Psychological Research Chapter Module 1

8/8/2019 Psychological Research Chapter Module 1

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Psychology 100Brenda Rolfe-Maloney M.S.



` W hat is psychology?T he scientific study of behavior & mental processesx

Science: making verifiable, objective predictionsx Behavior: observable actsx Mental Processes: storing, recalling, using info/feelings

` H ow is it different from other social sciences?F ocus on individual behavior

` W here did it come from?PhilosophyPhysiology

` Psychology is born (roughly) in 1879





` J ohn Locke (1632-1704)Saw the mind as receptive and passive, with its maingoal as sensing and perceivingTabula rasa ± we are born as a blank slate, everythingwe know is learnedT his is in direct contrast to the rationalist Descartes



` H ermann H elmholtz (1821-1894)H e was a mechanist ± he believed that everything can beunderstood with basic physical and chemical principlesH e pushed for the need to test and demonstrate things.



` G ustav F echner (1801-1887)Psychophysics ± he pushed to investigate therelationship between the physical world and our co ns c io us psychological world

H e thought it possible to measure the perceived as wellas the physical intensities of sensory stimuli and todetermine a mathematical relationshipJ ust noticeable difference ( J ND) approach



` W ilhelm W undt (1832-1920)1 st psychology lab (1879)x

U niversity of Leipzig, G ermanyF ocus on consciousnessx F ind basic elements of conscious processesx Discover how elements (sensations and feelings) are

connectedx

Specify laws of connectionIntrospectionx Self-observation: µseeing¶ mental processes in immediate

experience



` StructuralismLots of work on sensation & perception and

breaking those down into minute detailT hree basic mental elementsx Images, feelings & sensationsT itchner x F ound 43,000 elements associated with sensory

experiencesx 30,000 associated with visualx 11,000 associated with auditoryx 4 associated with taste (was correct with this one)



` F unctionalismF ocus on adaptationx Applying Darwin¶s theory of natural selection to mental

processesW illiam J amesx Stream of consciousnessx Consciousness is personal/selective, continuous (can¶t be µcut

up¶ for analysis), and constantly changingx Structuralism was foolish to search for common elements to all

minds



` F reud¶s Psychodynamic T heoryConscious vs. unconscious conflictsx U nconscious: motivations and memories of which we are

not awarex Mental illness arises from being overwhelmed by which of

these is µin control¶Psychoanalysis as therapy: tell me about your childhood«.



` BehaviorismF ocus on observable behavior J . B. W atsonx F elt that the main goal of psychology should be the

prediction and control of behavior

Stimulus-response theory (Ivan Pavlov)x W e respond to stimuli with our behavior, not thoughtsx Pavlov¶s dog studies

Reinforcement for behavior (B. F. Skinner)x If our behavior produces rewarding consequences, then we

will do it again



` H umanistic PsychologyF ocus on growth potential of healthy people

Carl Rogersx U nconditional warm regardAbraham Maslowx H ierarchy of needs



` PsychodynamicU nconscious forces motivating behavior

` BehavioralO bservable S-R relationship

` H umanisticSelf-actualization, free will

` CognitiveT hought processes` Neuroscience

brain function` E volutionary

Survival of genes` Behavior G enetics

G enes & environment` Social-Cultural

Situations & cultural



DescriptionW hat occurred?

E xplanation

W hy it occurred?Prediction

W hen is it likely to occur?

Change

W hat can be done to modify behvaior?



NeuroscienceClinical PsychologyCognitive Psychology

Developmental PsychologyE ducational or School PsychologyE xperimental PsychologyCultural or G ender Psychology

Industrial/ organizational PsychologySocial Psychology





To separate fact from fictionE xamples:

y A re recovered memories of child abuse valid?y A re mentally ill people more dangerous than µnormal¶

people?



