Lecture 4 (final) Flashcards
why is it difficult for psychologists to be objective
Doing science is part of human behaviour. When psychologists do science, they engage often behaviours that they are studying. Psychologists are part of their own subject matter, and therefore it is difficult to be objective
what does it mean by All science is a social enterprise
There are conventions, traditions, shared assumptions, and such things as peer review, which ensures that too controversial positions are moderated and even filtered out (see Kuhn’s idea of a paradigm; “Science progresses funeral by funeral”)
is there a “pure” science and a “subjective” science?
Science is a mixture of both, with the hope that all parties engaged in to their best to further progress towards the truth, or whatever aspect of truth humans are fit to comprehend.
what are the 2 basic assumptions underlying experimental approach in psychology
Researchers only influence the participant’s behaviour to the extent that they decide what hypothesis to test, how the variables are to be operationalised, what design to use, etc
The only factors influencing the participant’s behaviour are the objectively defined variables manipulated by the experimenter
what experimental problems undermine the 2 beliefs
experimenter bias, demand characteristics, representativeness, artificiality, and internal vs external validity
what is experimenter bias
????
what was significant about the mice experiment and the observations of their pain
Exposure of mice and rats to male but not female experimenters produces pain inhibition
this happened because when the mice could smell testosterone (of an alfa male) they attempted to conceal their pain in order to look stronger
so this was a factor that they did not even know existed until the experiment happened
what are demand characteristics
The person being studied is not only a passive responder, but might engage in the experiment actively, e.g., trying to solve the problem what the experiment is actually about
how might demand characteristics cause a problem in the experiment
This can lead participants to respond in a way to confirm the assumed hypothesis, in order to please the experimenter
The sum total of cues of the experimental situation that convey the experimental hypothesis to participants are called _________
The sum total of cues of the experimental situation that convey the experimental hypothesis to participants are called the demand characteristics
how is representativeness important in experiments
The data obtained do not represent humanity in general
It is doubtful, whether obtained effects can be found in other populations
give an example of representativeness
Psychological research is done predominantly on white North-American undergraduate students enrolled in psychology courses at colleges and universities
The bias is Anglocentric, Eurocentric, Androcentric, and, used to be Masculinist
How is artificiality a problem in experiments
Psychological research usually unfolds inside research laboratories located at research institutes and university departments
Participants are subjected to often bizarre tasks, which they are asked to perform in the name of science
Often these tasks are the result of a reductionist approach, aimed at identifying mechanisms of cognition/behaviour
It is unclear, however, to what extent the observed behaviour reflects the normal operation of the brain in natural situations and under natural conditions. Animal research (in psychology) faces the same problem
what is a solution to artificiality
One solution are field studies in which the experimenter tries to observe natural behaviour in the wild without being noticed by the observed population
what is FIELD STUDY/NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION
Observe natural behaviour without attempt to control or manipulate it
why is FIELD STUDY/NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION difficult
There is no control over the behaviour of subjects, and therefore it is difficult to determine the cause of the behaviour
despite its difficulties, how might researchers used field study/naturalistic observation to conduct an experiment
Some research strategies involve first field research to describe and identify behaviours, which then can be followed up in other forms of experimental approaches with increased control over behaviour
Participants are observed in an arranged situation.
Experimenter interacts directly or indirectly with participants
what extent do factors influence the behaviour of the participants and to what extent this is moderated by indirect or direct interaction with experimenter when it comes to field study/naturalistic observation
Unclear to what extent situational factors influence the behaviour of the participants and to what extent this is moderated by indirect or direct interaction with experimenter
what are the things to consider when doing observational studies
coding, reactivity, observer bias, experimenter expectancy effect
what is coding
Observational techniques involve the systematic assessment and coding of overt behaviour. Coding involves generating of behavioural categories and noting when and how often behaviour of a certain category was observed. The coded behaviour can then be used to compute indices to quantify behaviours
what is reactivity
Observational studies need to consider whether observer shall be visible or not. The presence of the observer can influence behaviour. This alteration is called reactivity
what is observer bias
Systematic errors in observation that can arise from the observer’s expectations. For example, in many societies women are freer to express sadness than men. Observers coding for facial expression of sadness may tend to rather interpret ambiguous facial expressions as sad in females than in males
what is experimenter expectancy effect
Observer expectations can change the behaviour of the observed being. One method to prevent this effect is to blind the experimenter to the experimental conditions and/or hypotheses
what is an example of experimenter expectancy effect
students were told to train rats to go through a maze, one group was told that their rat was bred from stupid rats and the other group was told that their rat was bred from smart rats… the result was that the stupid rat group didn’t even attempt to train their rat well because they had low expectations for their rat…. in reality neither group had anything “special” about their rat (they did not come from a line or smart or stupid rats)
what are case studies
Report of a single individual, group, situation.
