Place the following disciplines in order from "most scientific" to "least scientific" and explain/justify why you have ordered them in this way. Art Biology Chemistry Math Music Philosophy Physics Psychology

Unit 1 Psychology’s Roots

Psychological Approaches/Perspectives

External stimuli

Psychological Approaches/Perspectives interpret situations

Psychological Approaches/Perspectives

1.1.1 Psychological Science Is Born How has psychology’s focus changed over time?  Philosophers were the 1 st psychologists.  Debate big question about life…nature vs. nurture  Psychology as a science born in 1879  1. Wundt – 1 st psych lab (1879)  Attempted to measure awareness of sensory experiences through reaction time  2. William James – 1 st psych textbook

 3. Behaviorism: View that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes.  4. Freudian Psychology: Emphasis on unconscious thought processes and emotional responses to childhood experiences  5. Humanistic psychology: Emphasized the growth potential of healthy people  6. cognitive revolution : with the advent of new types of technology; it is now scientifically possibly to study the mind  7. Cognitive neuroscientists: Scientific exploration of brain activity underlying mental activity

Psychological Science Is Born  Today  Psychology: Science of behavior and mental processes  Behavior: Anything a human or nonhuman animal does  Mental processes: Internal states inferred from behavior  Science: Key word! Psychology students, such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (who majored in psychology and computer science while at Harvard), end up in varied careers. AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File #8

9.) Explain how psychology evolved from the study of mental life to the modern definition of psychology today. Psychology starts off as… Science of mental life Then focuses on… (1920s-1950s) Objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Finally, Psychology studies mental processes AND Behavior

Andrea Yates Background Notes Gather as much information as you can on Andrea’s background  What was she like, what were her life experiences, what was she involved in?

Mon. 9/21 In your daily journal, write a response to the statement on your sheet.

Hindsight Bias  The tendency to say an outcome was obvious AFTER the fact; to believe we could have predicted it  “I-Knew-It-All-Along” phenomenon  Our assumptions are often wrong  Need research to find what’s true

Overconfidence  We tend to be more confident than we are correct

Why Do Research In Psychology? To separate hunches & gut intuition about human behavior with actual fact.

Homework  Read The Scientific Method  Read Description

 Theory Theory  an explanation using guiding principles; organizes observations  predicts behavior  Hypothesis Hypothesis  Testable prediction; implied by a theory  Operational Definition Operational Definition  Define research variables w/ precise procedures or measures  Replication Replication  Repeating research study How Do Psychologists’ Ask Questions? #13 #15 #14 #16

Descriptive Methods of Psych Research  Case Study Case Study  One person studied in depth  Suggest further study (+)  Cannot discern general truths (-) #17

 Survey Survey  Looks at many cases at once  Word effects (-)  should cigarette ads be allowed on TV vs censored  aid to the needy vs welfare  Random sampling (+)  A sample that represents a population b/c each member has an equal chance of inclusion #18

 Population Population  All cases in a group being studied from which the sample may be drawn

Description Naturalistic Observation  Naturalistic Observation Naturalistic Observation  Observing & recording behavior in naturally occurring situations w/o controlling the situations  Doesn’t control for all the factors that can contribute to behavior h?v=x3S0xS2hdi4 #19

Correlation  A measure of the extent to which two things vary together  How well does A predict B (NOT CAUSE)  Positive versus negative correlation Correlation Coefficient  A statistical measure that tells us how strongly they correlate (how good of a predictor)  Strength of the correlation is found by the coefficient  -1.0 to +1.0 (r)  Closer to the 1 is a stronger correlation  Why Use a Coefficient?  Let’s us know how strong the relationship is…how strongly variable A predicts variable B Says nothing about strength of prediction Says nothing about strength of prediction CORRELATION #20-#24 same direction opposite direction + or -

Visually Show Correlation…  Scatterplot Scatterplot  a graphed cluster of dots,  each dot represents the values of two variables  Illusory Correlation  a“fake” correlation

Correlation Are tall men more or less easygoing?

Correlation

+.63

Correlation

Correlation Correlation and Causation  Correlation helps predict  Does not = cause and effect CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION!!! Practice

Experimentation Researcher can:  Manipulate the factors of interest to determine their effects  Holding constant (“controlling”) other factors  Experimental group  Control group

What are our 5 types of research methods?

Researcher manipulates variables to determine cause and effect 1 st – create a testable hypothesis & operationally define your terms 2 nd – randomly sample a population for your participants 3 rd – randomly assign your participants (your sample) Experiment #26 EXPERIMENTAL GROUP CONTROL GROUP #27 #28

 Double-blind procedure: Eliminating bias  The participants AND the researcher doesn’t know who is in which group WHY DOES IT MATTER???  Researcher can determine if treatment really works and not just a placebo effect  Placebo effect  Effect involves results caused by expectations alone. #29 #30

Experimentation Variables INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE Factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied The variable that is measured #31 #32 PRACTICE

Comparing Research Methods Each of psychology’s research methods has strengths and weaknesses