Post on 18-Dec-2015
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PSYCHOLOGYHow psychology is used every day to get desired behaviors
• Getting a child to eat
• Getting your little sister to do work for you
• “outpsych” your opponent (poker)
• Getting students to behave
*This is how ordinary people use psychology
Psychology
• What does it mean?
Inner sensations- mental processes
Observable behavior
Psychology: A Definition
The science of behavior and mental
processes.
•The Need for Psychological Science
98% Certainty w/o going under
1. The area of the US in square miles?2. American battle deaths in Spanish-
American War?3. GM advertising budget in 1999?4. Percentage of officers in the U.S.
army that were female in 2000?5. The population of Afghanistan in
2001?
1. Area of US:2. Afghan population:3. Battle deaths: 4. GM advertising:5. Female officers:
3.6 million sq. miles26.8 million385$2.9 billion9.953
Why The Need for a Psychological Science?
• Limits of intuition and common sense
• 1. Hindsight bias• 2. OverconfidenceWe will come back to these later.
What psychologists study
1. Common everyday behaviors
– Eating, bathing, sleeping, speech patterns, ability to remember, etc.
2. Everyday Situations
- interview (role of appearance, gender, age, distance)
-parties (life of party vs. wallflower)
What psychologists study cont.
3. Abnormal behavior
- Mental disorders (examples?)
- Crime, drugs, etc.- Psychologists first
try to diagnose the problem by determining the cause- Fired, marital
problems, history, etc.
4 GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY
1. DESCRIBE2. EXPLAIN3. PREDICT4. INFLUENCE
* FOCUS IS ALWAYS ON BEHAVIOR *
Psychology’s Big Issues
Stability v. Change
Continuity v. Discontinuity
Nature v. Nurture
Stability v. Change
• As the years pass, do we change or remain the same?
• Do we become adults or are we always just big kids?
• Personality traits, physical appearance, sense of humor, tastes, etc…
Continuity v. Discontinuity
• Does growth occur gradually or in stages?– One continuous process or…– marked by significant transitions?– Stage Theorists
Psychology and other sciences
• Physics: instruments for measuring bodily changes
• Chemistry: how the body’s chemistry relates to mood, performance, and personality disturbance (adrenalin, hormones)– Medications
• Biology: information about sense organs, nervous system, and glands– Brain- basis of human
behavior– Understanding of
heredity
Focus is always on??????
BEHAVIOR
Other sciences cont.• Anthropology: the
study of the culture, or way of life of people in all parts of the world– How people learn and
are affected by their surroundings
– Gender roles determined by culture not biology
• Sociology: closely related to many areas of psychology– focus mainly on groups– Study of behavior of
human groups
• Biology versus Experience• Am I the way I am because I was
born that way or because of my surroundings?
Nature v. Nurture
Can I ever be like these people, or does nature give me limitations?
Psychology’s Perspectives
The Big Seven
Neuroscience Perspective
• Focus on how the physical body and brain creates our emotions, memories and sensory experiences.
If you could not remember the names of your parents and went to a psychologist who adheres to the neuroscience perspective, what might they say?
Evolutionary Perspective
• Focuses on Darwinism.
• We behave the way we do because we inherited those behaviors.
• Thus, those behaviors must have helped ensure our ancestors survival.
• Mother nature practicing selective breeding
How could this behavior ensured Homer’s ancestors survival?
Psychodynamic Perspective
• Fathered by Sigmund Freud.
• Our behavior comes from unconscious drives.
• Usually stemming from our childhood.
What might a psychoanalyst say is the reason someone always needs to be chewing gum?
Behavioral Perspective
• Focuses on our OBSERVABLE behaviors.
• Only cares about the behaviors that impair our living, and attempts to change them.
If you bit your fingernails when you were nervous, a behaviorist would not focus on calming you down, but rather focus on how to stop you from biting your nails.
