Exploring psychology in modules 9e

8/9/2019 Exploring psychology in modules 9e

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by Jim FoleyThinking CriticallyWith PsychologicalScience

© 2013 Worth

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Module 2: Research Strategies: HowPsychologists Ask and Answer Questions



Topics To Study

Thinking aws to o!erco"e:

Hindsight bias

Seeing meaning incoincidences

Overconfdence error

The Scienti#c attitude:Curious, se!tical, humble

Critical "hining

$re%uently Asked

Questions: #$!eriments vs% real li&e

Culture and gender

How do we ethically study

'alue (udgments

Scienti#c Method: "heories and

Hy!otheses

&athering Psych'ata: )escri!tion,

Correlation, and

#$!erimentation*

Causation

'escri(ing Psych

'ata: Signifcant

)i+erences



syc o og ca c ence:)!er!iew

"y!ical errors in hindsight, overconfdence,and coincidence

"he scientifc attitude and critical thining

"he scientifc method: theories andhy!otheses

athering !sychological data: descri!tion,

correlation, and e$!erimentation*causation )escribing data: signifcant di+erences

-ssues in !sychology: laboratory vs% li&e,

culture and gender, values and ethics



When our natural thinking style *ails:

Hindsight(ias:

.- new it allalong%/

)!ercon#dence error:.- am sure -am correct%/

"he coincidence

error, ormistaenly

percei!ing order inrando" e!ents:

."he dice must bef$ed because you

rolled three si$es in arow%/



Hindsight

(ias is like acrystal (allthat we useto predict+

the past,

- new this wouldha!!en0

1ou were acce!ted intothis college*university

Classic e$am!le:a&te

r watching acom!etition

2s!orts,cooing3, if youdon’t make a

prediction aheadof time, you

might mae a.!ostdiction/: .-

fgured thatteam*!ersonwould win

because0/

4hen you seemost results o&!sychologicalresearch, you

might say, .thatwas obvious0/

Hindsight -ias



These sayings allsee" to "akesense. in hindsight.a*ter we read the",

Out of sight, out ofmind

S/He who hesitatesis lost

No [wo]man is anisland

Actions speak louder thawords

You’re neer too oldto learn

uriosit" killed the cat

Opposites attract

#here’s no place like home

A(sence "akes the heart

grow *onder

/ook (e*ore you leap

&ood *ences "ake good

neigh(ors

The pen is "ightier than

the sword

0ou can1t teach an old dog

new tricks

The grass is always greener on the other side

o* the *ence

Seek and ye

shall #nd

-irds o* a *eather ock

together-ut then why

do theseother phrasesalso see" to"ake sense



Hindsight 3-ias4

"he mind builds itscurrent wisdom around

what we have alreadybeen told% 4e are.biased/ in &avor o& oldin&ormation%

For e$am!le, we maystay in a badrelationshi! because ithas lasted this &ar andthus was .meant to be%/

$h" call it

%&ias'(



)!ercon#dence5rror:)redicting performance

4e overestimate our!er&ormance, our rate o&wor, our sills, and ourdegree o& sel&5control%

ce 5rror: *udging our

accurac"

4hen stating thatwe .now/

something, our levelof condence isusually much higherthan our level of

accuracy. Overconfdence is a

!roblem in !re!aring&or tests% Familiarityis not understanding

-& you &eelconfdent that younow a conce!t, trye$!laining it to

someone else%

"est &or this: .howlong do you thin ittaes you to0/ 2e%g%.(ust fnish this one

thing -6m doing on thecom!uter be&ore - getto wor/37

How &ast can youunscramble words7uess, then try these:

+S+-AH+-O.N



Result o*this error:

reactingto

coincidence as i* it

has"eaning

Percei!ing order in rando" e!ents:56a"ple:The coin

tossesthat 3lookwrong4 i*there are

#!e headsin a row,

anger0 thining you can

mae a !rediction &rom arandom series%

-& there have been fve headsin a row, you can not !redict

that .it6s time &or tails/ on thene$t 8i!