Collection of highly detailed descriptions that other research settings not readily offer
what are the downfalls of case studies
Causal relationships often hard to establish, and results may be hard to generalise to others (because case studies happen so rarely)
what are the potentials of case studies
Can provide strong motivation for future research efforts to test hypothesis derived from case study
do the same case studies happen often
nope! or it wouldn’t be a case study
what is an example of a famous case study
Henry Molaison (Patient HM)
what was the Performance Profile for Case HM
Impaired: episodic memory recognition memory for recent objects/places explicit memory task Semantic memory : priming procedural memories conditioning implicit memory tasks
why was case HM a Highly influential case study
This case study marks the beginning of a research field studying the role of hippocampus in memory
what are the different approaches to research
OBSERVATIONAL STUDY: FIELD STUDY/NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION
Case Studies
SELF REPORTS AND (STRUCTURED) INTERVIEWS
what are SELF REPORTS AND (STRUCTURED) INTERVIEWS
Participants are directly asked about aspects of their existences, such as living conditions, thoughts, feelings, actions etc
how are self-reports and (structures) interviews conducted
These questions can be little and highly structured
what are highly structured questions
highly structured questions are given in a determined sequence with determined answer options
what are less structured questions
Less structured questions allow participant to respond in free form
what for do self-reports and (structures) interviews take
These research efforts use interviews, surveys, questionnaires
what is a problem that comes from self-reports and (structures) interviews
Interviews need to deal with biases of many kinds. In general, participants have the wish to appear good or in a light that they deem positive. Questionnaire designers have to consider to what extent the questions produce socially desirable responding, or faking good
how do researchers attempt to avoid the problem with self-reports and (structures) interviews
Often, interviews ask for the same information repeatedly in different forms to try to capture (more or less successfully) response biases
what are Correlational studies
Correlational studies explore how variables are naturally related, describing and predicting relationships between the variables
what can’t Correlational studies detect
Correlational studies cannot detect causal relationships between the variables
give an example of how Correlational studies cannot detect causal relationships between the variables
Example: most colleges require SAT scores in their student applications because it has been found that SAT scores and academic performance positively correlate – the higher the SAT score, the better academic performance
Scoring high on the test does not cause better academic performance. High academic performance also does not cause higher test scores. These variables are correlated, but not related in a causal way (A causes B)
what do Correlational studies allow for
Correlational studies allow making predictions, and these predictions can be tested in controlled experiments to search for causal relationships between identified variables and observational outcomes
what are the directions of correlation
Positive correlation
Negative correlation
Zero correlation
what is Positive correlation:
both variables move in the same direction (the more X, the more Y; the less X the less Y)
what is Negative correlation:
the variables move in opposite directions (the more X, the less Y; the less X the more Y)
what is Zero correlation: the
variables are not predictably related
what are some challenges of correlational studies
Directionality problem
Third variable problem
what is Directionality problem
the direction of the relationship between variables can appear ambiguous. Causations cannot be determined, so it remains unclear whether a positive or negative correlation results from the increase in one or the other measured variable
what is an example of Directionality problem
For example, if you sleep less, your stress levels increase. But it is possible that increased stress levels make you sleep less
what is Third variable problem
this is a basic problem of all correlational studies. The relationship between the two measured correlated variables might be dependent on a third, not measured, variable.
give an example of Third variable problem
Example, texting while driving (A) is correlated with driving dangerously (B):
Risk taking (C) causes some people to text while driving: C→A …AND;
Risk taking (C) causes some people to drive dangerously: C→B
what is experimental method
An experiment is a research method that tests causal hypothesis by manipulating and measuring variables
what are The manipulated variables called
independent variables (IV)
what are the variables to measure the effect of the manipulations called
dependent variables (DV)
