Psychology 2020

1. Psychology 2020 Unit 1 Science, Research & Ethics

2. The Science of Psychology • Psychology is a very broad subject that covers: • Human behavior • Nonhuman behavior • Physiological processes and structures related to behavior • Conceptual processes used to explain behavior • A scientific approach is used in Psychology to advance our knowledge of the subject matter.

3. Scientific and Nonscientific Approaches • Scientific approaches emphasize gaining knowledge through direct observation and experimentation. • This is the “empirical” approach • Nonscientific approaches rely on intuition, inference, hearsay etc. rather than direct observation and experimentation.

4. Scientific and Nonscientific Approaches • Scientific approaches are skeptical and critical and emphasize the following in their data collection methods: • Systematic and controlled observations • Accurate and precise measuring instruments that produce valid and reliable measurements • Testable hypotheses involving clear, operationally defined terms • Unbiased and objective reports of research findings

5. Scientific and Nonscientific Approaches • Nonscientific approaches are accepting and uncritical. They often involve • Casual, uncontrolled observations • Inaccurate and imprecise measuring instruments that produce invalid and unreliable measurements • Untestable hypotheses involving ambiguous terms • Biased and subjective reports of the phenomena being studied.

6. The Advantages of using a Scientific Approach in Psychology • The scientific method provides specific rules for gathering, reporting and evaluating information. • This method encourages objectivity through replication.

7. Goals of Science • Description of behavior • Number of questions answered. • Prediction of behavior • Good language skills predicts greater success in school. • Determining Causes of behavior • Pulling the lever produces $100. • Explanation of behavior • Mental retardation often results from genetic abnormalities.

8. Practice Questions Three of the goals of science are to describe, predict and explain behavior. Label each of the following a either Description, Prediction or Explanation: Plants that are played music will grow more than plants that are not played music. Differences in assigned guilt ratings between attractive and unattractive defendants are due to a physical attractiveness stereotype. Alcohol consumption decreases a driver’s reaction time.

9. Determination of Cause • Temporal precedence • The causal event must come before the event it causes. • Covariation of cause and effect • When the causal event is present we see the effect more often than not. • Alternative explanations have been eliminated. • It has been determined that nothing other than the causal event could be responsible for the observed effect.

10. Types of Research • Basic Research • Asks fundamental questions about the nature of the subject. • Empirically tests key theoretical concepts • Applied Research • Asks questions related to practical problems. • Empirically tests and/or evaluates potential solutions.

11. Steps to Doing Research • Review the theory and research related to an area of interest. • Formulate a hypothesis. • Design a study to test the hypothesis and make a prediction about the outcome of the study.

12. Steps to Doing Research • Conduct the study and collect the necessary data. • Evaluate the data in terms of the prediction and the hypothesis. • Adjust the theory as needed based on the new data and report your findings.

13. Initial Stages of Research • Almost all research begins with some form of a question. • I wonder if writing summary notes of reading assignments facilitates the understanding of what was read? • The questions are then restated as a research hypothesis • Summarization of complex information facilitates understanding of that information.

14. The Research Hypothesis • A researchhypothesis is a tentative statement about a relationship between two or more variables. • Examples of hypotheses: • Defendant attractiveness will influence jury decisions • Children from single-parent homes will be more independent. • Regular exercise will reduce depression.

15. Variables • A variable is any event or behavior or characteristic that can change (have more than one value). • Examples of variables are amount of exercise, level of attractiveness, level of independence, weight, etc. • A “relationship” between variables means that as one variable changes the “related” variable also changes. • For example “as the amount of aerobic exercise increases, the person’s weight decreases” demonstrates a relationship between exercise and weight.

16. The Research Hypothesis • Hypotheses must be testable. • The concepts used must be operationally defined. • Operationally defining a concept means that the way you measure a concept is how you define it. • “attractive” is operationally defined as receiving a rating above 7 on a 10 point scale. • “independent” is operationally defined as “completing a specified task with no prompts or instructions”. • How would you operationally define “depression”?

17. Generating Research Ideas • Challenging common sense • Observe the world around you looking for regularities and asking why • Reviewing past research • Solving practical problems • Testing theories

18. Theories • Organize and explain existing data. • Lead to insights that generate new studies and new data. • Are supported when new data are consistent with the theory. • Must be revised when new data are collected that reveal weaknesses in the theory. • May be replaced by newer theories that provide better explanations for the data.

19. Drawbacks of Theory-Based Research • Theory may divert attention away from other important issues and problems. • Theory may provide a wrong way of looking at the world and may prevent us from finding more accurate ways of viewing phenomena.

20. APA Research Articles • Abstract • Short summary of the research article for library indexing purposes. • Introduction • Describes the research problem, reviews related past research, provides current research question and rationale. • Method • Describes subjects, research procedures and materials.

21. APA Research Articles • Results • Describes results and portrays them in statistical tables and/or graphs. • Discussion • Relates results to research and hypotheses cited in the Introduction , discusses the implications of these results and suggests future directions for research. • References • Lists the sources of all research cited in the previous sections.

22. Example APA Style Research Paper • Pace et al. (1985) • Identify the: • Purpose • General method • Results • Discussion highlights