Honours%20Seminar

1
Honours Seminar

• Lecture 4 Debates in Psychology

2
Debates in Psychology

• Recent test data have shown that girls have
  higher reading scores on standardised tests than
  boys.
• What are the educational implications of this
  difference?
• What are the policy implications of this
  difference?
• How does research translate into policy?

3
What is an effect size? SD Units between 2
means
N
Girls
Boys
Reading Scores
4
The public thinks in black/white fashion

• The public does not think about probabilities,
  nor is very good at thinking about statistics
• e.g., broccoli prevents cancer
• What predicts suicide?

5
Overview of the Rind et al. study (1998)

• CSA and psychopathology correlated .04 to .18
  across 18 studies
• Relation not stronger when duration, force, or
  frequency of abuse controlled
• Consensual abuse particularly unrelated
• Nature of psychopathology not a factor
• Paper was published in Psychological Bulletin,
  then became the focus of special interest groups
  and talk show hosts
• Special interest groups focus on homosexuality,
  pedophilia, religion, and law

6
What happened?

• Attacks on science
• Attacks on values
• Attacks on the right to ask questions whose
  results may contravene conventional wisdom
• Attacks on funding
• Attacks on the rights to publish research findings

7
Social responsibility towards science

• What is peer review?
• What is ethics?
• How do we prevent misinterpretation of science?
• Example Studying PTSD in the miltary

Common Sense vs. Scientific Thought
8
Government

• Who is Brian Baird?
• What personal costs were associated with APA and
  the Rind article?
• How does he compare with Galileo?
• What does he suggest APA should do next time
• How does public belief filter the dissemination
  of science?
• How does government control science

9
Sternberg

• Logic vs. Emotion
• Rational vs. Intuitive thinking
• What is the purpose of science To entertain?
  Or to make your life better?
• Space shuttle Challenger
• Dr. Phil
• Fundamental attribution bias The questionable
  behavior of others is trait-like that of
  oneself is situational (examples, chat arguments,
  reality shows)