General Psychology (PY110)

General Psychology (PY110) Chapter 1 The Science of Psychology

Psychology • The scientific study of behavior and mental processes • Psychologists attempt to understand 1. Observable Behavior (Overt):Actions or reactions such as speech and physical movement 2. Mental Processes (Covert):Actions or reactions such as remembering and thinking, which cannot be directly observed

Four Perspectives Biological Behavioral Overt Covert Cognitive Socio-cultural The four perspectives fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw No one perspective is “better” than another Each provides information on behavior and mental processes

Perspectives Emphasizing Internal (Covert) Factors • Biological perspective • Concerned with our physiological hardware • The brain, nervous system, and glands • Cognitive perspective • Emphasizes our mental processes • Perception, memory, and problem solving

Perspectives Emphasizing External (Overt) Factors • Behavioral perspective • Explains that we behave as we do because of our past history of conditioning • Sociocultural perspective • Focuses on the impact of other people and cultures

Behavioral Perspective Two types of conditioning: ClassicalConditioning OperantConditioning How we learn fear and emotional responses, taste aversions, and certain other behaviors Involves the relationship between our behavior and its environmental consequences

Four Goals of Psychology 1 What Why 2 Anticipate 3 Change or Modify 4

Major Research Perspectivesin Psychology

Research Methods • Observation • Naturalistic Observation • Participant Observation • Case Study • Survey • Experimental

Descriptive Methods:Observational Techniques • The researcher directly observes the behavior of interest • Naturalistic observation: The observation occurs in its natural setting, without the researcher intervening. • Participant observation: The observer becomes part of the group being observed.

Descriptive Methods:Case Studies • The researcher studies an individual in depth over an extended period of time to attempt to learn as much as possible about the individual being studied • Scope is Low, but Detail is High • Often used in clinical settings to gather information that will help in the treatment of the patient • Results of case studies cannot be generalized to other people

Descriptive Methods:Survey Research • Uses questionnaires and interviews to collect information about the behavior, beliefs, and attitudes of particular groups of people • Scope is High, but Detail is Low • It is critical to note that the wording, order, and structure of the survey questions may lead the participants to biased answers • For instance, some questions might evoke socially-desirable responses in an effort to make certain impressions on the researchers • A representative (sample) of the total population must be selected at random to avoid biased results and allow results to be generalized across whole population

Experimental Research • Experimental Research is observations under controlled conditions • This control allows the researcher to isolate cause-and-effect relationships from the experimental results

Experimental Research • Experimental research seeks to establish cause and effect relationships between two variables. Independent Variable (IV) Dependent Variable (DV)

Designing an Experiment (Change) • When a researcher designs an experiment, the researcher begins with a hypothesis about the cause-and-effect relationship between two variables • One of the variables is assumed to be the cause, and the other variable is the one to be affected • Theindependent variable is the hypothesized cause, and the experimenter manipulates it • Thedependent variable is the variable that is hypothesized to be affect by the independent variable and thus is measured by the experimenter

Designing an Experiment Problem 1 State Problem Hypothesis 2 Suggest Cause & Effect Relationship Experimental Design Select Random Sample Divide Sample in two groups 3 Experimental Group Control Group Manipulate with IV Give Placebo or do nothing Collect, Analyze, & Interpret Data Record Data Record Data 4 Analyze Statistically 5 Results Was Hypothesis Correct?

The Placebo • A placebo is a harmless pill that has no active ingredients • They are used to make the control group believe they are receiving the same ‘treatment’ as the experimental group • The placebo effect is improvement due to the expectation of improving because of receiving treatment

The Double-Blind Procedure • A control measure in which neither the experimenter nor the participants know which participants actually got the treatment (experimental group) and or got the placebo (control group) • If the experimenter OR the participant does not know which group they are in, the experiment is called single-blind

Summary of Research Methods

Data Analysis - Averages • Designed to summarize a set of data with a single number • Three measures of central tendency 1. The mean is the numerical average for a distribution of score 2. Themedian is the score that is positioned in the middle of the distribution of scores when scores are listed from lowest to highest • If there is an odd number of scores, the median is the middle score • If there is an even number of scores, the median is the average of the two center scores 3. Themode is the most frequently-occurring score in a distribution of scores • If two scores occur with equal frequency, both can be the mode

Data Analysis - Variation • Provides an idea of how scattered a set of results are • Two measures of variability 1. Therange is the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution of scores • Like the mean, the range can be greatly distorted by extremely high or extremely low scores 2. Thestandard deviation is the average extent to which the scores vary from the mean of the distribution • A small standard deviation means that scores do not vary very much from the mean • A larger standard deviation means that scores tend to vary greatly from the mean

Summary of Descriptive Statistics

The Normal Distribution

General Psychology (PY110)