BIOM 121 1nd EditionExam # 1 StudyIntroductionWhat Isn’t Psychology?-Not Dr. PhilThe Hindsight BiasPredict Winner of Election• Powell (1988)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”) What Is Psychology?• BehaviorAny activity that can be observed, recorded, and measured.What Is Psychology?• Mind:– All conscious and unconscious mental states– Must be inferredGoals of Psychology• Not just to describe and explain behavior but also to predict and control behavior.The History of PsychologyWundt• The father of psychology• 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 USAGestalt 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 forcesBehaviorism• Skinner• Reaction to Psychodynamic Theory• Reinforcement• Study behavior for behaviors sakeHumanistic Psychology• Rogers• Reaction to Behaviorism and Psychodynamic • People have positive values, free will, and creativity• Goal: Personal GrowthCognitive Approach• How information is stored and operated on• Reaction to BehaviorismNeuropsychology• Understanding how the brain works helps us to understand psychologyEvolutionary Psychology• Natural Selection: changes in the frequency of genes in a population that occur because those genes give an organism more chance of survivalWhat do psychologists do?Research MethodsSteps to Research:1. Observe phenomena2. Come up with hypothesis3. Operationalize variables4. Choose research method5. Analyze data6. TheoryThe Story of Kitty Genovese• Why Don’t People Help?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 isto 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 Method1. Case Study2. Survey3. Correlational Research4. ExperimentChoose a Research Method• Case Study: real life description– Pro: rich data source– Con: vulnerable to biases, limited generalizabilityGeneralizability: 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 natureBias: self-presentation bias, wordingWording BiasesCorrelational Studies• Measure the independent and dependent variables in a number of cases in order to generalize to an entire populationCorrelation: 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, which causes Z• Correlations show patterns, not causesCorrelational Studies• Pros: tell us about relationships between variables• Cons: say nothing about causation• Examples: trees and crime, self-esteemExperiment• 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 equalchance of being in the experiment• Why? Want to make sure that nothing but IV is affecting experiment• Confounding variables: extraneous variables that could affect experiment• 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 BoardWhat 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) PsychophysiologyMethods of Psychophysiological Research• Twin studies• Brain damage case studies– Phineus gage– Used to be only way• Lesion studies in animals• ImagingElectroencephalogram (EEG)Positron Emission Tomography• Active areas have increased blood flow• Radioactive isotopes (small amounts) are placed in the blood• Sensors detect radioactivity• Different tasks show distinct activity patternsMagnetic Resonance Imaging• Magnetic fields align certain ions and compounds• When field is removed, these molecules release energy as radio waves• Kind of like an x-ray• Provides clear, 3D imagesThe Nervous System• Central Nervous System• Peripheral Nervous SystemDivisions of the Nervous System• Central Nervous System– Brain– Spinal cord• Peripheral Nervous System– Somatic – AutonomicNeurons• The cells of the nervous system• Communicative cells– Sensory: receive signals from outside nervous system– Motor: transmit signals to