Exam One Chapter One o Prologue Book Notes o Prehistory 8 30 o Methods of Experimentation 9 04 9 06 o Biology of the Brain 9 11 9 11 Continued 9 13 Chapter Two Chapter Three o Consciousness Sleep 9 18 Chapter Eleven o Motivation 9 20 Prehistory Thursday August 30 2012 2 12 PM Bio psychosocial Approach Concept that revolves around biological influences social cultural influences and psychological influences Prehistory of Psychology Trepanning Drilling holes into one s skull to fix brain diseases o o o First known act of brain surgery It was also used to equal the humors blood mucus etc It proved to be useful because when the brain swelled because of brain infection drilling into the brain would release the pressure and reduce swelling The Seat of the Soul Aristotle thought that pineal gland was the seat of the soul Wundt First proper psychologist with a lab Titchener Student of Wundt The idea that the mind contains basic elements atomic structure Self reflective exploration of the mind by experiencing and noting Structuralism Introspection your phenomenology The weakness of introspection inconsistent and intellectually demanding William Jones Known as the father of modern psychology Functionalism ways to serve organisms Examines how mental and behavioral processes function in adaptive o His book Principles of Psychology is still important today Scientific Method Data Collection and Research Design Tuesday September 04 2012 8 04 PM Hindsight Bias I knew it all along when you hear a fact and think you knew it all along We need science to help sort out the reality in many everyday intuitions This requires a more fine grained approach than simple logic or introspection Tell half of the participants that psychologists have found that separation weakens romantic attraction Out of sight out of mind Most people can find this understandable and unsurprising Tell the other half that psychologists have found that separation strengths romantic attraction Absence makes the heart grow fonder People can also find this understandable and unsurprising Scientific Method Theory Hypothesis Operational Definitions An integrated set of principles that organize and predict behaviors and events Testable predictions Prediction you make based on the theory A specific definition used for research purposes o o o o Ex Are you a good driver An operational definition for good driver can mean that you have had no tickets or no accidents It is the parameters or limits that satisfy the behavior 4 Basic Steps Interpret data yielded and draw a conclusion 1 Choose theory to be tested 2 Formulate hypothesis 3 Develop method of testing the hypothesis 4 Ex 1 Theory Low self esteem leads to depression 2 Hypothesis People with low self esteem score higher on depression tests 3 Test Test people with different self esteem levels on depression tests 4 Interpret Look for correlation between self esteem and depression test levels Appropriate Measurement Good measures must be directly relevant to hypothesis and must be reliable and valid Degree to which independent measurements of a given behavior are Reliability consistent Inter rater reliability Test retest reliability Two or more raters independently agree Two or more tests yield similar results Validity Degree to which a test measures what it is intended to measure Internal validity conditions intentionally manipulated If effects observed within the experiment can be attributed to the Will be lost if there is a confound or experimenter bias An alternative explanation for a result Confound Ex In a test that is trying to correlate test prep and ACT Scores obviously Test prep for ACT will help students learn about test format so score will be higher it doesn t necessarily mean that they are smarter The scientific beliefs influence the outcome of an Experimenter Bias experiment Solution Single blind and double blind designs Double Blind Experiments Info is withheld from participants in Single Blind Experiments experiments ex Sugar pills placebo effect know what the participant is receiving If the effects observed in the experiment can be generalized Neither subjects nor experimenters External Validity outside of the experiment to other populations using different methods at different times etc Ways of Collecting Data 1 Case Study apply more broadly The study of one individual in great depth in order to learn truths that a Ex Brain damage and memory function b Advantages Can lead to findings that you can not find elsewhere c Disadvantages Can sometimes lead to conclusions that do not generalize 2 Naturalistic Observation A person observes the subject in their natural environment a Ex How a child s behavior changes after baby sibling is brought home study the child in their own home b Advantages Useful when studying social interactions and other types of behavior which could not be studied on demand in labs c Disadvantages Can t condition all variables in natural environment making it hard to determine variables that may affect outcome Possibility that observer will influence the person s behavior May be difficult if the behavior occurs rarely Variables Can be anything that might change noise age gender weather activity level etc 3 Experimentation behavior that is relevant to their hypothesis Researchers design a specific task or situation that will elicit the a Ex Survey Direct questioning of individuals careful attention must be paid to wording effects ex Wordy vs welfare and random sampling b Advantages Ensures that all individuals are experiencing the same thing allowing for direct comparison of different groups c Disadvantages Reveals less info about subjective info than interviews age gender etc not a natural environment may be particularly important for certain research questions 4 Animal Studies Based on the assumption of phylogenetic continuity evolution a Because of our common evolutionary history human share some characteristics b and developmental processes with other animals It is considered ethically acceptable to perform experiments on certain animals that would be unacceptable with humans c Humans and chimps share 99 of their genes Thus the 1 plus environmental cultural differences we don t share must account for any differences or discontinuities Experimental Designs Enable you to determine cause and effect if and only if the two premises are met 1 Two or more groups of participants are comparable at beginning 2 Each group is presented with experiences that