Lecture 1 and 2

Psychology

Scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour

Science

Systematic gathering of evidence to inform understanding - a lot of politics are involved

Methods of Psychological Science

• Purpose: Describe, predict, and explain

• Method: Systematically observe and record

• Results: Conclusions based on evidence

• Evaluation: Open, ethical, peer reviewed

The Scientific Method

• Observation, Question, Hypothesis, Experiment, Conclusion, Result

• Correlation does not equal causation

• Small sample size negates study

Most Psychological research is consulted on W. E. I. R. D. populations

• Western

• Education

• Industrialized

• Rich

• Democratic

(also an overeliance on graduate students)

Stanford prison experiment (1971)

Recruited people to be guards or prisoners - 4-6 weeks long and observed these people act - 4-5 days later they had to stop because the people believed their roles so well cops would borderline abuse the prisoners and they would just take and wouldn't complain - was stopped because of the ethical violations

Lead in Gasoline (1920s-1970s)

Gasoline used to have lead in it - around the 1920s, we started to see the lead affect people congnitive and neurodevelopmental a lot of research started to look into it since it was clearly bad gas companies wanted to save money since it cost more money to filter out the lead hired researchers to say lead in gas was safe or fine only stopped putting lead in gas around the 70s

IQ Research (1970s -

2000s)

In the 70s, they were showing that most African countries had the lowest IQ scores - clearly biased since they had completely different knowledge and prioritized different things in comparison to the Western world

Tuskgee Syphilis Study (1932 1972)

Wanted to understand how syphilis naturally progressed - recruited people in North America majority were black and watched the progression conducted this study despite there being a cure 10 years into the study

Replication Crisis

Many psychological studies fail to replicate - calling into question the reliability of the findings

Replication Crisis Example

Ex. Power pose - faulty research - 20 min long TED Talk - before you do something if you power pose -you will have more confidence - claimed that testosterone will also go up (male or female) and cortisol levels go down nobody was able to replicate the study

Publication bias

"Publish or perish" preference for publishing positive results, leading to a skewed understanding of research out comes

Producers of research

Plan, conduct and publish research studies

Consumers of research

Read, critically evaluate, and use research findings

Basic Research

• Theory driven

• Goal is to enhance knowledge

• More foundational - proof of concept

Translational Research

• Integration

• Takes basic concepts and applying it to real world to create empirically supported research

Applied Research

• Practice driven

• Goal is to solve problem

• Trying a concept in a real life setting

REB - Research Ethics Board

• Monitor and review human research

• Includes researchers , ethicists, law members , community members

• Make sure human research has people feeling safe , consentual, and ensure that they know that they can back out anytime

Belamont Report 1979

Foundational document created by the National Commission (USA) for the protection of human subjects of biomedical and behavioural research

Key concepts of the Belamont Report

• Concern for Welfare

• Respect for persons

• Justice

• Privacy

• Integrity

• Responsibility

Concern for Welfare

• Maximize benefits, while reducing harm

• Research should benefit individuals, communities, and Society (Beneficence)

• Researchers should minimize social, behavioural, psychological, physical, and or economic risks (Non-maleficence)

Respect for persons

• Researchers must respect the autonomy of research participants and protect those who lack the capacity to make their own decisions

• The right to participate, or not , without coercion in research (Autonomy)

• The right to be informed about benefits and risks in a study before agreeing to participate (Informed consent)

Justice

• Fairly distribute the benefits and risks of research

• Participants should be treated fairly and equitably - should also be compensated fairly (Equitable treatment)

• "No group should bear an unfair share of the burdens of participating in research or be unfairly excluded from the potential benefits" (Equitable Inclusion)

Privacy

• Refers to an individual's right to protect what information is shared with (and shared by) the researcher

• Confidentiality "obligation of an individual or organization to safeguard entrusted information"

• Privacy and concern for welfare - releasing people's private into can put people at risk at harm

• Privacy and respect for persons - researchers must inform participants how they will protect privacy and ensure confidentiality so participants can make informed decisions

Integrity

• Researchers should be accurate, truthful, and honest when reporting the methods and results of research

• Data fabrication - Invents data to fit the hypothesis

• Data falsification - Manipulates a study's results

• Plagiarism - Represents another's ideas as their own

Responsibility

• To adhere to the rules and standards of society (trust)

• Expected to be aware about laws, regulations and to respect them

REBs assess risks that are attributable to the research

• Minimal risk research poses no greater risk than what participants might encounter their day-to-day lives

• Greater than minimal risk allowed - but researchers must justify the benefits and put specific safeguards in place to minimize risk and protect the welfare of research participants (Clinical psych)

• Obligation to be ethical

• Safeguards - researchers should ensure safety routines in place

Consent must be informed

• Beneficence: study purpose ? Who is conducting the study?

• Benefits vs. Risks ?

• Justice: Who is included/excluded ? Who benefits

• Respect: What are my rights ?

Consent must be ongoing and documented

• Consent occurs before data is collected (most times)

• Formal consent process (form, verbal, etc)

• Participants may withdraw at any time without punishment

Deception

Occurs when participants are not fully informed of the true study purpose prior to data collection

Deception through omission

Purposefully omitting details

Deception through commission

Actively misleading participants

Some research may be "exempt" from needing consent

• Publicly available documents

• Secondary analysis of anonymously collected information, biological materials, or data that has been de-identified

• Non-obtrusive observation in public/naturalistic settings

Coercion

Compelling someone to act using pressure, threats, force

Undue influence

Compelling someone to act via rewards, incentives, or approval

Informed consent may be waived if

• Minimal risk of harm

• Public space, no reasonable expectation of privacy

• No direct interactions or intervention

• Data must be anonymous already anonymized

Animal Research Advantages

• Better understanding of psychological processes

• Improved Veterinary science and practice

• Deeper respect and care for animals

Animal Research Disadvantages

• Not all topics can be studied with animals

• Not all animal research generalizes to humans

• Animals can not give informed consent

Pre-register methods and hypotheses

• Methods and hypotheses should publicly registered in advance to prevent "HARKing"

• Hypothesizing After the Results are known (HARKing)

APA Publication Standards

• Plagiarism prevention

• Manuscript preparation

• Non-biased language

The peer review

• Rigorous and thorough

• Anonymous to increase honesty

• Double masked review to avoid bias

Open Science Principles

Researchers are making their research materials, data, and publications openly and freely to others