1

Name:__________________________________________________________________ Period:___________________

Chapter 1: Thinking Critically with Psychological Science Reading Guide

1. Imagine that you receive a letter from a publisher that states that the publisher is going to publish your short story. You tell a friend that you knew that they would publish it. However, the friend reminds you that before you received the letter, you had told him that you were very uncertain about whether the publisher would accept your short story for publication. Does your reasoning reflect hindsight bias or overconfidence? Explain why. 2. 82% of people say that they are in the top 30% of safe drivers. Such self-predictions are often inaccurate! Does your reasoning reflect hindsight bias or overconfidence? Explain why. 1. A woman is modeling a mask on an infomercial. The ad claims that if you wear the mask you will have noticeably toner skin and will see a reduction in wrinkles. a) As a critical thinker, what three attitudes should you have as you try to evaluate her claims? List AND give an example to illustrate EACH attitude. 1)__________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________ 2)__________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

3)__________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________ b) Describe the empirical approach.

Y THE NEED FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE (pp. 15 - 20) Before reading SURVEY pp. 15 – 20. Look at the pictures, tables, cartoons, read any quotations and anything else in the margins. Y A QUESTION to consider BEFORE you read pp. 15 - 18: “Why are the answers that flow from the scientific approach more reliable than those based on intuition and common sense?” READ “The Need for Psychological Science” (pp. 15 - 18)

Y A QUESTION to consider BEFORE you read pp. 18 - 20: “What are the three main components of the scientific attitude?” READ “The Scientific Attitude” (pp. 18 - 20)

2

2. Critical thinkers should ask the following questions when presented with a claim. List the five questions.

A)__________________________________________________________________________________________

B)__________________________________________________________________________________________ C)__________________________________________________________________________________________

D)__________________________________________________________________________________________

E)__________________________________________________________________________________________

1. What comes first a theory or a hypothesis? Explain the relationship.

2. Why does a researcher operationally define the variables in his/her hypothesis?

3. List the steps of the scientific method.

YREHEARSE: STOP! Look at these questions again. Recite your answers to them aloud. Check yourself by going back to your answers in this reading guide and/or go back and reread your textbook. Make sure you can answer these questions. #1: Why are the answers that flow from the scientific approach more reliable than those based on intuition and common sense? #2: What are the three main components of the scientific attitude? Do you recognize these key terms? Put a star (*) by the ones you don’t recognize. Go back to your reading guide or the textbook and make sure you can identify & explain them. Hindsight bias (“I knew it all along phenomenon”) Overconfidence Scientific attitude: curiosity, skepticism, humility Empirical approach Critical thinking

Y HOW DO PSYCHOLOGISTS ASK AND ANSWER QUESTIONS? (pp. 21 – 33) Before reading SURVEY pp. 21 – 33. Look at the pictures, figures, tables, cartoons, read any quotations and anything else in the margins. Y A QUESTION to consider BEFORE you read pp. 21-22: “How do theories advance psychological science?” READ “The Scientific Method” (pp. 21 - 22)

3

1. What is a case study? List one advantage and one disadvantage of using this method.

2. What is a survey? List one advantage and one disadvantage of using this method.

3. What is a naturalistic observation? List one advantage and one disadvantage of using this method.

4. Why is it so important to have a representative sample when doing a survey? How is the best way to get a

representative sample? Give an example of this method.

5. Why are case studies, surveys, and naturalistic observations considered “descriptive” research methods?

Explain.

Research Method (Describe below)

Advantages (List 2 for each method)

Disadvantages (List 2 for each method)

Case Study

Survey

Naturalistic Observation

Fact Check:

Remember that a hypothesis expresses a relationship between two variables.

Researchers not only need to name the variables they will study, they need to provide operational definitions of them.

