Chapter 7 But Its Not Real Life

1
Chapter 7But Its Not Real Life!

• The Artificiality Criticism and Psychology

2
Why Natural Isnt Always Necessary- Observing in
a Lab

• Way to separate correlated variables that may
  interfere with or determine events
• Scientists have more precise control of
  phenomenon and are able to manipulate variables
  more easily
• Scientists may need more extreme conditions to
  analyze to phenomenon
• Ex. Physicists and Models

3
There is a common belief that knowledge cannot be
obtained unless it is observed naturally

• Example Controlling our physiological functions

4
The Random-Sample Confusion

• An emphasis from the media has caused the
  misbelief that every psychological study must
  include random samples and representative
  conditions
• Other sciences do not use random sampling yet
  still yield knowledge
• The same is true for psychology

5
Theory Driven Research Vs. Direct Applications

• Applied research
• Goal relate the results of the study directly to
  a particular situation
• Ex. Election polling
• Its use is immediate
• Scientists only solving practical problems may
  impede progress

6
Basic Research

• Focuses primarily on theory testing
• Findings are applied indirectly through a theory
  and, with other scientific laws, are then applied
  to a situation
• Most psychological research is theory driven
• Theories lead to solving other problems
• Ex. Cell phone use in cars
• Ex. Dark adaptation

7
Purpose of Research

• Develop theory rather than to predict events.
• Findings applied indirectly

8
How did behavioral principles of classical and
operant conditioning come about?
9
Yet, A HUGE significance for Humans

• Treatment of Autistic Children
• Treatment of Alcoholism
• Treatment of Obesity
• Treatment of Phobias
• Developments in behavioral medicine
• Stress reduction
• The rehabilitation of injured and handicapped
  individuals
• The effects of aging on memory
• Help with overcoming neuromuscular disorders
• Substance abuse
• Treatment of Chronic Pain

10
The College Sophomore" problem What is the
"college sophomore" problem?"the worry that,
because college sophomores are subjects in an
extremely large number of psychological
investigations, the generality of the results is
in question."Critics tend to focus on the
subjects of the research rather than the
intricacies of the experimental design.Although
in many areas at a psychology the conflicting
results are more often due to the latter than the
former.All sciences assume that certain factors
will make no difference in the final results.
    1.  Biologists, do not worry about the
slightly different thickness of petri dish.    
2. Hecht's experiment on dark adaptation did not
depend on a person's religion.
11
Legitimate responses to criticism 1. Criticism
does not invalidate results but may call for more
findings that will allow assessment of theory.2.
The experiments are so basic that no one would
believe that the organization depends on the
demographics of the subject sample. (I.e. visual
system)3. Replication of findings insures a
large degree of geographic generality. (I.e.
Students from a great variety of backgrounds)
12
Problems with the college sophomore
issue Developmental psychologyCross-cultural
psychologySocial psychology      However,
even in this area of psychology the
laboratory-derived relationships and theories do
in fact predict behavior in a variety of other
situations.