Module 1: Experimental Psychology and the Scientific Method

Wilhelm Wundt

First experimental psychologist, the birth of psychological science is usually dated from the opening of his laboratory in Leipzig Germany in 1879.

Introduction, method, results and discussion

Four major parts of a research project

Explain Hargreaves and Mc Kendrick's experiment about the influence of music on decision-making process

French or German music, French and German wine, only 1 out of 44 mentioned music, and 6 only admitted that this influenced their choice. We are unaware of factors that influence our attitudes and behavior.

Rules of logic

Good thinking means that conclusion wil, follow from the data, whether they are in agreement with our predictions or not.

Galileo's investigation about falling objects

If we set up the proper testing conditions (vacuum), light objects will fall just as heavy ones.

Brain's way of coping with immense volume of information

Inferential biases are shortcuts, so they allow us to function well enough, but they are not always accurate.

Necessary conditions

Only one condition can produce a behavior.

G. Stanley Hall

Opened the first psychology laboratory in the US in 1883 at John Hopkins University

Own experiences, and what we've learned from others

Our commonsense beliefs are based from information we gather from ___ and ___.

Generated from a very small sample of behaviours, the conclusions we draw from them are subject to a number of inherent tendencies, or biases

Reasons why the data we collect on our everyday lives have limited accuracy and usefulness

Scientific criteria

Regardless of the methodology, all psychologists use this to evaluate their data

Psychological science

Resarch about psychological processes underlying behaviour

Basic research

Research deisgned to test theories or to explain psychological phenomena

Applied research

Research that is deisgned to solve real world problems

Compare and contrast the social learning theory and the cognitive priming theory

SLT states that people would perform aggression they observed in films or on television by imitation. CPT says that observing violent behaviors triggers cognitive representations of aggressive behavior store in memory in our own cognitive schemas.

What is psychology?

Science of behaviour

Self-correction

Scientists accept the uncertainty of their own conclusions, the content of science changes as we acquire new scientific infromation, and old information is reevaluated in light of new facts.

David Hume

Scottish philosopher argued that just because one event precedes another, it does not necessarily mean that the first causes the second.

Treatment Conditions

Sets of antecedent conditions that we focus on, where we believe have an effect on behaviour.

Measurement

The assignment of numerical values to objects or events or their characteristics according to conventional rules. Our measurements must be consistent across each set of conditions.

Determinism

The belief of research psychologists that there are specifiable (although not necessarily simple or obvious) causes for the way people behave and that these causes can be discovered through research.

Gambler's fallacy

The belief that if a slot machine has not paid off in a long time, it is overdue for a payoff.

Prediction / to predict

The capacity for knowing in advance when a certain behaviour would be expected to occure, to be able to predict them ahead of time becuase whe have identified other conditions with which the behaviours are linked or associated.

Antecedent conditions

The circumstances that come before the event or behaviour that we want to explain.

Observation

The systematic noting and recording of events.

Carefully controlled

We must assure this aspect of the experiment so that we can be sure we are measuring what we intend to measure.

Expxermimental research design

We systematicall manipulate aspects of the setting with the intention of producing the specific behaviour while controlling other factors that might also influence this behaviour during the experiment.

Psychological data

We use this on our everyday lives to understand and predict others' behaviour and to guide our own

Scientific approach

We use this to understand behaviour, so our knowledge about psychological processes is based on scientific evidence, acquired through research.

Observation, measurement, and experimentation

What are the three main tools of the scientific method?

It can explain, but not many instances of a situation or behavior but the more a theory can explain, the better it is.

What makes a good theory?

Content

What we know or facts about a certain area of knowledge

Overconfidence bias

When our predictions tend to feel much more correct than they acrually are, and the more dara we have available (accurate or not), the more confidence we have in our judgements about behavior.

Traits

When we explain behaviour, we tend to focus on the data that substantiate or supports the traits that they have instead of situational or objective data.

Confimation bias when it comes to the concept that the full moon brings out psychotic behaviour

You only notice and remember events where people acted abnormally during full moon, and you will overlook many more instances in which no unusual behaviour occured

Mental philosophy

Early academic psychology in the US was under philosophy and was called ___.

Description / to describe

A systematic and unbiased account of the observed characteristics of behavior. It provides us with inofrmation about what the behaviour will be like.

