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PSYC 120 General Psychology
Spring 2013 Section 51318
Dr. Bart Moore [email protected]
Office hours Tuesdays 11:00-1:00
PSYC 120 General Psychology
Spring 2013 Section 51318
Dr. Bart Moore [email protected]
Office hours Tuesdays 11:00-1:00
Class will begin in 1 minute Please turn mobile phones off before we begin!
Outline 1/31/2012
• Course business
• Common sense versus SCIENCE!
– The problem with intuition
– The ‘scientific attitude’
• The scientific method
• Types of psychological research
– Descriptive research
– Correlation research
– Experimental research (Next Tuesday)
Course business
• Book
• Online homework will begin next week
• If you are not getting emails from me, please let me know: [email protected]
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Any questions? Practice Question:
• Which levels of scientific analysis are used in psychology?
a) Molecular
b) Physiological
c) Behavioral
d) None of the above
e) All of the above
Practice Question:
• Which levels of scientific analysis are used in psychology?
a) Molecular
b) Physiological
c) Behavioral
d) All of the above
e) None of the above
Practice Question:
• Which type of psychologists could be involved in treating an individual with schizophrenia?
a) Counseling Psychologist
b) Clinical Psychologist
c) Psychiatrist
d) All of the above
e) None of the above
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Outline 1/31/2012
• Course business
• Common sense versus SCIENCE!
– The problem with intuition
– The ‘scientific attitude’
• The scientific method
• Types of psychological research
– Descriptive research
– Correlation research
– Experimental research (Next Tuesday)
Intuition
Intuition is the ability to understand something without conscious reasoning
Intuition is not knowledge Examples:
“I know there’s no evidence that shows the death penalty has a deterrent effect, but I just feel in my gut it must be true.” G.W. Bush
“Nobody can dictate my behavior. I work through instinct, and instinct is my best counselor.” Princess Diana in her last interview before her fatal accident.
Self-Help books
Myths about human psychology
Most people only use 10% of their brain.
Older people are sadder than younger people.
People behave oddly during a full moon.
Blowing our tops defuses anger. (Catharsis)
People with schizophrenia always have multiple personalities.
50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Nature
Intuition
• Intuition can be very helpful
– For example
• When trying to catch a baseball
• Avoiding collisions while driving
• BUT, We tend to place too much value in our intuition
– Heuristics
– Bias
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• Heuristics
– Mental strategies for making quick judgments and decisions
• “Rules of thumb”
• “shortcuts of thought”
Problems with intuition Problems with intuition
• Biases
– Confirmation Bias
• “Seek and you will find”
– Hindsight bias
• “I knew it all along”
– Overconfidence
• “I’m awesome!”
• Sometimes we think we know more than we actually do
How fast can you solve anagrams?
Anagram
WATER WREAT
Let’s try some anagrams
Anagram
STARE RTEAS
ENTRY TEYRN
WHEAT ETHWA
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Problems with intuition
• Heuristics
• Biases
– Confirmation Bias
– Hindsight bias
– Overconfidence
The scientific attitude
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists.” Richard Feynman
Scientific Attitude
• Curiosity
– How does it work?
• Skepticism
– How do you know? What do you mean?
• Humility
– Sometimes we are wrong!
• This attitude is fundamental to science and critical thinking
– Especially important in a difficult science like psychology
Outline 1/31/2012
• Course business
• Common sense versus SCIENCE!
– The problem with intuition
– The ‘scientific attitude’
• The scientific method
• Types of psychological research
– Descriptive research
– Correlation research
– Experimental research (Next Tuesday)
6
The Scientific Method
1. Observe some phenomenon
2. Formulate hypotheses and predictions
3. Test hypothesis through empirical research -Collect and analyze data
4. Draw conclusions
5. Evaluate conclusions -Share results
The Scientific Method: crude example 1. Observe some phenomenon
“My car won’t start and has no gas”
2. Formulate hypotheses and predictions “My car needs gas to start”
3. Test hypothesis through empirical research -Buy some gas, put it in the car, and try to start the car -Observe that the car starts!
4. Draw conclusions -My car NEEDS gas to start
5. Evaluate conclusions -Cars are designed to run on gasoline
Outline 1/31/2012
• Course business
• Common sense versus SCIENCE!
– The problem with intuition
– The ‘scientific attitude’
• The scientific method
• Types of psychological research
– Descriptive research
– Correlation research
– Experimental research (Next Tuesday)
What are the Goals of Psychology?
Control (What causes the phenomenon?)
Explain (Why did it
happen?)
Describe (What occurred?)
Predict (When & where it will happen?)
Study mental processes and behavior
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3 types of studies in psychology:
• Descriptive Study
• Correlational Study
• Controlled Experiment
GOALS
Control
Prediction
Explanation
Description
Descriptive study example Sleep
• Sleep – When?
• Early, late – Where?
• Bed, couch? – How much? – How often? – Etc.
• 3 Types of Descriptive Studies
Descriptive Studies
1) The Case Study – Describes one special case
(or person) in great detail
– Pros: lots of detail
– Cons: don’t know if results will generalize to other people
Descriptive Studies 2) Observation
– Observe & record behaviors of a large population
Pros: lots of data lead to trustworthy predictions Cons: still not sure about cause-and-effect relationship
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Descriptive Studies
3) The Survey (polls) – Describes many people at once
• Pros: LOTS of data • Cons:
– Sampling problems – Wording
• Revenue enhancers vs. “increase taxes”
• “Aid to the needy” vs. “welfare”
Outline 1/31/2012
• Course business
• Common sense versus SCIENCE!
– The problem with intuition
– The ‘scientific attitude’
• The scientific method
• Types of psychological research
– Descriptive research
– Correlation research
– Experimental research (Next Tuesday)
Correlational Study
• Examines how variables are naturally related
– Describes relationship between 2 variables
– Allows predictions about 1 variable from the other
Correlation Coefficient (‘r’)
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Body Modification and GPA
Body Modification Score G
PA
Correlational Studies
r = 0 No Correlation
Drinking and GPA Sleep and GPA
GPA
GPA
Drinking Scale Score Hours of Sleep
r = 0.3 r = -0.3 Negative Correlation Positive Correlation
Correlational Studies: Good for Prediction
• If we know someone has a high GPA, how many hours do the likely sleep?
• If we know someone sleeps a regular night’s sleep, what is their likely GPA?
Sleep and GPA
GPA
Hours of Sleep
Correlational Studies
Do we know from this correlation that drinking causes someone to do worse in college?
Drinking and GPA
GPA
r = -0.3
Correlational Studies
• Causal direction of relationship unknown
• Third variable problem
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Third Variable Problem: An example
r = +
Number of Drownings Ice Cream Sales
?
Correlational studies allow us to make predictions, not determine causation!
Correlation ≠ causation Questions about Correlations?
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Please see me after class
Charles Bernardo Isaiah Blueford Melissa Buchholz Clara Buffham Melissa Cajina Cesar Cantera
Outline 1/31/2012
• Course business
• Common sense versus SCIENCE!
– The problem with intuition
– The ‘scientific attitude’
• The scientific method
• Types of psychological research
– Descriptive research
– Correlation research
– Experimental research (Next Tuesday)
Design a quick study
– Form a groups of 3-6 people
– Choose a topic of interest
• E.g. # of parking spots, gas prices, rainfall, etc…
– On a single sheet of paper,
• Describe a study to investigate the topic
• descriptive (case-study, observational, or survey)
• Correlational
• Turn in one sheet per group, including your names