Q uestionLiterature ReviewDevelop a testable H ypothesis

Design the study and collect data Analyze the DataPublish, Replicate, and seek scientific reviewBuild a T heory



Descriptive research methodsy Case studiesy Surveysy Naturalistic observation

Correlational methodsE xperimental methods



Case studiesand surveys



Descriptiony An in-depth study of one or a few (usually unique) individuals

E xamplesy A lbert E instein¶s brainy T he boy who was raised as a girl

Advantagesy G ood for studying rare eventsy E thical way to study negative events

Limitationsy Conclusions might not generalize or reveal some universal

principle



Description:y Q uestioning a large sample of people about their thoughts,

feelings and/or behaviors.E xample: YRBS 2009Key Terms:

y Population:T he group of people to whom you want to generalize your conclusionsE .g., grade 9-12 youth in all 50 states public & privateschools

y W ording E ffect:y Not allowed or forbidden

y Random sample: A representative cross-section of people who were asked toparticipateE .g., all youth who were asked to participate in the YRBS



AdvantagesRepresentative cross-section generalizabilityShows what¶s ³normal´ (e.g., typical daily hoursof TV viewing)Shows how common something is (e.g.,substance abuse)



T he Researcher

systematicallymeasure and recordobservable behavior Researcher does not

manipulate behavior





Description:y Studies designed to see if two or more variables are

related to each other E xamples:

y Internet use and depressiony Viral infection and depressiony Television viewing and fear of crime



Collect data from people on at least two variablesy Variables = traits on which people can vary/differ

Amount of TV viewingF ear of Crime



Re s e ar chQ u e sti o n:

ResearchDesign:

TVView ing

Fe ar of C rim e

Measure HrsOf Daily Viewing

Measure

Fear of Crime(0-10)

Operational Definitions



Collect data from people on at least two variablesy

Variables = traits on which people can vary/differ H ours of TV viewingF ear of Crime

Construct a scatterplot



Data & Scatterplot for Women

Participant Hours of TV Fear

A 0.25 2B 0.75 5C 1 2D 1.5 7E 1.75 4F 2 6G 2.25 8H 2.5 5I 3 7J 3.25 8

Hours of TV

3.53.02.52.01.51.0.50.0

F e a r o f C r i m e

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

N o te : 10 pairs of s co r e s 10 p o ints in t h e pl o t



Participant Hours of TV Fear

K 0.125 5L 0.5 1M 0.75 8N 1.25 1O 1.5 9P 1.75 3Q 2 9R 2.25 4S 2.75 10T 3.25 6

Hours of TV

3.53.02.52.01.51.0.50.0

F e a r o

f C r i m e

12

10

8

6

4

2

0



Scatterplot: Men & Women

3.53.02.52.01.51.0.50.0

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Fear of Cr i e (M)

Hours of TV (M)

Fear of Cr i e (W)

Hours of TV (W)



Collect data

Construct scatterplotCompute the appropriate statistic

Correlation coefficient ( r r )Strength: Perfect, imperfect, no relationship



Perfect Relationship

r=+1.00

Hours of TV

3.02.52.01.51.0.50.0

F e a r o

f C

r i m e

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Imperfect Relationship

r=+.76

Hours of TV

3.53.02.52.01.51.0.50.0

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

No Relationship

r=.00

Hours of TV

3.02.52.01.51.0.50.0

12

10

8

6

4

2

0



G eneral Strategy (Continued)

Collect data

Construct scatterplotCompute the appropriate statistic

Correlation coefficientStrength: Perfect, imperfect, no relationshipDirection: Positive vs. negativeDirection: Positive vs. negative



CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS S HOWING

P OSITIVE VS . N EGATIVE RELATIONSHIPS

Positive Negative

Ho rs of T

3 .

¡ . ¢ ¡ .

£ . ¢ £ .

. ¢

.

# o

f

l o s e

F r i e

s

£ ¡

£

¤

¥

¦

¡

Ho rs of T

3 . §

3 . ¨ © . § © . ¨ . § . ¨ . § ¨ . ¨

F e a r o

f

r i

e

§

3

2

1r = +.76 r = -.56



P RACTICE AT IDENTIFYING P OSITIVE AND

N EGATIVE RELATIONSHIPS

Hours of TV viewing & aggressiveness

Self-esteem scores and depression scores

Number of children and hours of sleep

Hours of TV viewing and body fat



A DVANTAGE AND D ISADVANTAGE OF

CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH

Advantagey Can demonstrate if two variables are related

Disadvantagey Cannot demonstrate a causal relationship



WHY CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH C ANNOT

DEMONSTRATE C AUSATION

TV(Variabl e A) Fe ar (Variabl e B)

