Chapter 1 1

Chapter 1: Research Methods

Need for Psychological Science Hindsight bias and judgmental overconfidence show that we cannot rely on intuition and common sense. Critical thinking must also be employed in order to perceive facts from nonsense. Hind sight Bias he thought that once a person find out the outcome! that the person knew the outcome all along and could have predicted it. Proves that we need psychological research Common sense describes what has happened more easily than predict what will happen "verconfidence hinking is limited #ven when you are $%%& sure about something! self prediction may change up to $'& of the time. (hen prediction becomes wrong! individual)s attempt the *+ was close) e,cuse "ften leads to the overestimation of our potential. Skepticism and humility must be added to come back to reality Scientific -ttitude Sometimes refutes skeptics Being skeptical but not cynical! open but not gullible Skeptical testing could separate the real facts .e/uires skepticism and humility Need to reject our own ideas Copernicus and Newton! are e,amples of people who used the scientific attitude Critical hinking e,amines assumptions! discerns hidden values! evaluates evidence and assess)s conclusion without blindly accepting arguments and conclusions. Scientific 0ethod Scientific heory e,plains through principles that organi1es and predicts behaviors or events. By organi1ing isolated facts! theory simplifies things. Connection of observed dots! we may discover a pattern Hypothesis is testable prediction! often started by a theory .esearch allows one to test or reject the theory

Chapter 1 2 "perational 2efinition is a statement of the procedures used to define research variables. .eplication when a procedure could be repeated with different participants in different situations to see whether the same result is found. - theory is successful if it links and organi1es observed facts and if it implies hypothesis that offer testable predictions and practical applications.

Case Study -n observation techni/ue in which one person is studied in depth in hope of revealing universal principles Case studies can suggest hypotheses for further study. 3nrepresentative information can lead to mistaken judgments and false conclusions. -necdotal stories may elevate the truth 2oes not work to find the general truths that cover individual cases Survey 4ooks at many cases in less depth -sks individuals about their behaviors and opinions -nswers depend on wording 0ay use random sampling .andom Sampling 5alse consensus effect is the tendency to overestimate the e,tent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors Populations includes all the cases in a group from which samples may be drawn from a study .andom sampling represents a populations because each member has an e/ual chance of inclusion 6ery large samples may be more reliable Basis of generali1ing is from representative sample of cases Naturalistic "bservation "bserving and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation 2oes not e,plain behavior! it describes it .obert 4evine and -ra Noren1ayan 7 compared pace of life Can be used with correlation research Correlation (hen two traits seem to accompany each other! they correlate Correlation coefficient is a statistical measure of a relationship

Chapter 1 3 .eveals how closely two things vary together and thus how well wither one predicts the other Scatter plots show how closely related the traits are associated with #ach point plots the value of the two variables Positive correlation means that two variables seem to rise or fall together - negative correlation could mean inverse as well as negative relationships +nverse means that while one variable is increasing! the other is decreasing - weak correlation means that there is little or no relationship8 the coefficient is then 1ero Correlation indicates the possibility of a cause8effect relationship but does not prove the cause.

+llusory Correlations - perceived non e,istent relationship #,plains superstitions! beliefs. 0ore likely to notice and remember the occurrence of two events in se/uence Can be easily deceived by estimating that there is a correlation amidst random events. Perceiving order in random events .andom se/uences often don)t look random #,ample8 5lipping coins 7 '%& of getting each side Streaks may be found in any random data Patterns or se/uences occur naturally in random data #,ploring Cause and #ffect #,periment is a research method in which an investigator manipulates one or more factors to observe the effect on some behavior or mental process. By random assignment of participants! the e,perimenter aims to control other relevant factors. +ndependent 6ariable is being manipulated 2ependent 6ariable is the effect being observed. #valuating herapies 2ouble blind procedures8 when an e,periment is being performed without the knowledge of either the participant nor the administer Placebo #ffect is researching the effect of e,pectations! could be used to see whether a medicine is needed or not #,perimental Condition is the condition of an e,periment that e,poses participants to the treatment.

