Psychology Textbook Notes- Ch.

1 The Need for Psychological Science: The Limits of Intuition and Common Sense Hindsight Bias-THE TENDENCY TO BELIEVE AFTER LEARNING A N OUTCOME that foreseen I knew it all along phenomenon). Unanticipated scientific results indeed seem like obvious common sense or justify it to that! Common sense describes what has happened more easily than it predicts what will happen. Intuition can be wrong & common sense! Overconfidence: Thinking limited by after-the-fact common sense hindsight bias. We could of done that DUH attitude example anagram scrambling after seeing the solution. 98% college students confident they wont drop out yet half do OVERCONFIDENT! More confident than correct! The Scientific Attitude: Moses- Put the prophet to the test. If the predicted event does not take place or prove true then so much the worse for the prophet. Magician James Randi-debunked and tested a variety of psychic phenomena (ie aurora reading). SKEPTICS but not cynical. Critical thinkingdoesnt blindingly accept conclusions, examines assumptions etc. The Scientific Method- make observations theories etc. theory- an explanation using an intergrated set of principles that organizes and predicts observations. Linking observations hypothesis-a testable prediction implied by theory! Use operational definition- a statement of procedures used to replicate the experiment! Succesful theory 1)organizes Fred 2)implies predictions Description: The Case Study The case study- psycho. Study one or more individuals in great depth reveal truth in all. Sigmund Freud and Jean Piaget. Anecdotal cases can be the exception ie. Crazy dreams etc. Whats tre of all of us can be glimpsed in any one of us. Discern general truths we must do other things. The Survey: Self reported attitudes or behaviors of ppl random sample. Wording has critical effect on the results of a survey. Sampling: Bias people. False consensus effect-tendency to overestimate others agreement with us. Random Sample (entire equal chance to participate) in the population the whole group you wanted to study and describe. Large representative is better than small. No generalizing. As well as being unrepresentative by sending surveys in a way that only certain biased ppl are surveyed. Naturalist Observation: Watching and recording behavior of organisms in their natural envoi. DESCRIBES BEHAVIOR. Jane Goodall (1998) - paved way for later studies in animal thinking lang. and emotion chimpanzees insert stick in termite then eating it. Colder dvlp. Countries faster pace die heart disease v. slow less dvlp countries. CORRELATION: Correlation coefficient: the statistical measure of a relationship. Either one predicts the other. Scatterplots are used! Doesnt tell us of cause and effect help us reveal to the extent the things relate. -Correlation and Causation- NO causation Illusory Correlations When we believe there is a relationship btw two things we are likely to notice and recall instances that confirm our belief. (ie presumption infertile couples who adopt become more likely to conceive) we remember the unusual events. When we notice random coincidences we may forget that they are random instead see them as correlated. Deception and illusory correlations.

Perceiving Order in Random Events Illusory correlations arise from our natural eagerness to make sense of the world! In chances people assume more random numbers are more unlike when there is an equal chance. One event happening doesnt affect the probability of the next. Experimentation Anyways 1)Manipulating the factors of interest 2) holding constant other factors isolate cause and effect. Evaluating therapies Placebo-blind- a pill with no drug in it. DOUBLE blind procedure= researchers dont know which participants have the placebo v. the real drug. Placebo effect- just thinking one is getting a treatment can boost ones spirits, and relax ones body, and lead to symptom of relief. An experimental condition- people receive the treatment v. control condition-w/o the treatment. The PLACEBO Randomly assigning- the two groups should other wise be identical. Equalizes the two groups in age attitudes and every other characteristic. Any later differences that come in the experiment are then known as an effect of the treatment. Independent variable-manipulated /effect being studied. Dependent variable- measurable behavior it changes depending on what takes place during the experiment. *Random sampling helps us generalize to a larger population. Random assignment controls extraneous influences, which help us infer cause and effect. Descriptive: observe behavior through naturalistic observations Correlation: surveys etc. association through one variable predicts another Experimental: cause and effect one or more factors using random assignment to eliminate preexisting differences among subjects. The independent variables are being manipulated. Subliminal Tapes? -Does briefly through the vast info processed through our unconscious. Anthony Greenwald 1991conducted 16 double blind experiments evaluating subliminal self help tapes over a 10 year period. Not one had therapeutic effect! Statistical Reasoning: Describe data by organizing it for example through a bar graph. Measures of central tendency: Mode-most frequent Mean-average Median-middle. Mean is skewed if outlier is present *Measures of variation: how similar or diverse. Range- high-low Standard deviation= how much scores deviate from one another. When is a Difference Reliable? 1. Representative samples are better than biased samples. 2. Less variable observations are more reliable than those that are more variable. 3. More cases are better than few. *Averages based on many cases are more reliable (less variable) than averages based on only a few cases. When is a Difference Significant? Statistical significance- when the sample averages are reliable and the difference between them is relatively large. The point to remember: Statistical significance indicates the likelihood that a result will happen by chance. It does not indicate the importance of the result. 1. Doubt big, round, undocumented numbers.

2. When looking at graphs in books media etc. think critically: always read the scale labels and note their range. 3. Always note which measure of central tendency is reported. If mean consider outliers. 4. Dont be overly impressed by a few anecdotes. Generalizations based on only a few cases are unreliable. 5. Statistical significance indicates the LIKELIHOOD that a result will occur by chance. It does not indicate the importance of the result. The experimenter intends the laboratory environment to be a simplified reality. It is the resulting principles not the specific finding that help explain every day behaviors. Even when specific attitudes and behaviors vary across cultures. They underlying processes are much the same. Many researchers believe that women carry on conversations more readily to build relationships; men usually talk to give information and advice. Yet we are all the same and different. Study animals to learn how they behave as well as to learn about people. Animal experiments have led to treatments of human diseases. Go back to basics to learn about the mechanisms. 7% of all psychological experiments involve animals, and under ethical and legal guidelines these animals rarely experience pain. Animal rights groups still argue for the pain of animal 1) informed consent of potential participants 2) protect from harm and discomfort 3) confidentiality 4)fully explain research afterwards occasionally researchers temporarily stress people Ethical guidelines and committees. Psychology Is not value free. Psychologists own values influence their choice of research topics, their theories, and observations their labels for behavior, and their professional advice. Knowledge can be used for evil or good.