General Psychology Chapter 2

The Scientific Method (Part 1)

(Part 1) - Scientific thinking involved the interplay between belief (theory) and evidence (research). - An assumption is just a starting point for our reasoning. *Assumptions aren't just taken for granted but have to be tested. - Once scientific theories become more developed, they organize and explain what we have observed and guide what we will observe. *Theories are not facts - they explain facts. - Scientific theories must be tied to real evidence, they must organize observations, and they must generate expectations and assumptions that can be tested systematically.

The Scientific Method (Part 2)

(Part 2) - The Scientific Method by which scientists conduct research consists of 6 processes: (OPTICR) - Observe *Researchers will first observe the world and look for patterns. - Predict *Once they see a pattern, they devise a prediction to determine whether that pattern really holds. - Test *To test their hypothesis, scientists select one of a number of established research methods, along with the appropriate measurement techniques. - Interpret *Scientists use mathematical techniques to interpret the results and determine whether they are significant and whether they closely fit the prediction. - Communicate *Scientists communicate their findings in a peer-reviewed professional journal. *The researchers report their hypotheses, describe their research design and the conditions of the study, summarize the results, and share their conclusions. *Researchers also consider the broader implications of their results. *Publication also serves an important role in making research findings part of the public domain. *Colleagues who reviewed the study found it to be credible, but also allows other researchers to repeat and/or build on the research. *Not all published scientific papers are of equal quality. - Replicate *Other researchers need to independently replicate the findings before we can really have confidence in them. "*Replication Crisis" in psychology, and they suggest that psychological scientists need to spend more time confirming and verifying published results. - The more specific a hypothesis is, the more easily each component can be changed to determine what effect is has on the outcome. - All scientific research is that measures and told need to be both reliable and valid. Personal Note: Things must be controlled.

Experimental Studies

- A true experiment has 2 unique characteristics: *Experimental manipulation of a predicted cause, the independent variable. *Random assignment of participants to control and experimental groups or conditions, meaning that each participant has an equal chance of being placed in each group. - The independent variable in an experiment is an attribute the experimenter manipulates under controlled conditions. *The condition the researcher predicts will cause a particular outcome. - The dependent variable is the outcome or response to the experimental manipulation. *Dependent variable = Cause *Independent variable = Effect - Random assignment is achieved by using a random numbers table or some other unbiased technique. *It ensures that on average the groups will be similar with respect to all possible variables when the experiment begins. *If the groups are the same on these qualities (gender, intelligence, motivation, and memory) at the beginning of the study, then any differences between the groups at the end are likely to be the result of the independent variable. - Random assignment guarantees group equivalence on a number of variables and prevents ambiguity over whether effects might be due to other differences between the groups. - An experimental group consists of participants who receive the treatment or whatever is thought to change behavior. - The control group consists of participants who are treated exactly in the same manner as the experimental groups but with one crucial different, they don't receive the treatment. *The control group is given a placebo, a substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance. - The power of the experimental design is that it allows us to say that the independent variable (treatment) caused changes in the dependent variable, as long as everything other than the independent variable was held constant. *Experimental designs are the only method that allows some kind of cause-effect conclusion to be drawn. - The goal of an experiment is to make sure nothing affects the dependent variable (the effect) besides the independent variable (the cause). - In single blind studies, participants don't know the experimental condition to which they have been assigned. *This is a necessary precaution in all studies to avoid the possibility that participants will behave in a biased way. - In double blind studies neither the participants nor the researchers know who has been assigned to which condition. *Neither the participants nor those collecting the data should know which group is the experimental group and which is the control group. - The advantage of double blind studies is that they prevent 2 potential problems with experimental designs: experimenter expectancy effects and demand characteristics. - Experimenter expectancy effects occur when the behavior of the participants is influenced by the experimenter's knowledge of who is in which condition. - Demand characteristics are subtle cues given by experimenters to the participants as to how they should behave in the role of participant. - If the treatment causes a difference in behavior for the different groups, the researcher needs to make sure the groups start out behaving the same way before the treatment. - Psychologists realized how important it was to make sure the researcher and experimenter were both blind to who was in which condition - that is, to perform double-blind experiments whenever possible

Ethical Treatment of Animal Participants

- Because animal research had led to many treatments for diseases, as well as advanced in understanding basic neuroscientific processes, it is widely considered to be acceptable. - Animal research is acceptable, that is, as long as the general conditions and treatment of the animals is humane.

Common Sense and Logic

- Common sense is the intuitive ability to understand the world. - Logic is a powerful tool but it only tells us how the world should work, not how the world actually works. - Science is a combination of logic with research and experimentation.

