Psych 325 1nd EditionExam # 1 Study Guide Lectures: 1 – 5 (Chapters 1, 2, 8)Lecture 1 (9/10/13)9/10/13Last time:Psychology as professionThree research methods: observational, correlational, experimental methodsToday: The Null Hypothesis; Why do we do research?*Quiz in class-instrumental/not graded. Scale one through four, following questions include: Men tend tolive longer than women do, the leading cause of death among men is heart disease, the leading cause of death among women is breast cancer; More women than men die from cancer each year (All false; answers can be found from classes such as Women’s Psychology and Health Psychology)Null Hypothesis: (H sub O) predicts: Nothing is going on, no effect. *Social loafing (Ringelmann experiment, 1913)-interested in workload among organisms rangingfrom humans to pigs. First published social psych. Experiment. Participates pull on a rope attached to thewall-use maximum force (dependent: gage on rope to measure force). Manipulated: how many other people who were pulling on rope with you (pulling on rope alone-group of two-etc max 8 people pulling on rope). Pulling on rope alone is baseline-100% effort. Null Hypothesis, for example, would state that no matter how many people pulling on rope would result in 100% effort. *results differed: 0-100%; 1=95%; 2=85%; 7=49% (amount of individual effort decreases as number of people increase)-that is social loafing. *Can you reject Null Hypothesis?: additional test neededAlpha (P Value) less than or equal .05; reject. Want a 5% chance or less that these results would’ve occurred if these results were true. Two basic branches of statistics:Inferential Stats: Decide whether or not to reject H sub ODescriptive Stats: Describe the sample, such as the mean and the standard deviation. Everyday Methods of Fixing Belief:A priori Method: Common sense way of thinking. Problems Include: Perception altered (things may sound reasonable but are not true)Appeal to Authority: Authority figure who says/written something and you decide they’re right so you’ll believe what they’ll believe (You form your belief from their belief). Problem: Different authority have opposite opinions so just because they say it doesn’t mean they’re telling the true situation- (class example: I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV-by this product)Tenacity: Don’t like to change mind. Once you have belief-tends to be hard to change. Related toConfirmatory BiasConfirmatory Bias: Attend to information that supports your existing beliefs (don’t pay attention to information that goes against existing beliefs). –This in subsequent feeds on your tenacity. What Attitudes and Mode of thinking characterize the scientific method:o Curiosity; Search for the trutho Skeptical Attitudeo Critical Thinking*What about being Open-minded? (Generally not on list in terms of scientific method) Problem: too willing to accept something that doesn’t have good evidence for). Quote: “It is good to be open-minded but not so open that your brains fall out” Jacob Needleman, philosopher. Scientific Method:Empirical Basis: if you want to study a phenomenon; best way is to study/do research. In order to find out answer and be sure, need to do research. Systematic Observation: Under most control conditions as possible. Objectivity: Able to put things in perspective; avoid bias in its entirety. Self-Correctability, Replicability: In order to be established; findings need to be replicated and be able to be demonstrated over and over again. Lecture 2 (9/12/13) Ch. 2Lecture 9/12Goals of Psych ResearchThree goals of scientific method:-Describe behavior (Observational Method)-Predict behavior (Correlational Method)-Explain behavior (Experimental Method)*Last two must be objectiveSteps in Research ProcessSources of Research IdeasCharacteristics of good researchAvoiding inadvertent research biasSteps in Research Process-Get research ideas-sources-Experts (research advisor)-Other peoples research that has been published-Practical problems (applied research different than basic research-no obvious practical application)-Brainstorming-Observation-CuriosityState Hypothesis:-must be a statement-must be testable-usually not null hypothesisReview literature-electronic sources (PsychINFO)-must be relavent to your research-know what is happening in your area-limit it to particulary relevant Conduct pilot research-usually with friends-preliminary dataDesign project-decide on your method-take your time-plan carefully (participants, who, age, etc)Collect data:-conducting researchAnalyze dataDraw Conclusions-Theoretical implicationsWrite research reportPublish itCharacteristics of good research-must be ethical-unbiased/objective-do not commit deliberate fraud-avoid inadvertent researcher biasIRB:-Institutional review board for the protection of human subjects-Human subjects-group of experts that have to get research protocols from labs before research is started-looking out for ethics in researchACUC:Animals care and use committee-making sure animals are not treated unethically in researchHow to avoid inadvertent researcher bias:-devise and follow protocol-script used by RA’s to do research-devise and use operational definitions-use double-blind design-placeboLecture 3 (9/17/13) 9/17Lecture Ch. 8 Psych 325-TheoryMore general though single hypothesisMost famous are outside psychology (ex. Einstein)Psychoanalytic theory: not really testable A set of general principles, explains many occurrences, organize data, makes predictionsOften include Intervening variables: abstract concepts that link I.V and D.V (Ex: diffusion of responsibility may underlie social loafing. You feel less responsible in a group.Theory Evaluation: Precision: one of the criteria ,is the theory specific enough to be of use? Not vague.Testability (falsifiability): must generate ideas for experiments, there should always be another experiment you could do, whether it proves or disproves theory you can keep testing it. Parsimony: a theory that’s as simple as it can be, but it still works.Apply Occams razor: (occam), an idea that you cut out cmplications, btw 2 theories favor the simple one, or elegance of theory. Relationship btw theory and data:Induction: start with the data, then make your theory.Deduction: start with the theory, then collect data to test your theory.Both approaches are used. Scientific Method involves: InductionDeductionStrong inference: (Platt, 1964) successive