Fundamental Question

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Fundamental Question

• What is the relationship between the organism and
  the environment?
• Stated as Nature vs.. Nurture. Is behavior (or
  mental processes) mostly a function of biology or
  learning?
• The different approaches (perspectives) of
  Psychology reflect different ways to answer this
  question.

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Perspectives

• Biological
• Behavioral
• Cognitive
• Social
• Psychoanalytic

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The Biological Perspective

• Behavior and mental processes are best understood
  by understanding the underlying biological
  functions and systems.
• Includes what your text refers to as the
  Neuroscience, Evolutionary, and behavioral
  genetics perspectives

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The Behavioral Perspective

• Behavior and mental processes are best understood
  as a product of what the organism has learned
  through interaction with the environment.
• Environment includes both
• the physical environment and
• the social environment

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The Cognitive Perspective

• Behavior and mental processes are a function of
  the way the brain and nervous system organize,
  recall, and process information.
• Subject to the rules of biology and learning, but
  able to solve problems, experience emotions,
  develop new relationships, behave creatively,
  etc.
• Cognito ergo sum.

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The Social-Cultural Perspective

• Behavior and mental processes are a product of
  the interactions between individuals and groups
  and vary across situations and cultures.
• Closely related to sister disciplines of
  anthropology, sociology, history.

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The Psychoanalytic Perspective

• more or less obsolete in scientific Psychology
• a precursor of cognitive psychology
• behavior and mental processes are, in part, the
  product of unconscious cognitive processes which
  motivate and control behavior.
• Tied to the theoretical and applied work of
  Sigmund Freud.

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Perspectives in Perspective

• none are completely right, all are partly right.
• Contradictions are more apparent than real
• The greatest gains in understanding result from
  the integration of multiple perspectives.

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A (brief) History of Psychology

• 1875 -- First Psychology course taught by
  William James at Harvard
• 1879 -- First Experimental Psychology Lab
  established by Wilhelm Wundt, Leipzig, Germany
• 1898 -- William James publishes Principles of
  Psychology
• 1900 -- Sigmund Freud publishes The
  Interpretation of Dreams

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1906 -- Ivan Pavlov reports his research on
classical conditioning.

• 1913 -- John Watson makes Behaviorism the
  dominant force in Psychology
• 1938 -- B.F. Skinner explains instrumental or
  operant conditioning
• 1959 -- Carl Rogers describes a counseling
  theory based on Humanistic principles
• 1988 -- Multiple journals acknowledge Cognitive
  studies as legitimate.

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Specialization in Psychology

• http//apa.org

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Research Methods in Psychology

• The five steps of the Scientific Method
• 1. Observation
• 2. Definition
• 3. Hypothesis building
• 4. Gathering evidence/testing the hypothesis
• 5. Theory building

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The order isnt absolute

• This is a cyclic process -- you can start at any
  step and move to the others.
• The goal is to objectively support or reject the
  hypothesis and/or theory
• Theory should tie multiple observations together.

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Falsification and theory building

• Good theory must be developed in ways that they
  can be tested -- proven true or false.
• Forces rejection of theories based on unproven
  and unprovable interventions
• the 2001 or Chariot of the Gods theory of alien
  intervention
• Creationist Science

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Specific methods used in Psychological Research

• case studies
• surveys
• observational studies
• correlation studies
• experimentation

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Case Studies

• An in-depth study of an individual, group, or
  situation.
• Clinical assessments of individuals in treatment
• Information movement in a company or agency

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Case Study Strengths

• Very specific
• Highly detailed
• Good internal validity
• May trigger other kinds of investigations

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Case Study Weaknesses

• Case may be atypical and misleading (Freuds
  Viennese neurotics)
• Anecdotal cases may overwhelm general truths.
  (Psychological effects of abortion)
• May over-rely on memory
• Given a thimbleful of dramatic facts we rush to
  make generalizations as large as a tub. Gordon
  Allport

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Surveys

• Asking people questions to develop a picture of
  there general attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.
• Marketing research (NWCs recent efforts)
• Political polling
• Sexual attitudes and behaviors

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Survey Methods

• Mail surveys
• Open ended interviews
• Questionnaires
• Telephone interviews
• They share the existence of a list of questions
  that are asked of participants.