$h" this error happens0because we have the wrongidea about whatrandomness loos lie%

1f one poker pla"er at ata&le got pocket acestwice in a row,is the game

rigged(



Making our ideas "ore accurate (y(eing scienti#c

4hat did .9maing;andi/ do about theclaim o& seeing auras7

He develo!ed a testable!rediction, which wouldsu!!ort the theory i& itsucceeded%

$hich it didnot2

"he aura5readers wereunable to locate theaura around ;andi6sbody without seeing

;andi6s body itsel&, sotheir claim was not



Scienti#c Attitude Part 7: Curiosity

Hypothesis: Curiosity, i&

not guided bycaution, can

lead to the

'e#nition:always asing new

<uestions%#hat &ehaior 1’m noticing in that gu"3 is that

common to all people( Or is it more commonwhen under stress( Or onl" common for males('



Scienti#c Attitude Part 2:Skepticis"

'e#nition: not acce!ting a =&act6 as truewithout challenging it> seeing

i& =&acts6 can withstandattem!ts to dis!rove them

Skepticism, like curiosit", generates4uestions0 %1s there anothere5planation for the &ehaior 1 amseeing( 1s there a pro&lem with how

1 measured it, or how 1 set up m"e5periment( o 1 need to change m"theor" to 6t the eidence('

S i ti# Attit d P t 8



Scienti#c Attitude Part 8:Hu"ility

Hu"ility re*ersto

seeking the truthrather thantrying to be

right; ascientist needsto be able toaccept being

wron .

%$hat

matters isnot m"

opinion or"ours, &ut

the truthnature



Critical thinking re&ersto a more care&ul style o&&orming and evaluatingnowledge than sim!ly

using intuition%

9long with the scienti#c"ethod, critical thining willhel! us develo! moree+ective and accurate waysto fgure out what maes

!eo!le do, thin, and &eel the

3Think critically4 with psychological science+does this mean %critici7e'(

$h" do 1 needto work on m"thinking( !an’t"ou 8ust tell mefacts a&out

ps"cholog"(

• "he brain isdesigned &orsurviving and

re!roducing,but it is not thebest tool &orseeing =reality6

clearly%



Criticalthinking:

analyzinginformation,

arguments, andconclusions, to

decide if the"make sense,rather than

simpl"accepting it .

?oo &orhidden

assu"pti

ons anddecide i&you agree%

?oo &orhidden

(ias,!olitics,

values, or!ersonal

connections%

Put asideyour own

assum!tions andbiases,

and loo

at theevidence%

See i&

there wasa 8aw inhow the

in&ormation was

collected%

Consider i&there are

otherpossi(lee6planati

ons &or

the &actsor results%



9uestions0

The Scienti#c Method "he scientifc method is the!rocess o& testing our ideasabout the world by:

"urning ourtheories intotestable

!redictions%

atherin&ormationrelated to our!redictions%

analyingwhether thedata fts with

our ideas%

-& the data doesn6t ft our ideas, then wemodi&y our hy!otheses, set u! a study ore$!eriment, and try again to see i& the

world fts our !redictions%



Scienti#cMethod: Tools

and &oals

re!ealed (y the scienti#c

"ethod: "he brain can recover

&rom massive early

childhood braindamage%

Slee!walers are notacting out dreams%

Our brains do nothave accuratememories loced

inside lie video fles%.

The (asics:

"heory

Hy!othesis

O!erational)efnitions

;e!licationResearchgoals9types:

)escri!tion

Correlation

Prediction



Theory: the (ig picture

#$am!le o& atheory: .9ll9)H) sym!tomsare a reaction toeating sugar%/

9 theory, in

the language o&science, is a set

of principles,built on

observationsand other

verifable &acts,

that explainssome phenomenonand predicts its

future behavior.