When you operationalize a variable, you explain HOW you will measure it. Consider this hypothesis: Watching violent television programs makes people more aggressive. What programs will be considered violent? What behaviors will be considered aggressive? Time to Practice! Example: Eating junk food affects intelligence. Operationally defined: Eating 5 12 oz. bags of crunchy Cheetos daily will cause a person’s IQ scores to drop 10 points. See how I made the first variable, “junk food” more specific by saying, “5 12 oz.bags of crunchy Cheetos.” I also made the 2nd variable more specific when I said “IQ scores to drop by 10 points” instead of just saying “intelligence.” I also went beyond just saying “affects.” That’s too vague. I made my prediction clearer when I said, “will cause a person’s IQ scores to drop…” Now, your turn. Will the size of room (hint…how big?) affect (hint…increase or decrease?) test scores (hint…what kind?)?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________ Does color (hint…what color?) of paper affect (hint…increase or decrease) memory (hint…how can you measure it)?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________ What’s the relationship between study time and grades? _________________________________________________________________________________________________

Y A QUESTION to consider BEFORE you read pp. 22-25: “How do psychologists observe & describe behavior?” READ “Description” (pp. 22 - 25)

4

1. What type of conclusions does a correlation coefficient allow you to draw?

2. If a correlation coefficient is positive, what does that mean?

3. If a correlation coefficient is negative, what does that mean?

Time to Practice! For each of the following scenarios, decide which research method (case study, survey, or naturalistic observation) would be the BEST to use. Explain WHY you made that choice. 1. You are interested in how many college freshmen are worried about not having enough money to finish college. Which research method would you be most likely to use to study this question?______________________________ Why?__________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. You are interested in how children diagnosed with ADHD behave at school compared to their behavior at home. Which research method would you be most likely to use to study this question?______________________________ Why?__________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Phineas Gage was a young railroad worker in 1848 that had an accident at work. He was forcing gun powder into a rock with a long iron rod when the gun powder exploded. The iron rod shot through his cheek and out the top of his head, resulting in substantial damage to his frontal lobe. Incredibly, he did not appear to be very hurt. His memory and mental abilities were intact, and he could speak and work. However, his personality totally changed. Before the accident, he had been nice to be around, but afterward he became ill-tempered and dishonest. He lost his job and ended up working as an exhibit at fairs. Which research method would you be most likely to use to study Phineas Gage?______________________________ Why?__________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Y A QUESTION to consider BEFORE you read pp. 25 - 28: “What are positive and negative correlations, and why do they enable prediction but not cause-effect explanation?” READ “Correlation” (pp. 25 - 28)

5

Time to Practice! Let’s consider the possible relationship between the percentage of children who received reduced-fee lunches at school (the X variable) and the percentage of bicycle riders in the neighborhood wearing helmets (the Y variable). Create a scatterplot based on the information below.

Neighborhood X-

(% receiving reduced-fee lunch) Y-

(% wearing bicycle helmets)

Fair Oaks 50 22

Standwood 11 35

Walnut Acres 2 57

Discovery Bay 19 22

Belshaw 26 42

Kennedy 73 5

Cassell 81 3

Miner 51 21

Sedgewick 11 55

Sakamoto 2 33

Toyon 19 32

Lietz 25 38

(Y) 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 (X)

1. Based on this scatterplot, is there a negative or positive correlation for this data?

2. What does this mean about the relationship between socio-economic status (reduced-fee lunch) and wearing bicycle helmets?

6

Fact Check:

A correlation coefficient tells us 2 things: 1) DIRECTION and 2) STRENGTH.

Direction: The + (positive) or – (negative) sign tells us about the direction of the variables.

Strength: A correlation coefficient is a number between 0 and 1. The closer to 1, the STRONGER the relationship is (the more predictive it is). Conversely, the closer the number is to 0, the WEAKER it is. What’s the right answer to this question below? Which correlation coefficient represents the WEAKEST relationship between two variables? a. 1 b. +.75 c. +.25 d. -.50 e. -.90 Ignore the positive (+) or negative (-) signs. Remember those signs tell you the DIRECTION of the variables, NOT the strength. Focus on the number. Which number is closest to zero (representing the weakest?)? C is the correct answer!

Now, let’s return to “Correlation & Causation” on p. 27 1. Correlation helps us ______________________________. 2. If a researcher found a strong positive relationship between low self-esteem and depression, could she say that low self-esteem CAUSES depression? Why or why not? Explain.

1. Define: illusory correlation

2. Give an example of an illusory correlation.

Fact Check: Scatterplots are a visual representation of the strength between the 2 variables.

1 0.8 0.3 0 -0.3 -0.8 -1 Perfect positive High positive Low positive No Low negative High negative Perfect negative Correlation correlation correlation correlation correlation correlation correlation

3. Based on our scatterplot, is there a strong, moderate, or weak relationship between socio-economic status and

wearing bicycle helmets? Explain your reasoning.