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Questionnaire Problems - 1

• Difficulty in developing truly neutral questions.
• Texts example of not allowing vs..
  forbidding or censoring pornography or
  cigarette ads
• Would your rather increase defense spending or
  give the country to the godless Communists?

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Questionnaire Problems - 2

• Limits to what people can accurately remember.
• What was your total gross income from all
  sources during fiscal 1996?
• How old were you when you had your first sexual
  fantasy?

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Questionnaire Problems - 3

• Social Desirability issues
• How many times have you cheated on tests?
• Do you ever masturbate?
• How much alcohol do you drink every week?
• Comparing survey results with trace observation
  results in the Oregon alcohol studies.
• Validity questions in personality inventories
  like the MMPI

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Sampling Problems

• You cant ask everybody.
• The answers you get depend on who you ask.
• If you ask the wrong people, youll get a wrong
  answer.

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Sampling Definitions 1

• Population All the possible individuals in a
  group that could be surveyed.
• US population, about 290 million.
• NWC population, about 1200 full time equivalent
  students
• Sample A smaller, more manageable group drawn
  from the population

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Sampling Definitions 2

• Random Sample A sample where every member of
  the population has an equal chance of being
  selected for participation.
• Representative Sample A random sample that
  insures that relevant proportions of the
  populations are included.

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Sampling Definitions 3

• Sample of Convenience People who are handy for
  the researcher. Hence the huge number of studies
  done on students in General Psychology classes.
• Expert Sample Asking only people who should
  know what they are talking about. Is it better
  to ask a group of prison wardens or a sample of
  the general public about prison crowding?

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Sampling Bias

• Social Desirability (aka courtesy bias)
• Volunteer bias Is the sexual behavior of people
  who are willing to answer a lot of detailed
  questions about their sex lives the same as that
  of people who wont complete the survey?

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Sample Size

• Generally, large samples are more accurate than
  smaller samples
• A point-of-diminishing-return exists, where
  larger size doesnt improve accuracy very much.
• Random and representative sampling is more
  important than sample size -- the Hite Report
  vs. the Gallup Poll.

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Observational Studies

• Watching and recording the behavior of organisms
  in their natural environment.
• Sub-types
• naturalistic observation
• participant observation
• field experiments

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Naturalistic Observations

• Active observation and recording of behavior in a
  natural setting without influencing the
  situation. (Jane Goodalls work with chimps)
• Provides descriptions of behavior only -- not
  explanation or cause-and-effect relationships.

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Problems with Naturalistic Observations

• Observer effects Subjects behavior changes when
  they know they are being watched. (Minimized by
  concealing the observer)
• Observer bias Seeing/recording only what is
  expected. (Bloomers vs.. Non-Bloomers)

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Participant Observations

• The researcher overtly joins the group under
  observations with or without active
  participation.
• Margaret Meads work with Tahitian villages
• Hunter Thompsons study of the Hells Angels
• Central Problem Does the participation of the
  observer change the observed behavior?

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Field Experiments

• The manipulation of some variable in an
  observational study to observe effects
• Elevator riding at UW
• Problem not enough control. You cant be sure
  that what you manipulated cause the change in
  behavior

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Strengths and Weaknesses of Observational Studies

• Uses the natural environment
• Cant prove cause-and-effect

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Ethics and Observational Studies

• At what point does observation become an invasion
  of privacy?
• Greeting behaviors on a NWC sidewalk
• Humphrys (1970) tea-room trade study

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Correlation Studies

• Correlation A statistical measure of a
  relationship.
• A measure of how two or more variables are linked
  together in an orderly way.
• An indication of how one of the variables
  predicts the other variable(s).

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Positive Correlation

• An increase in one variable corresponds to an
  increase in the other.

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Negative Correlation

• An increase in one variable corresponds to a
  decrease in the other.