The Limits of Observation

- Empiricism is the view that our observations and experience, not pure reason and logic, are another path to knowledge. - Science relies on observation, but even our observations can sometimes lead us astray. *Our knowledge of the world comes through our 5 sense but they are easy to fool. *The way in which our brains as humans organize and interpret sensory experiences may vary from person to person. *All people experience and sense different things, meaning that observation is not the same for every person. - Another problem with observation is that people tend to generalize from their observations and assume that what they witness in one situation applies to all similar situations. *Scientists must collect numerous observations and conduct several studies on a topic before making generalizations/conclusions. *You must observe the topic from all angles before concluding.

Descriptive Studies

- Ideas for studies often start with specific and personal experiences of event. *Experiences can be and often are driving forces behind a person's desire to study them more systematically. - Single events and single cases often lead to new ideas and new lines of research. - In descriptive designs the researcher makes no prediction and doesn't try to control any variables. *The basic questions in a descriptive design, "what is variable X?" - Descriptive studies usually occur during the exploratory phase of research, in which the researcher is looking for meaningful patterns that might lead to predictions later on; they generally don't involve testing hypotheses. - 4 of the most common descriptive studies in psychology: *Case Studies *Naturalistic *Observations *Qualitative Research/Interviews *Surveys - Because case studies are based on one-on-one relationships, often lasting years, they offer deep insights that surveys and questionnaires often miss. - Naturalistic observation is more often the design of choice in comparative psychology by researcher who study the behavior of non-humans to determine what is and is not unique about our species. *The advantage of naturalistic observation is that it allows researchers to study actual behavior in the real world rather than in a controlled setting. - LICW (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) and programs like it combine the best of the qualitative and quantitative world. Researchers that collect info from using any kind of numeric and quantifiable scale and often has limited response options is referred to as quantitative research. *These are structures and quantitative answers that can be summarized and analyzed for trends and averages. - Sometimes survey research is descriptive and exploratory and other times it may propose and test hypotheses.

Scientific Thinking: Make Testable Claims

- In science it is important to not just separate belief from evidence but put belief into a clear and testable form - aka hypothesis. *The hypothesis should clearly indicate whether the predicted influence is positive or negative and what specific kind of family influence is involved.

Principles of Research Design

- Psychology makes use of several types of research designs. *The design chosen for a given study depends on the questions being asked. S*ome studies need to survey large groups, others maybe need to test treatment causes in a lab. - Questions can best be answered simply by making initial observations and seeing what people do in the real world. *Sometimes researchers analyze the results of many studies on the same topics to look for trends. - A general goal of psychological research is to measure changed in behavior, thought, or brain activity. *Psychologist do research by predicting how and when variables influence each other. - The first step is for researchers to decide the makeup of the entire group, or populated, in which they are interested. *Because most populations are too large to survey or interview directly, researchers draw on small subsets of each population. (samples) - If researchers want to draw valid conclusions or make accurate predictions about a population, they must accurately represent the population in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, or any other variables applicable. *When a poll is wrong, the sample did not accurately represent the population.

Scientific Misconduct

- Scientific misconduct is intentional and therefore the most serious ethical violation. - Scientific fraud or misconduct comes in 3 forms: *Plagiarism *Falsification *Fabrication

Correlational Studies

- The basic question of correlational studies is: Is X related to Y? - Correlational studies are useful when the experimenter cannot manipulate or control the variables. *Many questions in developmental psychology, personality psychology, and even clinical psychology are examined with correlational studies. - The major limitation of the correlational approach is that it does not establish whether one variable actually causes the other. *We must always be mindful that correlation is necessary for causation but is not sufficient by itself to establish causation. - A statistic called the correlation coefficient is used to draw conclusions from correlational studies. *Correlation coefficients tell us whether 2 variables relate to each other and the direction of the relationships. *Correlations range from -1.00 to +1.00, with coefficients near 0.00 indicating that there is no relationship between the 2 variables. *A 0.00 correlation means that knowing about one variable tells us nothing about the other. *As a correlation approaches +1.00 or -1.00, the strength of the relationship increases. - Correlation is necessary but not sufficient for causation.

Longitudinal Studies

- The only way to study change over time is with longitudinal studies. *Longitudinal designs make observations of the same people over time, ranging from months to decades. - These kinds of studies can be used to study how specific causes affect specific outcomes. *So if we follow these groups over time, we can examine the outcomes of such living conditions on thought and behavior. - Longitudinal studies often combine observational, correlational, and quasi-experimental techniques.