Hypotheses: in*or"edpredictions ."estable/ means that

the hy!othesis isstated in a way thatwe could maeobservations to fnd

out i& it is true%

9hypothesis is a testable predictionconsistentwith ourtheory %

$hat would &e a prediction fromthe %All AH isa&out sugar'theor"(

One hy!othesis: .-& a id gets sugar, the id willact more distracted, im!ulsive, and hy!er%/

"o test the .9ll/ !art o& the theory: .9)H)

sym!toms will continue &or some ids evena&ter su ar is removed &rom the diet%/

w



whypotheses:

theories can (ias our o(ser!ations4e might select only thedata, or theinter!retations o& thedata, that su!!ort what

we already believe% "here are sa&eguardsagainst this:

Hy!otheses designed

to disconfrm )perational

de#nitions

use*ulo(ser!ations:

How can we

measure .9)H)sym!toms/ in the!revious e$am!lein observableterms7

-m!ulsivity B o& times*hourcalling outwithout raising

hand% Hy!eractivity B

o& times*hourout o& seat

-nattention B



The ne6t9#nal step in the scienti#c"ethod:

eplication

1ou could introduce a small change in thestudy, e%g% trying the 9)H)*sugar test oncollege students instead o& elementarystudents%

Replicating research means

trying the methods

o& a study again, butwith di+erent!artici!ants or

situations, to see i&

the same resultsha!!en%

R h P



Research Process: ane6a"ple



Scienti#cMethod: Tools

and &oalsThe (asics:

"heory

Hy!othesis

O!erational )efnitions

;e!lication

Research goals9types:

)escri!tion

Correlation

Prediction Causation

#$!eriments

ow that we1!e co!eredthis

We can "o!e on to this

t s n ormat on:



Research goal and strategy:

'escription

t s n ormat on: Case Study:

observing andgatheringin&ormation tocom!ile an in5de!thstudy o& one

individual aturalistic

)(ser!ation:gathering data about

behavior> watchingbut not intervening

Sur!eys and;nter!iews: havingother eo le re ort

'escripti!e

researchis a

systematic,

objectiveobservation of

people.

"he goal isto !rovide a

clear,accurate

!icture o&!eo!le6s

behaviors,

thoughts,and



Case Study

:ene6t0 can be asource o& ideas

about human naturein general

+5ample0 cases o&brain damage have

suggested the&unction o& di+erent!arts o& the brain2e%g% Phineas ageseen here3

anger0 overgeneraliation

&rom one e$am!le>.

)(ser!ing



)(ser!ing3natural4(eha!ior means

just watchingand takingnotes!, and nottrying to change

anything% "his method can

be used to study

more than oneindividual, andto fnd truthsthat a!!ly to a

broader

aturalistic )(ser!ation

h d & h ie<ects



The Sur!ey method o& gathering

in&ormation aboutmany !eo!le6sthoughts orbehaviors throughsel&5re!ort rather

than observation% Eeys to getting use&ul

in&ormation:

e care&ul aboutthe wording o&<uestions

Onl uestion

e<ectsthe results youget &rom asurvey can be

changed by yourword selection%

56a"ple:

90 o "ouhaemotiation tostud" hard for

this course(

90 o "ou feela desire to

stud" hard for



psychologyscience

"istake was"ade here

Hint =7: Harry Tru"an won,

Hint =2:The!hicago

#ri&uneinter!iewed peoplea(out

who"theywould!ote *or,

Hint =8:

in 7>?@,Hint=?:(yphone,



Rando" Sa"pling•

-& you want to fnd outsomething about men,you can6t interviewevery single man on

earth%• Sam!ling saves time%

1ou can fnd the ratioo& colors in this (ar by

maing sure they arewell mi$ed2randomied3 and thentaing a sam!le%

population

sampl e

Rando" sa"pling is a techni"ue for

making sure thatevery individual in a population has an

e"ual chance of

being in your

.;andom/means that

your selectiono& !artici!antsis driven onlyby chance, not

by anycharacteristic%



Correlation

&eneral

'e#nition: anobservation thattwo traits orattributes are

related to eachother 2thus, theyare .co/5related3

Scienti#c

de#nition: a

;n a case study: "he &ewer hours

the boy wasallowed to slee!,

the moree!isodes o&

aggression hedis!layed%

A possi(le result o* "anydescripti!e studies:discoering a correlation

;n anaturalistic

o(ser!ation:Children in a

classroom who

were dressed inheavier clotheswere more liely

to &all aslee!

than thosewearin li hter

;n a sur!ey: "he greater the

number o&Faceboo

l i i



Correlation Coecient• "he correlation coecient is a number representing how closely and

in what way two variables correlate change together!.

• "he direction o& the correlation can be positi!e 2direct relationshi!>both variables increase together3 or negati!e 2inverse relationshi!: asone increases, the other decreases3%

• "he strength o& the relationshi!, how tightly, !redictably they varytogether, is measured in a number that varies &rom A%AA to G*5 %AA%

Close toG%A

2strong

negative

2norelationshi!,

no

&uess the Correlation Coecients

2strong

!ositive

Height vs%shoe sie

1ears inschool vs%

years in (ail

Heightvs%

intelligen

ceClose to

A%AClose to

5%A



-& we fnd a correlation,what conclusions can we

draw &rom it7

;et’s sa" we 6nd the

following result0there is a positiecorrelation &etween

two aria&les, ice cream sales, and

rates of iolent

crime

Correlation is not



Correlation is notCausationB

.Peo!le who8oss more

regularly haveless ris o& heartdisease%/

.Peo!le withbigger &eet tendto be taller%/

-& this data is&rom a survey,can we

conclude that8ossing might!revent heartdisease7 Or that

!eo!le withheart5healthyhabits also 8ossregularly7

)oes thatmean havingbigger &eetcauses

height7



;* sel*estee" correlates with depression.there are still numerous possi&le causal links0

Testing the



So how do we #nd out a(out causation-y e6peri"entation

Testing thetheory thatA'H' D sugar:

removing sugar&rom the diet o&children with9)H) to see i& it

maes adi+erence

Thedepression9sel*

estee"e6a"ple: tryinginterventions thatim!rove sel&5

esteem to see i&

56peri"entation:

manipulatingone factor ina situation to

determine itse#ect



The Control &roup• -& we mani!ulate a variable in an e6peri"ental group o&

!eo!le, and then we see an e+ect, how do we now thechange wouldn6t have ha!!ened anyway7

• 4e solve this !roblem by com!aring this grou! to acontrol group, a group that is the same in every wayexcept the one variable we are changing%

+5ample0 two groups of children hae AH, &utonl" one group stops eating re6ned sugar2

y usingrando"assign"ent:

randomlyselecting some

study participants tobe assigned to

the control

group or the

How do maesure thecontrol grou!is reallyidentical inevery way tothee$!erimental

grou!7



To clari*y two si"ilarsounding ter"s+

<irst "ou sample,then "ou sort

=assign>

Rando"assign"ent

o&!artici!ants

to control or

e6peri"ental groups ishow you

control all

variablese$ce!t theone you6re

mani!ulating%

Rando"sa"pling ishow you get

a !ool o&research

!artici!antsthatre!resents

the

!o!ulationyou6re trying

to learnabout%

Pl ( < t

be given a place(o



Place(o e<ect

Place(o e<ect:experimental

e#ects that arecaused bye5pectations

about theintervention

How do we mae sure that the

e$!erimental grou! doesn6te$!erience an e+ect because theye6pect to e$!erience it7

How can we mae sure both grou!se$!ect to get better, but only onegets the real intervention beingstudied7

be given a place(o I an inactivesubstance or otherfake treatment in

place of theexperimentaltreatment %

"he control grou!

is ideally .blind/to whether theyare getting real or&ae treatment%

any studies aredou(le(lind Ineither!artici!ants nor

research sta+

a"ing the !aria(les



"he variable we are able to mani!ulateinde!endently o& what the other variables

are doing is called the independent!aria(le E;FG%

• -& we test the 9)H)*sugar hy!othesis:

• Sugar B Cause B -nde!endent 'ariable

• 9)H) B #+ect B )e!endent 'ariable

"he variable we e$!ect to e$!erience achange which de!ends on themani!ulation we6re doing is called thedependent !aria(le E'FG%

• )id more hy!er ids get to choose to be in the

sugar grou!7 "hen their !re&erence &or sugar

$he other variables that might have ane#ect on the dependent variable arecon*ounding !aria(les%

a"ing the !aria(les

$illing in our de#nition o*



9n e6peri"ent is a ty!eo& research in which the

researcher carefullymanipulates a limited

number of factors %&s!and measures the impact

on other factors '&s!.Kin !sychology,you would belooing at thee+ect o& thee$!erimental

change 2-'3 on a

$illing in our de#nition o*e 5perimentation

Correlation !s causation:



