Doing Psychology

Question 1

What are the components of psychology’s definition?

Answer 1

What is science? + What is the mind?

Question 2

What is the traditional view of what is science?

Answer 2

· Science is method of induction (conclusion/explanation based from reasoning drawn from observations)
- Observations are limited = We need to infer beyond thinks we can observe
· Science -> Observation of facts = Objective (independent of theory)
Facts - General theories - Apply to world more broadly

Question 3

What is the logic positivists of what is science?

Answer 3

· Science - Observation, induction and verification
· Meaningful knowledge must be verifiable by observation

Question 4

What did Popper say in response to induction and what did he propose?

Answer 4

• Induction & verifiability = Too permissive
  * E.g. Astrology - some predictions become true - not necessarily scientific

Promoted falsifiability

Question 5

How did Kuhn oppose Popper and what did he propose?

Answer 5

• Rejected falsifiability (too permissive)
  • Science solves puzzles consistent within an individual paradigm (agreed what & how of a science)
  • Science’s paradigm remains constant, then paradigm shift occurs when current theories can’t explain some phenomenon, and someone proposes a new theory
  • Paradigms = Incommensurable (can’t compare two different paradigms as don’t represent same thing = shows not based on observation and fact)○ e.g. Behavioural psychology (behaviour) vs early psychology (human experience)
  • Observations = Theory-laden (restricted to current theoretical assumptions)
  • Paradigm shift is subjective & not based on fact
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Question 6

What is the issue of demarcation?

Answer 6

(separation between what is & isn’t a science):

* Criteria that defines a science must be agreed upon & is often disputed  No self-evident answer to what is science

Question 7

What is monism?

Answer 7

• Either mind or matter (idealism or materialism)

Question 8

What is dualism and the different types?

Answer 8

Mind and Matter

* Cartesian dualism --> mind & matter interact
* Parallelism --> No interaction but in synch Epiphenomenalism --> Interact in one direction only (e.g. mind effects matter)

Question 9

What is the behaviourist approach to what the mind is?

Answer 9

• Mental concepts = Dispositions to behave
  * E.g. Belief that it’s raining causes a disposition to grab an umbrella

Question 10

What is the identity theory (type) vs identity theory (token) approach to what the mind is?

Answer 10

Identity Theory (Type):

* Each type of mental state (groups of different mental states) = Specific brain state 
	* Issue of multiple realizability 
		§ Different animals = Different brains but have similar mental states so mental states aren't identical to brain states 

Identity Theory (token):

* Each token of (individual) mental state = Specific brain state 
	* Many mental & brain states = Too many to create general laws etc. Why does psychology exist if mind & brain are identical?

Question 11

What is the functionalist approach to what the mind is?

Answer 11

Functionalism:

* Way it functions = Defines mental state/type

Question 12

What is the computer metaphor approach to what the mind is?

Answer 12

• Brain = Hardware & Mind = Software
  * Solves multiple realizability - Know same programs can work in different computers
  • Materialism (brain only) & dualism (what the brain does) creates separate disciplines of study

Question 13

What does materialism and functionalism fail to address?

Answer 13

Problem of ‘qualia’ - More to experience than brain events + information processing (e.g. when biting into an apple, have ‘raw feels’)

Problem of intentionality: Mental phenomena describe as about something - Physical phenomena isn’t about anything

Question 14

What is Descartes philosophical influence on the roots of psychology?

Answer 14

o Sought ‘certain’ knowledge as a basis for science
o Method: To doubt what was uncertain (e.g. personal feeling)
o Key beliefs:
§ Rationalism à Reason valued > senses
§ Nativism à Innate
· E.g. Principle (Cogito ergo sum) = We have not experienced ideas such as perception & infinity = God must be present as they appear innate beliefs
§ Dualism - ‘I’ = Separate from body/matter
§ Mechanical model à Machine + Mind (but interact with each other)

Question 15

What is Locke philosophical influence on the roots of psychology?

Answer 15

o Supported mechanical model
o Rejected nativism, believed empiricism (‘blank slate’)
§ Empiricism: Knowledge from experience (occurs via sensation, reflection & association between ideas)

Question 16

What is Hume philosophical influence on the roots of psychology?

Answer 16

o Laws of association (e.g. contiguity - the sequential occurrence or proximity of stimulus and response, causing their association in the mind)
o Causality unobservable (cannot see reason for causation)

Question 17

What is Kant philosophical influence on the roots of psychology?

