Psychology, Research and You

1. Psychology, Research and You Chapter 1 George S. Robinson, Jr., Ph.D. Department of Psychology North Carolina A&T State University

2. Becoming a Psychological Detective • Psychology Defined • The science of behavior and mental processes • science, not “common” sense • evaluate evidence, form hypotheses, make deductions

3. Arthur Conan Doyle (~ 1920) - Photographs of Fairies • Why did he believe? • Knowledge base, authority figure • Spiritualism • son’s death, bias (preconceptions), spirit world • Frances Griffiths - cardboard cutout fairies • little girl, could not make it up • book “The Coming of the Fairies”

4. Mentalism Revealed • Kreskin’s transmission of thoughts • simple mathematical trick • simple geometric figures (circle, square or triangle) • Law of Parsimony • the simpler of two accounts is preferred • Psychics, communicating with the dead, Raelians and cloning

5. Guidelines for the Psychological Detective • What is the claim and who is making it? • Is the statement or claim based on scientific observations? • What do statistics reveal? • Are there plausible alternative explanations for the statement or claim? • Placebo effect

6. Research Methods in Psychology • Scientific method • theories • hypotheses • test hypotheses via psychological research • support or no support for the original theory • revised or new theory

8. Research Methods - cont. • Case Study • Naturalistic Observation • Correlational Research • correlation coefficient r -1.00 to +1.00 • direction • positively correlated • negatively correlated • scatter plot

11. Research Methods - cont.. • Survey Research • representative sample • total population • biased sample • T.V. and Internet survey research • problems?

12. The Experimental Method • independent variable • dependent variable • operational definition • experimental group • control group • extraneous variables • random assignment • Double-blind procedure – participants and researchers are unaware of group assignments

13. Statistics and Psychology • Descriptive statistics • summarize data • measures of central tendency • mean • mode • median • Measures of variability • range • variance • standard deviation • Inferential statistics • used to determine if the independent variable had a significant effect

16. Research Ethics • Ethical Guideline - IRB (Institutional Review Board) • protection from harm • confidentiality • voluntary participation • informed consent • deception and intimidation • debriefing

17. Research Ethics - cont. • Research with animals • Do animals have rights? • Should we do research on animals? • PETA • People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals • What are the benefits of animal research?

18. Origins of Modern Psychology • Wilhelm Wundt (1832 - 1920) • first psychological laboratory in 1879 • Edward B. Titchner (1867 - 1927) • Wundt’s student • established psychology in the United States • structuralism • introspection • cognitive psychology

19. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • Functionalism • William James (1842 - 1910) • “stream of consciousness” • how people use information to adapt to their environments • first applied psychologists

20. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • Gestalt Psychology • our perception of a whole is different from our perception of the individual stimuli • “The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts” • Max Wertheimer (1880 - 1943) • apparent motion, perception • Wolfgang Kohler (1887 - 1967) • Kurt Koffa (1886 - 1941)

21. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • The Behavioral Perspective • observable behavior • learned nature of behavior • Ivan Pavlov (1849 - 1936) • John B. Watson (1878 - 1958) • B.F. Skinner (1904 - 1990)

22. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • Sigmund Freud and the Psychodynamic Perspective • normal and abnormal behaviors are determined by unconscious forces • “slips of the tongue” • dreams • driven by sexual motives • psychoanalytic therapy

23. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • The Humanistic Approach • free will, choices • personal growth • unique individual • Abraham Maslow (1908 - 1970) • Carl Rogers (1902 - 1987)

24. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • The Physiological perspective • the biological aspects of behavior and mental processes • neurons • neurotransmitters

25. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • The Cognitive perspective • how thoughts occur • memories • information processing

26. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • The Cultural and Diversity perspective • Mary Whiton Calkins (1863 - 1930) • completed work at Harvard, yet was not awarded a degree because she was a woman • first woman president of the APA

27. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • Christine Ladd-Franklin • denied a academic position because she was married

28. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • Francis Sumner (1895 - 1954) • first African American to receive a Ph.D. in psychology in 1920, Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts • established the psychology department at Howard University

29. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • Inez Beverly Prosser (1897 - 1934) • first African American woman to receive a doctoral degree in educational psychology • University of Cincinnati in 1933

30. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • Ruth Winifred Howard (1900-) • Ph.D. in psychology from University of Minnesota, 1934 • first person to publish research on triplets

31. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • Kenneth Clark (1914 -) • first African American to be elected as president of the APA in 1970 • effects of segregation, brown versus the board of education • Mamie Phipps Clark (1917 - 1983) • racial identification in Negro children

32. Origins of Modern Psychology - cont. • Richard Suinn • first Asian American elected president of the APA in 1997

33. Even the Rat was White

34. Even the Rat was White – Partial Table of Contents • Part I – Psychology and Racial Differences • “The Noble Savage” and Science • Brass Instruments and Dark Skin • Psychometric Scientism • Psychology and Race

35. Even the Rat was White – Partial Table of Contents – cont. • Part II Psychology and Psychologists • The Psychology of Survival and Education • Black Psychologists: Training, Employment, and Organizations • Production of Black Psychologists in America • Francis Cecil Sumner: Father of Black American Psychologists

36. Even the Rat was White – Partial Table of Contents – cont. • Part III Conclusion • The Past is Prologue • The Myth of Mental Measurement • Psychology and Politics • Old Wine, New Bottles • The Bell Curve: Round and Round We Go

37. Psychological Specialties • Clinical psychology • Ph.D. or Psy. D. • Diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders • Psychiatry • M.D. (Medical Doctor) • Diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders • Can prescribe medication • Counseling psychology • Ph.D. • treats less serious problems

38. Other Research Specialties • Animal behavior • Biopsychology / Neuropsychology • Cognitive processes • Cross-cultural • Developmental • Educational • Motivation

39. Other Research Specialties - cont • Personality • Psychometrics • Sensation and Perception • Social

40. Other Applied Specialties • School psychologist • Industrial / Organizational psychologist • Consumer psychology • Health psychology • Forensic psychologist • Sport psychologist • Neuropsychologist