Individual & Social BehaviourInstructor: Kelly Arbeau

E-mail: karbeau@ualberta.caOffice hours: by appointment

Teaching Assistant: Kurt SchallE-mail: TBAOffice hours: TBA

Lectures: MWF 2:00 – 2:50Location: Physics 126Text: Gray, P. (2002). Psychology, 4th Ed.

WebCT: Lecture notes, marks, and the course outline can be found on WebCT. WebCT will also be used for your assignments and for managing your research participation.

Update: WebCT

• Both department IT coordinator + U of A WebCT have been contacted

• Full notes for today’s lecture will be posted (rather than partial slides)

• Thanks to those of you who made me aware of this issue

• Building Services now knows about the clock (was set to the wrong time)

• Thanks for pointing this out on Weds

Update: Clock Issue

Update: Run For The Cure• Team U of A Psychology is presently the top

local fundraiser for the CIBC Run For The Cure (October 3)

• A link for making donations (www.cbcf.org) will be made available on WebCT

• The jar is at the front of the class

• You are also invited to join the run team: cbcf.org

• We hope that you will contribute to our fundraising efforts… and Thank You!

Let’s get the ball rolling

We’re going to begin with a review of Chapter 2

• Science

• Research

• Statistics

Roadmap for Chapter 2• Examines application of the scientific method to

questions of psychological interest.

• There are various dimensions along which research strategies can be categorized:

– Design (experiment / correlational / descriptive)

– Setting (field / lab)

– Data-collection method (self-report / observation)

• We’ll talk about STATISTICS!

• Big Message: an open mind and good imaginations are not enough. Research in psychology requires a skeptical attitude and objective methodology.

Why do you need to know about research methods / science /

statistics for psychology?

• Allows you to become a more critical consumer of psychological knowledge

• Affords you the tools to eventually become a producer of psychological knowledge

• Article in Elle Magazine vs The Journal of Adolescence.

How do you know what you know?

What are the criteria that form the foundation for true science? Science isn’t the only way to know reality:

• “You just know it.” • “Somebody told you and you remember

some of it, but you forget who said it.” • “You hear it on the news.” • “Sometimes you find out what’s true,

sometimes you don’t.” • “Everybody just knows it.” • “You remember it long enough to pass a test. • “You really don’t know, you just fake it.”

Ways of Knowing

DirectDirectExperienceExperience

yours, other people’s, trial and error

InstinctInstincts are

behavioral, viseral (“gut”), emotional

responses built into the organism.

Authority

We know almost everything beyond our own sensory experiences by authority: somebody says so and we believe them.

Common Sense

culturally based learning taken for granted by those raised in the same culture.

Spiritual

You can gain knowledge through spiritual means. For example, faith, which is bibilically defined as the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.”

Science

•Finally, science can provide us with new insight. For Psychology, science is the chief means of knowing the reality of the material world.

•How can we define science?

•In practice, “science is the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena.” It demands systematic methodology and study.

• Much of the power of science lies in its ability to relate cause and effect.

• Uses method of test and re-test, in order to choose b/w competing hypotheses. [Hypothesis: statement of what you initially believe is the true relationship between two or more variables.]

• We can be more confident in a finding if has been brought about through science.

Characteristics of Science

• Empirical• Systematic• Repeatable• Tentative• Universal Order• “Objective”

What clues us in that a research finding is based on science?

Science is Empirical

• We find out information using observation and experience.

• Based on sensory experience•We pick up the information using one of the five senses rather than some sort of extrasensory perception.

Systematic

Involves a particular procedure:

Use observation

Derive our experiments from theories that

have a specific hypothesis

We use measurement and testing to check

out our hypothesis

Based on the outcome of this testing, we will conduct new observations to continue to

seek knowledge.

Repeatable

• Can be done again (else, it isn’t science)• Other scientists should be able to reproduce

the phenomena in other labs and settings, under similar conditions

Although the goal of science is to find facts, we accept that it is still tentative, not dogmatic.

Science offers only the best solution (to a question or problem) that is currently available. – A better / more comprehensive explanation of reality

may come along, and we need to allow for this possibility. Later discoveries often change our understanding of a paradigm.

• Ex: Old belief – babies and dogs can’t feel pain.

New belief – yes, they can

Our understanding evolved as new information became available.