Scientific Thinking: Keep Belief and Evidence Distinct

- The starting point for scientific thinking is understanding that what we believe is separate from the evidence for or against the belief. - Doubt and skepticism are hallmarks of critical and scientific reasoning. *Doubt is the foundation of science. *Belief in science is tentative until there is evidence to support it. *Scientists remember that belief is not the same as reality.

What is Science?

- There are at least 5 characteristics of scientific thinking: *Keep belief and evidence distinct *Make testable claims *Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence *Try to disconfirm your idea after it has been confirmed *Have your belief follow the best evidence

WEIRD Acronym

- Weird stands for: Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic - These subgroups are more likely to have resources and educational systems to support academic research. *However, it means that the studies that they published can be skewed. - American college student aren't representative of all humans; they were given the WEIRD acronym. - Researching outside the WEIRD bubble is important because it lets psychologists puzzle out things that do seem to be universally human. *It's important to recognize that research has its limitations. - To learn the most about humans, we need to study different kinds of humans.

Scientific Thinking: Have Your Belief Follow the Best Evidence

- When thinking scientifically you should link your belief with the best evidence. *If the evidence goes against an idea, then you move your belief towards skepticism. *If the evidence supports the idea, then you more toward belief. * f it can be supported, it is capable of being accepted.

Scientific Thinking: Disconfirm your Idea After it Has Been Confirmed

- You should always seek to disconfirm or falsify an idea once it has been initially confirmed. *Scientists do this because they know that one way to test the strength of something is to try to tear it down and then see whether it survives that test. *Weak ideas fail: strong ones remain. - Findings are only trustworthy once they have undergone multiple attempts to confirm or disconfirm them by themself or others. *The original findings of a test or experiment happen by change. *It's likely that if it is redone, results won't re-occur. *Redoing experiments or re-testing theories may reveal new discoveries. - Valid results may lead to new experiments that yield additional valid results. *Invalid results from an experiment may cause scientists to unwittingly develop new experiments that are flawed from the start.

Variable

A characteristic that changes, or "varies," such as age, gender, weight, intelligence, anxiety, and extraversion.

Experimental Group

A group consisting of those participants who will receive the treatment or whatever is predicted to change behavior.

Control Group

A group of research participants who are treated in exactly the same manner as the experimental group, except that they don't receive the independent variable, or treatment.

Effect Size

A measure of the strength of the relationship between 2 variables or the extend of an experimental effect.

Gene by Environment Interaction Research

A method of studying heritability by comparing genetic markers; allows researchers to assess how genetic differences

Scientific Thinking

A process using the cognitive skills required to generate, test,, and revise theories. - Involves the reasoning skills required to generate, test, and revise theories.

Independent Variable (IV)

A property that is manipulated by the experimenter under controlled conditions to determine whether it causes the predicted outcome of an experiment.

Representative Sample

A research sample that accurately reflects the population of people one is studying.

Meta-Analysis

A research technique for combining all research results on one question and drawing a conclusion. - To do meta-analysis, the researcher converts the finding of each study into a standardized statistic known as effect size. *Effect size is a measure of the strength of the relationship between 2 variables. *The average effect size across all studies reflects what the literature overall says on a topic or question. - Meta-analysis tells us whether all of the research on a topic has or has not led to consistent findings and what the effect size is. - Meta-analysis is more reliable than the results of any single study.

Experimenter Expectancy Effects

A result that occurs when the behavior of the participants is influenced by the experiment's knowledge of who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group.

Theory

A set of related assumptions from which scientists can make testable predictions.

Hypothesis

A specific, informed, and testable prediction of the outcome of a particular set of condition in a research design.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A statement that affects events to cause the prediction to become true.

Case Study

A study design in which a psychologist, often a therapist, observes one person over a long period of time.

Naturalistic Observation

A study in which the researcher unobtrusively observes and record behavior in the real world.

Placebo

A substance or treatment that appears identical to the actual treatment but lacks the active substance.

Scientific theories are A. A set of related assumptions that guide and explain observations and allow testable predictions to be made B. Educated guesses C. Hunches D. Hypotheses

A. A set of related assumptions that guide and explain observations and allow testable predictions to be made

One advantage of the behavioral measures compared with self-reported measures is that they A. Are less prone to social desirability bias B. Are less time-intensive C. Are always more valid D. Cost less

A. Are less prone to social desirability bias

Dr.Lovejoy wanted to do research on real-world conditions that lead to aggression as "intent to harm another person." She went to a local elementary school and videotaped a 10 minute recess period. She and her trained coders then coded the behavior of every child and counted the numbers of times each child acted aggressively. What kind of research design did Dr.Lovejoy use? A. Descriptive B. Correlational C. Case Study D. Experimental

A. Descriptive

Ethical Treatment of Human Participants

All researchers have to follow these rules: - Informed Consent: from all participants. - Respect for Persons: Safeguard the dignity and autonomy of individuals and taking precautions. - Beneficence: Inform participants of costs and benefits of participation. - Privacy and Confidentiality: Protect the privacy of participants. - Justice: Benefits and costs must be distributed equally among participants.