BEHAVIORISTS
• How people learn• Rewards and
punishment
John B. Watson
Cognitive Perspective• Focuses on how
we think (or encode information)
• How do we see the world?
• How did we learn to act to sad or happy events?
• Cognitive Therapist attempt to change the way you think.
Meet girl Get Rejected by girl
Did you learn to be depressed
Or get back on the horse
Social-Cultural Perspective
• Focus on how your culture effects your behavior.
Even in the same high school, behaviors can change in accordance to the various subcultures.
Humanistic Perspective• Focuses on positive growth• Attempt to seek self-actualization• Therapists use active listening and
unconditional positive regard.
Mr. Rogers would have made a great Humanistic Therapist!!!
Approaches cont.• HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
– people try to achieve their maximum potential (self actualization)
– Promote health and self-growth• ECLECTIC
– Combination of approaches
Psychological Research Methods
Excavating Human Behaviors
Psychologists Analyze Data Scientifically
• Behavior must be measurable
– detected by direct observation or other measuring devices
• Methods and data must be objective
– no opinions or bias• Scientists must be able
to communicate the results of their experiment to others
– Meetings, journals
Guidelines cont.
• Procedures must be repeatable– Other scientists can
do the same procedure or experiment
• Must use an organized and systematic approach in gathering data
Hindsight Bias• The tendency
to believe, after learning the outcome, that you knew it all along.
Only after Kerry won the Iowa Primary, did people begin to say that Dean was too liberal. What would people say about Kerry if Dean won?
Overconfidence• We tend to think we know
more than we do.
82% of U.S. drivers consider themselves to be in the top 30% of their group in
terms of safety
81% of new business owners felt they had an excellent chance of their
businesses succeeding. When asked about the success of their peers, the answer was only 39%. (Now that's
overconfidence!!!)
Types of Research
• Descriptive• Correlational• Experimental
Descriptive Research• Any research that observes and
records.• Does not talk about relationships,
it just describes.
What is going on in this picture?
We cannot say exactly, but we can describe what we see.
Thus we have…..
Types of Descriptive Research
• The Case Study
• The Survey
• Naturalistic Observation
• Tests
The Case Study• Where one person (or situation) is
observed in depth.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of using a tragedy like the Columbine School Shootings as a case study?
The Survey Method
• Used in both descriptional and correlational research.
• Use Interview, mail, phone, internet etc…
• The Good- cheap, anonymous, diverse population, and easy to get random sampling (a sampling that represents your population you want to study).
Random Sampling
Why do we sample?
• One reason is the False Consensus Effect: the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors.
• Demonstration (Heads down)
Survey Method: The Bad
• Wording Effects
• Low Response Rate
• People Lie or just misinterpret themselves.
How accurate would a survey be about the frequency of diarrhea?
• 72% interested in “plants and trees”• 39% interested in “botany”
• 62% whites agree “problems faced by blacks brought on by blacks themselves” (white interviewer)
• 46% whites agree with black interviewer
• A majority oppose an amendment “prohibiting abortions”
• A majority support “protecting the life of an unborn child”
Naturalistic Observation
• Observing and recording behavior in natural environment.
• No control- just an observer.
What are the benefits and detriments of Naturalistic Observation?
METHODS cont.• DIRECTED
OBSERVATION:– Involves observing
behavior under controlled conditions in an experimental or a laboratory setting
– ADVANTAGE:• Allows for control of
events and behaviors
– DISADVANTAGE:• Taking an organism
from its natural environment may change its behavior
METHODS cont.• TESTS
– I.Q.– Aptitude (A.S.V.A.B.)– Achievement (A.C.T.,
S.A.T., M.A.P.)– ADVANTAGES:
• more objective data than interviews and questionnaires
• Results can be expressed in statistical terms
• Scores can be compared with scores for large groups
– DISADVANTAGES:• Results do not give full
and final answers to individual problems
Correlational Research• Detects relationships between
variables.• Does NOT say that one variable
causes another.
