1. Why Study Psychology?

2. Do demos here….. 1)Hindsight Bias zConfirmation bias zOverconfidence

3. Why Study Psychology? HHindsight Bias wwe tend to believe, after learning an outcome, that we would have foreseen it tthe “I-knew-it-all-along” phenomenon OOverconfidence wwe tend to think we know more than we do

4. How do we overcome bias?  The Scientific Method  Critical Thinking  thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions

5. Scientific Method zSzState Problem zDzDevelop a Hypothesis zOzOperationalize Definitions zIzIdentify Variables zIzIdentify Population & sample size

6. The Scientific Method  Hypothesis  a testable prediction or educated guess  often implied by a theory/observable behavior

7. The Scientific Method OOperational Definition aa statement of procedures (operations) used to define research variables eexample- iintelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures ( Stanford- Binet) DDrug use? SSelf esteem?

8. Experimentation EExperiment AAn investigation seeking to understand the cause and effect relationship between two variables.

9. IIndependent Variable tthe experimental factor that is manipulated tthe variable whose effect is being studied DDependent Variable tthe experimental factor that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable

10. The Scientific Method zEzExperimental Group- The group exposed to the independent variable zCzControl Group- the group not exposed to the independent variable

11. Experimentation  Population - The total group of subjects available.  Random Assignment of a sample  assigning participants to experimental and control conditions by chance  minimizes pre-existing differences between those assigned to the different groups