Tentative

Assumes Universal Order• Universal laws exist• Laws can be uncovered via

proper research

Objective•Tries to avoid bias

•We try to keep science value-free, although naturally this can sometimes be very difficult to put into practice

• Since all the sciences, and especially psychology, are still immersed insuch tremendous realms of the uncertain and the unknown, the best that anyindividual scientist, especially any psychologist, can do seems to be tofollow his own gleam and his own bent, however inadequate they may be. Inthe end, the only sure criterion is to have fun."E. C. Tolman, 1959

How is Data Collected?Case studies

QuestionnairesObservation

1. Case Study• Case studies provide information about real people in

real situations (it’s an observational method)

• Few N (number of participants can = 1) so what situations would these be good for?

– Rare phenomena

• Advantage

– In depth analysis

– Study of rare phenomena

• Disadvantage

– Time consuming

– May not be able to generalize findings. WHY NOT?• one person does not necessarily represent the whole

group

2. Questionnaires

• Surveys using questionnaires typically have a large N (lots of participants)

• Advantages:– Quick and cheap– Large N – Why is this a perk?

The more people involved, the more confident we can be that the participants in our sample are representative of the larger population to which they belong.

Questionnaires Disadvantages

(1) Valid? Is information collected on pen and paper a

valid representation of a real-world issue? Is the test even measuring what it is

supposed to? (Ex: Can how you eat an ice cream cone – i.e. by licking it or biting it – give an indication of what kind of lover you are?.)

Is the respondant being honest, or are they giving the answers they think the researcher wants? Are they actually able to observe and record their own behaviours and moods? (2) Lack depth: especially if they do not allow for open-ended responses, questionnaires can lack depth.

3. Observation (Procedures in which the researcher observes and records the bhr of interest.)

Advantage– Can record spontaneous behavior. No need to prime

people to act a certain way (although you can do this, too).

– Great for working with children, who may not be able to record their own behaviour. Other examples?

Disadvantage– Prone to observer bias.

• This means that people will often behave differently when they know they are being watched.

Classifying research studies:

1. EXPERIMENT: Tests a hypothesis about a cause-effect relationship (variable = anything that can vary).– Most direct and conclusive approach to testing for

cause and effect• Systematically manipulate a theoretically relevant variable to

examine change in another variable. Random assignment is a good clue to determining whether a study is an experiment. Ex: Clinical trials of drug effectiveness.

• Independent Variable– the manipulated variable hypothesized to cause some

effect on another variable• Dependent Variable

– the measured variable hypothesized to be affected by the IV

– the outcome/observation that “depends” on the IV

2. CORRELATIONAL STUDY:

• Often used when an experiment is not Often used when an experiment is not possible (you can’t control all of the possible (you can’t control all of the variables).variables).

• No manipulation of variablesNo manipulation of variables• Instead: look for relationships among Instead: look for relationships among

variables…i.e. two or more variables are variables…i.e. two or more variables are measured and associations between them measured and associations between them are exploredare explored

• Cannot tell us about Cannot tell us about directiondirection of causation. of causation. Does A cause B or does B cause A????Does A cause B or does B cause A????

Ex: Is there a relationship between GPA and happiness?

3. DESCRIPTIVE STUDY: • Purpose is to describe the behaviour of an Purpose is to describe the behaviour of an

individual or group of individualsindividual or group of individuals• No systematic investigation of associations No systematic investigation of associations

among variablesamong variables Ex: Case study.

Where can research take place?

• Lab study: in designated research area.

• Field: anywhere else.

How can I collect my data?

• Self-Report: people are asked to rate/describe their own behaviour (ex: questionnaire research).

• Observational: Researchers themselves observe and record the behaviour of interest rather than relying on self-reports. Sometimes tests are presented and sometimes the researcher does not interfere with the participants’ behaviour.– Testing: stimuli and problems are presented for

participants to respond to

Let’s apply this…take 2 minutes and classify the following study descriptions as:

1. Experimental, Correlational, or Descriptive (E/C/D)2. Observational or Self-Report (O / SR)

3. Lab or Field Setting (L / F)

= E, O, L

= C, O, L

= D, O, L

= E, O, F

= E, SR, L

1. Experimental, Correlational, or Descriptive (E/C/D)2. Observational or Self-Report (O / SR)

3. Lab or Field Setting (L / F)

= C, SR, L

= D, O, L

= C, SR, F

= D, SR, L