Hypothesis

A testable prediction

Study conducted in West Sussex in Great Britain

Compared the number of emergency room visits during the Friday the 13th and Friday the 6th since 1989, increased trepidation during the 13th - because of anxiety caused by reduced attention

Psychology Experiment

A controlled procedure in which at least two different treatment conditions are appliead to subjects. The subjects' behaviors are then measured and compared to test a hypotheiss about the effects of those treatments on behaviour.

Explain Kunda and Nisbett's study in 1986 about estimating the predictive power of traits

A group of trained research psychologists was not much better at estimating the actual predictive powe rof traits than were people in general. They were reminded prior of the bias by the presence of a popular personality psychologist.

Sir Karl Popper

A modern philosopher of science that wrote that science progresses only through progressively better theories

Replication

A part of the scientific approach where we are able to repeat procedures and get the same results again.

Alfred North Whitehead

A philosopher of science who coined the term "scientific mentality" and traced the development of science in his book Science and the Modern World (1925)

Experimentation

A process undertaken to test a hypothesis that particular behavioral events will pccure reliably in certain, specificable situations. We systematically manipulate aspects of a setting to verify our predictions about observable behaviour under specific conditions.

Behavior must follow a natural order; therefore, it can be predicted

A simple but important assumption where a psychologist's goal of prediction rests, also known as scientific mentality.

Random assignment of subjects

A way where we avoid the possibility that subjects in one condition may be systematically different from other subjects in another even before the treatments are presented.

Correlational research design

Aims to look for statistical relationships between variables in order to predict outcomes.

Superstitions with regards to the power of crystals

Amethyst will increase intuition clear quartz will build inner strength

Case study

An example of descriptive research design where an outside observer records the behaviors or experiences , or both of a single individual.

Control / to control

Application of what has been learned about behaviour

Sources of psychological information and our inferential strategies

As commonsense psychologists, our ability to gather data in a systematic and impartial way is hindered by two factors

Logical relationship

Cause and effect is explained through logic, reason and prior knowledge.

Spatial relationship

Cause and effect relationship can be inferred through focusing more on the place or location.

Good thinking

Characteristic or central feature of the scientific method which says that our approach to the collection and interpretation of data should be systematic, objective and rational. Avoid letting private beliefs or expectations influence observations or conclusions. Being open to new ideas even when they contradict our prior beliefs or attitudes.

Crandall's parsimony investigation about bulimia

College women from two different sororities answered questionnares which eventually concluded that the eating behaviour of women became more like the behaviour of their own friends. This tells us that the social contagion explanation was most parsimonious and it accounted for the results, better than social norms, psychological disorders and epidemiological risk factors.

Empirical data

Data that are observable or experienced

Psychological information from the people we like, respect or admire

Data that we don't question, beliefs that become stable because we rareley, if ever, test them

Description, prediction, explanation and control

Enumerate the four major objectives of research conudcted in psychology

Commonsense Psychology (Heider, 1958)

Everyday, nonscientific data gather thats shapes our expectations and beliefs, and directs our behaviour towards others

Publicizing results

Exchange of information by scientists to not miss the opprtunity to incorporate the most recent findings of others and to avoid duplicating failures.

Data

Facts and figures collected in research studies

What did Whitehead postulate?

Faith in an organized universe is essential to science, and if no inherent order existed, there would be no point in looking for one and no need to develop methods for doing so.

Aristotle's own systematic observation about heavy and light objects

He argued that heavy objects fall faster than light pbjects becuase their "natural place is down.

Aristotle

He assumed that order exists in the universe and he set about describing that order in a systematic way by collecting empirical data.

Johannes Kepler made Tycho Brahe's observations useful by explaining them through a system of equations known as Kepler law's

How did Kepler used Brahe's observation?

Greater explanatory power

How do new theories replace old theories?

Random assignment, identical presentation of treatment condition to all subjects, keeping the environment, the procedures, and the measuri g instruments constant for all subjects so that the treatment conditions are the only things that are allowed to change.

How is control achieved most often?

Theory

Interim explanations that we devise and tests to advance our understanding, they unite diverse sets of scientific facts into an organizing scheme, such as a general principle or set of rules, and can be used to predict new examples of behavior.

Treatment

It does not necessarily meann that we must actively do something to "treat" each usbjecr, but it means that we are treating subjects differently when we expose them to different sets of antecedents.

Cause and effect relationship

It is the greatest value of the psychology experiment. If the XYZ set of antecedents always leads to a psrticular behavior, whereas other treatments do not, we can infer that XYZ causes the behavior.

Gathering empirical data in a systematic and orderly way is preferable to commonsense data collection but ___.

It still cannot huarantee that the correct conclusions will be reached.

Explanation / to explain

Knowledge of the conditions that reliably reproduce the occurence of a behaviour

Theories

Laws: physical sciences; ___: behavioral sciences

Our ability to make accurate predictions about someone's trait increases with ___.

Length of acquaintanceship. We are more accurate when we know someone well than when we judge a stranger, but mot always

Researchers investigating perception

Mostly, they acquire data through formal laboratory experiments made to provide the most detailed, specific and precise information

Field study

Observational study of groups of people in rela life settings. Observers are able to gather descriptive data about many kinds of social and cultural experiences.

Confirmation bias

Once we believe we know something, we ignore the instances that might disconfirm our beliefs, so we only seek information that are confirmatory instances of behaviour

What does research says about our belief of information from certain kinds of individuals?

People who are prominent, attractive and high in status that seem experts appear highly confident are more powerful sources of information that others are.

Parsimony or Occam's razor

Principle coined by William of Occam that says entities should not be multiplied without necessity. It values simplicity, precision and clarity of thought. Avoid making unnecessary assumptions to support an argument or explanation. When two explanations are equally defensible, the simplest explanation is preferred until it is ruled out by conflicting data.

Laws

Principles that have the generality to apply to all situations

Pseudoscience

Pseudo, Greek for false. Field pf stydy that gives appearance of being scientific but has no true scientific basis.

Friends, relatives, people in authority, people we admire, media and books

Sources of data that seem credible and trustworthy but are not always very good ones for valid information about behavior

Scientific method

Steps that scientists take to collect and verify information, answer questions, explain relationships and communicate information to others. This enables us to rely on our conclusions and use tge as general principles to predict behaviour across many settings and conditions.

Process of stereotyping

Stereotypic expectations can lead us to seek confirmatory instances of behaviour.

Within-subject design

Subjects are presented with all the treatments.

Between- subjects design

Subjects receive only one kind of treatment.

Process

Systematic ways, gathering data, noting relationships, offering explanations

Has been the cornerstone of psychological science

Testing predictions stemming from a theory

scientia - knowledge

The Latin word where the word science came from, it also means ___.

"Weight-of-evidence" approach

The more evidence that accumulates ro support a particular explanation or theiry, the more confidence we have that the theory is correct,

Friday the 13th

The only superstition that has produced a supportive scientific documentation

Example of how children learn from their own observations and interactions

Their smiles and vocalizations are rewarded, touching a lit candle or a hot stove can have negative consequences

Theory-based expectancies

These cause us to focus on behavioral information that is predicted by the theory, and overlook nonpredicted behaviors.

An important characteristic of empirical data

They can be verified or disproved through investigation

Clinical psychologists

They collect informationn through administering psychological tests or by observing personality functioning during sessions with patients

Psychologists studying human development

They may observe young children's reactions under varying conditions in the laboratory or in real-word settings

Psychologists interested in understanding attitudes and social behaviours

They sometimes do surveys under controlled laboratory conditions, or within the community, or they record behaviour in natural settings

Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky

They won the Nobel Prize in 2002 with their work on biases in human judgements

One of the negative results of using traits for predicting behaviour

We can overestimate the likelihood that people will act in a trait-consistent way on different and varying situations.

Temporal relationship

Treatment conditions come afte rthe behavior, the cause precedes the effect.

Content and process

Two meanings of the word science today

Sufficient conditions

Two or more conditions can produce a behaviour.

Explain Ambady and Rosenthal's experiment about the accuracy of nonverbal behavior

University professors were observed in three 10-second muted video clips, beginning, middle and end of class session. Results showed that the professors who received the most positive evaluation by the judges had the highest evaluations by the students at the end of the term.

Quasi-expiremental research design

Used to look for systematic differences amongg roups of people and use the results to make predictions.

Through developing observable signs of internal processes such as the time it takes a person to solve a problem, a person's answers to a mood questionnaire or the amplitude of someone's electrodermal responses

Ways we can explore or observe internal processes

Methodology

scientific ways or techniques where we use to gather and assess psychological data