Science as Safeguard against Bias Monday Psy 201 1 27 14 Time 3 00 3 50 Uncritical Acceptance would be nice if they were true o Conformation Bias distorts evidence contradicts them it s my story and I m sticking to it Good Scientist The tendency to believe claims because they seem true or because it Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and neglect or Recognize they might be wrong or off Scientific knowledge is ALWAYS open to revision Continuously updating findings Your psychology text The Scientific Method Six basic elements o Making observations o Defining a problem o Propose a hypothesis o Gathering evidence testing the hypothesis make sure its specific o Theory Building o Publishing results Testing Hypothesis Theory Building Hypothesis scientifically testable predicted outcome of an experiment Operational definition defines a scientific concept by stating specific actions or procedures used to measure it Theory a system of ideas that interrelates facts and concepts summarizes existing data and predicts future observations A good theory is potentially falsifiable What is Pseudoscience Set of claims that seem scientific but aren t o Lack safeguards against biases o Does not rely on critical thinking Signs of Pseudoscience o Example Overreliance on anecdotes Why should we care Opportunity cost Direct Harm Scientific Skepticism Approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind and insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them Hallmark of SS critical scientificthinking Scientific Thinking Principles 1 Ruling out rival hypothesis 2 Correlation vs Causation Correlation means association Correlation DOES NOT equal causation 3 Falsifiability for a claim to be meaningful 4 Replicalitiy findings must be duplicated 5 Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence Example facilitated communication with a case study 6 Occam s Razor parsimony simplest explanation for a given set of data is the best one Wednesday 1 29 14 History and Research of Psychology Chapter One Old Schools Structuralism and Functionalism Wilhelm Wundt Father of Psychology and made first psychology Structuralism analyze sensations and personal experience into basic laboratory elements Functionalism analyze how behavior and mental abilities help people adapt to their environments Cognitive Behaviorism Behaviorism emphasis on overt observable behavior Cognitive Behaviorism dual emphasis on behavioral principles and cognition to explain behavior o John Watson o B F Skinner o Aaron Beck Gestalt psychology Psychoanalysis Gestalt psychology emphasis the study of thinking learning and perception in the whole units Psychoanalysis approach to psychotherapy development and personality that emphasized the structure of and conflicts between unconscious forces Humanistic Psychology ideals Humanism focuses on human experience problems potentials and SELF ACTULIZATION pursue inner talent creativity fulfillment SELF ESTEEM achievement mastery recognition respect BELONGING LOVE SAFETY PHYSIOLOGICAL Psychology Today Three broad perspectives bio psychological psychological and sociocultural shaped modern psychology A lot of psychologists are eclectic drawing insights from a variety of perspectives since a single perspective is unlikely to explain all human behavior The Biological Perspective Bio psychological view behavior is shaped by internal physical chemical and biological processes Evolutionary view behavior is shaped by the process if evolution The Psychological Perspective Behavioral view behavior is shaped by ones environment Cognitive view behavior is shaped by mental processing of information Psychodynamic view behavior is shaped by unconscious processes Humanistic view behavior is shaped by self image subjective perceptions and needs for personal growth The Sociocultural Perspective Sociocultural view behavior is shaped by ones social and cultural context o Because of cultural relativity behavior must be judged relative to the values and social norms and the culture in which it occurs o Psychologists need to be aware of the impact cultural diversity may have on our behaviors Types of Research Design Naturalistic Observation Watching behavior in real world settings Advantage high in external validity Disadvantage low in internal validity Reactivity Natural Observation example Rosenhan s study of psychiatric hospitalization Examines one person or a small m number of people in depth over Case Study Designs time Friday 1 31 14 Correlational Designs associated Research design that examines the extent to which two variables are Identifying correlational designs see words like associated related linked went together o Correlation does NOT go with causation o Ranges from 1 to 1 o 0 meaning NO correlation The Psychological Experiment Permit cause and effect inferences MANIPULATE variables Experiments require o Random assignment o Manipulation of an independent variable IV Experimental Design Random Assignment o Randomly sorting patients into groups often experimental group and control group Manipulation of an Independent variable IV treatment or intervention that the experimenter manipulates or varies Dependent variable DV variable that the experimenter measures to see whether the manipulation has an effect Reliability and Validity Reliability Validity o Consistency or measurement o Accuracy of measurement o Does the measure assess what it claims to Confounds Extraneous Variable o Any differences between the experimental and control groups other than the IV o Limits our ability to infer causality to the IV Types of Extraneous Factors Placebo effect improvement Demand characteristics Social Desirability Experimenter Bias Effect o Improvement resulting from the mere expectation of o Cues that the participants pick up from a study that allow them to generate guesses regarding the researcher s hypotheses o Phenomenon in which researchers hypotheses lead them to unintentionally bias the outcome of the results Double Blind Clever Hans mathematical horse Survey Method Random selection o Procedure that ensures every person in a population has an equal chance of being chosen to participate o Necessary if we want out sample to accurately reflect the population How is random selection different from random assignment Stati stics Application of mathematics of describing and analyzing data Descriptive statistics o Central Tendency the 3 Ms mean median and mode Measure of the central scores in a data set Measure of