Unit 1

1. Unit 1 Objective 4: What are some limits on or intuition and common sense? Objective 5: How do psychological theories guide scientific research? Objective 6: How do psychologists use case studies, survey, & naturalistic obs. to observe & describe behavior, & why is random sampling important? Objective 7: What are positive & negative correlation, & how to they permit prediction w/o cause –effect explanation?

2. Objective 4: What are some limits on or intuition and common sense? • HINDSIGHT BIAS • “I-knew-it-all-along-phenomenon” • “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” • “Out of sight is out of mind.” • If two opposite findings make sense, need science to prove.

3. Point to Remember… • Hindsight Bias & Overconfidence often lead us to overestimate our intuition. • Using the scientific method can help us separate reality from illusion.

4. Objective 6: How do psychologists use case studies, survey, & naturalistic obs. to observe & describe behavior, & why is random sampling important? • naturalistic observation • definition; example; advantage & disadvantage Objective 5: How do psychological theories guide scientific research? Objective 7: What are positive & negative correlation, & how to they permit prediction w/o cause –effect explanation? • theory • definition; why it helps; what it produces • hypothesis • definition • operational definitions • definition; why we need them in research • replicate • definition; why it’s helpful • descriptive methods – • correlational methods – • experimental methods- • case study • definition; example; advantage & disadvantage • survey • definition; advantage & disadvantage • random sampling • definition • correlate– • scatterplot – • positive correlation – • define, # range, • negative correlation – • define, # range, • examples from handout in notes (use arrows also).

5. Objective 5: How do psychological theories guide scientific research? • Theory • “mere hunch” • Organizes observations & predicts behavior • Produces testable predictions • Hypothesis • Testable prediction; implied by a theory • Operational Definition • Define research variables w/ precise procedures or measures • Helps control for researcher bias; lets our research be replicated • Replication • Repeating research study • Helps prove reliability of results

6. Methods of Research • descriptive methods – • describe behavior • correlational methods – • show relationships between variables / associations • predicts behavior • experimental methods- • show cause and effect relationship

7. Objective 6:How do psychologists use case studies, survey, & naturalistic obs. to observe & describe behavior, & why is random sampling important? • Case Study • One person studied in depth • Suggest further study (+) • Cannot learn general truths (-)

8. Survey • Looks at many cases at once • Word effects (-) • Random sampling • Representative sample (+) • Population • All cases in a group being studied from which the sample may be drawn • Random Sample • Each person in group has the same chance of participating. • Large rep. samples are better than small • Can’t compensate for unrep sample by adding more people

9. Naturalistic Observation • Describes behavior as it happens in natural environment • Doesn’t control for all the factors that can contribute to behavior (-)

10. DescriptionNaturalistic Observation • Naturalistic Observation • What did you observe? • see & hear? • What is your interpretation of what you observed? • underline all factual observations • Circle all subjective statements

11. Objective 7:What are positive & negative correlations, and why do they enable prediction but not cause-effect explanation? • Correlation (correlation coefficient) • How well does A predict B; • Positive versus negative correlation • Strength of the correlation • -1.0 to +1.0 (r) • Scatterplot • a graphed cluster of dots, each dot represents the values of two variables. The slope of the points suggests the direction of the relationship between the two variables. The amount of scatter suggests the strength of the correlation (little scatter indicates high correlation). Says nothing about strength of prediction

12. Correlation

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14. Correlation +.63

15. Correlation

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20. Correlation

21. 80 Number Time Y Axis 30 30 80 Letter Time X Axis New page in notebook… LAB #1: Correlating Numbers & Letters 4th period 19 data points

22. 7th period 19 data points 120 Number Time Y Axis 40 120 40 Letter Time X Axis

23. info to add under Scattergram…Lab #1: Correlating Numbers & Letters • Positive or Negative Correlation? • Strong or Weak? • Would the correlation coefficient be closer to -1, 0, or 1.0? • What assumption could you safely draw if this data represented a perfect correlation? Lab should be taped onto a new page in your notebook AFTER your correlation notes.

24. CorrelationCorrelation and Causation • Correlation helps predict • Does not imply cause and effect • Length of marriage correlates with hair loss in men. CORRELATION DOES NOT MEAN CAUSATION!!!

25. Objective 7:What are illusory correlations? • Illusory Correlation • When we believe there is a relationship we are likely to notice & recall instances that confirm our belief

26. Objective 8:How do experiments clarify or reveal cause-effect relationships? • Define the following terms (leave 2 lines in between each of your definitions) • Experiment • Random Assignment • Experimental Group • Control Group • Placebo Effect • Double-Bind Procedure • Independent Variable • Dependent Variable