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Chapter 1 Psychological Science

Chapter 1 Psychological Science. What is Psychology?. the science of behavior and mental processes. Psychology’s Current Perspectives. Perspective Focus. Neuroscience How the body and brain create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.

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Chapter 1 Psychological Science

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  1. Chapter 1 Psychological Science

  2. What is Psychology? the science of behavior and mental processes

  3. Psychology’s Current Perspectives Perspective Focus Neuroscience How the body and brain create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences Evolutionary How nature selects traits that promote the perpetuation of one’s genes Behavior How much our genes, and our environment, influence our genetics individual differences Psychodynamic How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts Behavioral How behavior is learned Cognitive How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information Social-cultural How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures

  4. Current Perspectives PerspectiveFocus • Neuroscience How the brain creates emotions, thoughts, and behaviors • Evolutionary How nature selects traits that promote survival of our genes

  5. Current Perspectives PerspectiveFocus • Behavior Genetics How much our genes are responsible for individual differences • Psychodynamic How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

  6. Current Perspectives PerspectiveFocus • Behavioral How we learn observable behavior • Cognitive How we encode, process, store and retrieve information

  7. Current Perspectives PerspectiveFocus • Social-cultural How social situations and culture influences behavior and thought • Eclectic Drawing from two or more of the perspectives to explain behavior or thought processes

  8. Psychology vs. Psychiatry • Clinical Psychology (Ph.D) • a specialty in psychology • clinical psychologists • uses psychotherapy to treat psychological disorders • Psychiatry (M.D.) • a specialty in medicine • psychiatrists • may prescribe medication and use psychotherapy

  9. theories lead to generate or refine research and observations hypothesis The Scientific Method

  10. Scientific Method • Goal is good theory • theories explain behavior • Science guards against • faulty explanations • hindsight bias

  11. Faulty Explanations Intuition and The Hot Streak

  12. Hindsight Bias • tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it • the “I-knew-it-all-along” phenomenon

  13. The Scientific Method • Theory • a general explanation as to why a behavior occurs • Hypothesis • a testable prediction • often derived from a theory • Example: I predict A will cause B

  14. theories lead to generate or refine research and observations hypothesis The Scientific Method

  15. The Scientific Method • Operational Definition • a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables • for example, intelligence may be operationally defined as “what an intelligence test measures”

  16. The Scientific Method • Replication • repeating the procedures of a research study with another sample of participants • to see whether the results are also repeated

  17. Types of Scientific Methods 1. Case Study 2. Survey 3. Naturalistic Observation 4. Correlation Coefficient 5. Experiment

  18. Types of Scientific Methods 1. Case Study • in depth observation of one person in hopes of revealing universal laws

  19. Types of Scientific Methods 2. Survey • a questionnaire about attitudes or behavior given to a sample of people

  20. A Key Distinction: Population versus Sample • Population • a specific group of interest to the researcher (e.g., all children!) • a sample is drawn from a population

  21. Drawing a Sample • Male subjects, neurosis, and sex!

  22. Good Samples • Representative Sample • a sample that is a perfect reflection of a population, only smaller in size • Random Sample • a sample that fairly represents a population because each member of the sample had an equal chance of being chosen

  23. Types of Scientific Methods 3. Naturalistic Observation • observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations, trying not to manipulate the situation

  24. Types of Scientific Methods 4. Correlation Coefficient • a measure that shows the extent to which two variables change together • good for prediction • Note: correlation does not imply causation!

  25. (1) Low self-esteem Depression or (2) Depression could cause Low self-esteem or Low self-esteem (3) Distressing events or biological predisposition could cause and Depression Correlation and Causation • Three possible cause-effect relations could cause

  26. Types of Scientific Methods 5. Experiment • a procedure for identifying the causes of behavior • all experiments have two variables: • Independent Variable: variable manipulated by a researcher • Dependent Variable: observed consequence of IV on some behavior or mental process

  27. The Dependent Variable • Dependent Variable • the variable that is being measured • value of DV depends on value of IV

  28. Experiment • Experimental Group • these participants are exposed to the independent variable (treatment) • Control Group • these participants do not receive the independent variable • is a comparison group we use to be able to see the effect of the independent variable (treatment) • Note:the measure (DV) is taken for both groups

  29. Experiment • Random Assignment • assigning participants to experimental and control groups by chance • minimizes preexisting differences between those assigned to the different groups

  30. Experiment • Placebo • an inert substance (e.g., sugar pill) instead of an active agent (e.g., drug) • placebo is administered to see if it triggers the same reaction as the active agent (IV) • Placebo Effect • any effect on behavior caused by a placebo

  31. Experiment • Single-blind Procedure • Research participants don’t know if they are getting the placebo or active agent. • Double-blind Procedure • Participants don’t know …. • Also, research staff doesn’t know (blind) who is getting the active agent vs. placebo

  32. The Scientific Method Comparing Research Methods Research Method Basic Purpose How Conducted What is Manipulated Descriptive To observe and Case studies, surveys, Nothing (Goal: Describe) record behavior and naturalistic observations Correlational To detect naturally Computing statistical Nothing (Goal: Predict) occurring relationships; association, sometimes to assess how well among survey one variable predicts responses Experimental To explore cause Manipulating one or Independent (Goal: Explain) and effect more IVs and using variable(s) random assignment to eliminate preexisting differences among subjects

  33. Practice: Hypothesis Testing • Drug A makes children more attentive in school • The larger the family, the duller the children • Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer • Television violence is related to aggression in children • Absence makes the heart grow fonder

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