There is a positive correlation between ice cream and murder rates. Does that mean that ice cream causes murder?
Measured using a correlation coefficient.
• A statistical measure of the extent to which two factors relate to one another
How to Read a Correlation Coefficient
Do you think there is a correlation between
t.v. watching and G.P.A?
Experimental Research
• Explores cause and effect relationships.
Eating too many bananas causes Constipation
Steps in Designing an Experiment
1. Hypothesis2. Pick Population: Random Selection then
Random Assignment.3. Operationalize the Variables4. Identify Independent and Dependent
Variables.5. Look for Extraneous Variables6. Type of Experiment: Blind, Double Blind
etc..7. Gather Data8. Analyze Results
Experimental Vocabulary
• Independent Variable: factor that is manipulated
• Dependent Variable: factor that is measured
• Extraneous Variables: factors that effect DV, that are not IV.
• Experimental Group: Group exposed to IV
• Control Group: Group not exposed to IV
• Placebo: inert substance that is in place of IV in Control Group
Experimentation
Purpose of an expt: Establish cause / effect relationship
General hypothesis: food effects learning
Specific (operationalized) hypothesis: students who eat an oatmeal raisin cookie before class each day will have higher average scores on the semester final than students who don’t eat a cookie.
Eating cookies before class each day will lead to higher average
scores.Variables:
Independent (IV)Controlled by experimenterThe “cause” variable- cookies
Dependent (DV)Predicted by experimenterThe “effect” variable- scores
Eating cookies before class each day will lead to higher
average scores.What if kids get cookies and A’s?Groups (conditions): to establish
different levels of the IVExperimental group
Exposed to IVGet cookie
Control groupNot exposed to IVNo cookie
Eating cookies before class each day will lead to higher
average scores.• Experimental
Group– Cookie– 95%
• Control Group– No cookie– 82%
• Confounding Variables– Environmental
– Expectations
– Individual differences
Random SamplingTo select participants from
populationAllows you to generalize results
Random AssignmentTo divide participants into
groupsControls confounding
variables
Demonstration
Eating cookies before class each day will lead to higher
average scores.• Experimental
Group– Cookie– 95%
• Control Group– No cookie– 82%– 85%– 93%
Statistical Significance
p valuelikelihood a result is caused by chancecan be no greater than 5%p ≤ .05
Replication
Non-replicated results are preliminary.
Linus Pauling (1970). Vitamin C prevents colds.
• Experimental Group– Vitamin C
• Control Group– Placebo
• Experimental Group experienced 45% fewer colds
Experimental Design Terms
• Hypothesis• Operational definitions• Participant selection• IV & DV• Experimental & control groups• Confounding variables• Random assignment• Placebo control• Double blind procedure• Statistical significance (p value)• Replication
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD cont.
• Subjects in an experiment– Organism, human or animal, participating in
an experiment• Responses are the dependent variable• Random: each individual has an equal chance of
being selected (random selection)• Experimental group:
– The group in which the condition under study is present
• Control group:– The group in which the condition is not present
(random assignment)
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD cont.
• Three advantages to using animals
1. Behavior of animals can be controlled in a manner not possible with humans (cages, etc.)
2. Short life spans – Study several
generations
3. Some experiments can be performed on animals but not on humans
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD cont.
• American Psychological Association (APA): sets guidelines for the treatment of subjects– Keep personal information confidential,
protect from harm, inform of the nature of the experiment
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD cont.
• PROBLEMS WITH THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
1. If a subject knows he/she is in an experiment, they may change their ordinary behavior
2. Selection of individuals to participate in studies
3. Generalizing from results – Students/public rats/people
4. Opinions of the experimenter may affect the results– Selection and treatment of subjects
5. Protection of the privacy of subjects- Names and individual results must be kept
confidential
longitudinal studies
• A psychologist studies the same group of people at regular intervals over a period of years to determine whether their behavior and/or feelings have changed and if so, how.
cross-sectional studies.