Correlation !s, causation:the (reast*eeding9intelligence

%uestion• Studies have &ound that children

who were breast&ed score higheron intelligence tests, onaverage, than those who werebottle5&ed%

• Can we conclude that breast&eeding C9LS#S higherintelligence7

• Mot necessarily% "here is at leastone con*ounding !aria(le:genes% "he intelligence testscores o& the mothers might behigher in those who choosebreast&eeding%

• So how do we deal with thiscon&ounding variable7 Hint:

e$!eriment%

u u u



u u u!aria(les:e6peri"ent with rando"assign"ent An actual stud" in the te5t0 women were

randoml" selected to &e in a group inwhich &reastfeeding was promoted

GN!oints

Su""ary o* the types o*



Co"paring Research Methods

ResearchMethod

-asicPurpose

HowConducted

What isManipulated

Weaknesses

Su""ary o* the types o*Research

)escri!tive

"o observe andrecordbehavior

Per&ormcasestudies,surveys, ornaturalisticobservations

Mothing Mo control o&variables>single casesmay bemisleadingCorrelation

al "o detectnaturallyoccurringrelationshi!s>to assess how

well onevariable!redictsanother

Com!utestatisticalassociation,sometimesamong

surveyres!onses

Mothing )oes nots!eci&y cause5e+ect> onevariable!redicts

another butthis does notmean onecauses theother

#$!erimental

"o e$!lorecause5e+ect

ani!ulateone ormore&actors>randomlyassignsome to

"heinde!endentvariable2s3

Sometimes not!ossible &or!ractical orethicalreasons>results maynot generalie



data:are the results useful(9&ter fnding a!attern in our datathat shows adi+erence betweenone grou! and

another, we canas more<uestions%

-s the di+erence

relia(le: can weuse this result togeneralize or to

predict the

future behaviorof the broader

How to achieve reliability: on(iased sa"pling: ae

sure the sa"ple that you studiedis a good representation o& the

!o!ulation you are trying to learnabout%

Consistency: Chec that thedata 2res!onses, observations3 isnot too widely !aried to showa clear !attern%

Many data points: )on6t try togeneralie &rom (ust a &ew cases,instances, or res!onses%

4hen have you &ound statisticallysigni#cant di+erence 2e%g%between e$!erimental and controlgrou!s37

4hen your data is reliable 9M)

$AQ a(out Psychology



Question: How can a result &rom an

e$!eriment, !ossibly sim!lifed and!er&ormed in a laboratory, give us anyinsight into real li&e7


/a(oratory

!s, /i*e

'i!ersity

Answer: y isolating variables andstudying them care&ully, we candiscover general !rinci!les that might

a!!ly to all !eo!le%Question: )o the insights &romresearch really a!!ly to all !eo!le, ordo the &actors o& culture and gender

override these .general/ !rinci!les o&behavior7Answer: ;esearch can discover humanuniversals 9M) study how culture andgender in8uence behavior% However, wemust be care&ul not to generalie too

much &rom studies done with sub(ects




Question: 4hy study animals7 -s it

!ossible to !rotect the sa&ety anddignity o& animal research sub(ects7

$AQ a(out Psychology5thics

5thics

Answer: Sometimes, biologicallyrelated creatures are less com!le$ thanhumans and thus easier to study% -n

some cases, harm to animals generatesim!ortant insights to hel! all creatures%

"he value o& animal research remainse$tremely controversial%Question: How do we !rotect thesa&ety and dignity o& human sub(ects7

Answer: Peo!le in e$!eriments maye$!erience discom&ort> deceiving!eo!le sometimes yields insights intohuman behavior% Human research

sub(ects are su!!osedly !rotected byuidelines &or non5har"*ul




Question: How do the values o&

!sychologists a+ect their wor7 -s it!ossible to !er&orm value5&reeresearch7

$AQ a(out PsychologyThe i"pacto* Falues

Answer: ;esearchers6 values a+ecttheir choices o& to!ics, theirinter!retations, their labels &or what

they see, and the advice they generate&rom their results% 'alue5&ree researchremains an im!ossible ideal%

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