Answer 17

o Unobservable causality = Fundamental to how we view the world = Innate
o Idealism à Mind structures experience of the world (e.g. number systems)
Mental phenomena neither observable not quantifiable (now disputed)

Question 18

How has physiology influenced psychology?

Answer 18

o Specificity of nerves (Bell)
o Speed of nerve impulse (Helmholtz)
o Reaction time experiments
o ‘Reflex’ action (hall)
o Sensory thresholds (weber)
Fechner’s experiments (psychophysics -Just notable difference and the zero point for sensation & absolute threshold)

Question 19

How has evolutionary theory supported roots of psychology?

Answer 19

· Darwin – ‘origin of species’
o Most influential theory of evolution
o Provided natural science framework for psychological questions
o Suggested practical ‘benefits’
· Galton
o Inherited traits (e.g. inherited genius etc.)
o Eugenics à Selective breeding would increase inherited traits e.g. intelligence
o Created psychological methods (questionnaires, intelligence tests, statistics)

Question 20

How did Wundt contribute to the founding of psychology?

Answer 20

o Methods à Psychophysics, mental chronometry, experimental introspection (for basic sensations)
o Believed sociology needed for ‘higher’ processes
o Established psychology as a discipline (first lab & publish journal)

Question 21

How as data in psychology being collected differently around the world?

Answer 21

o Germany
§ Wundt = Created introspective reports on human thoughts à Data on the human mind
o Britain
§ Galton created scores à Data on individual differences, not the human mind
o France
§ Charcot = Hypnosis à Data on behaviour & pathological conditions

Question 22

How did psychology emerge in America? What dicisplines?

Answer 22

§ Titchener (1900s) – Structuralism (US)
· Science of mental content via introspection
· Identified over 44,000 distinct sensations by 1896
§ Functionalism (US)
· Study of mental operations and utility (what the mind does)
· Applied psychology & uses various methods
§ Psychoanalysis and psychical research (US)
· Such as dreams etc.
§ Behaviourism
· Rejected studies of consciousness
· Reductionist (e.g. association processes) & Environmentalist
· Influence of logic positivism
§ Gestalt Psychology
· Believed in experience & innate tendencies (nativist)
· Holistic
Major influence in Germany

Question 23

What is the cognitive revolution?

Answer 23

· ‘Cognitive revolution’ has occurred more recently & is more influential

Question 24

What is the crisis of social psychology?

Answer 24

· Crisis of social psychology (1970s) – Importance of social context & cultures realised à Development of non-lab based techniques/beliefs (e.g. qualitative)

Question 25

What are objects of psychological knowledge?

Answer 25

Described in terms & definitions (in line with current assumptions) –> Measured to obtain data

Question 26

What are psychological objects? What happens if it changes?

Answer 26

Determines what is being studied & what the data means
· If PO change = Has impact on data & what is being studied
o E.g. Studying ‘what we think’ can mean judgements, opinions, beliefs etc.
· Concerns have shaped the kind of things psychologists have made claims about

Question 26

What are psychological objects? What happens if it changes?

Answer 26

Determines what is being studied & what the data means
· If PO change = Has impact on data & what is being studied
o E.g. Studying ‘what we think’ can mean judgements, opinions, beliefs etc.
· Concerns have shaped the kind of things psychologists have made claims about

Question 27

How has the term of ‘learning’ changed over time?

Answer 27

o Fundamental psychological category after WW1
o ‘Learning’ previously known as conscious process rather than concept:
§ Gaining of knowledge
§ First state of memorisation (Ebbinghaus)
§ Gaining of new knowledge
o Learning was looked at in different ways (e.g. rats in mazes & children in schools)
o Woodworth – ‘the work of psychology must consist very largely in the investigation of learning’
o Behaviourism helped develop the concept of learning (especially in US):
§ Behaviourism = Learning adaptive behaviour rather than mental process
§ Aim of behaviourism to predict and control behaviour
§ Included humans & animals in beliefs but excluded mind
§ Behaviourism not the acquisition of knowledge

Question 28

How has the term of ‘memory’ changed over time?

Answer 28

o Memory à storage/inscription of information
o Different metaphors of memory suggest different ways of how information is stored
o Wundt didn’t think memory wasn’t a specific mental thing

Ebbinghaus	Bartlett
Memorising = Performance (e.g. how long)	Process rather than performance
Memory quantity of units of information	Memory = how we remember/distort meaningful information – not about capacity 
Studied memory via word lists	Meaningful narratives studied = Closer to real life events 
 	Argued memory wasn’t learning – effects of stimuli on the behaviour of an organism

· Computer metaphor à Memory (encoding, storage & retrieval)
o Long-term & short-term storage
o Prompted new questions – e.g. capacity of STM

· Memory not just part of brain= Part of ‘extended mind’ e.g. via alarm clocks

Question 29

How has what we think changed over time - e,g, attitudes?

Answer 29

o Became a fundamental category after WW2
o ‘Attitude’ used to refer to physiology
§ Bodily expression of inner state (in art & theatre)
§ Physical expressed of emotion (Darwin)
§ Motor responses (psychophysiology)
§ Titchener described it as a mental state
o 1930s = ‘attitudes’ psychological concept & not ‘observable behaviour’
o Attitude = mental disposition caused behaviour
o Emergence of ‘attitude’ = Linked to the how and why
o Measuring attitudes (Thurstone)
§ Definitions & measures of ‘opinions’ & ‘attitudes’ are ambiguous so…
§ Attitudes à Individual mental dispositions
§ Assumed opinions = Expression of attitudes
§ Created attitude variable (Likert developed attitude as more or less)
o Demand for knowledge about ‘attitudes’
§ 1920s US = wanted by governments and businesses to find out reasoning of behaviour
§ E.g. in WW2 created attitude measurement

Question 30

How have alternative thoughts (e.g. judgements and beliefs) been studied?

Answer 30

o Different psychologists researching different things
§ Psychology of judgment, quantity, quality etc.
§ Psychology of belief and its relationship to emotion
o Definitions of these things are overlapping
o Same assumption – expressed opinions are indication of inner disposition or mental state

Question 31

How is prejudice measured and defined?

Answer 31

o Definition = Wrong & undesirable
o Aim = To change minds
o Measures = Content shaped by views considered undesirable
Assumption = Expressions indicate prejudice/conceal prejudice

Question 32

How has paranormal belief changed in terms of what we think?

Answer 32

Psychology of superstition Paranormal belief
Definition False beliefs Belief
Aim To reduce paranormal belief To improve success rate
Measures Of beliefs considered false Of beliefs considered relevant
Assumption Equally false Only these relevant

· Psychology of superstition = Explaining why people had such beliefs and trying to change their minds

Question 33

What is a questionnaire?

Answer 33

Structured list of questions
Self-administered

Question 34

What are the advantages of a questionnaire?

Answer 34

Large sample
Wide geographical distribution
Relatively short time
Standardised
Anonymity
Useful for examining phenomena that can be assessed through self-observation (attitudes, values and perceptions)

Question 35

What are the disadvantages of a questionnaire?

Answer 35

Potential misunderstanding or misinterpreting questions or response choices
In interviews the researcher can clarify such misinterpretations
Unknown accuracy or motivation of respondents

Question 36

What is the purpose of using a questionnaire?

Answer 36

Obtain background information about participation
Measurement of independent or dependent variable

Question 37

What are the types of questionnaire questions?

Answer 37

Can be descriptive
Analysis can be quantitative and qualitative
Close-ended questions → A fixed answer response
Open-ended
Numeric open-ended
Text open-end
Advantages - Allow respondents to write full answer
Allows for unanticipated answers
Rating scales
Categorical scales (nominal measurement) - e.g. which area of psychology do you like
Continuous scales - Interval, ratio or ordinal values - e.g. years of experience
Agreement (likert scale) - Before exams i feel uneasy
Semantic differential
Rank-order - ranking options

Question 38

What are standard questionnaires?

Answer 38

Tested and validated for various populations
No need to develop questionnaire yourself
Examples = Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT test)
Often more than one test available for measuring the variable you are interested in
Often longer and shorter versions of standardised tests available

Question 39

How is reliability and validity applied to questionnaires?

Answer 39

How do you know the respondent has answered carefully and truthfully?
Do answers relate to the concept you’re interested in?
Check whether respondents read questions carefully and answers consistently - e.g. include the same question twice but worded slightly differently

Split ballot - divide sample randomly in sub-samples - administer different versions/questions of questionnaire
Internal checks - Different questions on same subject; same answer not always on same end of rating scale
Logical consistency - logical sequence of questions
Check with other sources of information
Construct validity - questions reflect dimensions of construct validity

Question 40

How do you design a questionnaire? (Order of questions/what to avoid?)

