Abnormal Psychology: Research Methods

Double blind

________: participants and assessors are unaware of what kind of treatment participants are getting.

Longitudinal designs

________: study one group of people over time.

Competence

________: ability to provide consent.

Research Design

________: a method to test hypotheses.

Proband

________: The person who has the trait of interest (e.g.

Placebo

________: some participants are given an inactive treatment (e.g., sugar pill), but participants dont know which treatment they are getting.

Endophenotype

________: genetic mechanism that contributes to problems causing certain symptoms.

Genetic linkage studies occur in

groups of people who all have the trait of interest.

Clinical trial

________: experiment designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment.

Hypotheses in science are formulated so that

they are testable.

Phenotype

________: observable characteristics (e.g., eye color, degree of shyness)

Comprehension

________: understanding about benefits and risks of participation.

Placebo effect

________: something changes simply because the participant expects the change to occur (e.g., expecting to feel better when taking an inactive pill)

Voluntarism

________: lack of coercion.

Correlation

________: assess the degree to which levels of certain variables are linked to levels of other variables.

Health promotion

________: increasing healthy behavior in entire population (even people not at risk for developing disorders)

Control group

________: provides a comparison point.

External validity

________: extent to which results of a study are generalizable to the population its studying.

Familial aggregation

________: tendency of a disorder to run in families.

Association studies occur in

people with and without the trait of interest

Universal prevention

________: target specific risk factors but not specific people.

Independent variable

________: the variable that causes or influences behavior.

Research Design

a method to test hypotheses

Independent variable

the variable that causes or influences behavior

Dependent variable

the behavior influenced by the independent variable

Internal validity

extent to which results of a study are due to the independent variable

External validity

extent to which results of a study are generalizable to the population its studying

Statistical methods

branch of mathematics

Statistical significance

asks are results due to chance

Clinical significance

asks are results clinically meaningful

Correlation

assess the degree to which levels of certain variables are linked to levels of other variables

Examples

AIDS, trauma following disaster

Clinical trial

experiment designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment

Example

Administering a drug

Control group

provides a comparison point

Placebo

some participants are given an inactive treatment (e.g., sugar pill), but participants dont know which treatment they are getting

Double-blind

participants and assessors are unaware of what kind of treatment participants are getting

Placebo effect

something changes simply because the participant expects the change to occur (e.g., expecting to feel better when taking an inactive pill)

Start treatment at different times in different conditions (e.g., in home vs. school settings)

see if changes occur in conjunction with introduction of treatment

Genotype

genetic makeup

Phenotype

observable characteristics (e.g., eye color, degree of shyness)

Endophenotype

genetic mechanism that contributes to problems causing certain symptoms

Example

Group of genes responsible for impairing working memory in schizophrenia

Proband

The person who has the trait of interest (e.g

Familial aggregation

tendency of a disorder to run in families

Issue of shared environment

families usually live together, so similarities may be due to environmental factors as well as genetics

Sibling pairs separated after birth

Do they show similarities even if they were raised in different environments

Can be combined with adoption studies

If identical twins are both adopted separately and raised apart, shared outcomes are more attributable to genetics

Health promotion

increasing healthy behavior in entire population (even people not at risk for developing disorders)

Universal prevention

target specific risk factors but not specific people

Selective prevention

targets groups of people at risk

Indicated prevention

targets specific individuals who are showing early signs of a disorder

Cross-sectional designs

take a cross section of the population at different age groups

Longitudinal designs

study one group of people over time

Have to take into account specific experiences of the generation being studied (cross

generational effect)

Competence

ability to provide consent

Voluntarism

lack of coercion

Full information

necessary information to make an informed decision

Comprehension

understanding about benefits and risks of participation

Informed consent became more widely discussed after N

Nazis had forced people to participate in research in WWII

Ethics are determined by

institutional review board (IRBs) and and the APA ethics code

Sometimes, needs of science are at odds with

needs of research participants

Research ethics determine

the degree to which each should be prioritized

Replication of research is critical -

protects against fluke results

Research programs allows for

more nuanced, complete picture of a phenomenon

Components of a research program:

• set of interrelated research questions

• draw on several methodologies in finding answers

• conducted in stages often involving replication

Difficulties in cross cultural research:

• definitions of abnormal behavior

• variance in presentation

• availability of valid assessment instruments may be limited

Cross cultural research increases understanding of

etiologies, symptom presentations, and treatments

Cross cultural research helps people overcome

ethnocentric views

With longitudinal designs, you have to take into account

specific experiences of the generation being studied (cross-generational effect)

Cross-sectional designs:

take a cross section of the population at different age groups and compare cohorts on traits of interest

Universal prevention:

target specific risk factors but not specific people

Selective prevention:

targets groups of people at risk

Indicated prevention:

targets specific individuals who are showing early signs of a disorder

If the genetic marker tends to co-occur with the trait,

conclude that the trait is probably caused in part by genes that are in close proximity to the genetic marker

Genetic linkage and association studies:

examine known genetic markers and compare them against the trait being studied

Twin studies can be combined with

adoption studies

If identical twins are both adopted separately and raised apart,

shared outcomes are more attributable to genetics

Compare identical to fraternal twins:

if a trait is genetic, expect to see greater concordance in identical twins compared to fraternal twins

Adoption studies are one way to

separate the effects of the environment

Issue of shared environment:

families usually live together, so similarities may be due to environmental factors as well as genetics

If there is a genetic influence in family studies,

expect to see the trait more in first degree relatives compared to second degree

Genotype:

genetic makeup