Lecture Notes Gabriel Psych101 Section 1 Page 1 LECTURE NOTES FOR SECTION 1 OF CLASS BEGIN HERE Introduction What Isn t Psychology Dr Drew Phil Laura b c they just give opinions not facts late night chats What do dreams mean Why are people the way they are If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it does it really make a sound Why doesn t he she call A Research Finding About Love out of sight out of mind absence makes the heart grow fonder The Hindsight Bias Predict Winner of Election Powell 1988 When you think you would ve predicted something you read but really wouldn t have The Hindsight Bias Predict Rape Janoff Bulman et al 1985 What Is Psychology The Scientific Study of Behavior and the mind What Is Psychology Scientific Systematic objective methods of observation book calls empirical Lecture Notes Gabriel Psych101 Section 1 Page 2 What Is Psychology Behavior Any activity that can be observed recorded and measured What Is Psychology Mind All conscious and unconscious mental states Must be inferred Goals of Psychology Not just to describe and explain behavior but also to predict and control behavior The History of Psychology Wundt The father of psychology scientific First laboratory Structuralism identify the common elements of experience Introspection Functionalism How and why does the mind help us function in the world Influences by Charles Darwin William James Amazing Ideas and Prose First Lab in USA Gestalt Psychology The whole is more than the sum of its parts Visual e g Neon Psychodynamic Theory Freud Theory of how thoughts and feelings affect behavior Push and pull of unconscious and conscious forces Lecture Notes Gabriel Psych101 Section 1 Page 3 Behaviorism Skinner Reaction to Psychodynamic Theory Reinforcement Study behavior for behaviors sake Humanistic Psychology Rogers Reaction to Behaviorism and Psychodynamic People have positive values free will and creativity Goal Personal Growth Cognitive Approach How information is stored and operated on Reaction to Behaviorism Neuropsychology Understanding how the brain works helps us to understand psychology Evolutionary Psychology Natural Selection changes in the frequency of genes in a population that occur because those genes give an organism more chance of survival What do psychologists do Research Methods Steps to Research 1 Observe phenomena 2 Come up with hypothesis 3 Operationalize variables 4 Choose research method 5 Analyze data 6 Theory Lecture Notes Gabriel Psych101 The Story of Kitty Genovese Why Don t People Help Section 1 Page 4 Come up with Hypothesis Hypothesis a tentative and testable explanation of the relationship between causes and consequences Exp the larger the number of people who are witness to an emergency the less likely anyone is to intervene Operationalize your variables Variables measurable conditions that vary Exp number of people helping Independent Variable the variables thought to predict the other variable Variable thought to predict other variable Exp number of people Dependent Variable Any variable whose values are the result of changes in the independent variable The predicted Exp helping Operationalization the concrete representation of the variable of interest Exp what is helping Choose a Research Method 1 Case Study 2 Survey 3 Correlational Research 4 Experiment Choose a Research Method Case Study real life description Pro rich data source Con vulnerable to biases limited generalizability Generalizability what inferences can you make about the phenomena s breadth Survey Interviews or questionnaires of many participants concerning a particular phenomena of interest Pros more generalizability wide array of topics real life description Cons vulnerable to biases tests are correlational in nature Bias self presentation bias wording Lecture Notes Gabriel Psych101 Section 1 Page 5 Wording Biases 51 of respondents said they favored making it legal for doctors to give terminally ill patients the means to end their lives 44 said they favored making it legal for doctors to assist terminally ill patients in committing suicide Correlational Studies Measure the independent and dependent variables in a number of cases in order to generalize to an entire population Correlation A statistical measure of how closely two variables are associated Correlations can range from 1 0 to 1 0 Correlations vary in sign or and in magnitude 0 1 Explaining Correlations Start with 3 variables X Y Z where X and Y are correlated X might cause Y Y might cause X X might be correlated with Y caused by Z Correlations show patterns not causes Correlational Studies Pros tell us about relationships between variables Cons say nothing about causation Examples trees and crime self esteem Experiment Manipulate variables in a controlled environment in order to assess the effects of such a manipulation on other variables Pros can draw casual influence Cons vulnerable to biases can be artificial How do you assign people to levels of independent variable conditions Let them pick Time of day Alphabetical order Hallmark of experiment is random assignment Random assignment assign subjects to the experiment in a way that gives each person an equal chance of being in the experiment Why Want to make sure that nothing but IV is affecting experiment Lecture Notes Gabriel Psych101 Confounding variables extraneous variables that could affect experiment Section 1 Page 6 Conclusions from experiment Do groups differ Statistical significance less than 5 chance that difference could occur due to chance Theory An organized set of principles that describe predict and explain some phenomena Ethical Issues Informed Consent subjects sign a form that explains what the experiment is about their rights and the right to stop at any time without penalty Internal Review Board What makes Psychological Research Scientific Precision operational definitions Skepticism doubt what is accepted Reliance on empirical evidence Willingness to make risky predictions must be falsifiable Openness share data Psychophysiology Methods of Psychophysiological Research Twin studies Brain damage case studies Phineus gage Used to be only way Lesion studies in animals Imaging Electroencephalogram EEG Positron Emission Tomography PET Scans Active areas have increased blood flow Radioactive isotopes small amounts are placed in the blood Sensors detect radioactivity Different tasks show distinct activity patterns Magnetic Resonance Imaging MRI Magnetic fields align certain