Confirmed Biases
Tendency to focus on cases that confirm our intuitive beliefs and to disregard cases that disconfirm our beliefs.
Pseudoscience
Refers to activities and beliefs that are claimed to be scientific by their proponents—and may appear to be scientific at first glance—but are not.
Basic Research
Research conducted primarily for the sake of achieving a more detailed and accurate understanding of human behavior, without necessarily trying to address any particular practical problem.
Applied Research
Research conducted primarily to address some practical problem.
Skeptism
Pausing to consider alternatives and to search for evidence—especially systematically collected empirical evidence—when there is enough at stake to justify doing so.
5 Methods of Acquiring Knowledge
1. Intuition
2. Authority
3. Rationalism
4. Empiricism
5. The Scientific Method
Intuition
When we use our intuition, we are relying on our guts, our emotions, and/or our instincts to guide us. Rather than examining facts or using rational thought, intuition involves believing what feels true.
Authority
This method involves accepting new ideas because some authority figure states that they are true. These authorities include parents, the media, doctors, priests and other religious authorities, the government, and professors.
Rationalism
Rationalism involves using logic and reasoning to acquire new knowledge. Using this method premises are stated, and logical rules are followed to arrive at sound conclusions.
Empiricism
Empiricism involves acquiring knowledge through observation and experience.
Scientific Method
a process of systematically collecting and evaluating evidence to test ideas and answer questions.
Science
Psychology is a science because it takes this same general approach to understanding one aspect of the natural world: human behavior.
Features of Science
The general scientific approach has three fundamental features
1. systematic empiricism
2. empirical question
3. public knowledge
systematic empiricism
Empiricism refers to learning based on observation, and scientists learn about the natural world systematically, by carefully planning, making, recording, and analyzing observations of it.
Empirical Questions
These are questions about how the world actually is and, therefore, can be answered by systematically observing it.
Public Knowledge
After asking their empirical questions, making their systematic observations, and drawing their conclusions, scientists publish their work. This usually means writing an article for publication in a professional journal, in which they put their research question in the context of previous research, describe in detail the methods they used to answer their question, and clearly present their results and conclusions. Increasingly, scientists are opting to publish their work in open access journals, in which the articles are freely available to all – scientists and nonscientists alike. This important choice allows publicly-funded research to create knowledge that is truly public.
Falsifiable
Any scientific claim must be expressed in such a way that there are observations that would—if they were made—count as evidence against the claim. In other words, scientific claims must be falsifiable.
Three Goals of Science
1. to describe
2. to predict
3. to explain
folk psychology
we all have intuitive beliefs about people’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings—and these beliefs are collectively referred to as folk psychology
heuristics
we tend to rely on mental shortcuts in forming and maintaining our beliefs.
confirmation bias
we then tend to focus on cases that confirm our intuitive beliefs and not on cases that dis-confirm them.
tolerance for uncertainty
Because there is often not enough evidence to fully evaluate a belief or claim, scientists also cultivate a tolerance for uncertainty. They accept that there are many things that they simply do not know.
Experimental Psychologists
Scientific research in psychology is generally conducted by people with doctoral degree(Ph, .D.) the doctor of philosophy
clinical practice of psychology
the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and related problems.
empirically supported treatments
If a new psychotherapy is an effective treatment for depression, then systematic observation should reveal that depressed people who receive this psychotherapy improve more than a similar group of depressed people who do not receive this psychotherapy (or who receive some alternative treatment).
APA style
is a set of guidelines for writing in psychology and related fields. These guidelines are set down in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
First Level of APA Style
The first is the overall organization of an article (which is covered in Chapter 2 “Manuscript Structure and Content” of the Publication Manual). Empirical research reports, in particular, have several distinct sections that always appear in the same order:
Title page. Presents the article title and author names and affiliations.
Abstract. Summarizes the research.
Introduction. Describes previous research and the rationale for the current study.
Method. Describes how the study was conducted.
Results. Describes the results of the study.
Discussion. Summarizes the study and discusses its implications.
References. Lists the references cited throughout the article.
The second level of APA style can be referred to as high-level style
There are two important themes here. One is that APA-style writing is formal rather than informal.
The second theme of high-level APA style is that it is straightforward.
third level of APA style can be referred to as low-level style
(which is covered in Chapter 4 “The Mechanics of Style” through Chapter 7 “Reference Examples” of the Publication Manual). Low-level style includes all the specific guidelines pertaining to spelling, grammar, references and reference citations, numbers and statistics, figures and tables, and so on.
Table 11.2 contains some of the most common types of APA style errors based on an analysis of manuscripts submitted to one professional journal over a 6-year period
1. Use of numbers Failing to use numerals for 10 and above
2. Hyphenation Failing to hyphenate compound adjectives that precede a noun (e.g., “role playing technique” should be “role-playing technique”)
3. Use of et al. Failing to use it after a reference is cited for the first time
4. Headings Not capitalizing headings correctly
5. Use of since Using since to mean because
6. Tables and figures Not formatting them in APA style; repeating information that is already given in the text
7. Use of commas Failing to use a comma before and or or in a series of three or more elements
8. Use of abbreviations Failing to spell out a term completely before introducing an abbreviation for it
9. Spacing Not consistently double-spacing between lines
10. Use of “&” in references Using & in the text or and in parentheses
Research Process
1. Find a Reasearch Idea
2. Form a Hypothesis and a Prediction
3. Define and Measure Variables
4. Identify and Select Participants or Subjects
5. Select a Research Design
6. Select a Research Strategy
7. Conduct the Study
8. Evaluate the Data
9. Report the Results
10. Refine and Reformulate your Research Idea
How does validity relate to measuring variables?
Validity is concerned with how accurately the variable is being measured. When conducting research, variables must be accurately measured, and the measurement must be free of contamination or error. A valid measurement procedure is one which does exactly what it purports to do.
How does validity relate to measuring variables?
A reliable method provides the same result each time it is used in the same situation. This consistency over time helps to rule out the possibility of contamination in the results.
What is the difference between a population and a sample?
A population consists of everyone in a specific category, and must be exactly described. The population of community college instructors at Rio Salado College refers to everyone who is an instructor at Rio Salado College. A sample is a subset of the population that is used in a research study to represent the population. A researcher might select, say, 100 instructors at Rio Salado College to represent the population of instructors in a study.
Bar Graph
Information about differences between groups is best presented in a bar graph, where the heights of the bars represent the group means.
Categorical Variable
A quality, such as height is typically measured by assigning a number to each individual.
Dependent Variable
The variable (often called Y for short) is thought to be caused by the independent variable.
Directionality Problem
Two variables, X and Y, can be statistically related because X causes Y or because Y causes X. Without experimental evidence there is no way to tell what causes what.
Edited Volumes
This is another type of scholarly book. Edited volumes have an editor or a small group of editors who recruit many authors to write separate chapters on different aspects of the same topic. It is not unusual for each chapter to take a different perspective or even for the authors to disagree with each other.
Empirical Research Report
This is another type of scholarly book. Edited volumes have an editor or a small group of editors who recruit many authors to write separate chapters on different aspects of the same topic. It is not unusual for each chapter to take a different perspective or even for the authors to disagree with each other.
Empirical Research Report
One of the two basic types of articles that are typically published in professional journals. They describe one or more new empirical studies conducted by the author. They introduce a research question, explain why it is interesting, review previous research, describe their method and results and draw their conclusions.
Experiment
A study in which the researcher manipulates the independent variable. The most effective way to address the directionality and the third-variable problem.
feasibility
The feasibility of successfully answering the question is an important criterion for evaluating research questions. Feasibility is impacted by the time, money, equipment and expertise available. Basically, an experiment that requires a space ship or millions of participants would be very unfeasible
Independent Variable
When there is a causal relationship between two variables, the variable that is thought to be the cause is called the independent variable (often called X).
Interestingness
Is a research question interesting to the general public and the scientific community rather than just the researcher herself? This is the case when the answer is in doubt, has important practical implications and fills a gap in the research literature
Monograph
A type of scholarly book that is written by a single author or a small group of authors. Usually gives a coherent presentation of a topic much like an extended review article.
Negative Relationship
Higher scores on one variable tend to be associated with lower scores on the other.
Operational Definition
A definition of the variable in terms of precisely how it is to be measured.
Pearson's r
The statistic that is typically used to measure the strength of a correlation between quantitative variables. r = 0 means no correlation, r = -1 stands for the strongest possible negative relationship, r = 1 for the strongest possible positive relationship.
Population
A large group of people, such as American teenagers, professional athletes or simply everyone. Researchers draw conclusions about the population they are interested in by studying a smaller sample of that population.
Positive Relationship
In a positive relationship, higher scores on one variable tend to be associated with higher scores on the other.
Professional journals
Periodicals that publish original research articles. They are usually published monthly or quarterly, with each issue containing several articles.
PschINFO
A comprehensive database produced by the APA that covers the research literature in Psychology. It is available in most university libraries and covers thousands of professional journals and scholarly books going back more than 100 years.
Quantitative variable
A quality, such as height, that is typically measured by assigning a number to each individual.
Review Article
Along with research reports, one of the two basic types of articles typically published in professional journals. They summarize previously published research on a topic and usually present new ways to organize or explain the results.
Sample
A smaller subset of a population that is easier to study than the whole population but allows the researcher to generalize their findings to the population.
Scatterplot
Correlations between quantitative variables are often presented using scatterplots. Each axis represents one of the variables. Each point represents one person’s score on both variables. Taking all the points into account we can see which relationship exists between the two variables.
Scholarly Book
Books written by researchers and practitioners mainly for use by other researchers and practitioners.
Statistical Relationship
There is a statistical relationship between two variables when the average score on one differs systematically across the levels of the other. The two forms of statistical relationships are differences between groups and correlations between quantitative variables.
Theoretical Article
A review article primarily devoted to presenting a new theory is often called a theoretical article.
Third-Variable Problem
Two variables, X and Y, can be statistically related not because X causes Y, or Y causes X, but because a third variable, Z, causes both X and Y.
A Simple Model of Scientific Research in Psychology
meta-analysis
When a review article provides a statistical summary of all of the previous results
double-blind peer review.
Researchers who want to publish their work in the journal submit a manuscript to the editor—who is generally an established researcher too—who in turn sends it to two or three experts on the topic. Each reviewer reads the manuscript, writes a critical but constructive review, and sends the review back to the editor along with recommendations about whether the manuscript should be published or not. The editor then decides whether to accept the article for publication, ask the authors to make changes and resubmit it for further consideration, or reject it outright. In any case, the editor forwards the reviewers’ written comments to the researchers so that they can revise their manuscript accordingly. This entire process is double-blind, as the reviewers do not know the identity of the researcher(s) and vice versa.
theory
is a coherent explanation or interpretation of one or more phenomena. Although theories can take a variety of forms, one thing they have in common is that they go beyond the phenomena they explain by including variables, structures, processes, functions, or organizing principles that have not been observed directly.
hypothesis
is a specific prediction about a new phenomenon that should be observed if a particular theory is accurate
Theories and hypotheses always have this if-then relationship
“If drive theory is correct, then cockroaches should run through a straight runway faster, and a branching runway more slowly, when other cockroaches are present.”
But how do researchers derive hypotheses from theories?
One way is to generate a research question using the techniques discussed in this chapter and then ask whether any theory implies an answer to that question. For example, you might wonder whether expressive writing about positive experiences improves health as much as expressive writing about traumatic experiences. Although this question is an interesting one on its own, you might then ask whether the habituation theory—the idea that expressive writing causes people to habituate to negative thoughts and feelings—implies an answer. In this case, it seems clear that if the habituation theory is correct, then expressive writing about positive experiences should not be effective because it would not cause people to habituate to negative thoughts and feelings. A second way to derive hypotheses from theories is to focus on some component of the theory that has not yet been directly observed. For example, a researcher could focus on the process of habituation—perhaps hypothesizing that people should show fewer signs of emotional distress with each new writing session.
hypothetico-deductive method
The primary way that scientific researchers use theories is sometimes called the..
Researchers begin with a set of phenomena and either construct a theory to explain or interpret them or choose an existing theory to work with. They then make a prediction about some new phenomenon that should be observed if the theory is correct.
model of “theoretically motivated” or “theory-driven” research
Incorporating Theory into Your Research
When you write your research report or plan your presentation, be aware that there are two basic ways that researchers usually include theory. The first is to raise a research question, answer that question by conducting a new study, and then offer one or more theories (usually more) to explain or interpret the results. This format works well for applied research questions and for research questions that existing theories do not address. The second way is to describe one or more existing theories, derive a hypothesis from one of those theories, test the hypothesis in a new study, and finally reevaluate the theory. This format works well when there is an existing theory that addresses the research question—especially if the resulting hypothesis is surprising or conflicts with a hypothesis derived from a different theory.
There are three general characteristics of a good hypothesis
1. testable and falsifiable--We must be able to test the hypothesis using the methods of science and if you’ll recall Popper’s falsifiability criterion, it must be possible to gather evidence that will disconfirm the hypothesis if it is indeed false.
2. logical--Hypotheses should be informed by previous theories or observations and logical reasoning.
3. positive --That is, the hypothesis should make a positive statement about the existence of a relationship or effect, rather than a statement that a relationship or effect does not exist
variable
is a quantity or quality that varies across people or situations.
Variables can be either quantitative or categorical
quantitative variable
s a quantity, such as height, that is typically measured by assigning a number to each individual.
Categorical variable
is a quality, such as chosen major, and is typically measured by assigning a category label to each individua
operational definition
A definition of the variable in terms of precisely how it is to be measured. Most variables that researchers are interested in studying cannot be directly observed or measured and this poses a problem because empiricism (observation) is at the heart of the scientific method. Operationally defining a variable involves taking an abstract construct like depression that cannot be directly observed and transforming it into something that can be directly observed and measured. Most variables can be operationally defined in many different ways.
simple random sampling
in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample