Transcript Thinking Like a Psychologist

Thinking Like a Psychologist
Part I
What is Psychology?
• Comprehensive discipline in which practitioners
focus on understanding human behavior its
underlying emotional, mental, and physiological
processes.
• According to the APA:
– Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. The
discipline embraces all aspects of the human
experience from the functions of the brain to the
actions of nations, from child development to care for
the aged. In every conceivable setting from scientific
research centers to mental health care services, "the
understanding of behavior" is the enterprise of
psychologists. (About APA, ¶ 5)
Misunderstandings Regarding
Psychology
• Psychologists are mind-readers
• Psychologists analyze and diagnose every
person they meet
• The differences between psychologists and
psychiatrists
• Bachelors degrees in psychology are useless
• One does not have to understand statistics and
research methods to be a psychologist
• Dr. Phil is a good example of a psychologist.
• What have you heard?
Psychology and the Lay Person
• How the general public is exposed to
psych or forms opinions about psych:
– Self-help books
– Television/Radio talk-shows
– Mass Media (News, TV, and Movies)
• “Experts” in interviews
• Character portrayals
– Maybe an AP Psychology or PSYC 101 class
– Maybe through personal experience
(counseling or mediation)
Psychology is a Science
• Grounded in Empiricism:
– Empiricism = Observation, Measurement, and
Analysis
– William Wundt:
• 1st Psychology laboratory
• Introspection
• Researchers in psychology use the
scientific method.
Psychology is a Science
• Engage in the replication of findings.
– Methods section of a manuscript
• Participants, Procedures, Instruments/Tests,
Variables measured, etc.
• Engage in peer review and evaluation.
– Most reputable journals peer review articles
– Reviewers are professionals
– There are standards
– Must not withhold research data for review (
see APA Code, 8.14)
– Falsifiability
Research Methods
Non-Experimental
Naturalistic Observation
Field Study
Survey Research
Relational Research
Naturalistic Observation
• Addresses most basic scientific question:
“What is out there?”
• Requires operational definition of events
to be observed
• Observer must be unobtrusive
• Design must be nonreactive
Field-Based Research
• Similar to naturalistic observation
• Goal is to establish natural relations
among events
• Observer must be unobtrusive, but
methods are intentionally reactive
Survey Research
• Appropriate to the study of private
behaviors
• Two primary styles:
– Interviews (structured/unstructured)
– Questionnaires (structured/unstructured)
Relational (Correlational)
Research
• Goal to verify systematic (usually linear)
relations among events
• Strengths/directions of relations
– generally expressed in form of correlation
coefficient (rxy)
Research Methods
Experimental
True Experiment
Quasi-Experiment
True Experiment
• Goal:
– To establish a causal (cause-effect) relationship
between events.
• Does exposure to violent television programming cause a
increase in aggressive behavior?
• Requires:
– Random assignment of participants to at least 2
equivalent conditions
– Manipulating one condition (independent variable, or
IV)
– Leaving one condition unchanged (control)
– Measurement of one other factor in both conditions
(factor called dependent variable, or DV)
True Experiment
• The results of the experiment should
answer:
– Is one group significantly different than the
other(s)?
– What is the probability that the difference is
not due to chance?
– Did the manipulation of the IV cause a change
in the DV?
Quasi-Experiment
• Same as the True Experiment except for
the ability to randomly assign individuals to
conditions.
• There exists pre-formed groups or there
are characteristics of the individuals which
can not be manipulated.
• Must assign groups to conditions.
A Theory
• Not a guess
• Often the result of the observation of some
phenomena
• Provides some structure on how to predict
future events or behavior
• Ever adapting with the presentation new
information or evidence
• Typically does not account for every
aspect of a phenomenon
Hirschi’s Social Control Theory
• Hirschi (1969) explains that delinquency
results from a failure to establish sufficient
social bonds between an individual and
the society in which they live. The four
bonds are:
– Attachment to parents, peers, or school
– Commitment to conventional lines of action
– Involvement in conventional activities
– Belief in a common value
Falisfiability
• Every good theory must allow for the
opportunity to be proven wrong
• Exploring the contradictions to beliefs and
theories allows for growth and evolution of
thought
• Criticism is a good thing
Operational Definitions
• Concept  Measurable or observable
event
• One needs to clearly define what one
wants to measure.
• Verbal Ability
• Delinquency
• Introversion
Reliability and Validity
• Reliability – consistency over time
– Test Retest Reliability
– Split Half Reliability
– Inter-rater Reliability
• Validity – accuracy of measurement
– Face Validity
– Construct Validity
– Content Validity
Validity
• Internal Validity
–
–
–
–
–
Maturation
Testing
History
Mortality
Differential subject
selection
– Instrumentation
– Statistical Regression
• External Validity
– Population Validity
– Ecological Validity
• Hawthorne Effect
• Novelty Effect
• Placebo Effect
• Experimental Bias
• Experimenter
Personal-Attributes