Unit 1

1/4/24

Psychology: The science of behavior and mental processes

Behavior: What we can see people actually do

  • facial expressions

  • body language

  • gestures

Mental processes: thinking, memory, language, dreaming, what goes on in head internally

  • influences emotions

ā­ need to use critical thinking: thinking that doesnā€™t blindly accept arguments and conclusions

ā­ need to ask questions

When we make decisions and look at info we sometimes make decisions based on

common sense: doing things that have worked in the past and seem logical

We also use intuition: inner voice/feelings that guide our behavior

Ways that we Limit our thinking

  • The hindsight bias/the I knew it all along phenomenon: The tendency to believe after learning an outcome that one would have foreseen it

  • overconfidence: the tendency to look for information that supports what we already believe causing us to ignore other information

  • False consensus effect: tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

1/5/24

The descriptive research strategies - simply describe behavior

  • Case study: observation technique in which one person (or more) is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

    • interviews subject

    • interviews others around them

      • Used to survey studentsā€™ teachers to see how they behaved in class as well as parents

      • Used also after people have committed crimes

  • Survey: a technique for ascertaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors of people usually by questioning a representative random sample of them

    • Framing: the way a question or statement is posed

      • Want the person to respond authentically

      • Makes a difference in the way a person is going to read whatā€™s presented to them

    • Population: all the cases in a group

    • Random sample: a sample that fairly represents a population because each member has an equal chance of inclusion

  • Naturalistic observation: observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

    • Modify our behavior when we notice other people are observing us

  • ā­We use descriptive strategies to see if a correlation exits

  • Correlation: a statistical measure that indicates the extent to which two factors vary together and thus how well either factor predicts the other

    • Is there a relationship between factors

    • Positive correlation: indicates a direct relationship, two things increase together to decrease together

      • Wanting to eat less to lose weight, eat less and lose

    • Negative correlation: indicates an inverse relationship, one thing increases the other decreases

      • Wanting to increase physical activity and lose weight, more and lose

    • Illusory correlation: the perception of a relationship where none exist

      • Thinking about someone then getting contacted by that person, believing if you think about them they will contact you

    • ā­ Correlation does not prove causation

1/8/24

In order to determine cause and effect we use experimentation

Experiments: enable a researcher to focus on the possible effects of one or more factors by:

  1. Manipulating the factors of interest

  2. Holding constant or controlling other factors

Independent variable: the experimental factor that is manipulated or the variable whose effect is being studied

Dependent variable: the behavior or mental process that is being measured, may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable

Theory: an explanation using an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations, a useful summary

Hypothesis: testable prediction

Experimental group/condition: condition of the experiment that exposes subjects to the independent variable

Control group/condition: condition of an experiment that contrasts with the experimental treatment and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment, the group that doesn't receive the independent variable

Random assignment: assigning subjects to experimental and controlled groups by chance

  • Subjects arenā€™t told about which group they are in so that there isnā€™t bias

Placebo: an inert substance or condition that may be administered instead of a presumed active agent such as a drug to see if it triggers the effects believed to characterize the active agent

Replications: repeating a research study using different subjects, in order to make sure that the experiment is conducted the exact same for future experiments using the operation definition: a statement of the procedure (operations used to define research variables specifies the procedures that manipulate the independent variable and how the dependent variable was measured )

Eliminating bias

  • Double-blind procedure: an experimental procedure in which both the subject and the research staff are ignorant or blind about whether the subject has received the treatment or the placebo

Statistical data

  • Mode: the most frequently occurring score in a distribution

  • Mean: the mathematical average of a distribution

  • Median: middle score in a distribution, half scores above half scores below

  • Range: the difference between highest and lowest scores in a distribution

  • Standard deviation: a computed measure of how much score varies around the mean

  • Statistical significance: statistical statement of how likely it is that an obtained result occurred by chance

Ethics in Human Research

The American Psychological Association established these

  • Informed consent: participants must be informed in advance about the general nature of the research and any potential risk, have the right to refuse participation or withdraw at any time

  • The right to be protected from harm and discomfort

  • Right to confidentiality: individual data about participants should never be discussed or released

  • Right to debriefing: participants have a right to receive a complete explanation of the research at the end of the study, if it involves deception

Ethics of Animal Research

Reason that animal research is done

  • Interest in animal behavior as a topic of study

  • Data from animal studies may apply to humans

  • Easier to do some types of studies (genetics) due to the shorter life span of animals

  • Easier to exercise more control over experiments with animals as compared to humans

  • Procedures that are not ethical to perform on ethical may be considered acceptable when performed on animals

ā­ Animals used in research must have clean housing with adequate ventilation, appropriate food, and be well cared for