Chapter 1 Notes

Modules 1 & 2 - Introduction to Psychology, Scientific Method and History

See the boldface -- Can you explain these terms?
(See the table at the end for terms and definitions)

The Science of Psychology
1. Psychology attempts to describe, predict, and explain behavior and mental process by using the methods of science to answer questions.
  1. Science relies on evidence, not just coincidental information or memory. Often our memory of the few times that things went well stick with us and influence our beliefs while we selectively forget the times when things did not so work out so well.
  2. Common sense is not enough. It lacks the evidence to support our beliefs
  3. Pseudoscience is that belief in outcomes assumed to be facts but without evidence and replication to prove their existence. Remember, once we thought the earth was the center of the universe and later that it was flat! And no, the shape of your skull does not foretell your personality (Gall's Phrenology)
Definition of Psychology
1. "The study of behavior and mental processes"
2. Psyche = "the mind" and Logos = "the study of"
3. Key points
  1. Science, the study of behavior and mental processes, done via the scientific method.
  2. Although today psychology is considered a behavioral science this is only a recent historical effort.
4. It includes our physical, emotional, cognitive and creative aspects of the mental process.
5. Our behavior is considered the sum of all of these: our observable and measurable human actions.
The Scientific Method
1. Start with a problem - do you have a question?
2. Form a theory about this problem, sometimes preceded by an observation.
3. Generate your hypothesis - a statement about the relationship of variables or the cause of your observation or problem.
4. Observation - carefully look for these relationships or those factors that cause the behavior or support your hypothesis.
5. Replicate the process again and one should have the same results.
Research Methods - Research designs to answer questions about our hypotheses
1. Naturalistic Observation
  1. Listen, watch, record, where and when happens. For example, a playground is a good example of a natural laboratory to study children's play behaviors.
2. Laboratory Observation
  1. More controlled but not actually an experimental design. Done in a controlled environment.
3. Case Study
  1. Intensive investigation of a single subject
  2. Often seen in medical cases because of the predictive course of diseases.
4. Survey
  1. Ask your subjects directly about themselves or perceptions.
5. Experiment
  1. Only method to control variables and to explain cause and effect.
Correlations
1. The above methods of observation, case study and survey, are correlational methods.
2. They look at the relationship between variables and measure how they change together or "co-relate."
3. This relationship can be measured and or plotted to visually show this relationship, remember our class scatterplot?
4. The obtained correlation statistic varies from (-1) to (+1). The close to (-1) or (+1) the stronger the relationship. Values closer to (0) show less and less relationships.
5. Has 2 properties, note:
  1. Strength, the numerical value, with 1 being the strongest, either negative or positive.
  2. Direction, the qualitative measure of the relationship. Look at the sign, either (-) or (+).
6. A danger lurks here - One cannot infer a cause and effect relationship from correlations, why? (remember our discussions about this?)
The Experiment
1. The design to test for cause and effect
  1. The best design with the best controls
  2. All elements need to be Operationally Defined
2. Elements of the experimental design
  1. Subjects, actually we call them students, clients, or participants today.
  2. Sampling - a method to obtain our subjects
    1. Must be random - everyone has an equal chance of selection
    2. Must be representative
    3. Must generate a significant number of subjects for the study
  3. Must have significant results as demonstrated by application of statistics to prove cause and effect
  4. We use the results from the sample to generalize our findings back to the population.
3. Variables
  1. Independent - also called the experimental variable, that which we think is the cause of the effect. Controlled and assigned by the experimenter. Effect is assumed to be measured by the Dependent Variable
  2. Dependent - The measure or effect, numerical in nature, is best measure.
  3. Extraneous or Confounding - those variables that are not taken into consideration during an experiment or are unknown that may contribute to the effects.
Generalization to the population of interest or Experimental Validity (Remember the discussion of the Hawthorn effect, why did everyone do better, good example of following the rules of the scientific method)
1. Internal Validity - does the design measure what it is supposed to measure? Are the variables controlled? Subject and experimenter variables affect the validity of the experiment.
  1. Halo effect, placebo effects, experimenter effects, time, history etc.
2. External Validity - Measure of generalization of the results of the experiment.
3. Replication - Reinforces outcome that effect is due to cause of the IV on the DV and not due to chance if an experiment can be duplicated with the same results.
Ethics and experiments
1. Human subjects must be made aware of risks and benefits of the study.
2. Methods and procedures insure this is done and also protects animals from abuse.
3. Special consideration must be give to children who cannot understand and cannot give an informed consent.
History of Psychology
1. Wilhelm Wundt
  1. First psychology lab in 1879 in Leipzig Germany
  2. Applies the scientific method to the study of human behavior using a technique called introspection.
  3. Not the best of science but a start.
2. William James
  1. Founder of American Psychology
  2. His view is called Functionalism, which is more interested in understanding consciousness than the organism itself.
3. John Watson
  1. Founder of Behaviorism
  2. Studied only observable and stimuli and behavior
4. Ivan Pavlov
  1. His work with dogs opened our understanding of learning. The principles of learning he pioneered is referred to as Classical Conditioning
5. Sigmund Freud
  1. Founded psychoanalysis, a belief that unconscious needs, drives and thoughts determine behavior.
6. B.F. Skinner
  1. Extended on behavior theory and researched the role of reinforcement on learning.
  2. Best know for work on operant conditioning.

