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Developmental Psychology

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Comparative Psychology

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Industrial Organization

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Human Factors Psychology

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Social Psychology

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Human Sexuality

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Cognitive Psychology

Biopsychology

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Clinical and Counseling Psychology

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Forensic Psychology

Psychology

The scientific study of human behavior and mental

processes.

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WHAT PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT!!!

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Non-Scientific Sources of Knowledge

Tenacity - “Tradition!!!”

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Intuition - “That old gut feeling”.

Authority - “Says Who?”

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Rationalism - “it makes sense with the other things I know”.

Example:

Hydrogen at room temperature is a gas.Oxygen at room temperature is a gas.

Therefore, it follows that H2O at room temperaturewill be . . . . . . .

?

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e.g., If Thorndike's “law of effect” is correct then people should work harder if they are paid for a behavior but . . .

Kohn(1993/1999) demonstrates that in some circumstances people actually do inferior work when they are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives.

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Empiricism - “seeing is believing”

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All of these ways of gaining and using knowledge work well for day to day purposes. They are fast and efficient. But they often lead to flawed conclusions. They are not good enough for SCIENCE.

And Psychology is a SCIENCE!!

What is Science?

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Misunderstanding about Science#1

Science is a collection of proven facts.If you want to become a scientist you just

need to memorize the facts.

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Science = Method of InquiryConstantly re-examining current theories.

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Nothing is ever proven!!!!!

Proof

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Scientism or Pseudoscience • Often makes claims of Proof!!!!•Make reference to Authorities but not to the evidence.•Use undefined, meaningless or misleading terms.

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"9944100% Pure: It Floats"

This description of Ivory Soap is a classic example of junk science from the 19th century. Not only is the term "pure" meaningless when applied to an undefined mixture such as bath soap, but the implication that its ability to float is evidence of this purity is deceptive. The low density is achieved by beating air bubbles into it, actually reducing the "purity" of the product and in a sense cheating the consumer.

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Common mistake in interpreting Scientific Evidence #2

If A is a factor that causes the effect, than B cannot be a factor.

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Example: Depression

Genetic Factors Serotonin (hormones)

Coping Strategies Current Stressors

Depression

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Science is EVIDENCE BASED.

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Scientific studies provide evidence for understanding the universe. The process of science is always ongoing.

Scientific Methods

The methods that are used to establish the valid and reliable knowledge that underlies science has developed and improved over time.

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Inductive Reasoning – specific to general

Goal is to find and describe patterns of evidence.

Inductive Reasoning and Science

Most common scientific method from late 1700’s till mid 1800s.

I.e., Samples used to generalize to Populations.

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Deductive Reasoning – General to specific.

Applying a theory (general rule) to make a prediction about a specific instance.

I am invited to a 5 year old girls birthday party. What kind of present should I bring?

Hypothesis Testing

• Process of testing a prediction or hypothesis by comparing predictions (based on a theory or experience) to observed measures.

• Science focuses on not only induction but on confirmation of predictions.

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Logical Positivism – View that verifying hypotheses is the key criterion for science observation. (Vienna circle)

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Falsificationism (Popper)

Falsifiable does not mean false.

For a theory to be falsifiable, it must be at least in principle possible to make an observation that would show the theory to be false, even if that observation had not been made.

For example, the proposition "All crows are black" would be falsified by observing one white crow.

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Example: Falsification of the Behavioral Theory of Contiguity.

Law of Effect – Learning (changes in behavior) is due to the consequences that follow.

Prediction: Rewarded behaviors will increase.

Non- rewarded behaviors will not increase.

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Latent Learning studiesRat run a maze once per day for 17 days.

Group 1 - rewarded with food in goal box.

Group 2 – no reward in the goal box.

Group 3 - Day 1 to 10 - no reward Day 11 to 17 reward.

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1 12 17 Days

Errors

Actual Results

Learning happens without consequences!!!

(Predicted)

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1 12 17 Days

Errors

Behaviorist’s Predictions

Learning begins when reward Begins

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Scientific theories fall into two categories:

• Theories that have been shown to be incorrect, usually because they are not consistent with new observations.

•All other theories

In other words, theories cannot be proven to be correct; there is always the possibility that further observations will disprove the theory.

A theory that cannot be refuted or falsified is not a scientific theory.

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Duhem-Quine Principle - it is impossible to test a theory in isolation. One must always add auxiliary hypotheses in order to make testable predictions.

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For example, to test Newton's Law of Gravitation in our solar system, one needs information about the masses and positions of the Sun and all the planets. Famously, the failure to predict the orbit of Uranus in the 19thcentury led, not to the rejection of Newton's Law, but rather to the rejection of the hypothesis that there are only seven planets in our solar system. The investigations that followed led to the discovery of an eighth planet, Neptune.

