Unit 0 - The Scientific Attitude, Critical Thinking, & Developing Arguments

The Scientific Attitude:

  • curiosity

  • skepticism

  • humility

Socrates & Plato (400 BC)

  • They believed that the mind continues after the body dies and that knowledge is innate (born within us)

Notable Psychology Figures:

  • W. Wundt

    • Father of pscyhology

    • Established first experimental lab

  • G. S. Hall

    • President and founder of APA (American Psychology Association)

    • Established first American lab at John Hopkins

  • M. W. Calkins

    • First female president of APA

    • Completed first Ph.D but denied recognition

  • M. F. Washburn

    • First woman to receive official Ph.D

  • Sigmund Freud

    • Psychoanalysis - the ways our unconscious mind and childhood experiences affect out behavior

  • Charles Darwin

    • Evolutionary theorist - believed that thinking developed because it was adaptive

  • J. B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, and Pavlov

    • Behaviorism - view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes

  • C. Rogers & A. Maslow

    • Client-centered therapy - person centered, non-directive approach

    • Humanistic psychology - emphasizes human growth potential

Psychology Research Methods

  • Case Studies - non-experimental technique in which one individual or group is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles

  • Naturalistic Observation - non-experimental technique of observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate or control the situation

  • Survey - non-experimental technique for obtaining the self-reported attitudes or behaviors or a particular group, usually by questioning a random sample of the group

  • Population - all those in a group being studied, from which samples may be drawn

  • Experiment - research method in which investigator manipulates one or more variables (independent variables) to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process (dependent variable)

    • Random assignment automatically indicates an experiment in a word problem

  • Cross-sectional study - research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time

  • Longitudinal study - research that follows and retests the same people/person over time

Potential Errors of Observation

  • Hawthorne Effect - animals or people being watched do not behave normally; observer should be hidden from view

  • Observer Bias “Research Bias” - the tendency to see what we expect to see, or what we want to see

  • Social desirability bias - bias from people’s responding in ways they resume a researcher expects or wishes

  • Self-report bias - bias when people report their behavior inaccurately

  • Sampling bias - a flawed sampling process that produces an unrepresentative sample

Correlation & Experimentation

  • Correlation Coefficient - a statistical index of the relationship between 2 things (from -1.00 to +1.00)

    • Strong relationship = closer to ±1.00; weak relationship = closer to 0

  • Illusory Correlation - perceiving a relationship where none exists, or perceiving a stronger than actual relationship

  • Confounding Variables (3rd variables) - variable that influences both DV and IV, causing fake/false association

Example of normal distribution:

  • 68% falls one standard deviation away from the mean (at 0)

  • 95% falls within two standard deviations away from the mean (between -2 and 2)

  • Skewed data - representation of scores that lack symmetry around average value

    • Positive skew - starts high before mean and declines to lower values

    • Negative skew - starts low before the mean and rises up towards higher values