Wednesday 8 20 Friday 9 5 08 20 2014 1Definition of Psychology Scientific study of behavior mind ABC s o Affect how we feel o Behavior how we act o Cognition how we think History Behaviorists o Stimulus Organism Behavioral Response Psychoanalysts o Sigmund Freud WWII happened and psychoanalysts from Europe came over researched for us o Experiment happened Stanley Mailgram One teacher switches one learner strapped in chair See if punishment yields learning Majority of people when being told to continue by authority did continue Research Methods Why study research methods o Become a better consumer of research Advertisements Political Campaigns News Reports Research o Ask Research Questions o Specify Hypothesis o Collect Data How o Analyze Data How o Interpret Findings o Distribute Findings Terms Independent Variable IV o Does a change in A IV produce a change in B o Cause o A Dependent Variable DV o Effect o B Main Effect o A causes B only 1 IV o Example Puts half room in hot room half in normal temp rest in freezing room IV Room Temperature changes Provocation DV Aggression effect Interaction Effect o More than 1 IV complexities working together If not provoked temperature of room probably wont cause someone to aggress Provokes by giving negative feedback write essays graded by TA told to give false feedback Hypothesis o What is being tested i e I predict that manipulating temperature will increase aggression Correlation vs Experimental Research Strengths weaknesses conclusions Friday August 22 2014 Correlational Designs Detecting natural associations if that relationship exists what does it look like o Survey Questionnaires In depth Interviews o Diary Studies Fill out self esteem questionnaire every night Correlation naturally occurring relationship between two variables Correlation Range direction of relationship can t go past 01 01 Correlation Strength larger absolute value stronger correlation is one is positive one is negative Limitations o Third Variables confound cant say why related o Social Desirability Conscious Process Assume that participant tells the truth o Lying Ignorance of Motives Attitudes How often do you steal things use illegal drugs illegal Maybe you do that all the time but obviously won t tell o Question Wording Responses are related to the words that are used using known words not knowing what is being asked Correlation is not causation Three Variables o 1 X causes Y good social status good health self esteem academic achievement o 2 Y causes X good health good social status academic achievement self esteem o 3 Z causes X and or Y confound not sure why related Experimental Designs IV o Manipulated Researcher changes DV o Main Effect A causes B only one IV only manipulating one thing o Interaction Effect Giving a quiz some told it will affect major some told it doesn t mean anything giving false feedback seeing how they react To determine causation o Control find variable to manipulate hold everything else constant i e pigeon rat experiments can control everything need to have comparison i e hot room vs cold room also room temp to be neutral 2 conditions treatment and comparison i e F C A grades Random assignment o Concerns Placebo effect in an experiment already putting someone in a manipulated situation is it possible that simply intervening produces an effect i e testing Tylenol and other pain killer tell participant that they are the same different Giving someone fake pill sugar pill may make someone better Demand Characteristics do I communicate things to participant that brings out what you want to find i e giving drug that is an anti depressant Drug A is researcher drug of choice nicer to one taking drug that they want to do better researcher does blind experiment participant doesn t know nor does Monday August 25 2014 Solutions o Control Comparison conditions o Cover stories Example 1 Friendly vs Unfriendly treatment IV manipulated how participants were treated Aggression Measure How to tell an experiment from a correlational study o Experiment Look for key words heuristics Random assignment Control condition at least two groups something varied Manipulate Basic Terms Reliability consistency o Responses to be the same some small bumps but have most things unwavering o Dart board center is your actual self esteem Every dart is a measure Darts are all over the place would be an unreliable measure If items cluster in same area they are reliable but are not valid many darts in same area but not on center Reliable and valid all clustered and on center Validity accuracy Friday August 29 2014 Dissecting MythBusters Hypotheses Independent Dependent variable Main effect Interaction effect 1 Tennis Ball 2 Death by Pop Rocks 3 Cockroaches vs Nuclear Blast Being a Good Consumer of Research o Who Is the source credible Does the source have an agenda o What Do their theoretical arguments make sense Do they clearly define their concepts variables Is their hypothesis testable o How How did they collect the data How did they measure their variables Is the sample representative of population Do their statistics make sense Iconic Examples o Video Chains being held accountable for children watching videos their parents had checked out Wednesday September 3 2014 The Self Self Concept Schema organization of knowledge o Self schemas beliefs about ourselves that help us process organize our world o Develops through social experiments Through information we receive through our environment Perception self others Social comparisons If you shoot 7 10 free throws compared to your friend who shoots 10 10 you base yourself off people around you not awesome like someone but most people are like me or worse Culture National identities religious social groups whole western hemisphere Who Am I Individual Western Cultures o Favor individual characteristics Intelligent bold etc Collective Eastern Cultures o Favor definitions by social relationships o Daughter sister friend student etc We all have both o Behave differently at work school than at a party with friends Theories of How Self Concept Affects the ABC s o Self Complexity Theory People have multiple selves and these selves may overlap to varying degrees High Complexity spread out Venn Diagram Low Complexity close Venn Diagram Example three selves professor husband father High Complexity get a paper rejected at work so you go home and see child can react negatively or positively high makes it easier to switch between modes Low