If Dr.Lovejoy wanted to examine whether certain personality traits make aggression more likely, she would probably use what kind of research design? A. Descriptive B. Correlational C. Interview D. Experimental

B. Correlational

Ethical guidelines for research with nonhuman animals state that A. Informed consent is always required B. Ethical and humane conditions must exist throughout the research process C. Computer modeling must always be tried before conducting research with animals A. Deception can be used if fully justified

B. Ethical and humane conditions must exist throughout the research process

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of science? A. It is cumulative B. It is a search for truth C. It is an attitude D. It requires intellectual honesty

B. It is a search for truth

An advantage of self-report questionnaires is that they are easy to administer to large numbers of participants. A disadvantage of questionnaires is that A. They cost too much B. People do not always accurately report their true thoughts or feelings C. Scoring responses is subjective D. They have low reliability

B. People do not always accurately report their true thoughts or feelings

In contrast with other kinds of research designs, a true experimental design must have which of the following 2 characteristics? A. Random assignment of participants to conditions and statistical analysis B. Random assignment of participants to conditions and manipulation of an independent variable and a dependent variable C. Manipulation of an independent variable and a dependent variable D. Hypothesis testing and observation

B. Random assignment of participants to conditions and manipulation of an independent variable and a dependent variable

When conducting research with humans, researchers A. Never have to obtain informed consent if it interferes with the research B. Almost always must obtain informed consent C. Always must obtain informed consent D. Formerly were required to obtain informed consent, but this requirement has been discontinued

C. Always must obtain informed consent

In research on whether sugar causes hyperactivity, researchers randomly assign children to receive no sugar, small amounts of sugar, or large amounts of sugar. They then observe and code activity levels. In this case, the sugar level is the A. Outcome variable B. Dependent variable C. Independent variable D. Control condition

C. Independent variable

What distinguishes science from pseudoscience? A. The use of statistics B. The content area studies C. Open skepticism D. The search for truth

C. Open skepticism

Falsification

Changing, altering, or deleting scientific data.

Researchers have consistently found that married men live longer than single men. From this finding, we can conclude that A. If a man gets married, he adds years to his life B. Marriage correlated with longer life in men C. Being single causes men to die earlier D. Marriage correlates with longer life in men

D. Marriage correlates with longer life in men

The scientific method consists of... A. Observing, predicting, testing B. Observing, predicting, trying, interpreting C. Observing, predicting, testing, communicating D. Observing, predicting, testing, interpreting, communicating, and replicating

D. Observing, predicting, testing, interpreting, communicating, and replicating

A psychologist who is interested in how brain activity related to behavior will most likely use which kind of measure? A. Interview B. Questionnaire C. Behavioral D. Physiological

D. Physiological

Big Data

Extremely large amount of data captured from online behaviors (especially social media_, which are then collected and analyzed for patterns by sophisticated analytic programs. - Big data comprise vast amounts of info from websites and apps that are collected and analyzed by unusually large and sophisticated computer programs. - Big data mostly comes from social media, smartphones, and wearable devices, but sometimes from scientific literature itself. - Big data afford a much more extensive and reliable means of measuring interests, social relationships, personality, emotion, political attitudes, exercise behaviors, brain activity and structure, and language.

Dependent Variable (DV)

In an experiment, the outcome or response to the experimental manipulation.

Interviews

Interactions in which one person asks questions and the other answers them and the answers are open-ended. - Sometimes interview questions are pre-determined and sometimes they are spontaneous.

Behavioral Measures

Measures based on systematic observation of people's actions either in their normal environment or in a laboratory setting. - Behavioral measures involve the systematic observation of people's actions either in their normal environment or in a laboratory setting. - Behavioral measures are less susceptible to social desirability bias than are self-report measures. *They also provide more objective measurements because they come from a trained outside observer rather than from the participants themselves. - One drawback of behavioral measures is that people may modify their behavior if they know they are being observed and/or measured. - Behavioral measures also are very time-intensive.

Physiological Measures

Measures of bodily responses, such as blood pressure or heart rate, used to determine changes in psychological state. - Physiological measures provide data on bodily responses. - Researchers measure brain activity while people perform certain tasks to determine the speed and general location of cognitive processes in the brain. *They have enhanced our understanding of the brain's structure and function tremendously.

