Psychological Research Flashcards

Experiment Analysis

• Experiment vs. Natural Setting: Despite a natural setting, it's an experiment due to controlled variables and manipulations.
• Independent Variable: Defined operationally, needs identification based on the specific experiment.
• Dependent Variable: Defined operationally, needs identification based on the specific experiment.
• Importance of a "Blind" Confederate: Prevents bias; the confederate's behavior isn't influenced by knowledge of the mood condition.
• Random Assignment: Ensures groups are equivalent at the start, controlling for confounding variables.
• Ethical Considerations: Requires weighing benefits (knowledge gained) against potential harm to employees (awareness of being studied).

Analyzing and Interpreting Data

• Impact of Extreme Scores on the Mean:
  • Group 1 has earnings of five ordinary people.
  • Group 2 has earnings of four ordinary people plus Steven Spielberg's earnings.
  • The means are vastly different due to one extreme score.
• Measures of Central Tendency:
  • Mean: Affected by extreme scores.
  • Median: The middle score when ranked; unaffected by extreme scores.
  • Mode: The most frequent score; useful for popularity or preference.
• Median Explained:
  • Definition: The central score in a ranked distribution.
  • Odd Number of Scores: The median has an equal number of scores above and below it.
  • Example: Each group has a median income of 53,000.
  • Advantage: Unaffected by extreme scores.
  • Even Number of Scores: Average the two middle scores.
  • Usage: Income level data often use the median because the mean is sensitive to extremes.
• Mode Explained:
  • Definition: The most frequently occurring score.
  • Example: The mode is 39,000, occurring twice in each group.
  • Usage: Useful for information on preference or popularity.
  • Example: Determining the most popular child in a classroom.
• Common Use of the Mean:
  • The mean is the most common measure of central tendency in psychological research.
  • It is a key component in calculating measures of dispersion.

Measures of Dispersion

• Definition: Descriptive statistics indicating the spread of scores in a sample.
• Purpose: To understand the variability within the data.
• Range:
  • Definition: The difference between the highest and lowest scores.
  • Example: Mood ratings of four students (Sarah: 7, Sun Mee: 6, Josh: 2, Rodney: 5).
  • Mean: The mean equals to \frac{20}{4} = 5.
  • Range Calculation: 7 - 2 = 5.
  • Limitation: Simplistic estimate, can be misleading if it only considers extremes.
• Standard Deviation:
  • Definition: Measures how much scores vary around the mean.
  • Challenge: The sum of each person's difference from the mean is always 0.
  • Solution: Square each difference to remove negative numbers.
  • Calculation: Square root of the average squared deviation from the mean.
    • The standard deviation formula and calculation:
    • Step 1: Calculate the mean: \frac{(7 + 6 + 2 + 5)}{4} = 5
    • Step 2: Calculate the differences from the mean for each participant (Sarah: 7-5=2, Sun Mee: 6-5=1, Josh: 2-5=-3, Rodney: 5-5=0).
    • Step 3: Square the differences: (Sarah: 2^2=4, Sun Mee: 1^2=1, Josh: (-3)^2=9, Rodney: 0^2=0).
    • Step 4: Sum the squared differences: 4 + 1 + 9 + 0 = 14
    • Step 5: Divide by the number of participants minus 1: \frac{14}{(4-1)} = \frac{14}{3} = 4.67
    • Step 6: Take the square root: \sqrt{4.67} \approx 2.16
  • Interpretation: Small standard deviation means less variability; large means scores are far from the mean.
  • Reason for Subtracting 1: Accounts for using the sample mean to calculate variability.

Inferential Statistics

• Purpose: To draw conclusions about observed differences or correlations and assess whether results are likely due to chance.
• Definition: Mathematical methods to determine if data support a research hypothesis.
• Example Study:
  • Research Question: Relationship between expressions of positive emotion and interpersonal success.
  • Method: Videotaping job candidate interviews and coding for Duchenne smiling.
  • Results: Mean smiles for not called back = 3.5, mean smiles for called back = 6.5.
  • Question: Is the difference of 3 smiles significant or due to chance?