• In this study, psychologists organize individuals into groups based on age.
• Then, these groups are randomly sampled, and the members of each group are surveyed, tested, or observed simultaneously.
Analyze Results
• Use measures of central tendency (mean, median and mode).
• Use measures of variation (range and standard deviation).
Statistical Reasoning• Measures of central tendency• Mode
– most common– 4
• Mean– arithmetic average– 20/5 = 4
• Median– middle score– 4
• 4 3 5 4 4
SKEWED DISTRIBUTIONS?
• When a few extreme scores significantly affect the mean.
Central Tendency 1968 TOPPS Baseball CardsNolan Ryan $1500Billy Williams $8Luis Aparicio $5Harmon Killebrew $5Orlando Cepeda $3.50Maury Wills $3.50Jim Bunning $3Tony Conigliaro $3Tony Oliva $3Lou Pinella $3Mickey Lolich $2.50
- With Ryan:- Median = $2.50- Mean = $74.14
Elston Howard $2.25Jim Bouton $2Rocky Colavito $2Boog Powell $2Luis Tiant $2Tim McCarver $1.75Tug McGraw $1.75Joe Torre $1.5Rusty Staub $1.25Curt Flood$1
- W/O Ryan:- Median = $2.38- Mean $2.85
Statistical Reasoning
• Measures of variation– Range– Variance and Standard Deviation
Standard DeviationPunt
DistanceDeviation
From Mean
Deviation Squared
36
38
41
45
-4
-2
+1
+5
16
4
1
2546
Mean =160/4=40 yds.
46/4=11.5=Variance
Std. dev.=
variance=
11.5=3.4 yds
Statistical Reasoning
A. Describing dataB. Measures of central tendencyC. Measures of variationD. Characteristics of the normal curve
Statistical Reasoning
Inference 1. Does the sample represent the
pop.? a. Non-biased sample-good b. Low variability-good c. Larger samples-good
Statistical Reasoning
2. Are differences between groups statistically significant?
a. Big differences-good b. Low variability-good c. Big groups-good
F.A.Q.’s
• A. Can lab expts illuminate real life?
• B. Does behavior depend on one’s culture?
• C. Does behavior vary with gender?• D. Why do psychologists study
animals?• E. Is it ethical to experiment on
animals?• F. Is it ethical to experiment on
people?• G. Is psychology free of value
judgments?• H. Is psychology potentially
dangerous?
F.A.Q.s
F. Is it ethical to experiment on people?
Yes, if the APA’s ethical guidelines are followed.
1. Informed consent 2. Protection from harm 3. Confidentiality 4. Debriefing
How should participants be chosen?
• Good answers use and make clear your understanding of the terms “sample” and “population.”
• Good answers explain how to draw a random sample.
• Ex. “All the assembly line workers for a company could be the population. I would draw a random sample of 40 of them by picking names from a hat.”
Create operationalized hypothesis
• Good answers make an educated guess (“Workers who are complimented will work harder”)
• Good answers develop specific, measurable ways to define compliments and hard work.
• Ex. “10 compliments will be given at 4 specific times.” “Supervisors will give compliments from a pre-developed list.” “Hard work will be measured by using the number of items produced each hour.”
Identify IV and DV
• IV=compliments• DV=work effort• Do not propose a direction when
stating the variable (“the DV is an increase in work.”)
• People are never the variables (“the IV is the people who get complimented.”)
Describe the Groups
• Experimental group gets compliments.
• Control group doesn’t get compliments.
• Use the terms!
Confounding Variables
• Do not confuse random assignment with random sampling.
• Be reasonable!!!• “The company policy will be to have
people sleep in a hotel with no TV or radio.”
• “I will provide a seminar on the importance of sleep.”
• “All workers must be paid the same.”