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

Organizations that evaluate research proposals to make sure research involving humans doesn't cause undue harm or distress.

Research Designs

Plans of action for how to conduct a scientific study.

Fabrication

Presenting or publishing scientific results that are made up.

Plagiarism

Presenting words or ideas of other people as one's own.

Twin Adoption Studies

Research into hereditary influence on twins, both identical and fraternal, who were raised apart (adopted) and who were raised together. - The best way to untangle the effects of genetics and environment is to study twins who are adopted or not and compare them to other siblings who are adopted or not. (aka twin adoption studies) - Twin adoption research distinguished the effect of nature and nurture. - There are 3 forms of similarity: genetic (nature), environmental (nurture), and trait. - Genetic similarity ranges from 100% (identical twins) to 0% with unrelated people, such as adopted siblings. *In between 100% and 0% are fraternal twins, sibling, and parents and their children. *They share 50% of their genes. - The second technique in the study of heritability, gene-by-environment, allows researcher to assess how genetic differences interact with the environment to produce certain behavior in some people but not in others. - Gene-by-environment studies directly measure genetic variation in parts of the genome itself and examine how such variation interacts with different kinds of environments to produce different behaviors or traits.

Quantitative Research

Research that collects information using any kind of numeric and quantifiable scale and often has limited response options.

Longitudinal Designs

Research that includes observations of the same people over time, ranging from months to decades.

Qualitative Research

Research that involves data gathered from open-ended and unstructured answers rather than quantitative or numeric answers.

Correlational Coefficients

Statistics that range from -1.0 to +1.0 and assess the strength and direction of association between 2 variables.

Double Blind Studies

Studies in which neither the participants nor the researchers administering the treatment know who has been assigned to the experimental or control group.

Correlational Designs

Studies that measure 2 or more variables and their relationship to one another; not designed to show causation.

Descriptive Designs

Study designs in which the researcher defines a problem and variable of interest but makes no prediction and does not control or manipulate anything.

Samples

Subsets of the population studied in a research project.

Demand Characteristics

Subtle, often unconscious, cues given by experimenter's knowledge of who is in the control group and who is in the experimental group.

Reliability

The consistency of a measurement such as an intelligence test.

Validity

The degree to which a test accurately measure what it purports to measure, such as intelligence, and not something else, and the degree to which it predicts real-world outcomes.

Population

The entire group a researcher is interested in - for example, all humans, all adolescents, all boys, all girls, all college students

Random Assignment

The method used to assign participants to different research conditions, so that all participants have the same chance of being in any specific group.

Sampling

The procedure researchers use to obtain participants from a population.

Scientific Method

The procedures by which scientists conduct research, consisting of 6 basic processes: observation, prediction, testing, interpretation, communication, and replication.

Debriefing

The process of explaining the purposes of a study to research participants following data collection.

Replication

The repetition of a study to confirm the results; essential to the scientific process. The repetition of a study that either confirms or disconfirms the original result.

Ethics

The rules of governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation - or more simply, standard of right and wrong. - Ethics are the rules governing the conduct of a person or group in general or in a specific situation; stated more simply, ethics are standards of right or wrong. 8Nearly every study conducted with humans and animals must undergo a rigorous review of its methods by a panel of experts. - Ethics involve rules against scientific misconduct and rules for treatment of human participants and animals.

Social Desirability Bias

The tendency toward favorable self-presentation that could lead to inaccurate self-reports.

Measures

The tools and techniques used to assess thought or behavior. - The tools and techniques they use to assess thought and behavior are called measures. - Measures in psychological science tend to fall into 3 categories: *Self-report *Behavioral *Psychological

Rationalism

The view that is using logic and reason is the way to understand how the world works.

Fraternal Twins

Twins that develop from 2 different eggs fertilized by 2 different sperm.

Identical Twins

Twins that develop from a single fertilized egg that splits into 2 independent cells.

Self Reports

Written or oral accounts of a person's thoughts, feelings, or actions. - Self-reports are people's written or oral accounts of their thoughts, feelings, or actions. - 2 kinds of self-report measures: *Interview *Questionnaires - In an interview, a researcher asks a set of questions face to face with a respondent, and the respondent usually answers in any way he or she feels is appropriate. - In a questionnaire, often on a numeric scale such as from 1. *Questionnaires can provide important info on key psychological variables. - A major problem with self-reports, however, is that people are not always the best sources of information about themselves. *Sometimes are a reflection of the tendency to seek approval from others, called social desirability bias, people present themselves more favorable than they really are, not wanting to reveal what they are really thinking or feeling to others for fear of looking bad. *We have to assume that people are accurate witnesses to their own experiences.