Y A QUESTION to consider BEFORE you read pp. 28 - 30: “What are illusory correlations?” READ “Illusory Correlations” (pp. 28 - 30)

7

1. a)Which is the ONLY research method that allows you to investigate cause & effect relationships? b) Explain why (list both reasons). 2. Why is random assignment so important in experimentation? 3. People often confuse correlation studies with experiments. What makes these two research methods different? 4. Describe the double-blind procedure. Why is it used? 5. Give an example of the placebo effect. 6. Why does a researcher create an experimental and a control group? 7. What is an independent variable? 8. What is the dependent variable? Why is it called “dependent?”

Y A QUESTION to consider BEFORE you read pp. 30 - 33: “How do experiments, powered by random assignment, clarify cause and effect?” READ “Experimentation” (pp. 30 - 33)

8

Fact Check: Let’s use what we’ve read about so far and set up an experiment.

Time to Practice! Let’s work on identifying independent & dependent variables. Identify the independent variable and dependent variable(s) in the following experiments. For each, ask yourself which variable will be manipulated? (Remember that the IV CAUSES something to happen). Which one will be measured? (Remember that the DV shows the effect of the IV…it’s the OUTCOME).

1. A researcher was interested in the effects of reward on intrinsic motivation. Some children were told that they would be given a special award for drawing with magic markers (an activity they already enjoyed). Other children were simply asked to draw with the magic markers. One week later, the children were unobtrusively observed for how much time they spent drawing with the markers. The children who expected and received a reward for drawing with the markers were less likely to draw with them later.

Independent variable:________________________________________________________________

Dependent variable:_________________________________________________________________

2. In an investigation of the fundamental attribution error, subjects were given a speech to read that either favored or opposed Fidel Castro, the communist leader of Cuba. Subjects were told that the speech was written by a student who had been assigned to the position taken in the paper (that is, the student writing the speech had no choice on which position to take). Nevertheless, subjects believed that the student who wrote the pro-Castro speech had positive attitudes toward Castro, while subjects who read the anti-Castro paper believed the writer had negative attitudes toward Castro.

Independent variable:________________________________________________________________

Dependent variable:_________________________________________________________________

3. Within a classroom setting, subjects were asked to listen to a guest instructor. All subjects were given a description of the instructor. Some subjects read a description containing the phrase “People who know him consider him to be a rather cold person...”, while other people read a description where the word “warm” was substituted for the word cold (otherwise, the descriptions were identical). After the lecture, subjects were asked to rate the instructor. Subjects who were told the instructor was warm gave him more favorable ratings compared to subjects who were told that the instructor was cold.

Independent variable:________________________________________________________________

Dependent variable:_________________________________________________________________

4. People were randomly approached on the street by a stranger and were asked to use his camera to take a picture of him for a school project. For half of the subjects, the camera didn’t work--the stranger looked concerned, said that the camera was rather delicate, asked the subject if he touched any of the dials, and announced that it would have to be fixed. For the other half of the subjects, the camera worked fine. Further down the street, a woman dropped a file folder of papers. Forty percent of the subjects who had no broken-camera experience helped the woman pick up her papers, while 80% of the subjects who were led to believe that they broke the woman’s camera helped.

Independent variable:________________________________________________________________

Dependent variable:_________________________________________________________________

