Research Methods Unit 1

Question 1

The Elephant

Answer 1

Automatic and fast processing of information
Outside of consciousness
Cannot be turned off

Question 2

Elephant flaws

Answer 2

Does not notice when mistakes are made
Jumps to conclusions

Question 3

The rider

Answer 3

Effortful processing of information
Hard work and time consuming
By choice, concentration/focus

Question 4

Riders flaws

Answer 4

Does not realize when making mistakes
Is lazy, does not want to spend more than what’s needed
Only going to work if elephant expects it to

Question 5

Psychology

Answer 5

Scientific study of behaviour and mental processes

Question 6

Individualistic perspective

Answer 6

Studying humans as discrete individuals, single entities

Question 7

Holistic perspective

Answer 7

An alternate response from individualist perspective
Belief that their is no sense in studying a person individually
Studied in their environment and seen connected to their environment and social world is what matters

Question 8

What does studying scientifically benefit us

Answer 8

It avoids confirmation bias- human tendency to want to understand things emotionally
Avoids making claims that to not generalize to a broader group

Question 9

Variations psychologists study

Answer 9

Between people
In one person, across different situations
In one person over time

Question 10

The biosychosocial model

Answer 10

There are 3 primary factors that drive variation
1. Biological - genetics, hormones
2. Psychological- depression, memory, personality
3. Social- culture, family, community

Question 11

How do we measure variation ?

Answer 11

Behaviours and mental processes vary between individuals so we call them variables,
challenge- a lot of behaviours are abstract and cannot be seen directly - shyness, memory, intelligence
Solution- operational definitions - tests, clickable interviews, ratings
THERE WILL ALWAYS BE MORE THAN ONE OPERATIONAL DEFINITION FOR ANY BEHAVIOUR OR MENTAL PROCESSES

Question 12

Austin and Williams 1977

Answer 12

47 judges read description of crime and provided appropriate sentence for the perpetrator
Key variable- length of jail time
Range 0-25 years
Take home message- considerable variation in judges sentences for the same crime

Question 13

Non-experimental methods

Answer 13

Describe results related to single variable OR examines relationships or associations between two or more variables
Cannot make cause and effect claims

Question 14

3 main types of non-experimental methods

Answer 14

1. Quasi-experiments
2. Descriptive Statistics
3. Correlation studies

Question 15

Quasi- experiments

Answer 15

Still comparing groups, but you cannot randomly assign people to groups for ethical or practical reasons
Whenever the groups your interested in are defined by a property of a person you have to run a quasi experiment

Question 16

Descriptive Statistics

Answer 16

Research that describes results related to looking at one variable at a time
Epidemiological research- prevalence of disorders
Example, % of people diagnosed with depression in canada this year)

Case studies
Purpose: Unusual situation, deep dive on one person, or a very very small number of people to describe the characteristics of a rare phenomena
Example, louise having HSAM- remember every detail of every thing

PSYC 1F90 project
What are the two social media sites most frequently used by participants
Snapchat
Tiktok

Question 17

Correlation studies

Answer 17

Purpose: examine relationships (associations) between two (or more) variables
Not comparing groups, more than one variable

Groups and variables are not the same thing!!

Psyc 1F90
Is FOMO (variable1) associated with PSMU (variable2)?

POINT THAT IS OFTEN LOST THAT It’s all about PREDICTION
Examine the relationship between the variables in a sample; assume we can use that relationship to predict scores for other people not in the sample

Correlational studies examine the direction and strength of the relationship between two variables

Question 18

Direction (Correlational studies)

Answer 18

Positive: variables move in same direction
As one increases, the other also increases
Scatter plot points fo from lower left to upper right
Negative: variables move in opposite directions
As one variable increases the other variable decreases
Scatterplot points go from upper left to lower right

Ex. as depressive symptoms increase, number of friends decrease

Project:
As FOMO increases, PSMU also increases
The reverse is also true in a positive relationship

Question 19

Strength (correlational studies)

Answer 19

The spread of points in a scatter plot tell you about the strength of the association between two variables
When the relationship is stronger, the points look more like a straight line
Predicting one variable if you know the other is easier
When the relationship is weaker the points are spread out and further apart
Predicting one variable if you know the other is harder

Question 20

Correlation coefficient tells us

Answer 20

We can see the relationship (association between two variables in a scatterplot)
To simplify, we use a number to capture both the strength and direction of the relationship
The number is called a correlation coefficient ®
Two parts
sign(+ or -): tells direction
Number (0-1): tells us strength, larger numbers mean stronger relationship; you can better predict one variable if you know the other

-1, +1 are perfect relationships - scatter plot straight line
0 is NO correlation- scatter plot circle shape

Question 21

True experiments

Answer 21

Still have two or more groups that we compare on a variable BUT participants randomly assigned to groups, which allows us to test cause and effect relationships between variables

two (or more) groups of participants to be compared
Participants are randomly assigned to groups
Groups differ only with respect to the IV (extraneous variables controlled)
Measure the DV and compare average group scores on the DV

Question 22

Superstition vs. Pseudoscience

Answer 22

Superstition is a belief that we hold that does not possess any proper information to back it up or make it true. If the belief seems scientific it could be called pseudoscience “false science”.

These can be related to science because we are careful to not pick out just what supports our hypothesis and avoid confirmation bias.

Question 23

Clinical psychologist

Answer 23

treats psychological problems or does research about mental disordered

Question 24

Counseling psychologist

Answer 24

treats milder problems, like troubles at work or school

Question 25

the three “helping” professions?

Answer 25

Psychiatrist (shrink), psychoanalyst, counselor

Question 26

Introspection

Answer 26

Method Wuntdt and Titchener used to study conscious

It’s looking within and saying how you feel, self observation.

Tichrner eventually named it structuralism

Question 27

Limitations to introspection

Answer 27

There was too much variation between introspections and there was no way to settle differences. Imageless thought. Sometimes you are not the best judge of your own mind.
We change
Everyone produces different results

Question 28

Gestalt approach

Answer 28

developed by Wertheimer
Analyzed experiences of thinking, personality and perception as a whole and not in parts like structuralists did
“The whole is more than the sum of its parts”

Question 29

functionalist approach

Answer 29

The mind functions to aid the organism adjusting to change in its environment
Developed by James
He included animals and not just humans

Question 30

behaviorist approach

Answer 30

developed by Watson and Skinner

Watson used the response from stimuli on animals instead of introspection because he believed it was unscientific.
He also adapted Pavlov’s classical conditioning. Skinner used the rewards, punishments of operant conditioning, rejected introspection and believed that behavior had no link to thinking or any mental event.

Question 31

psychoanalytic approach

Answer 31

developed by Freud- id, ego, superego
Freud said that nothing is an accident and all behavior is determined, he puts a lot of emphasis on sex and aggression.
Unconsciousness motivates drive human behaviour and personality development
Opposing introspection because his outcomes did not come by looking within.

Question 32

cognitive approach

Answer 32

Relies on objective observation of the mind and mental events and not just looking within to how one feels and how they come to a conclusion.

Question 33

humanists’ approach

Answer 33

developed by Maslow and Rogers
The study that people are are not just living unconsciously and decided, but are consciously making decisions and exercising free will

Question 34

three perspectives that comprise the biopsychosocial model

Answer 34

The biological perspective - uses genetics to explain behavior, as well as evolutionary psychology for inherited and adaptive. Neuroscience to see how the brain links us to thinking, feelings, perception and abnormal behavior.

The psychological perspective - views behavior as the result of psychological processes within each person.

The social perspective - the study that stresses the impact social contexts have on human behavior. These include: crowds, groups, education, ethnicity, religion, and poverty.

Question 35

critical thinking and the five principles of it

Answer 35

Critical thinking is a type of reflection involving supporting beliefs through scientific explanation and observation
1. Few truths need logical analysis and empirical testing
2. Authority or claim of expertise doesn’t make a claim automatically true or false
3. Judging the quality of argument is key
4. Critical thinking requires an open mind
5. Critical thinkers often wonder what it would take to show the truth is false

Question 36

3 types of data gathered by psychological scientists, and the challenges that they face to use them?

Answer 36

1. Self report data - surveys and sampling
2. Observational data - takes place in a natural place without interference of the researcher or can be put in a situation to observe behavior then compare.
3. Physiological data - typically quantitative and often relate to the heart, muscle tension, testosterone, oxytocin, measures of the brain.

Question 37

correlational research

Answer 37

is researching the relationship between two or more variables that go unmanipulated, to answer if they are correlated or associated with one another. It is assessed by predictive power and the correlation coefficient.

Question 38

Control group

Answer 38

a group in the experiment which a variable is not being tested

Question 39

Operational definition

Answer 39

xpress abstract behavior or mental process as something that can be observed and measured
Looking for indicators
Ex. memory: score on a test for learned material
Ex. Mental health:level of depression measured through clinical interview
Ex. Shyness: teacher ratings of interactions with classmates
There will ALWAYS be more than one operational definition for any behavior or mental process

Question 40

Structuralism

Answer 40

Wundt and titchner
Study directly the basic elements of conscious experience, to understand the whole