Answer 40

Recognise sensitivity of questions
Mutually exclusive MC answer categories - Make sure answer not excluded by certain category types (e.g. with age)
Allow don’t know or not applicable where appropriate
Recognise if questions are sub culturally specific (e.g. GCSE)
Avoid
Question that require prior knowledge
Leading questions
Hypothetical questions
Questions that rely too much on memory
Minimise social desirable answering

Order of questions
Start with factual questions - move to attitudes and sensitive questions
Start with easier, quicker questions
‘Funnel’ techniques - broad to narrow questions
‘Filter’ questions - exclude from further questions

Question 41

What are self and group administered questionnaires?

Answer 41

Self-administered
Presented by researcher to individual respondent (respondent left alone to fill in questionnaire)
High response rate
May introduce bias if researcher is present

Group-administered
Given to whole group at one time
Contamination between participants

Question 42

What is a meta-analysis?

Answer 42

A statistical method of combining the results of at least 2 primary studies carried out for the same general purpose
Not simply a summary of related literature
A type of research that tests hypotheses and leads to valid conclusions, to revision and proposal of theory
It is the single estimate of the intervention effect or relationship between variables

Question 43

Why conduct a meta-analysis?

Answer 43

Combining primary studies = Result based on a much larger overall sample size = More precise estimate of effect
By considering all studies conducted on a topic = ‘Bigger picture’ & Avoids over-reliance on any one primary study
More objective and transparent than a narrative view
Follows a set of standardised procedures that are full documented in the research report
Less risk of researcher bias

Question 44

What are the conditions for a meta-analysis?

Answer 44

Primary studies must be quantitative in nature
Must address the same constructs and effect
E.g. All studies look at the same group difference or relationship between variables
Must be at least 2 studies

Question 45

What are the steps of a meta-analysis?

Answer 45

• Specify research questions
  Literature search
  Extract eligible results
  Compute and combine effect size
  Explore the heterogeneity of effect

Question 46

What is an overall effect size estimate?

Answer 46

In order to combine the results from multiple studies, the results first need to be converted to the same metric
Effect sizes = Express quantitative results in terms of standardised metrics that can be compared across studies
Different effect sizes available but only a handful used in practice
Best choice of effect size depends on design of studies being meta-analysed

Question 47

What are the commonly used effect sizes?

Answer 47

Standardised mean difference (Cohen’s d)
For comparing groups on a continuous outcome variable
= mean difference as a proportion of standard deviation
Correlation coefficient (Pearson’s r)
For associations between two continuous variables
Odds ratio, hazard ratio, relative risk
For binary variables (e.g. hypertension Yes/No)
1 indicates no effect

Question 48

How are different studies combined?

Answer 48

Common metric of effect size is extracted from each study
Each study receives a weight
Overall effect is calculated

Question 49

How do you calculate weight for single study effect sizes?

Answer 49

Standard error decreases as the sample size (and precision) increases
Larger studies, receive larger weights

Question 50

How do you display effect sizes?

Answer 50

The overall and primary study effect sizes are often displayed in a forest plot (as it looks like a forest)

Question 51

What might explain heterogeneity of effect sizes?

Answer 51

Forest plot tells us if effect sizes are all quite similar →
Smaller arms = Greater accuracy

Can quantify the heterogeneity using statistics such as the Q statistic
Heterogeneity can be due to:
Different population studied e.g. children/adults
Different study designs e.g. pre-post vs RCT
Different treatment variations, duration, dose, level of experience practitioners
Different measures: e.g. different scales used, different duration of follow-up
Differences in quality of the study

Question 52

What is sub-group analysis?

Answer 52

Subgroups can be participants e.g. males or females or location etc.

Question 53

What is publication bias? What plot shows this?

Answer 53

Not all studies translate into a publication
Peer review has many advantages but it may select out studies with non-significant results = Authors might be less motivated to publish the study
Alters our view - only influenced by papers that have been published & found significance
If studies reporting some results are not getting published, then we get only part of the story
Our overall effect size measure will overestimate the size of effect
We can examine whether publication bias is evident among the studies included in meta-analysis

Question 54

What are the three main limitations of a meta-analysis?