Chapter 1 4 Control condition is the condition of an e,periment that contrasts with the e,perimental condition and serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect of the treatment .andom assignment is assigning participants to by chance! minimi1es e,isting differences.

+ndependent and 2ependent 6ariables he +ndependent 6ariable is the value being manipulated within a given e,periment he dependent variable is the effect produced by manipulating the independent variable. - variable is anything that can vary .andom assignment is preferred so that all other variables could be e/ual and not favor one thing. Statistical .easoning By throwing out a big round number! one could easily mistake reality. 4ike when we compare percentages and what they actually mean. -n e,ample given in the te,tbook is8 9$%& of people are lesbians or gay men. "r is it : to ;& as suggested by various surveys<= 2escribing 2ata "ne important thing while reading graphs is not to forget to read scale and figure out the range. he same graph could look different if given different scales or a different range. 0easures of Central endency - single score that represents a whole set of scores is also known as the measure of central tendency. 0ode is the most fre/uent number repeated within a given set of numbers 0edian is the midpoint 0ean is the average of the numbers. >ou can find this out by adding up all the given numbers and then dividing it by the number of numbers you have. he mean could be e,aggerated or diluted based on a few e,treme scores. 4ike for e,ample! the mean of ;! ?! @ and :%$ is ';.'! even though there are not many numbers above ';.'. since the information is skewed. 0easures of 6ariation 6ariation describes how similar or different scores could be. (hen a person has low variability! we may predict his ne,t move! since there is not much of a chance that he will change his ne,t move. he range is determined based on how far the lowest and highest scores are.

Chapter 1 5 he standard of deviation is a measure of how much numbers may deviate from one another. +t shows how much individual numbers vary from the mean. +t is more informative than just the mean.

(hen is an observed difference reliable< hree principles that shall make an observed difference more reliable includes $. .epresentative samples are better than biased samples :. 4ess8variable observations are more reliable that those that are more variable. Aconsistent scores are more reliable than those with more variation.B ;. (hen a study includes more cases! it is more reliable than having a study with fewer cases. (hen is a difference significant< (hen there is a big difference among an average! that difference is known as the statistical significance. +t also means that this difference was not due to chance variations and that the mean is reliable. Statistical difference also shows the *likelihood) that the result will happen by chance. Can 4ibratory #,periments illuminate #veryday 4ife< he main idea is that *the resulting principles8not the specific findings will help everyday behaviors.) 2ouglas 0ook claims that the e,periment)s purpose is not re8create the e,act behaviors of everyday life but to test theoretical principles. 2oes Behavior 2epend on "ne)s Culture Culture is the shared ides and behaviors that one generation passes on to the ne,t. +t does matter since it influences our perspective on certain topics. Heritance does play a role though! since dysle,ia can be seen more in certain races than others! the variation of languages are influenced by our cultures and society and so does the way we live our lives! the choices that we make. 2oes Behavior vary by gender< Cender does play a role in behavior. (omen are more likely to build relationships and carry on a conversation and men are more likely to relate through advice. his information shows us a way to communicate differently with each gender. +t is a known fact that men are less likely to talk about personal feeling as much as woman! such differences! re/uire different approaches. (hy do Psychologists study animals<

Chapter 1 6 Human physiology resembles that of many other animals. -nimal e,periments could lead to curesDvaccines for humans

+s it ethical to e,periment on animals< .esearchers defend themselves by stating that the number of animals they use for research is only $& of the number of animals killed for food. Psychologists for the #thical reatment of animals want researchers to use naturalistic observation while testing rather than libratory manipulation. #thics vary from culture to culture Some say that the benefits out way the costs Scott Plous noted that each individual has a list of animals they are more concerned about. -P- advocates minimal pain and stress placed upon animals. #,perimenting on people he -P- states that in order to e,periment on people! the following guidelines must be followedE $. "btain the informed consent of potential participants :. protect them from harm and discomfort ;. treat information about individual participants confidentially ?. fully e,plain the research after the e,periment 6alue of Fudgments Bias definitely plays a role in how an individual may interpret results and study it. Plays a role in which goals we would like to reach Psychology8 2angerous< *power to deceive as well as enlighten) -ddresses common problems! meant to enlighten.