Scientific Naturalism

• Pragmatic (practical) philosophy that scientists should believe what is shown to work (empirical adequacy).

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Kuhn and Paradigms

• Kuhn attacks “development-by-accumulation” views of science which hold that science progresses linearly by accumulation of theory-independent facts. Older theories give way successively to wider, more inclusive ones.

• He believes that we progress intellectually through stages of development. This can be related to Piaget’s Stage Theory account of cognitive development in children.

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Thomas Kuhn

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)

Paradigm Normal Science Anomaly Revolution

Paradigm: A universally recognizable scientific achievement that, for a time, provides model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners. It is more global than a theory and includes: laws, theories, application and instrumentation.

During different periods of science, certain perspectives held sway over the thinking of researchers. A particular work may “define the legitimate problems and methods of a research field for succeeding generations of practitioners.”

Normal Science: Working within and in the light of the paradigm, making it more and more explicit and precise, actualizing its initial promise by extending the knowledge of those facts that the paradigm displays as particularly revealing, by increasing the extent of the match between those facts and the paradigm’s predictions, and by further articulation of the paradigm itself.

Anomaly: In the course of such articulation, however, “anomalies” arise which, after repeated efforts to resolve them have failed, gives birth to the kind of situation in which a scientific revolution can take place.

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Revolution: Scientific revolutions are “non-cumulative developmental episodes in which an older paradigm is replaced in whole or part by a new one.” It is a radical change in theory that comes from different assumptions and an alternate viewpoint.

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Research Programs

• Theories that are linked to a set of “hard-core” beliefs.

“Mechanistic” (e.g., behaviorism) vs. “Organismic” Research Programs (e.g., Cognitive).

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Basic Assumptions Underlying Science

Reality in Nature – the assumption that the things we see, hear, smell, and taste are real.

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Discoverability - Principles (laws) of human behavior can be discovered through careful observation and experiments.

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Determinism - assumption that all phenomena have causes.Lawful principles explain them.

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Is Determinism a fair assumption for studying Behavior?

Test: Can we predict behavior?

Multiple Causes - Biological- Environmental- Past Learning

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Hypothesis Testing Theory

Inductive Deductive Prediction

Empirical Hypothesis Evidence

Observations(data)

Advantage: Self correcting cycle.

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Developtheory

Light affects plant growth.

Scientific Method in Psychology

Formhypothesis

If light affects plant growth, then plants exposed to light should differ in growth from plants deprived of light.

Does the data support the theory?If not, informs the revise of the theory.

Refinetheory

Testhypothesis

Compare groups of plants that differ on nothing other than exposure to light.

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Theory - Current understanding of a phenomenon.

• Is supported by evidence (based on a body of research – not just one study).

• Allow us to make testable predications (hypothesis).

• The theory Must be Falsifiable.

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Types of Research

1) Descriptive: No Hypothesis

2) Relational Studies: (Circumstantial Evidence)- predictive value

3) Experiments - evidence of cause and effect.- explanation and control

Can a 4 year old keep themselves from eating a marshmallow now,If they are told they will get two latter?

Video Link 6 mins

Goals

Psychology: Scientific Study of Behavior and Mental Processes

• Describe Behavior• Predict Behavior• Explain Behavior• Control Behavior

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Scientific Vocabulary

Variable: Anything that takes on different values, at different times, places, or in different individuals.

Constant: Anything that remains the same for all individuals, at all times,

and all places during the study.

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Characteristics of the Scientific Approach

In order to study a variable we need to Defined what we mean be the Variable (i.e. how are we measuring it?)

Operational DefinitionsOperational Definitions – Detailed descriptions of measurement criterion.

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Construct ValidityConstruct ValidityIs the measure ValidValid? Does it measure what it claims to?

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2. Is the measuring device reliablereliable?- will the same value be obtained

- by different researcher- at different times

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ControlControl: Are all other possible explanationsfor the results eliminated?

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ReplicationReplication

• The same results must be found if the study is repeated.

• Replication with modifications allow us to learn about the limitations and generalizations of a finding.

- different groups, different times, different settings, different operational definitions.

Meta-analysis

A statistical technique for combining the findings from independent studies.

Accounts for variables that may influence outcomes.

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Example: A meta-analysis of 208 experiments found that the mere-exposure effect is robust and reliable, with an effect size of  r = 0.26. This analysis found that the effect is strongest when unfamiliar stimuli are presented briefly. Mere exposure typically reaches its maximum effect within 10–20 presentations, and some studies even show that liking may decline after a longer series of exposures. For example, people generally like a song more after they have heard it a few times, but many repetitions can reduce this preference. A delay between exposure and the measurement of liking actually tends to increase the strength of the effect. The effect is weaker on children, and for drawings and paintings as compared to other types of stimuli. One social psychology experiment showed that exposure to people we initially dislike makes us dislike them even more (Bornstein, 1989).

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