9

Fact Check: Let’s set up an experiment. First, let’s identify our hypothesis. We’ll start with Headphones influence concentration in study halls. We need to operationalize the hypothesis. Remember that a hypothesis often starts with general expectations, but then we need to put our variables in a more specific form that allows them to be precisely measured. How could we make this statement more specific and testable? Example: Students assigned to wear headphones in study hall will have higher average grades at the end of the quarter than students banned from wearing headphones. Now, let’s identify the independent variable (IV) and the dependent variable (DV) in this hypothesis. Which variable will be manipulated? Recall that the IV CAUSES something to happen. Which one will be measured? Remember that the DV shows the effect of the IV…it’s the OUTCOME. Example: IV: wearing headphones, DV: participants’ average end-of-quarter grades Now we need to get the participants for our experiment. First, we need to identify our population. Remember that the population includes ALL cases in a group, from which samples are drawn for a study. Example: Population: 400 Study Hall Students We can’t test all 400 students in Study Hall. The population is TOO large. So we need draw a sample from the bigger group. We are going to use random sampling. Using a chance method helps us ensure that the sample is not biased! We want to be able to generalize our findings to everyone in the population. Example: Random sampling: Select every 10th name from a complete list of study hall students. Next we need to set up our groups; an experimental and a control group. Examp The experimental group is exposed to the IV. In this case, they are going to wear the headphones. The control group will allow us to compare. In this case, they are not allowed to wear headphones in study hall. To divide our sample into the groups we will use random assignment. Remember, by using a chance method we can assume that individual differences among the participants (e.g. IQ levels, age, education, gender, etc.) will be equally distributed. Example: Random assignment…draw names out of a hat. As a researcher I want to avoid bias, both from the participants and myself! To do this, I am going to keep the participants from knowing what group they have been assigned to. I will also be ignorant about whether the research participants have received the treatment or a placebo. This is called the double-blind procedure. Individual differences among participants are the largest category of a special kind of variable known as confounding variables (“confound” means “to confuse”). CV’s are variables OTHER THAN THE IV that could produce a change in the DV. We need to have an experiment that CONTROLS for these CV’s so we can be more certain that it is OUR manipulation of the IV that caused any changes, not a CV. What could be a potential CV is our experiment with headphones? Examples: health of participants, sleep, personal problems, quality of teachers, memory differences Imagine that students in the experimental group (wearing headphones) are also healthier than students in the control group (banned from wearing headphones). If the experimental group has higher than average grades at the end of the quarter, how would we know what causes this?

10

Time to Practice! Now it’s your turn to set up an experiment. Hypothesis: Color of paper affects memory. Operationally define the hypothesis:____________________________________________________________________ Identify independent variable (IV):______________________________________________________________________ Identify dependent variable (DV):_______________________________________________________________________ Identify population:__________________________________________________________________________________ What method are you going to use to randomly sample from your population? (Be specific, describe what you will do.)_______________________________________________________________________________________________ Identify your experimental group:_______________________________________________________________________ Identify your control group:____________________________________________________________________________ What method are you going to use to randomly assign from your sample to either the control or experimental group? (Be specific, describe what you will do.)_______________________________________________ ___________________ What method will you use to control for experimental and subject bias? Beyond just identifying the term, describe how this will work in your experiment._______________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Identify 2 possible confounding variables in your experiment:________________________________________________

YREHEARSE: STOP! Look at these questions again. Recite your answers to them aloud. Check yourself by going back to your answers in this reading guide and/or go back and reread your textbook. Make sure you can answer these questions. #1: How do theories advance psychological science? #2: How do psychologists observe & describe behavior? #3: What are positive and negative correlations, and why do they enable prediction but not cause-effect explanation? #4: What are illusory correlations? #5: How do experiments, powered by random assignment, clarify cause and effect? Do you recognize these key terms? Put a star (*) by the ones you don’t recognize. Go back to your reading guide or the textbook and make sure you can identify & explain them. Theory Hypotheses (including operational definitions) Replication Scientific method Descriptive research methods Case study Survey Population Random sampling Naturalistic observation Correlation (correlation coefficient)

Scatterplots Illusory correlations Experiment Random assignment Double-blind procedure Placebo effect Experimental & Control groups Independent variable (IV) Dependent variable (DV) Confounding variables (CV)

11

Fact Check:

Measure of Central Tendency: Helpful Hints:

Mean Average

Median Middle

Mode Most

1. Below are the heights, in inches, of 15 women on a college volleyball team.

67 68 73 73 75

75 74 66 73 71

70 71 65 73 74

a) Calculate the mean for this set of data. Show you work below.

b) Illustrate how the median is determined for this set of data.

c) Describe the process for determining the mode.

2. You are the manager of the New York Yankees. What measure of central tendency will you rely on to determine your starting line-up? Explain your reasoning. 3. Mr. & Mrs. Hazard are looking to buy a new home. What measure of central tendency will give them the most accurate picture of home values in their new neighborhood? Explain your reasoning.

Y Statistical Reasoning in Everyday Life (pp. 33-38) Before reading SURVEY pp. 33 – 38. Look at the pictures, figures, tables, cartoons, read any quotations and anything else in the margins.

Y A QUESTION to consider BEFORE you read pp. 33-36: “How can we describe data with measures of central tendency and variation?” READ “Describing Data” (pp. 33-36)

12

4. Mrs. Hanson was categorizing the people in her psychology classes by assigning males the number 1 and females the number 2. What is the most appropriate way to establish central tendency for these distinct groups? Explain your reasoning.

