Methods of Psychological Research- What we know/knowledge changes- Empiricism : the belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observationo Scientific Method : a set of principles about the appropriate relationship between ideas and evidenceo Theory : a hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenao Hypothesis : a falsifiable prediction made by a theory- The scientific method- 4 main goalso Description (what happens)o Prediction (when it happens)o Causal control (what causes it to happen)o Explanation (why it happens)- The empirical process depends on theories, hypothesis and researcho E.g. theory: alcohol intoxication impairs driving skills Hypothesis: people who are intoxicated will show less motor coordination Data: Measures seconds a person can stand on one leg after drinking alcohol (the data then either does or doesn’t support the theory)o The empirical process is systematico *Measurements- are they really measuring what they think? How are they gathering data? E.g. (from the venting anger study) is blasting loud sounds a good way to measure anger?- Common research methods in psychology:o Descriptive research methods : observe & classifyo Correlational methods : how variables are correlatedo Experimental methods : they try to determine the cause; involves manipulating conditions & behavioro *ONLY experiments can prove causality b/c they are able to manipulate conditions- Descriptive research methodso Case studies : careful description based on repeated observations (Freud, Sacks, clinical studies)o Naturalistic Observation : a technique for gathering scientific information by unobtrusively observing people in their natural environments; an outsider perspective, but sometimes they manipulate the conditions and observe how the subjects respond naturally Ethnology researchers “Ecological validity”: the environment is natural (b/c people behave differently in a lab setting, for example) E.g. Researchers watched who helped people in need, and saw that people werethe most helpful in Latin American countries E.g. Jane Goodall observing chimpanzees Research confederate : the researcher doing the observingo Surveys- Demand characteristics & observer biaso Demand characteristics : those aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think they should E.g. The Hawthorne effect: researchers were testing whether the amount of light affected productivity, but because the workers knew they were beingwatched productivity went way up at all light levels and the researchers had gained no information on their theoryo Observer bias : expectations can influence observations & influence perceptions of reality - Observational techniqueso Response to a stimulus (reaction time, response accuracy & stimulus judgments) can measure bias we are unaware of (because the subjects must respond immediately thereare no demand characteristics) E.g. implicit association test: measures biases/prejudices we are unaware of (e.g. women are associated with family & men with careers b/c when asked to sort words into categories of women/career or men/family the reaction times were slower than sorting them into women/family or men/career)o Stroop test: names of colors are written out in colored type. In the first few lines the colors match the words, yet in the last few they do not. People are asked to name the color each word is, and generally people respond slower to the last lines because the written words distract us from naming the contrasting colors.o PET scans- show us where the blood flows in the brain, and therefore where brain activity iso MRIs- (not used much in psychology) show the structure of the braino FMRIs- allows us to look at the brain in an active state, and see what parts “light up” with certain tasks. We can compare people’s emotions (e.g. psychopaths vs. others- psychopaths tend to have deficits in emotional processes & communication between different parts of the brain)- Diallo caseo The police believed they saw a man who was a rapist they were looking for & told him to freeze, however he was actually a recent immigrant and couldn’t understand them. As he reached into his pocket the police thought he was reaching for a gun and shot him.o There was an implicit association between white men & tools, and black men & guns (shown in a study)o Research suggests we can work to undo these biases with training- Main issue with scientific method: implementing researcho How to measureo Who to sampleo How to avoid measurement biaso How to avoid sampling bias- Managing measurement biaso 2 important types are Sampling bias : having a problematic sample (not random enough)- E.g. Oprah magazine surveys women on extramarital affairs (but not all women read Oprah magazine or fill out the survey, so it is a poor sample)- E.g. testing drugs only on males (when intended for both genders), or only on adults (when intended for children)- E.g. many college students participate in research studies but they may not be representative of the population (more intelligent, regular food & housing, etc.) Expectancy bias : expectations influence the results- e.g. the Hawthorne effect- Minimizing sampling biaso Random sampling : everyone has an equal chance of being in the studyo Representative populations : the sample and the population are similar When generalizing (applying the results of a study to the population) one must make sure that the sample is representative of the population E.g. UW-Madison students participating in studies are not a random sample, andprobably not representative of the population, because we are a convenience sample (subjects are used because they are convenient)- Expectancy bias (2 forms)o Observer/experimenter expectancies : they expect a certain outcome which skews their observationo Subject/research respondent expectancies : they attempt to understand what the research is about which skews their responseo E.g. when telling one group of observers they have smart, genetically modified rats, and another group that they have normal rats, the former group will actually think/observe that their rats are faster- Controlling Expectancy biaso Blindness : blind experimenters, blind subjects, or double-blind (both)- when not much isknown about the experiment/its purposes to prevent expectancy bias- Research methodology continuedo E.g. Anger venting experimento Biases