Critical Evaluation of Psychological Research

• Media Limitations:
  • Journalists and media personnel lack training in psychological research.
  • They may struggle to evaluate information and focus on sensational findings.
  • Media reports often lack detail and qualifications.
• Overgeneralization:
  • Media reports often omit details about the sample.
  • Sample characteristics (number of participants, gender, ethnicity) are crucial for interpretation.
  • Example: Original "fight or flight" research only included men.
• Group vs. Individual:
  • Group statistics may not apply to every individual.
  • Consumers may misinterpret their experience if it doesn't match group averages.
  • Example: Developmental milestones do not characterize all children equally.
  • Albert Einstein did not start talking until he was 3 years old.
• Single Study Limitations:
  • No single study provides definitive answers.
  • Conflicting results are common in psychological research.
  • Answers emerge from multiple studies with similar conclusions.
• Causation vs. Correlation:
  • Avoid drawing causal conclusions from correlational studies.
  • Correlation does not imply causation.

Sources of Psychological Information

• Academic Journals:
  • Findings are submitted for peer review.
  • Peer review ensures higher scrutiny compared to popular media.
• Media Reliability:
  • Respected newspapers (e.g., The New York Times, The Washington Post) and magazines (e.g., Time, The Atlantic) are more trustworthy.
  • Tabloids (e.g., National Enquirer) and unverified online sources are less reliable.

The Scientific Method and Health and Wellness

• Expressive Writing:
  • James Pennebaker's research shows that writing about traumatic life events leads to health and well-being benefits.
  • Initial correlational study compared survivors of spousal suicide and accidental death.
  • Survivors of spousal suicide were more likely to get sick because they were less likely to talk about their loss.
• Experimental Studies:
  • Participants were randomly assigned to write about either their most traumatic event (experimental) or an uninteresting topic (control).
  • Wrote for 20 minutes on three or four consecutive days.
  • Results: The trauma writing group had better physical health.

Ethical Principles in Research

• Balancing Act: Ethical principles seek to balance the pursuit of knowledge, and the well-being, rights, and dignity of participants.
• Key Issues Addressed by APA Guidelines:
  • Informed consent
  • Confidentiality
  • Debriefing
  • Deception
• Informed Consent:
  • Participants must know what their participation will involve.
  • Example: In a dating study, participants should be informed that a questionnaire might stimulate thoughts about their relationships that they have not considered.
  • Participants can withdraw at any time.
• Confidentiality:
  • Researchers must keep individual data confidential and anonymous when possible.
  • Confidential data can be linked to participants' identities; anonymous data cannot.
• Debriefing:
  • Researchers inform participants of the study's purpose and methods after completion.
  • Preliminary information can be given beforehand but should not affect behavior.
• Deception:
  • Used when revealing the study's purpose would alter behavior.
  • Example: Risk-taking and trust study where participants interacted with a confederate.
  • Deception must not harm participants, and debriefing is essential.
  • Researchers can never deceive participants about actual harms that may occur in a study.
  • Informed consent is violated in deception studies, so participants should have the option of withdrawing consent after debriefing.
• Federal Oversight:
  • The Office for Human Research Protections ensures participant well-being.
  • Addresses ethical issues in research on vulnerable populations.

Ethical Treatment of Research Animals

• Animal Research:
  • Used to understand and solve human problems.
  • Animal studies have produced important benefits to human life.
• Ethical Considerations:
  • Using nonhuman animals poses an ethical dilemma since they cannot provide consent.
  • APA members using animals account for about 5 percent of all psychological research.
  • 90 percent of animal research involves rats and mice.
• Guidelines:
  • Researchers follow standards for housing, feeding, and maintaining well-being.
  • They weigh potential benefits against possible harm and avoid unnecessary pain.