James C [email protected]: Psych 356, Monday 1:30-2:30, Tuesday 10 to 11Psychology: the scientific study of behavior and cognitive processesWhat we will cover:1. Experimental MethodologyHow do we study behavior scientificallyWithout careful, scientific study we are left with opinions, guesses. Some are correct, some are incorrect2. Neuroscienceleft hand-> right side, right hand -> left side, 95% of people’s left side is language, split brain3. Sensation and Perceptionwhat we see, after image4.Nature/Nurturenearly all behavior is the result of the interaction between our genes and our environment5. Cognitive Processes: Memory, Thinking, Languagesleep, dark, bed, nightsleep wasn’t on the original list: association of terms6. Consciousness, motivation and emotion8.motivation and emotionmyers 10th edition text book,six exams on course, 5 one hour exams and a final, lowest exam score is dropped automatically, final is cumulativeextra credit: each of the five sections of the course, an exercise will be posted on oncoursegrades are 500 possible points, 30 extra credit point possible1/9Psychology: A long past, a short history.Old questions, new ways to answer.Philosophers, certainly as early as the Greek philosophers, have been asking and trying to answer many of the questions that experimental psychology deals with. What is the nature of mind? How do we know about the world? Are we born with innate (and correct) ideas about the world? Are human beings basically good or evil?A brief history of 3 areas:I. Sensation/perception and cognitive psychology:Greek philosophers: How do we know about the world?It must be through our senses. -> how we know what is out thereWhat happens if our senses are in error?Plato’s cave analogy, Aristotle’s view of vision, to Wundt (1879) and the beginning of exp. psych.Wundt studied the sensesHow vision and hearing workedHis approach was called structuralismThe structuralists and introspectionII. Motivation:Galen (second century physician and philosopher)the balance among the 4 “humors” determined your personality/motivationFreudwho popularized the unconsciousIII. Learning:Hippocrates and the goat (nature/nurture, innate vs. learned)Drinks goat melt, don’t have to teach a baby goat to like goats milk, they are born that wayDarwin (the use of animals in learning exps.)Humans are on a continuum with other animals, opened up a field of learningThorndike (the puzzle box)Cats learningMeasured by how fast the cats get out of the boxLaw of effectAction followed by a good effect seems to get stamped in[Indiana University in the history of psychology. Bryan, psychologist, pres. of the university, Bryan Hall, learning telegraphy and the plateau effect.]Many of the questions that psychologists try to answer have their roots in philosophy. Close ties to biology, sociology, anthropology, medicine, physics, physiology, and computer science.Obstacles to a science of behavior1. Behavior is unpredictable, capriciousDeterminism vs. indeterminism(determinism vs. free will)2. Psychological knowledge is probabilistica. Person who @ phenomenonb. People have trouble understanding probabilistic information: rarely do 100% of people respond in the same way3. Folk wisdom, common sense, we know that already:Hindsight bias.Out of sight out of mind, absence makes the heart grow fonderDidn’t think the basketball game would be that close, your friend says after the game he knew what would happenHow do you overcome hindsight bias?Tell them the story happened the opposite4. Essentialismargue about the meaning of wordsWhat is gravity, intelligence?Physics, force that we determined and measure mathematicallyoperational definitions—very importantthe procedures used to define a research variableoperational definition of intelligence test is the scorehappiness: the number of times a subject smilesaggression: the number of times the 8 year old subjects threatened or stuck another personpain: frowny to smiley face5. Psych. findings may be contrary to our beliefsblowing off steam reduces angerin what way are psychological results considered probabilistic?Rarely do 100% of people respond in the same wayPsychological findings are often probabilisticChildren whose parents attended college are more likely to attend collegeFor those who don’t go to college, try to find out whyIf you are lost in the woods, how do you find north?Suppose you found 10 trees with moss pointing in the right direction and one in a different directionOperational definitionHas two qualities for a good operational definitionHow is it measured? Specified well enough that someone could carry out those operations by reading what you didDoes it make sense? Does it seem to measure what we think the quantity is?1/14Scientific Method:“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”I. Naturalistic observationGoing out and trying to observe the environmentHave to observe what happens, cant infer cause and effectII. Case studyFroyd -> work based on case studiesCannot rely completely on case studiesMay lead you down a pathIII. Surveys: Measure what?IV. Correlational researchA. You cannot infer causality from correlationalresearch. There is a positive correlation betweenthe number of tires produced in Akron and thenumber of nylons produced in Great Britain.One event is not causing the otherCorrelational does not prove causalitySaid to be correlational between ice cream eaten each year and number of drowningsWhen you see a correlational you want to ask yourself if there is a third factor that relates the twoB. Look for an underlying cause of two thingsthat are highly correlated. Numerically correlations range from +1 (a perfect positive correlation to 0 (no correlation) to -1 (a perfect negative correlation.Need to know what a correlational is and how it varies numericallyFrom +1 to -1Strong correlations are high absolute numbers, negative and positive are equally strongNumber of healthy players on a football team and number of winsNumber of healthy players go up number of wins go upNumber of healthy players and number of lossesStrength of the correlational is exactly the same(Note: In graphing correlational data, it makes nodifference which variable is plotted on X axis oron the Y axis.)V. Experimental method: Big advantage, can infercausality.Terms: independent and dependent variables, experimental, control groups, operational definitions.Facilitated communicationWatched videos with facilitators and kids