Answer 54

Garbage in - garbage out
Meta-analysis is only as good as the studies in it
Not all studies are equally methodologically sound (might be systematic bias in the field)
Relies on the quality of reporting in primary studies = Some studies may lack information on a moderator you want to test
Solution
Seek additional information on study features by emailing study authors
Exclude poor quality studies from meta-analysis
Group studies by quality and compare results

Comparing apples and oranges
No two studies are the same
Need to be sufficiently similar (that’s subjective) through question & methodologies
Including studies that are too different might obscure real effects
Solution - Assess heterogeneity & its study on sources

File-drawer problem
Some studies do not get published (not accessible)
Good practice to seek out and include unpublished studies in meta-analysis
No real solution available but there are ways of estimating the magnitude of the problem

More objective than a narrative review but still many subjective decisions (e.g. eligibility criteria, exclude poor quality studies)
Might miss or need to exclude some studies (e.g. if effect sizes can’t be calculated from information in the paper)
Some study designs difficult to compute effect sizes from and impossible for qualitative studies
Focuses on ‘bigger picture’ but may miss important nuance

Question 55

What do 2 meta-analyses show about lab conditions in the real world?

Answer 55

Anderson, Lindsay & Bushman (1999) = Meta-analysis
28 pairs of lab field comparisons
R = .73 so indicates lab conditions do a good job of eliciting real world behaviour

Mitchell (2012)
217 lab field comparisons
r = .71 = Indicates what above study does
R.83 = Personality traits
R. 82 = Gender focussed comparisons
R = .53 overall (excluding organisation psych)
External validity differs across study division

Question 56

How does a specific study, related to sports science, demonstrate lab vs real word situations?

Answer 56

avelsbergh et al. (2005) → Investigated gaze behaviour of goalkeepers during a video simulation of a penalty kick - Had to choose whether to save left or right
Found expert novice differences
Experts had fewer but longer fixations
Experts looked at the non-kicking foot
Limitations = 2D, limited resolution, size of display, unnatural responses, constrained head movements

Dicks et al. (2010) replicated Savelsbergh et al.’s (2005) study but with the inclusion of a real world condition
Dicks et al. (2010) observed similar behaviour in the simulation condition to that reported by Savelsbergh et al. (2005)
Simulated condition created an artificially high percentage of fixations towards the legs of the penalty taker but in real world they look at the ball
Fixation is important at indicating the goal that you have

Representative design (Brunswik,1956)
We adapt to our natural environment
Use experimental stimuli from that environment

Question 57

What is cognitive ethology? What did Kingstone et al. (2008) say about it ?

Answer 57

studying of behaviour under realistic conditions,originally in animal behaviour

Kingstone et al., 2008)
Processes that subserve cognition are invariant and regular across conditions (e.g. ATM machine)
Situational variability can be reduced or eliminated without affecting the nature of the process being measured

Question 58

What happens with gaze in static social scenes?

Answer 58

People follow other people’s gaze = Indicates importance
Land & Tatler, 2009 → Follow gaze direction and shared gaze shown via a heat map = Shared gaze

Question 59

What are the issues with gaze behaviour in lab conditions?

Answer 59

Gaze behaviour can be influenced by language and social context (Knoeferle & Kreysa, 2012; Liuzza et al. 2011)
In the real world there are a few social interactions without a social context of language = most research ignores this
Strong tendency to fixate the faces and eyes of others in static social scenes (Birmingham et al., 2009)
When a person* is actually present we look at faces and eyes much less (Laidlaw, Foulsham, Kuhn, & Kingstone, 2011) *in this study the other person is a stranger

Question 60

How does gaze work in real-world interactions?

Answer 60

McDonald & Tatler (2018) → Tracked gaze of a pair during a collaborative task (e.g. making cake) = People rarely look at each other during an interaction
Ho et al. (2015) → People look away when starting to talk and make eye contact when finishing (taking turns talking)

Question 61

Do we actually use gaze cues?

Answer 61

We can perceive things that are not directly fixated on
Knoeferle& Kreysa (2012) concluded that gaze cues can be followed and affect language comprehension, even when they are not directly fixed.
Participants were more likely to look when a confederate raised his hand to wave than when he raised his hand to put a phone to his ear (Laidlaw, Rothwell, and Kingstone, 2016)
Maybe only a small amount of time is needed to successfully identify a gaze cue = More efficient to look at eyes briefly and infrequently, but at appropriate times?
Perhaps the eyes are generally not sought out during a task (they had to make batter),but are used during verbal instructions (McDonald & Tatler, 2018)

Question 62

What is mutual gaze?

Answer 62

Too much is uncomfortable, could be a threat (Land & Tatler,2009)
Children with autism have less mutual gaze than typical children (Leekham et al. 1997).
Klin et al. (2002) found reduced fixations on eyes to be the best predictor of autism.