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Coefficient of Correlation

• The numbers that represent the strength and
  direction of a correlation.
• 1 equals a perfect positive relationship
• -1 equals a perfect negative relationship
• 0 equals no relationship

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Prediction

• The closer the coefficient is to 1 in either
  direction, the stronger (more predictive) the
  relationship
• -.79 is a stronger relationship than .34

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Causation

• Correlation is not causation.
• Just because two variables are related to each
  other does not necessarily mean one causes the
  other.
• Pots and pans are positively related to IQ (.83)

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The Experiment

• Psychologys preferred method of inquiry
• Marked by
• Control
• Manipulation

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Definitions

• Types of Groups
• Experimental
• Control

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Experimental Group

• The group where you manipulate some variable

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Control Group

• The group were everything is the same except the
  variable manipulated in the experimental group.

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Random Assignment

• Putting subjects into either group by chance to
  minimize group differences

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Variables

• Independent
• Dependent
• Confounding or Intervening

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Independent Variable

• The variable manipulated by the experimenter

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Dependent Variable

• The result or outcome of manipulation of the
  independent variable

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Confounding Variable

• Something that was not predicted or accounted for
  in designing/conducting the experiment that
  confused the relationship between the independent
  and dependent variables.
• The Hawthorne Effect
• The APA Internet Isolation study

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Operational Definitions

• An exact definition of terms in relationship to a
  particular, specific study or experiment.
• Student?
• Aggression?
• Attitude?

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Advantages of experimental work

• Establishes cause and effect relationships
• Reduces or eliminates alternative explanations
• Self-correcting through Replication

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Limitations of experimental work

• Efforts to control may create very artificial
  settings that may not validly reflect nature

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Statistics

• The language used in Psychology to communicate
  the results of research
• A tool used to determine if observed differences
  are real and not the results of chance

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Types of Statistics

• Descriptive
• Inferential

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Descriptive Statistics

• A summary of a group of quantifiable
  observations
• A shorthand way to express how the observations
  were alike and different

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Statistics of Central Tendency

• Whats the typical score (observation) in a
  group of scores (observation)?
• Specific statistics
• Mean
• Mode
• Median

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The Mean

• The arithmetic average
• Add up all the scores and divide by the number of
  scores

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Mean math

• 5
• 4
• 3
• 2
• 1
• __
• 15 / 5 3

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Problems with the mean

• Easily influenced by the addition of a few
  extreme score
• 5 20
• 4 4
• 3 3
• 2 2
• 1 1
• __ ___
• 15/5 3 30/5 6

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The Median

• The middle score in a distribution of scores
• 5
• 4
• 3
• 2
• 1

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The Mode

• The most frequently occurring score in a
  distribution of scores
• 6
• 5
• 4
• 4
• 3
• 2
• 1

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Statistics of Variation

• Central Tendency statistics tell how scores are
  alike. Variation statistics tell how they
  differ.
• Range
• Standard Deviation

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Range

• The gap between the highest and the lowest
  scores.
• high score 80 minus the low score 20 means
  the Range 60.

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The Standard Deviation

• A numerical way to describe how scores are
  distributed above and below the mean
• Gives the ability to express the distribution
  visually

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The Normal (bell-shaped) curve
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Skewed Distributions

• Small Standard Deviation a tall, skinny bell.
• Large Standard Deviation a short, fat bell.
• Bi-modal Distributions more than one high point.

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INFERENTIAL STATISTICS

• Answers the questions
• Could the differences between two groups have
  been caused by chance?
• and
• How confident can we be that we are right?

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Stated as Statistical Significance

• not about the importance of a difference, but
  that the difference is big enough to matter and
  not caused by some accidental difference between
  the groups,
• t-test, ANOVA, etc.

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Significance reported

• stated as a Probability figure
• Psychology generally uses the .05 level as
  standard (95) although some research is reported
  at the .1 (90) or .01 (99) level

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Ethics in research

• The effort to insure that participants (including
  animals) are protected from harm.

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General Ethical Considerations

• Primum est nocare First, do no harm.
• Informed consent
• Deception
• Confidentiality
• Debriefing/feedback