To produce knowledge (pure research) or solve practical problems (applied research)◦ Theory – explains, organizes and enables

one to predict behavior or events◦ Hypotheses – a statement to test and

revise theories; a measurable relationship/prediction between variables (beer parties & GPA)

◦ Replicate – repeat studies independently to extend validity and reliability of research

o Hindsight Bias “I-knew-it-all-along” phenomenon

o The mind builds its current wisdom around what we have already been told. We are “biased” in favor of old information.o For example, we may stay in a

bad relationship because it has lasted this far and thus was “meant to be.”

A letter comes in the mail informing an individual that he was accepted into a college. When he tells his mother she says, “I really had a feeling that you were going to get in” (even though she had expressed doubts to his father earlier that week).

An individual notices that outside, it’s beginning to look a little bit gray. He says to himself, I bet that it’s going to rain this afternoon. When it actually does rain, the individual tells himself that he was certain that it would when he saw the clouds rolling in earlier

Overconfidence Error 1:Performance

Overconfidence Error 2:Accuracy

We are much too certain in our judgments.

We overestimate our performance, our rate of work, our skills, and our degree of self-control.

We overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge. People are much more certain than they are accurate.

Overconfidence is a problem in eyewitness testimony.

Overconfidence is also a problem on tests. If you feel confident that you know a concept, try explaining it to someone else.

The 'God Complex', we tend to believe that we know the answer to complicated problems. This can be seen in daily gossip where individuals confidently propose solutions to world issues.

Ex. Teachers sometimes decide that some individuals and groups are more intelligent than others.

Scientific Attitude – driven by curiosity and critical thinking; examining assumptions, uncovering hidden values, evaluate evidence and assessing conclusions (TWA and 60 Minutes).

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57590192/twa-flight-800-crash-inside-the-missile-theory/

o Confirmation bias A tendency to search for information that confirms one’s preconceptionso decision makers have been shown to actively seek out and assign more weight to

evidence that confirms their hypothesis, and ignore or underweigh evidence that could disconfirm their hypothesis.

o False consensus effect The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes.oEx: Romantic relationships between people often start off with a glow as

hormones and False Consensus overshadow real differences. However, the cloud-9 effect eventually wears off as the loving couple eventually discover that they are not, after all, that similar (and in fact often are amazingly incompatible!).

Belief bias - The tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning.◦ Ex: I will accept that some good ice skaters are not professional

hockey players, but will reject an assertion that some professional hockey players are not good ice skaters (which, although it seems unlikely, is possible).

Belief perseverance - The tendency to cling to one’s conceptions after the basis on which they were formed are discredited.◦ Zombie Apocalypse??

always asking new questions◦ “That behavior I’m noticing in that guy… is that common

to all people? Or is it more common when under stress? Or only common for males?”

Hypothesis: Curiosity, if not guided by caution, can lead to the death of felines and perhaps humans.

not accepting a ‘fact’ as true without challenging it; seeing if ‘facts’ can withstand attempts to disprove them.◦ Skepticism, like curiosity, generates questions: “Is there

another explanation for the behavior I am seeing? Is there a problem with how I measured it, or how I set up my experiment? Do I need to change my theory to fit the evidence?”

Humility refers to seeking the truth rather than trying to be right; a scientist needs to be able to accept being wrong.“What matters is not my opinion or yours, but the truth nature reveals in

response to our questioning.” David Myers

o Descriptive MethodsoNaturalistic Observationo gathering data about behavior; watching but not intervening

oCase Studies o observing and gathering information to compile an in-depth

study of one individual

oSurveys and Interviewso having other people report on their own attitudes and behavior

Examining one individual in depth. ◦ Benefit: can be a source of ideas

about human nature in general Example: cases of brain

damage have suggested the function of different parts of the brain (e.g. Phineas Gage)

◦ Danger: overgeneralization from one example; “he got better after tapping his head so tapping must be the key to health!”

◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us8nNoGXAc8

◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwDvJnTyN2I

◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GhbVFjIaN0

Observing “natural” behavior means just watching (and taking notes), and not trying to change anything.

