Welcome to Research Methods

LDSP 389

Dr. Crystal Hoyt

Course Information Office hours

T & R 11:30am-12:30pm

Office location Jepson Hall, room 132 And by appointment

Course Website: http://www.richmond.edu/~choyt/

Required Reading Methods in Behavioral Research (8th ed)

Author: Paul Cozby

Publisher: Mayfield Publishing Company

Course Requirements Class Participation Assignments:

Late Assignments: Research Proposal: Examinations:

There will be three exams: two midterms and one final.

Makeup Exams

Course Grading Class participation 5% Assignments 30% Exams (Mid: 20%, Final: 25%) 65%

Other Information Honor Code Students with Disabilities Words of Encouragement

Academic Skills Center Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS)

Getting to Know Each Other

Culture of Honor Crime Statistics for Northern and Southern United

States More homicides in the South Southern and Northern States Comparable in Crime-

Related Homicides More Argument-Related Homicides in Southern States

(honor, face issues) Due to historical events, Southerners developed

"culture of honor“ Insults diminish a man's reputation and he tries to restore

his status by aggressive or violent behavior.

Non-Experimental Evidence Archival Research: The Analysis of Laws

Less restrictive gun control laws in the south and west

Less restrictive self-defense laws in the south and west Fewer laws for mandatory arrest for domestic or child abuse

in the south Corporal punishment in schools banned less in the South

Attitudes Toward Violence Southerners and Northerners endorse violence in general at

the same level But Southerners endorse defending family and property and

corporal punishment more than Northerners

Experimental Evidence Experiments:

U of M students who grew up in the North or South. Insulted by a confederate

Bumped into the participant and called him an "a**hole.“ Compared with northerners, southerners were

(a) more likely to think their masculine reputation was threatened

(b) more upset (as shown by a rise in cortisol levels) (c) more physiologically primed for aggression (as shown by a

rise in testosterone levels) (d) more cognitively primed for aggression (e) more likely to engage in aggressive and dominant behavior.

Split Brain Research

How does the brain affect behavior?

What is each area of the brain responsible for?Each hemisphere

Split brain patientsCorpus callosum

Split Brain Research

KEY RING*

What did you see? Normals: “KEYRING” Split brains: “RING”

Reach out with your left hand and touch the object that was projected on the screen Touch: KEY Name the object you touched: “RING".

Split Brain Research If an image is projected to the right visual field (i.e.,

to the left hemisphere) patients can describe what they see. LEFT BRAIN : VERBAL

But when the same image is displayed in the left visual field (i.e., to the right hemisphere), the patient cannot describe what they see. But if the patient is asked to point to an object similar to the

object being projected, they do so with ease. RIGHT BRAIN: NONVERBAL

Stroop Interference Effect Well-learned habits often interfere with the

production of competing responses Like moving to a culture that nods heads up and

down to mean no and moves head side to side to mean yes.

Stroop used the fact that reading is such a well-learned behavior to demonstrate this

Colors

REDGREENBLUEPURPLEBROWN

1. 9. 17.

2. 10. 18.

3. 11. 19.

4. 12. 20.

5. 13.

6. 14.

7. 15.

8. 16.

1. RED 9. BLUE 17. GREEN

2. PURPLE 10. RED 18. PURPLE

3. GREEN 11. BLUE 19. BLUE

4. BLUE 12. PURPLE 20. RED

5. BROWN 13. BROWN

6. GREEN 14. RED

7. PURPLE 15. GREEN

8. BROWN 16. BROWN

Creating MeaningI cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was

rdgnieg

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt!