psychology 304 - quiz 1

How does a model differ from other types of theories?

A model is a precise explanation or interpretation of a specific phenomenon—often expressed in terms of equations, computer programs, or biological structures and processes.

Exercise: 2. Practice: Based on your own experience or on things you have already learned about psychology, list three basic research questions and three applied research questions of interest to you.

Basic research: How do we see color? What causes Alzheimer's? Applied research: How can we remedy opioid addiction? Is genetically modified food hurting health?

Exercise: 1. Discussion: People sometimes suggest that psychology cannot be a science because either (a) human behavior cannot be predicted with perfect accuracy or (b) much of its subject matter (e.g., thoughts and feelings) cannot be observed directly. Do you agree or disagree with each of these ideas? Why?

I disagree with the first idea because almost nothing can be predicted with perfect accuracy. I disagree with the second idea because scientists can test things that are not directly observable such as a lie detector test.

Define: peer review.

Peer review: a process in which new research submitted for publication is reviewed by two or more experts before an editor decides whether to publish it.

LO: 4. Define pseudoscience and give some examples.

Pseudoscience refers to activities and beliefs that are claimed to be scientific by their proponents—and may appear to be scientific at first glance—but are not. Pseudoscientific beliefs are widely held and are promoted on the Internet, on television, and in books and magazines.

LO: 3. Explain why psychology is a science.

Psychology is a science because it takes this same general approach to understanding one aspect of the natural world: human behavior.

LO: 3. Define skepticism and its role in scientific psychology.

Skepticism is a critical-thinking attitude that involves considering alternatives and searching for evidence before accepting that a belief or claim is true. Taking an attitude of skepticism would mean asking what evidence supports the original claim.

Exercise: 1. Practice: Think of at least three different theories to explain the fact that married people tend to report greater levels of happiness than unmarried people.

A first theory is married people have a spouse and are less lonely. A second theory is married people may have children and can spend time with them. A third theory is married people may have a more financially stable household.

LO: 1. Define the terms phenomenon and theory and distinguish clearly between them.

A phenomenon is a general result that has been observed reliably in systematic empirical research. In essence, it is an established answer to a research question. A theory is a coherent explanation or interpretation of one or more phenomena. Although theories can take a variety of forms, one thing they have in common is that they go beyond the phenomena they explain by including variables, structures, processes, functions, or organizing principles that have not been observed directly.

LO: 2. Explain the difference between a population and a sample.

A population is the entire group of individuals that the researcher wants to draw conclusions about. A sample is the subset of individuals that the researcher actually studies.

Describe in detail what occurs during each step comprising the hypothetico-deductive method. (2-3 sentences per phase of the model)

A researcher begins with a set of phenomena and either constructs a theory to explain or interpret them or chooses an existing theory to work with. He or she then makes a prediction about some new phenomenon that should be observed if the theory is correct. Again, this prediction is called a hypothesis. The researcher then conducts an empirical study to test the hypothesis. Finally, he or she reevaluates the theory in light of the new results and revises it if necessary. This process is usually conceptualized as a cycle because the researcher can then derive a new hypothesis from the revised theory, conduct a new empirical study to test the hypothesis, and so on.

LO: 1. Define the concept of a variable, distinguish quantitative from categorical variables, and give examples of variables that might be of interest to psychologists.

A variable is a quantity or quality that varies across people or situations. A quantitative variable is a quantity, such as height, that is typically measured by assigning a number to each individual. A categorical variable is a quality, such as sex, and is typically measured by assigning a category label to each individual. Psychologists may be interested in a person's level of depression, whether they are receiving psychotherapy, and a dosage of medication.

LO: 3. Define the concept of an empirically supported treatment and give some examples.

An empirically supported treatment is one that has been studied scientifically and shown to result in greater improvement than no treatment, a placebo, or some alternative treatment. An example is Behavioral Activation for Depression.

What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of broad vs. narrow (scope) theories?

As with informal and formal theories, both broad and narrow theories have their place in psychological research. Broad theories organize more phenomena but tend to be less formal and less precise in their predictions. Narrow theories organize fewer phenomena but tend to be more formal and more precise in their predictions.

LO: 3. Explain why there are usually many plausible theories for any set of phenomena.

At any point in time, researchers are usually considering multiple theories for any set of phenomena. One reason is that because human behavior is extremely complex, it is always possible to look at it from different perspectives. For example, a biological theory of sexual orientation might focus on the role of sex hormones during critical periods of brain development, while a sociocultural theory might focus on cultural factors that influence how underlying biological tendencies are expressed. A second reason is that—even from the same perspective—there are usually different ways to "go beyond" the phenomena of interest. For example, in addition to the drive theory of social facilitation and social inhibition, there is another theory that explains them in terms of a construct called "evaluation apprehension"—anxiety about being evaluated by the audience. Both theories go beyond the phenomena to be interpreted, but they do so by proposing somewhat different underlying processes.

LO: 3. Distinguish between basic research and applied research.

Basic research in psychology is conducted primarily for the sake of achieving a more detailed and accurate understanding of human behavior, without necessarily trying to address any particular practical problem. Applied research is conducted primarily to address some practical problem.

What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of formal vs. informal theories?

Both informal and formal theories have their place in psychological research. Informal theories tend to be easier to create and to understand but less precise in their predictions, which can make them more difficult to test. They are especially appropriate, however, in the early stages of research when the phenomena of interest have not yet been described in detail. Formal theories tend to be more difficult to create and to understand—sometimes requiring a certain amount of mathematical or computer programming background—but they also tend to be more precise in their predictions and therefore easier to test. They are especially appropriate in the later stages of research when the phenomena of interest have been described in detail.

LO: 3. Explain what makes a research question interesting and evaluate research questions in terms of their interestingness.

First, a research question is interesting to the extent that its answer is in doubt. Obviously, questions that have been answered by scientific research are no longer interesting as the subject of new empirical research. But the fact that a question has not been answered by scientific research does not necessarily make it interesting. There has to be some reasonable chance that the answer to the question will be something that we did not already know. A second important factor to consider when deciding if a research question is interesting is whether answering it will fill a gap in the research literature. A final factor to consider when deciding whether a research question is interesting is whether its answer has important practical implications.

(Under "What to Search For:) Describe the two basic principles for finding useful sources in the scientific literature. (Explain what makes each effective.)

First, it is best to focus on recent research, keeping in mind that what counts as recent depends on the topic. For newer topics that are actively being studied, "recent" might mean published in the past year or two. For older topics that are receiving less attention right now, "recent" might mean within the past 10 years. You will get a feel for what counts as recent for your topic when you start your literature search. Second, you should look for review articles on your topic because they will provide a useful overview of it—often discussing important definitions, results, theories, trends, and controversies—giving you a good sense of where your own research fits into the literature. You should also look for empirical research reports addressing your question or similar questions, which can give you ideas about how to operationally define your variables and collect your data. As a general rule, it is good to use methods that others have already used successfully unless you have good reasons not to. Finally, you should look for sources that provide information that can help you argue for the interestingness of your research question.

Exercise: 1c. Practice: For each of the following intuitive beliefs about human behavior, list three reasons that it might be true and three reasons that it might not be true: c. Studying is most effective when it is always done in the same location.

For: familiar with the environment, form a habit Against: can get boring, possible inconveniences

Exercise: 3. Discussion: Consider the following psychological claim. "People's choice of spouse is strongly influenced by their perception of their own parents. Some choose a spouse who is similar in some way to one of their parents. Others choose a spouse who is different from one of their parents." Is this claim falsifiable? If not, how could it be changed so that it is?

It could be changed to a claim that people choose a spouse who are different from one of their parents. The claim can be falsifiable if there is evidence against the claim. Falsifiable is a claim that can be contradicted by evidence.

LO: 2. Explain how science is relevant to clinical practice.

It is important to consider the relationship between scientific research and clinical practice because many students are especially interested in clinical practice, perhaps even as a career.

Exercise: 2. Practice: Generate five empirical research questions about each of the following behaviors or psychological characteristics: long-distance running, getting tattooed, social anxiety, online trolling, and memory for early childhood events.

Long-distance running: Is it healthy to run every day? What are the advantages to long-distance running? Getting tattooed: Why do people get tattoos? Do men or women have more tattoos? Social anxiety: What causes social anxiety? Is there a genetic factor? Online trolling: Why do people online troll? Is there satisfaction with online trolling? Memory for early childhood events: Why can some people remember better? What do we mostly remember from our childhood?

LO: 2. Describe some techniques for turning research ideas into empirical research questions and use those techniques to generate questions.

Once you have a research idea, you can use it to generate one or more empirically testable research questions, that is, questions expressed in terms of a single variable or relationship between variables. One way to do this is to look closely at the discussion section in a recent research article on the topic. This is the last major section of the article, in which the researchers summarize their results, interpret them in the context of past research, and suggest directions for future research. These suggestions often take the form of specific research questions, which you could try to answer with additional research. But you may also want to generate your own research questions. How can you do this? First, if you have a particular behavior or psychological characteristic in mind, you can simply conceptualize it as a variable and ask how frequent or intense it is. How many words on average do people speak per day? How accurate are children's memories of being touched? What percentage of people have sought professional help for depression? If the question has never been studied scientifically—which is something you would learn when you review the research literature—then it might be interesting and worth pursuing.

LO: 2. Explain the purposes of scientific theories.

One important purpose of scientific theories is to organize phenomena in ways that help people think about them clearly and efficiently. The drive theory of social facilitation and social inhibition, for example, helps to organize and make sense of a large number of seemingly contradictory results. A second purpose of theories is to allow researchers and others to make predictions about what will happen in new situations. For example, a gymnastics coach might wonder whether a student's performance is likely to be better or worse during a competition than when practicing alone. A third purpose of theories is to generate new research by raising new questions. Consider, for example, the theory that people engage in self-injurious behavior such as cutting because it reduces negative emotions such as sadness, anxiety, and anger. This theory immediately suggests several new and interesting questions. Is there, in fact, a statistical relationship between cutting and the amount of negative emotions experienced? Is it causal? If so, what is it about cutting that has this effect? Is it the pain, the sight of the injury, or something else? Does cutting affect all negative emotions equally?

Define: Operational definition. Give two operational definitions for memory.

Operational definition: a definition of a variable or construct in terms of precisely how it will be measured. Two examples of operational definition for memory are a score on a memory test and whether they have been diagnosed with dementia.

LO: 2. Give several examples of common sense or folk psychology that are incorrect.

People use only 10% of their brain power, most people experience a midlife crisis in their 40's or 50's, students learn best when teaching styles are matched to their learning styles, etc.

Exercise: 1. Practice: List 10 variables that might be of interest to a researcher in psychology. For each, specify whether it is quantitative or categorical.

Person's age (quantitative), person's nationality (categorical), person's level of depression (quantitative).

Describe two theories that you have learned about in other classes. What did each theory state? What phenomena were they intended to explain?

Piaget Theory of Development: Piaget discovered that children think and reason differently at different periods in their lives. He believed that everyone passed through an invariant sequence of four qualitatively distinct stages. Invariant means that a person cannot skip stages or reorder them. Although every normal child passes through the stages in exactly the same order, there is some variability in the ages at which children attain each stage. The four stages are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development: Kohlberg followed the development of moral judgement for beyond the ages studied earlier by Piaget, who also claimed that logic and morality develop through constructive stages. Expanding on Piaget's work, Kohlberg determined that the process of moral development was principally concerned with justice, and that it continued throughout the knowledge's lifetime, a notion that spawned dialogue on the philosophical implications of such research. The six stages are grouped into three levels—preconventional morality, conventional morality, and postconventional morality.

Define replication. What are two explanations for failure to replicate a finding?

Replication: the process of conducting an empirical study again—either exactly as it was originally conducted or with modifications—to see if the same results are observed. Sometimes a replication of a study produces results that differ from the results of the initial study. This could mean that the results of the initial study or the results of the replication were a fluke—they occurred by chance and do not reflect something that is generally true. In either case, additional replications would be likely to resolve this. A failure to produce the same results could also mean that the replication differed in some important way from the initial study. For example, early studies showed that people performed a variety of tasks better and faster when they were watched by others than when they were alone. Some later replications, however, showed that people performed worse when they were watched by others. Eventually researcher Robert Zajonc identified a key difference between the two types of studies. People seemed to perform better when being watched on highly practiced tasks but worse when being watched on relatively unpracticed tasks (Zajonc, 1965). These two phenomena have now come to be called social facilitation and social inhibition.

LO: 1. Define the research literature in psychology and give examples of sources that are part of the research literature and sources that are not.

Research literature is all the published research in a particular field. Sources that are part of the research literature are scholarly articles and books. Sources that are not are self-help and other pop psychology books, dictionary and encyclopedia entries, websites, and similar sources that are intended mainly for the general public.

Exercise: 2. Discussion: Do you think there will ever be a single theory that explains all psychological disorders? Why or why not?

Researchers in psychology have found that there is a place for all these theoretical approaches (functional theories, mechanistic theories, and stage theories). In fact, multiple approaches are probably necessary to provide a complete understanding of any set of phenomena. A complete understanding of emotions, for example, is likely to require identifying the basic emotions that people experience, explaining why we have those emotions, and describing how those emotions work in terms of underlying psychological and biological variables, structures, and processes.

LO: 2. Explain who conducts scientific research in psychology and why they do it.

Scientific research in psychology is generally conducted by people with doctoral degrees and master's degrees in psychology and related fields, often supported by research assistants with bachelor's degrees or other relevant training. People conduct research in psychology because they enjoy the intellectual and technical challenges involved and the satisfaction of contributing to scientific knowledge of human behavior.

Exercise: 3. Discussion: Can a theory be useful even if it is inaccurate? How?

Scientists are continually comparing theories in terms of their ability to organize phenomena, predict outcomes in new situations, and generate research. Those that fare poorly are assumed to be less accurate and are abandoned, while those that fare well are assumed to be more accurate and are retained and compared with newer—and hopefully better—theories. Although scientists generally do not believe that their theories ever provide perfectly accurate descriptions of the world, they do assume that this process produces theories that come closer and closer to that ideal.

LO: 2. Describe three fundamental features of science.

The first fundamental feature of science is systematic empiricism. Empiricism means learning based on observation, so scientists learn about the natural world systematically, by carefully planning, making, recording, and analyzing observations of it. The second feature is empirical questions. These are questions about the way the world actually is and, therefore, can be answered by systematically observing it. The third feature is public knowledge. After asking their empirical questions, making their systematic observations, and drawing their conclusions, scientists publish their work.

LO: 1. Describe a general model of scientific research in psychology and give specific examples that fit the model.

The researcher formulates a research question, conducts a study designed to answer the question, draws conclusions about the answer to the question, and publishes the results so that they become part of the research literature. Because the research literature is one of the primary sources of new research questions, this process can be thought of as a cycle. New research leads to new questions, which lead to new research, and so on.

LO: 3. Describe two basic forms of statistical relationship and give examples of each.

There are two basic forms of statistical relationship: differences between groups and correlations between quantitative variables. Differences between groups is a difference between the mean scores of two groups on some variable of interest. An example is "are women more talkative than men?" Correlations between quantitative variables is where the average score on one variable differs systematically across the levels of the other. An example is "do children's memories for touch information improve as they get older?"

LO: 5. Explain why correlation does not imply causation.

There are two reasons that correlation does not imply causation. The first is called the directionally problem. Two variables, X and Y, can be statistically related because X causes Y or because Y causes X. Consider, for example, a study showing that whether or not people exercise is statistically related to how happy they are—such that people who exercise are happier on average than people who do not. This statistical relationship is consistent with the idea that exercising causes happiness, but it is also consistent with the idea that happiness causes exercise. The second reason that correlation does not imply causation is called the third-variable problem. Two variables, X and Y, can be statistically related not because X causes Y, or because Y causes X, but because some third variable causes both X and Y. For example, the fact that people with more electrical appliances are more likely to use birth control probably reflects the fact that having more education or income causes people to own more appliances and causes them to use birth control.

LO: 1. Describe some common sources of research ideas and generate research ideas using those sources.

Three of the most common sources of inspiration are informal observations, practical problems, and previous research. Informal observations include direct observations of our own and others' behavior as well as secondhand observations from nonscientific sources, such as newspapers and books. Practical problems can also inspire research ideas, leading directly to applied research in such domains as law, health, education, and sports. Probably the most common inspiration for new research ideas, however, is previous research. Recall that science is a kind of large-scale collaboration in which many different researchers read and evaluate each other's work and conduct new studies to build on it. Of course, experienced researchers are familiar with previous research in their area of expertise and probably have a long list of ideas. This suggests that novice researchers can find inspiration by consulting with a more experienced researcher (e.g., students can consult a faculty member). But they can also find inspiration by picking up a copy of almost any professional journal and reading the titles and abstracts.

Exercise: 4. Practice: For each of the following statistical relationships, decide whether the directionality problem is present and think of at least one plausible third variable:

a. People who eat more lobster tend to live longer. May not have access to health care; lobster is expensive. b. People who exercise more tend to weigh less. May feel discouraged to exercise because they are overweight. c. College students who drink more alcohol tend to have poorer grades. May be hungover; loss of cognitive ability.