1. The Science of Psychology Unit 1 Lesson 4

2. Objectives Students will define psychology. Students will identify the goals of psychology. Students will explain why psychology is considered a science. Students will analyze the scientific method.

3. Warm Up What were some of the “unscientific” ways we tried to explain behavior? Evil Spirits, Bodily Fluids, Skull Structure

4. Review Definition of psychology? Scientific Study Behavior Mental Processes Psyche – soul Logos – study Goals? Describe Explain Predict Control Basic vs. Applied? Study to know more vs. to use what we know

5. Making Research Scientific All research must be Replicable Falsifiable Parsimonious Apply Scientific Method Identify specific problem or question Form a hypothesis Conduct a study (research) Analyze data Construct theory Retest

6. Ethical Considerations With humans APA GuidelinesGuidelines IRB Informed consent Safety Privacy Debriefing When is deception ethical?deception

7. Ethical Considerations With animals APA & Federal Guidelines Clear benefits of research Legally acquired Humane conditions Least invasive procedures

8. Descriptive Research: o bserve & Record Case Study – in-depth info about one subject Observation – naturalistic/directed (lab) Survey – questionnaires & interviews Test – standardized, reliable, valid

9. Correlational Research Statistical relationship between 2 variables Positive Correlation- When two variables increase or decrease together (Ex- Frustration and Aggression) Negative Correlation- When one variable increases as the other decreases (Ex- Stress and Health) Correlational Coefficient – Strength of correlation measured by # between +1.0 and -1.0. Zero = no relation.

10. Correlation vs Causation Just b/c two things are related doesn’t mean one thing caused the other! Ex: Scary movie & nightmares

11. Experimental Research Experimental Method Seeks to establish a cause and effect relationship. Handout…

12. Experimental Research Identify hypothesis “If A, the IV is presented or changed, then B, the DV will occur or change.” Identify Population, Randomly Select Sample, Randomly Assign to Group Manipulate the IV – Placebo Compare the results – Measure the DV

13. Experimental Method Vocab Subject Expectancy- subject’s beliefs can influence his/her perception/behavior Blinds- subjects are unaware of the treatment, to control for the effects of subject bias. Double-Blind Study- neither the subjects nor the experimenters know who has received the treatment, control for experimenter bias.

14. Activity 1 – Apply Experimental Method A psychologist studying memory wants to test the hypothesis that an herbal supplement aids memory. The research involves having 80 people complete a memory test. Half of these individuals first consumed the herbal supplement; the other half consumed a placebo pill. Independent Variable? Herbal supplement Dependent Variable? Memory Retention Control Group? Took placebo Experimental Group? Took herbal supplement

15. Activity 1 – Apply Experimental Method An educational psychologist wants to explore whether a new math program, which uses textbooks with special colored pictures, will help high school students in learning geometry. Half of the students are randomly assigned to traditional textbooks, while the other half are assigned to the special textbooks. Scores on a standardized geometry test are measured at the end of the semester. Independent Variable? New math book Dependent Variable? Performance on geometry test Control Group? Traditional book Experimental Group? New textbook

16. Methods of Research Studies can be Longitudinal Study one group over period of time Cross-Sectional Study several groups at one time Cross-Sequential Study several groups over period of time

17. MethodAdvantagesDisadvantages Natural Observation Behavior studied is completely natural. Study in situations and environments can’t be duplicated in a lab. Useful for generating hypotheses. Researchers can’t interact with subjects…may misinterpret behaviors. Interpretations may be personally biased. May be hard to conduct unobtrusively. Directed Observation (Laboratory) Provides accurate information b/c it allows control of variables and reduction of error. Use of sophisticated equipment for measurement. Useful for generating hypotheses. Artificial setting may not reflect real world behaviors. May yield biased results. Case Study Can obtain detailed background info that may shed light on present behaviors. Extensive information about a subject. Good way to generate hypotheses. Yields data other methods can’t provide. Gaps and factual inaccuracies. Distort pasts to please selves/researcher. One past may not apply to all. Time consuming. Can be subjective, may yield biased results. Survey Can gather a lot of information from a lot of people quickly. Cheap and easy to conduct. Good way to generate hypothesis. Sample may not represent whole. Questions may be phrased poorly or misunderstood. Misinterpretation of results based on bias. Don’t directly observe what is reported, rely on self-reported data. Testing Accurate, objective info because most are standardized. Little opportunity to distort results. Gives information about diverse characteristics such as personality traits, emotional states, aptitudes, interests, values. Must be reliable and valid in order to use. May respond in socially desirable way. Improve from one test to another b/c of familiarity, not aptitude. Correlational Study Can help predict behaviors. Can indicate possible causes of behaviors. Can’t indicate cause-effect relationships. Can’t account for all possible factors/variables. ExperimentCan identify cause-effect relationships with little error and bias, if properly set up and carried out. Distinguish between placebo effects and real effects of treatment or drug. Information from one study may not apply to other situations. Subject expectancy/researcher bias (can be avoided with blinds). Results may not generalize to real-world situations. Methods of Psychological Research

18. Activity 3 In your groups, select two of the situations and decide which method of research would be best used to achieve the goal/objective of the situation. Explain. Also, decide which of the methods would be the least effective for each of your situations. Explain

19. Methods of Research You are interested in the honesty of people in America, especially with regards to stealing or taking objects which aren’t theirs. How could you determine how honest people are, including what % of the population can be trusted at any given time? You’re interested in finding out what effects the moderate use (3-5 x’s per week) of marijuana has on high school students, including effects on academic performance, social relationships, motivation and accomplishments. You wish to ascertain the effects of high Vitamin C on older (65+) peoples’ health. You are ready to develop a romantic relationship with someone and you want to find the best person to meet your needs. How would you go about this? You think your partner is cheating on you and you want to find out if this is true and, if so, with whom. You want to find out who the smartest person is in the senior class. You’ve been hired to determine the effects of caffeine on the mental alertness of truck drivers for a large cross-country shipping firm.

20. Closure Do you think it is ethical to use animals in psychological research? Why or why not?

21. Day 2 Warm Up Identify the basic purpose of the following types of research: Descriptive Correlational Experimental

22. Review A mom suspects that her daughter’s newly acquired aggressive behaviors are a result of watching Perry & Doofenshmirtz fight on Phineas & Ferb. Formulate a hypothesis & design an experiment to address each of the following: Population: Who is target? How select & assign subjects? Operational Definitions: Do you need to define any of the terms for your experiment? If yes, do so. Id your variables: What is IV? What is DV? What treatment will experimental group receive? Control group? What controls will you use in your experiment to control for subject & experimenter bias? Potential confounding variables – anything else you should try to control for? You may write or diagram your experiment!

23. Descriptive Statistics PsychSim Organize information so data is more meaningful. Frequency Distribution – arrange of scores lowest to highest (list or graph/chart) Measures of Central Tendency – mode, mean, median Measures of Variation – range, standard deviation

24. Closure If we want to identify a cause & effect relationship between variables, which research method would we use?