*Key Terms*
Applied Research	Scientific study that aims to solve specific practical problems of everyday life.
Basic Research	Basic research, or empirical research, aims to increase psychology's scientific knowledge base through conducting original experiments or studies
Behavioral Perspective	The behavioral perspective is concerned with how people learn observable responses behavior. Explains complex behavior using learning theory.
Biological Perspective	The biological perspective explains behavior as a result of biological and neural activity. For example, explaining depression as an neurotransmitter imbalance.
Case Study	Observing one or few subjects from a population in depth over a long period of time and then generalizing the conclusions to the entire population of interest.
Cognitive Perspective	The cognitive perspective focuses on how people process, store, and retrieve information. A cognition is a thought. Cognitive psychologists are interested in how thinking affects behavior and feelings.
Control Condition	The control condition of an experiment is one in which the treatment of interest, or independent variable, is withheld so that comparison to the experimental condition can be made. Example: The control condition for an experiment testing of a new method of teaching math would be a group of subjects receiving no change in their math instruction.
Correlation	Correlation is a statistical measure that indicates the extent to which two factors vary together and thus how well either factor predicts the other; correlations can be positive or negative, weak or strong. A perfect correlation may be +1 or -1, a 0 indicates no relationship between the variables. Example: If there is a positive correlation between height and shoe size the taller the person the larger the shoe size. If the shoe size is smaller as a person is taller the correlation is negative.
Critical Thinking	Critical thinking is careful reasoning that examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, assesses conclusions, and does not blindly accept arguments.
Dependent Variable	The dependent variable of an experiment is the factor being measured or controlled by the investigator. Example: In the study of the effects of teaching a old dog new tricks, the number of tricks learned is the dependent variable. Hint: look for a number, measurement or time etc.
Double Blind	A double-blind procedure is an experimental procedure in which neither the experimenter nor the research subjects are aware of which condition is in effect. It is used to prevent experimenters' and subjects' expectations from influencing the results of an experiment.
Experiment	An experiment is a research strategy in which a researcher directly manipulates one or more independent variables in order to observe their effect on another variable, the dependent variable. The value of an experiment is that it demonstrates that the independent variable causes an effect on the dependent variable.
Extraneous Variable	A variable the experimenter did not control or was not aware of that may or may not have an effect on the dependent variable.
False Consensus Effect	The false consensus effect is the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors.
Hindsight Bias	Hindsight bias refers to the tendency to exaggerate the obviousness of an outcome.
Hypothesis	A hypothesis is a testable guess or prediction about the outcome of a study. Example: In order to test whether listening to music affects grades, an experimenter would predict that students who listen to music while they study would receive lower grades than those who did not listen to music while studying.
Illusory Correlation	Illusory correlation is the perception of a relationship between two events when none exists.
Independent Variable	The independent variable of an experiment is the factor being manipulated and tested by the investigator. Example: In the study of teaching an old dog new tricks the age of the dog is the independent variable.
Laboratory Observation	Laboratory observation involves observing and recording behavior in a controlled setting, the laboratory, where extraneous variables can more easily be controlled.
Naturalistic Observation	Naturalistic observation involves observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations. For example: In studying the gender preferences of children's playmates during recess one would conduct his or her observations at the school playground during recess.
Nature-Nurture Issue	The nature-nurture issue is the controversy over the relative contributions of biology (nature) and experience (nurture) to the development of psychological traits and behaviors.
Operational Definitions	Operational definitions are statements of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables.
Placebo	A placebo is an inert substance or condition that is administered instead of the actual substance or treatment condition to see if it causes the same effect as would be expected with the actual experimental substance or condition. For example: In testing the reaction of students to a new antidepressant medication some students would receive a pill containing no active ingredients. This pill would be a placebo.
Population	A population consists of all the members of a group being studied. For example: In researching whether listening to music during study improves grades of psychology students the population of interest would be all students, anywhere, taking psychology.
Pseudoscience	Conclusions based on beliefs not science.
Psychoanalytic Perspective	The psychoanalytic perspective emphasizes the importance of unconscious drives and conflicts in behavior.
Psychology	Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes.
Random Assignment	Random assignment is the procedure of assigning subjects to the experimental and control conditions by chance in order to minimize preexisting differences between the groups. Random means everyone has the same chance of being selected for a group as anyone else.
Random Sample	A random sample is one that is representative because every member of the population has an equal chance of being included.
Replication	Replication is the process of repeating an experiment, often with different subjects and in different situations, in order to see whether the findings generalize to other subjects and circumstances.
Scientific Method	A process of finding answers to research questions that involve the following steps: - State the Problem - Form a Theory - Develop a Hypothesis - Make Observations - Replicate
Social-cultural Perspective	The social-cultural perspective is concerned with how behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures.
SQ3R	Study method using the process of Survey, Read, Rehearse and Review as you work with the material.
Survey	The survey is a descriptive research strategy in which a representative, random sample of people are questioned about their self-reported attitudes or behavior.
Theory	A theory is a detailed and comprehensive explanation for why things happen the way they do.
Variables	Elements of a scientific study that are subject to change.

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