Experimental Psychology

1. Dr. William Langston Careers Class Experimental Psychology

2. Experimental Psychology • The leftovers after you take away clinical psychology and other applied areas.

3. Experimental Psychology • Developmental • How do people come to be the way they are? • For example, how do children understand how vision works?

4. Developmental

5. Developmental

6. Developmental

7. Developmental

8. Experimental Psychology • Cognitive: • How do thinking, attention, memory, etc. work? • For example, can we understand why some kinds of mistakes are more likely?

9. Cognitive • Summala et al. (1996): Summala et al. (1996, p. 148)

10. Cognitive • Summala et al. (1996): Summala et al. (1996, p. 150)

11. Experimental Psychology • Language: • How is language learned, used, understood?

12. Language FCUK

13. Language • Jay (2009; doi:10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01115.x): • “What are taboo words and why do they exist? • What motivates people to use taboo words? • How often do people say taboo words, and who says them? • What are the most frequently used taboo words?” (p. 153)

14. Language • Jay (2009): • What motivates people to use taboo words? • “Swearing is like using the horn on your car” (p. 155). • Two thirds of swearing data linked to anger and frustration. • “Can intensify emotional communication to a degree that nontaboo words cannot” (p. 155). • What is the role of emotion in language and communication?

15. Experimental Psychology • Personality: • What kind of person are you and how does that affect everything else? • Is there a relationship between personality and belief in the paranormal? Sensation seeking is “a personality trait…that expresses as a need for physiological arousal, novel experience, and a willingness to take social, physical, and financial risks to obtain such arousal” (Stephenson, Hoyle, Palmgreen, & Slater, 2003, p. 279)

16. Personality • Could sensation seeking be related to aspects of paranormal belief? • Anomalous/Paranormal Ability: E.g., “I have hurt someone by wishing them ill will or by thinking evil thoughts about them.” • Anomalous/Paranormal Belief: E.g., “I feel my mind can expand beyond its usual boundaries.” • Anomalous/Paranormal Experience: E.g., “I often have déjà vu experiences.” • Fear of the Anomalous/Paranormal: E.g., “I am afraid to visit a psychic or fortune teller.”

17. Personality • Could sensation seeking be related to aspects of paranormal belief?

18. Experimental Psychology • Sensation and perception: • How does information from the environment get into your mind and how do you know what it is? • For example, how can we explain some common errors/problems people have in perceiving how to use things?

19. Sensation and Perception http://sunburn.stanford.edu/~nick/compdocs/, click on Practical HI Examples.pdf

20. Sensation and Perception http://www.baddesigns.com/mopsnk.html

21. “Show” urinal

22. What it makes me think

23. Sensation and Perception http://www.baddesigns.com/file.html http://www.baddesigns.com/sidewalk.html

24. Sensation and Perception • What do all of these have in common? I would argue that they all afford an action that isn’t intended. • Gibson (e.g., 1950) proposed a theory of direct perception. A caricature: • Light is structured into an ambient optic array. Each point in this array carries potential information. • This information takes the form of affordances if a particular organism happens to be there to pick it up. • Information pick-up is direct.

25. Experimental Psychology • Social: • How do other people affect your cognitions and behaviors? • Why do people engage in “counterproductive” territoriality? For example, Ruback and Juieng (1997) found that people take longer to back out of parking spaces when someone is waiting. Is it because of the high value they place on their car, and by extension to parking spaces? Could explain road rage.

26. Social Mean Video Selection Times (in Minutes) for Renters and Intruders as a Function of Intrusion

27. Social Mean User Controlled ATM Times (in Seconds) for Distracted and Non-Distracted Participants as a Function of Intrusion

28. What Do Experimental Psychologists Do? • Basic research • Applied research • University faculty • Usually no clinical aspects

29. A Typical Day • Teach • Grade • Prepare class activities and assignments • Research • Data analysis • Plan research • Writing • Committees • Work on lectures and presentations • Advising

30. The Typical Person • Curious • Creative • Self-directed • Thick glasses • Capable of dealing with rejection and still coming back for more • Likes working puzzles • Wonders “what if” and “why” a lot

31. Requirements • Ph.D. • No licensure

32. How Do You Get Into Graduate School? • Grades • Scores • Research experience • Advanced training in methods and statistics • Letters of introduction

33. Differences Between Experimental and Other Graduate Programs • Fewer of us • Apprenticeship model • Experiences matter more than grades

34. Getting Involved in Research at MTSU

35. Why Get Involved in Research? • See what academia is really like (especially if considering a career in it) • Actually get to apply something and not just regurgitate • See results, not just waste time • Intense reward of solving a problem, get to see your data • More competitive for graduate schools and jobs/letters • Interaction with other people with similar interests

36. Why Get Involved in Research? • Meetings train you to be more confident to voice ideas, opportunity to learn how to present and discuss ideas • Chance to go to a conference/present • Opportunity to publish • Get credit • Get paid

37. Cons for Getting Involved in Research? • Can be treated as a data collection drone with no opportunity to voice ideas or have your opinions heard • Could interfere with other work

38. Levels of Involvement • Volunteer assistant • Lab class • 3990 credit • URECA project

39. 3990 Credit • Find a faculty member whose work interests you. • Meet with that person to discuss research. • Pick a project you like. • Sign up for 1-3 credits.

40. URECA • http://www.mtsu.edu/urc/ursca/ursca_urc.php • U ndergraduate • R esearch, • E xperience, and • C reative • A ctivity

41. URECA • Two levels • Assistant • Assist a faculty member in her/his work, any department, any sort of project. (Up to $800 plus expenses.) • Scholar • The student develops his/her own project under faculty supervision. (Up to $3500 plus expenses.)

42. The End