This method can be used to study more than one individual, and to find truths that apply to a broader population.

A method of gathering information about many people’s thoughts or behaviors through self-report rather than observation.

Keys to getting useful information:◦ Be careful about the wording of questions◦ Only question randomly sampled people

Correlational research (May include survey, interviews, tests, naturalistic observation, longitudinal, cross-sectional studies)

Experimental

Quasi-Experimental (no random assignment to condition) - used to estimate the causal impact of an intervention on its target population

o Naturalistic observationoAdvantages oAvoids observer effect/reactivity (of subject)oProvides ideas for further research

oDisadvantages oPotentially time consuming and expensiveoNo control of variables or over extraneous variablesoNot replicable

oExamples – Piaget, Naturalistic examples

o Surveys, interviews, questionnaires and tests

oAdvantages oRelatively inexpensive, easy way of collecting large

amounts of data (attitudes, interests, aptitudes) oAssuming a true random sample – generalizable

oDisadvantagesoPoor construction or administration of questionsoPoor sample= unrepresentative (not generalizable)oMeasures beliefs, not behaviorso Issues of self-report, memory and honesty

o Case studies – Of individuals, groups or phenomena

oAdvantagesoPotentially, deeply revealing about individuals

oDisadvantagesoNo experimental control oSample size extremely small – generalizability? oPotential bias, both subject and experimenter

oExamples, Phineas Gage, Freud and Little Hans

o Archival Research

oAdvantagesoEnormous amounts of data used to see trends relationships

and outcomes

oDisadvantages oNo control over data collection or if reliable

oExamples – Analysis of studies conducted by other researchers, or look at historical data (e.g. the Wild Child)

o Longitudinal methodo There are three major types of longitudinal studies:

o Panel Study: Involves sampling a cross-section of individuals.

o Cohort Study: Involves selecting a group based on a specific event such as birth, geographic location or historical experience.

o Retrospective Study: Involves looking to the past by looking at historical information such as medical records.

Cross-sectional method◦ Study on entire population or representative subset◦ Beer and Obesity

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14506485 Advantages?

Cross-cultural method◦ How cultural factors influence human behavior;

specific areas of interest might include differences in emotions, language acquisition, and family relationships.

◦ Purposes?

o Correlational studies look at the degree of relationship between variables and not the effect of one variable on another variable

o Correlation DOES NOT equal causation. A relationship may be suggested, but it does not prove that one variable causes the other to change. For example, a correlational study may suggest a relationship between academic success an self-esteem, but it does not mean that academic success causes increases self-esteem…

Place a dot on the graph for each person, corresponding to the numbers for their height and shoe size.

In this imaginary example, height correlates with shoe size; as height goes up, shoe size goes up.

Height

Shoe size

Partic GPA TV Hours/ week

#1 3.1 14

#2 2.4 10

#3 2.0 20

#4 3.8 7

#5 2.2 25

#6 3.4 9

#7 2.9 15

#8 3.2 13

#9 3.7 4

#10 3.5 21

o Examples of Positive Correlationo 1. SAT scores and college those with higher SAT scores also

have higher grades in collegeo 2. Happiness and helpfulness as people’s happiness level

increases, so does their helpfulness

o Examples of Negative Correlationo 1. Education and years in jail people who have more years of

education tend to have fewer years in jailo 2. Crying and being held babies held less tend to cry more

o Correlation coefficient (Pearson-product moment correlation coefficent) measures 3 typeso+1.00 = Positive (or direct)o -1.00 = Negative (indirect)o 0 = No correlation

o Illusory correlation detecting relationships where none exist (weather=cold). Other examples?

o Third-Variable oResearch showed a strong correlation between contraceptive

use and number of electrical appliances in the home. Why?o Example 1o Sleeping with one's shoes on is strongly correlated with waking

up with a headache.o Therefore, sleeping with one's shoes on causes headache.

o Important Terms/Concepts. Most know…must knowo hypothesiso independent/dependent variableso operational definitions (quantifiable)o population and random/stratified sample o representative sampleo generalizabilityo experimental and control group (or condition)o random assignmento placebo use and effecto confounding variableso single and double blind procedureso statistical method/significanceo replication

o Population the group researchers wish to studyoAll humans?oPeople with depression?oAdolescents?

o Sample a subgroup of your population

o In order for results to be generalizable to the population, a sample must be representative (size is key)

o Random sample everyone in the population has an equal chance of being in your sample

Independent variable: a variable that stands alone and isn't changed by the other variables you are trying to measure.

Ex: someone's age might be an independent variable. Other factors (such as what they eat, how much they go to school, how much television they watch) aren't going to change a person's age.

Dependent variable: a dependent variable is exactly what it sounds like. It is something that depends on other factors.

Ex: a test score could be a dependent variable because it could change depending on several factors such as how much you studied, how much sleep you got the night before you took the test, or even how hungry you were when you took it.

o Definitions should be clearly defined and quantifiable.

o Operational definitions reduce subjectivity and expectancy effects and allow for replication.

o Ex: For example, if you were doing a study on the impact of sleep deprivation on driving performance, you would need to operationally define what you mean by sleep deprivation and driving performance.

o Confounding variables - an extraneous variable in a statistical model that correlates (positively or negatively) with both the dependent variable and the independent variable.

o Ways to control for confounding variablesoLarge sample size (more apt to be representative)oRandom assignment to groups (control and experimental)oBlinding - Single v. doubleoSingle controls for reactivity (observer effects)oDouble controls for expectancy effects (research bias)

oPlacebos or sham treatment

o Quasi-Experimental design "experiments that have treatments, outcome measures, and experimental units, but do not use random assignment to create the comparisons from which treatment-caused change is inferred." (Cook & Campbell)

o A between-subject design Different subjects. This enables random assignment of subjects to conditions

o A within subjects design Same subjects where each is exposed to all of the conditions (uses repeated measures)

o Experimenter Bias

oSelf-fulfilling prophecy - The experimenter arrives at conclusions that support his/her hypotheses based on the need to do so, not data

oHalo effects - The tendency for people to transfer a positive opinion based on irrelevant information, i.e., people tend to think that more attractive people are also smarter

o Observer effect (aka reactivity) the effect the experimenter’s presence has on subjects

oThe Hawthorne effect is the tendency for change to occur

simply because subjects are aware an experiment is being conducted.

oSocial desirability bias is the tendency for subjects to be able to respond in an experiment in a way that they believe would be most socially desirable.

o Ethics- methods of conduct or standards for proper and responsible behavior.

o APA Requirements/Guidelines - Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2002)o Human experimentation must cause no harmo Informed consento Confidentialityo Debriefing

o Research institutions must have an Institutional Review Board (IRB)o has the responsibility and authority to review, approve, disapprove, or require changes in research activities

involving human subjects. This policy applies to all faculty, staff, and student projects, regardless of whether the project is funded externally, internally, or receives no funding support.

o Role of deception? (Baumrind)o Psychological research often needs to deceive the subjects as to its actual purpose. The rationale for such

deception is that humans are sensitive to how they appear to others (and to themselves) and this self-consciousness might interfere with or distort from how they actually behave outside of a research context (where they would not feel they were being scrutinized). o For example, if a psychologist is interested in learning the conditions under which students cheat on

tests, directly asking them, "how often do you cheat?," might result in a high percent of "socially desirable" answers and the researcher would in any case be unable to verify the accuracy of these responses.

o Generally, the scientific community is strongly in favor of animal testing. They see humans are superior to animal life and this belief thus justifies the use of animals in testing. While animal suffering should be minimized, they also cite that it is preferable for an animal to suffer as opposed to a human. The medical breakthroughs that have occurred as a result of animal testing are also considered reason enough to continue the practice, with the aim of reducing human suffering and saving human lives. Ultimately, supporters believe that the end result of saved lives justifies the means of using animal testing.

o Controversieso http://www.thevegetariansite.com/ethics_test.htm

o Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees * established by institutions that use laboratory animals for research or instructional purposes to oversee and evaluate all aspects of the institution's animal care and use program.

oAppropriate Beneficial and Caring (ABC) Guidelines

oRelated Issues of anthropomorphism, generalization, and anthropocentrism