Psyc 100 lec 2 (science)

2 core beliefs of science

1. UNIVERSE operated according to certain NATURAL LAWS

2. such laws are DISCOVERABLE and TESTABLE

now what is psychological science?

-HUMAN mental processes/behaviours OPERATE according to certain NATURAL LAWS (discoverable and testable)

how is psychological science different from other sciences?

-humans are very VARIABLE (few things remain constant like even body temp/anatomy varies)

-other science has definite constant like speed of light of avogadros number

-lots of subjective judgment

Pyschology vs Pseudopsychology (pseudoscience)

-Psychology: use SCIENTIFIC METHOD to study

-Pseudopsychology: NO USE OF scientific method

treating psychology as a scientific endeavor helps us AVOID:

BIAS (disorted beliefs BASED ON subjective sense of reality)

-not a moral flaw, but must be aware of and limit influence of bias

example of bias in psychologist? who

-SIGMNUD FREUD (psychoanalysis-recognize unconscious mental prcoesses)

-assumed what goes on in ppls unconscious minds -BIASED by his own life/view (ex. he imagined that unconscious sexual urges were very important)

3 types of reasoning

1. DEDUCTIVE reasoning (deductive-broad basic principles to specific situations)

2. INDUCTIVE reasoning (inductive-small specific situations to general truths)

3. HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVE reasoning (educated guess based on science)

is this an example of deductive, inductive, or hypothetico-deductive reasoning? “I have collected detailed data about home and away game wins over several seasons” → “I can say that there appears to be a home arena effect”

inductive (reasoning from small specific situations to more general truths)

is this an example of deductive, inductive, or hypothetico-deductive reasoning? “research Ive read lead me to think that home teams usually win” → “I predict that teams playing in their home arena will win more often than not” → “I’ve collected detailed data over several seasons and my prediction is confirmed”

hypothetico-deductive (based on previous research, set controlled observations to support hypothesis)

is this an example of deductive, inductive, or hypothetico-deductive reasoning? “the home team usually wins” → “the home team in this game will win”

deductive (broad principles applied to specific situations)

define a hypothesis

general statement about the way VARIABLES relate that is objectively falsifiable (capable of being proven wrong)

SCIENTIFIC METHOD for each: deductive, inductive, hyptheticodeductive reasoning

DEDUCTIVE: Theory - Prediction - Observation/Experiment

INDUCTIVE (opposite) : Observation/Experiment - Prediction - Theory

HYPOTHETICDEDUCTIVE: Hypothesis - Observation/Experiment - hypothesis supported or not (theory built)

6 steps in how psychologists conduct research:

1. Identify QUESTIONS

2. develop HYPOTHESIS

3. select RESEARCH METHOD (choose partipants, collect data)

4. ANALYZE DATA (accept/reject hypothesis)

5. seek scientific REVIEW, PUBLISH, REPLICATE

6. BUILD THEORY

when reading TITLE and ABSTRACT of scientific articles, what should u be able to identify

-key VARIABLES

-sample characteristics (who was studied)

-sample size N

-how many/what kind of studies

-find main conclusion

briefly describe 3-pass approach to read paper

first pass - title/abstract/intro/headings/conclusion/references

second pass - detailed read (figures, info)

third pass: more detailed. understand assumptions/gaps

In the hypothesis, what is this called: condition, event, or situation that is studied

variable

2 types of variables? identifty each in this sentence: “using Instagram for more than 6 hours a day will lead to increases in depressive symptoms”

Independent variable: variable u manipulate

Dependent variable: variable u measure (changed depending on the IV)

instagram is IV

depressive symptoms are DV

what must variables be?

OPERATIONALIZED (able to be measured)

what to consider when choosing participants for a study

-population or sample? (sample is portion of population selected for study)

-RANDOM SELECTION

-minimize sampling BIAS (ex. selecting group thats likely to confirm ur hypothesis)

2 types of research methods?

1. Descriptive and Correlational Research

2. Experimental Research

key characteristics of descriptive/correlational VS experimental research? also compare purpose, advantages, and disadvantages

DESCRIPTIVE/CORRELATIONAL:

-demonstrate RELATIONSHIP between variables without specifying a causal relationship

-ex. case studies, naturalistic observation, surveys

-PURPOSE: observe, collect, record data (meets DESCRIPTIVE goal of psyc)

-advantages: good for developing early ideas, easy to collect data, reflective of actual behaviour

-disadvantages: little to no control over variables, biases, can’t explain cause/effect

EXPERIMENTAL:

-controlled observations (manipulate independent variable to see effect on DV)

-ALLOWS for CAUSAL CLAIMS abt variable relationships (causal mean one thing cause another)

-PURPOSE: identify cause/effect (meets EXPLANATION goal of psyc)

-advantages: precise control over variables to identify cause/effect

-disadvantages: ethical concerns, limits, artificial/lab conditions, confounding variables (confusing, mix up and get inaccurate relation), biases

list one advantage and 2 disadvantages for each situation: Descriptive research: an intensive study of one person. (naturalistic): Observe ppl behaving as they normally do

1. Intensive study of one person

-advtg: helps develop early ideas abt phenomena

-disadvtg: bias and cant apply to general population

2. Observe ppl

-advtg: see actual human behaviour

-disadvtg: bias and Hawthorne effect: when ppl change behaviour because they know theyre being studied.

2 advantages and disadvantages of SURVERYS (descriptive research)

advtg:

-gather info

-may be able to measure relationship strength between variables

disadvtg:

-participant bias

-direction of relationship between variables is unknown

whats the solution to avoid bias in an experiment (term for it)

Double-blind procedure (neither participant nor researcher knows who is in which group)

when analyzing data, what things describe the way things are, and what indicated if theres a relationship between variables?

mean, standard deviation, percentages describe the way things are

correlations indicate relationship

describe each: correlation coefficient, positive correlation, negative correlation

coefficient: between -1 and 1, strength and nature of relationship (1 is perfect positive, -1 is perfect negative, ZERO MEANS NO RELATIONSHIP) (close to zero is weak)

positive correlation: if one variable increases, other increases

negative correlation: if one variable increases, other decreases

what do inferential statistics indicate in experimental research?

-if the hypothesis is supported or if theres meaningful difference between the groups

which of these describe induvidual variables, and which tell us if a mean is truly different from another mean? mean, F test, percentage, std, T test

mean, percentage, std describe induvidual variables

T and F tests tell if mean rly diff from another mean

describe standard deviation

-how much the participants’ scores vary from another

how can a p value tell u if results significant or not

if p value LOWER than 0.05, results show something REAL (unlikely to get results if there werent a relationship)

what step of research is PsychINFO in

5 (share research findings thru scientific journal articles)

what 2 things in canada force ethical research

1. Code of Ethics (canada psychological association)

2. Research Ethics Boards (REBs) are ETHICS POLICE

list some ethical guidelines for research

-consent (informed of risks/benefits)

-protect from harm/discomfort (if necessary, shud be minimum and balanced by strong benefits)

-confidentiality

-participation must be voluntary

-deception/incomplete disclosure (dont mislead/withold info)

-debrief (some study require deception, so must be fully informed after study is over)

-CANADIAN COUNCIL ON ANIMAL CARE (animals only used if research beneficial to animals OR humans. only used if no alternative. smallest amount of animals used. limited pain.)