life of the American teen and have 3,000 teenagers at the local high school fill out a detailed questionnaire on their behaviorsDescriptive Research Methods3.) NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION: watching and recording the behaviors of organisms in their own, natural environmentPros get organisms in natural setting avoid lab effectCons Observer bias two people watching the same scene may come to different conclusions (subjective)

Ex: I want to research the life of an American teen, so I go undercover and enroll in the local high school. I go to class, parties, etc with the teenagers and observe their behaviorsCORRELATIONAL RESEARCHCorrelation studies go beyond describing behavior to predicting itBased on a known relationship we can predict phenomenonEx: If I know a correlation exists between smoking and lung damage and I know Johnny smokes two packs a day for twenty years.I can predict that he will have significant lung damage

CORRELATION DOES NOT = CAUSATION!!!!!(only a controlled experiment can show cause)How to carry out a correlation study1.) Identify your variables2.) Gather data3.) Create a scatter plot4.) Draw a line of best fit5.) Calculate a correlation Coefficient6.) Analyze and make conclusions about the relationshipCorrelation Scatter plots

Correlation Coefficients

Correlation Coefficientsr = + relationship: +.4 to +1.0 goes in same directionExample height and weight

- relationship: -.4 to -1.0 inverse; goes in opposite directionExample exercise and weight

No relationship: -.3 to +.3 No visible relationshipExample eye color and GPA

EXPERIMENTSExperiments are the most scientifically stringent research method as you control and manipulate variables to illustrate a true cause and effect relationship

IV: the variable manipulated the treatmentDV: the variable measuredOperational Definitions: exactly how the IV was administered and the DV was measuredExample DV is hyperactivity. The Operational definition is a survey to be filled out by the parent rating hyperactivity on a scale of 1-10

Steps of an experiment1.) Identify your population the group your are interested in studying2.) Take a large, random sample to guarantee it is representative of the population3.) Randomly assign your sample to either the experimental condition (gets the treatment) or the control condition (gets a placebo nothing special)4.) Run your experiment5.) Measure your DV6.) Run inferential stat tests (MANOVA, t-test, ANOVA) to see if the difference between the experimental and control groups is statistically significant) did we meet our p-value = .05?7.) Replicate - RELIABILITY8.) If yes, conclude that the IV caused the DV9.) Generalize your findings back to your populationPossible Confounding Variables and Critical ControlsLarge Random Sample

Random Assignment

Placebo (blind)

Double BlindGuarantees sample is representative and allows you to generalizeGuarantees your groups are the same (=) prior to treatment

Controls for the Hawthorne Effect

Controls for observer biasConfounding Variables..BADConfounding variables unexpected variables that distort the results. They destroy your conclusions, so you want to anticipate possible confounding variables and control them.

Controlling confounding variables helps to guarantee that your experiment is VALID that it is truly measuring what you claim to be measuring.DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICSDescriptive stats describe/summarize a large set of dataMeasures of central tendency summarized the middle of the dataMean averageMean middle score, 50th percentileMode most frequently occurring score

Measures of variation summarizes the spread of the dataRange high score minus low scoreStandard Deviation average distance of each data point from the mean SD = square root of varianceDistributions

Normal Distributions form a bell curve. The mean, median, and mode are all the exact same pointDistributionsPositively skewed distributions have positive outliers extreme scores to the right of the bulk of the data that pull the tail in the positive direction. The median is slightly affected (pulled positive)The mean is the most effected (pulled positive)

DistributionsNegatively skewed distributions have negative outliers extreme scores to the left of the bulk of the data that pull the tail in the negative direction. The median is slightly affected (pulled negative)The mean is the most effected (pulled negative)

Inferential StatisticsInferential Stats are more sophisticated statistical tests (t-tests, ANOVAs and MANOVAs) used at the end of an experiment to infer significance

P-value = .05

If we meet the p-value we are 95% confident that the difference between the experimental and control groups is caused by the IV and is not due to chance (i.e. only 5% chance of error)