- Create an HPR account at psychology.msu.edu/HPRsystem/- Create after January 14th- Honors Option email due by January 16th ****- Desire to Learn instead of Angel: d2l.msu.eduWhat is Psychology?Prehistory and History of PsychologyFOR EXAM 1LECTURE 2 January 10, 2013Introduction:Driving Vs. Studying ClickerHindsight Bias: “I knew it all along” ~The more you encounter something the more interesting it becomes ~We need science to help sort out the reality in many everyday intuitions.The Scientific Method:Theory: An integrated set of principles that organize and predict behaviors and events.We make HYPOTHESIS based on the predicted behaviors. Hypothesis: testable predictions.Operational Definition: A specific definition used for research purposes.Method: Develop to test hypothesisConclusion: interpret data and draw conclusionGood measures must be directly relevant to the hypothesis and they must be reliable and valid.Reliability: the degree to which independent measurements of a given behavior are consistentInter-rater reliability - 2 or more raters independently agreeTest-retest reliability – 2 or more tests yield similar resultsValidity: degree to which a test measures what is intended to measureInternal Validity: if the effects observed within the experiment can be attributed to the conditions intentionally manipulatedAre you testing what you think you’re testing?Will be lost if there is a confound or experimental biasConfound : an alternative explanation for a resultExperimenter Bias: the Scientists belief influence the outcome of an experiment.The solution is use single blind and double blind experiments.Single-blind Experiment: Information is withheld from participants in experiments.Double-blind Experiment- Neither subjects, nor experimenters know what the participant is receiving.External Validity : If the effects observed in the experiment can be generalized outside of the experiment to other populations, using different methods, at different times, etc.Ways of Collecting Data:Case Study : study of ONE individual in great depth in order to learn truths that apply more broadly; EX: brain damage and memory functionAdvantage: Sometimes leads to fruitful scientific findings that can only be discovered through careful observationDisadvantage: Sometimes leads to conclusions that do not generalizeNaturalistic Observation: A person’s observation of the subject in their normal environments of interestUsed when the primary goal is to describe how individuals behave in their usual environmentsAdvantage: Useful for studying social interactions and other types of behavior which could not be studied,” on demand” in a labExample: How a child reacts when Mom and Dad fights. Different fight in a lab Vs. in actual environmentDisadvantage: Can’t control all variables in a natural environment making it very hard to determine which variable(s) influenced the behavior.Variables: can be anything that might changeDisadvantage: possibility that the observer influenced the behaviorDisadvantage: the behavior you are interested in might occur very rarely, reducing the opportunity to study itDisadvantage: Possibly more susceptible to experiments bias than some structured methods.Experimentation: researchers design a specific task or situation that will elicit the behavior that is relevant to their hypothesisAdvantage:Disadvantage:reveals less info about subjective information than interviewsNot a natural environmentExample:Direct questioning of individualsCareful attention must be paid toWays things are worded: Needy Vs. WelfareRandom Sampling: *covered more in depth later*Animal Studies: The assumption of phylogenetic continuityBecause of our common evolutionary history humans share some characteristics and developmental processes with other animals, especially mammals.It is considered ethically acceptable to perform experiments on certain animals that would be unacceptable with humans.Humans and chimps share 99% of their genes, thus the 1% we don’t share must account for any differences or discontinuitiesExperimental designs based upon cause and effectIf the following 2 premises are met:Premise 1: 2 or more groups of participants are comparable at the beginningPremise 2: Each group is presented with experiences that differ in only one wayTo Achieve these 2 premises researchers employ random assignment and experimental controlPremise 1:Random assignmentLarge # of subjectsPremise 2:Experimental ControlRandom Assignment- Each child has an equal likelihood of being in the different groups.Experimental Control: All variables except the variable of interest are the same for the different groupsExperimental Conditions: Presented with the experience of interest.Control Condition: identical except they don’t receive the experience if interestVariablesIndependent Variable- The variable you are manipulating.Dependent Variable- The variable you are measuring.Operational Definitions- How you define your dependent variable so you can quantitatively measure it.LECTURE 3 January 15, 2013More on Scientific MethodMethodological Confound:A confound is a factor that systematically varies with the independent variable. It thus poses an alternative explanation for the results.Counterbalancing helps reducing confoundsExample: Memory for Famous FacesTheory- In an evolutionary setting resources make some people more memorable than others.Hypothesis- Famous actors are more rich than other people, and therefore more memorable.Study- Testing people’s recall of famous and non-famous faces.More on Confounds:Spatial Position (Left/ Right, Top/Bottom) – How you read or write (determines how we will read something)Example- If we read English, we will look top left to right, top to bottomTemporal Position (First, Middle, Last) What order we saw somethingExample: More recently, we remember more of.Salience- How important something isExample: Attractiveness, groupingUnlimited Number of possible variables that could impact a design—The key is to control the variables so that there is only one difference between the control condition and the experimental condition.Erroneous Interpretations – Can Result from…Confounding Variable(s)Does the finding apply to non-famous people?Over-generalizationsMoney drives Money!!Confusing Cause and CorrelationCorrelational DesignsUsed to determine if there is a relationship between 2 variablesIf there is a strong relationship, knowing one variable helps predict the