Living in a h ig h -c rim e n- hoo d(Variabl e C )

³Correlationdoes not imply

causation.´



IDENTIFYING 3RD V ARIABLES

Monthly murder rates and ice-cream salesTV viewing and obesity in childrenFluoridated water and municipal cancer rates

Taking vitamins as a child and substance use asan adolescent



E XPERIMENTA

L R ESEARCH



CORRELATIONAL VS . E XPERIMENTAL

QUESTIONS AND DESIGNS

TVView ing

Fe ar of C rim e

MeasureHours of

Daily Viewing

MeasureFear of Crime(0-10)

TVView ing

Fe ar of C rim e

ManipulateHours of Viewing

MeasureFear of Crime(0-10)

Co rr e lati o nal Exp e rim e ntal



K EY TERMS

Ind

ep

end

ent Variabl

e:Ho urs of View ing Dependent Variable:Fear of Crime

Experimental G roup:3 Hrs Crime TV

Control G roup:3 hrs PBS

Ho w a f raid t o w alkal o n e at nig h t?

0=n o t at all10=t e rri f ie d

Random

Assignment

O p e rati o nal D e f initi o n of I.V. O p. D e f . of D.V.



S TATISTICAL

R EASONING



THREE K EY W AYS TO S UMMARIZE

OBSERVATIONS

Correlationy Are two variables related to each other?y If so, how strongly?

Central tendencyy What is the most typical, common, or representative

observation?E.g., What is the average # hours of TV viewing per day inthe study?

Variabilityy

How much difference is there among the observations?E.g., How much do people differ in their hours of TVviewing?

Example



CENTRAL TENDENCY

Ho

ursof

TV432 2

11

11

Sum = 11N = 5

Mean = 2 .2

ModeModeT he most common scoreMode = 1Mode = 1

MedianMedianT he middle score of the ordered scores

Median = 2 Median = 2

MeanMeanthe average of all the scores

sum together all scores

Divide sum by the (N) of scores



V ARIABILITY

Hoursof TV

432

11

Mean=2.2N=5

Deviationsfrom Mean

+1.8+ .8- .2

-1.2-1.2

Squared Deviations

3.24.64.04

1.441.44

Sum = 6.8N=5

Sum of Sq¶d Dev¶s

N

6.80 5

= 1.17 = SD

S tandard D e viati o n:the average

amount that scoresdeviate from the mean



S OME FINAL

POINTS «



COULD THIS BE STUDIED EMPIRICALLY ? I FSO , HOW ?

Does God exist?Does violence on TV make people moreaggressive?

Is abortion murder? Are men more aggressive than women?How many people have alcohol problems?



CHALLENGES FOR ALL APPROACHES TOPSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Impression managementy When research participants know they are being studied, they

may not act or respond in a natural mannerExpectancy biases

y Participant expectancy biases and single-blind studiesE.g., Placebo effects in drug studies

y Experimenter expectancy biases and double-blind studiesE.g., Orn·s evidence with ´giftedµ rats

Ethical Precautionsy Minimal use of deception, stress or painy Informed consenty Right to terminate or refuse to answer (without loss of benefits)



TRENDS VS . A BSOLUTES

Every behavior has multiple causes

Research never looks forTHE THE

causeIt only looks for one of the causesNo cause is the same for everyoneResearch looks for trends not absolutes



P ARTS IN A RESEARCH P APER

Title Page AbstractIntroductionMethodResultsDiscussionReferences

AppendixesTables and Figures



T ITLE P AGE

The Title of Your Paper

The Authors Name andinstitutional affiliation A Running Head A Page Number



A BSTRACT

Summary of your paperNo more than 120 wordsDo not repeat Title



INTRODUCTION

ProblemPrevious ResearchReason for Research

Hypothesis



M ETHOD

ParticipantsSubjects

Apparatus

Procedure



RESULTS

Restate hypothesisSummarize results of each of the statistical tests



D ISCUSSION

Review HypothesisInterpret results and evaluate findingsDiscuss results as they relate to literature

review Address limitations of your study



REFERENCES , A PPENDIXES , T ABLES &F IGURES

Referencesy List of all references cited in the paper

Appendixesy

Other information referred to in methodTables & Figures

y Tables that report statistics

Documents

Psychological Research Chapter Module 1