5. Below are median salaries of different psychology specialties (2010). Find the range. Show your work below.

School Psychologist Salary $64,832

Industrial-Organizational Psychologist Salary $94,767

Forensic Psychologist Salary $60,188

Sports Psychologist Salary $54,000

Developmental Psychologist Salary $71,899

Educational Psychologist Salary $58,820

Experimental Psychologist Salary $63,505

Neuropsychologist Salary $79,570

Social Psychologist Salary $64,496

7. FILL IN THE BLANKS: If you examined the variation in age of juniors at your high school and for that same group investigated shoe size, in terms of variability of scores, you could predict a (HIGH or LOW) ____________________ variation in age and a (HIGH or LOW)____________________ variation in shoe size. 8. Which measure of central tendency is MOST influenced by extreme scores (outliers)? a. mean b. median c. mode d. range e. standard deviation 9. Which descriptive statistic tells us how much scores vary around the mean score of a distribution?

13

Go to p. 36, look at Figure 1.10 “The normal curve”. Use the information in that figure to answer the questions below. 10. In a normal distribution a. scores are clustered at one end or the other of the horizontal axis. b. scores are compared with a perfect score of 100 points. c. most scores fall near the man with fewer scores at the extremes. d. one score is compared with other scores in an imaginary group of 100 individuals. 11. Approximately what percentage of the population fall within one standard deviation of the mean? a. 34% b. 68% c. 96% d. 99.7% 12. Scores on standardized intelligence tests tend to be normally distributed. This means that a. the scores of 68% of the population fall 1 standard deviation away from the mean. b. 96% of the population that took the intelligence test scored between 85 and 115. c. 68% of the population scored below 70 and above 130. d. 99.7% of the population scored above 100. 13. If intelligence test scores are normally distributed, with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, approximately what percentage of scores will fall between a score of 70 and 130? a. 50% b. 68% c. 96% d. 99.7% Explain your answer: 14. If intelligence test scores are normally distributed, with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, approximately what percentage of the population falls between a score of 100 and 130? a. 14% b. 34% c. 48% d. 68% Explain your answer: 15. If intelligence test scores are normally distributed, with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15, approximately what percentage of the population falls between a score of 55 and 100? a. 2% b. 14% c. 34% d. 50% Explain your answer:

14

Review the information on pp. 35 – 36 to answer the following questions. 16. A standard deviation of 0 means? a. The variance is -.1. b. You did the calculations wrong. c. There is an extreme amount of variability. d. You cannot have a 0 standard deviation. e. All the values are the same. 17. If you have the variance, how do you get the standard deviation? a. Take the square root. b. Divide it by the sample size. c. Take the reciprocal. d. Subtract the mean. 18. The high point in a normal distribution represents: a. the mean only. b. the median only. c. the mode and median only. d. the mean, median, and mode. 1. What type of statistic allows us to decide whether our data supports our research hypothesis? a. comparative statistics. b. descriptive statistics. c. correlation coefficients. d. inferential statistics. Explain your answer. 2. If the difference in scores between an experimental and control group are statistically significant, what does this indicate? a. The difference is due to the manipulation of the independent variable and not likely due to chance. b. The variables studied in the experiment are positively correlated. c. The scores are normally distributed. d. The participants scored at the 83rd percentile. 3. Most psychologists are willing to accept up to a _____ likelihood that an experiment’s results did occur by chance. a. 5% b. 10% c. 50% d. 95%

Y A QUESTION to consider BEFORE you read pp. 37-38: “What principles can guide our making generalizations from samples and deciding whether differences are significant?” READ “Making inferences” (pp. 37-38)

15

4. The results of an experiment are more likely to be statistically significant if a. the difference between the two groups’ means are far apart. b. each group has a large number of randomly selected people in it. c. the scores of both groups are mostly packed close to the means. d. all of the answers are correct. 5.

Distribution A Distribution B

What does this figure of the distribution between these two groups suggest? a. The difference between these two groups is more likely to be statistically significant. b. That this frequency distribution is bimodal. c. That the correlation between these two variables is perfect and positive. d. That the scores are normally distributed. Explain your answer:

YREHEARSE: STOP! Look at these questions again. Recite your answers to them aloud. Check yourself by going back to your answers in this reading guide and/or go back and reread your textbook. Make sure you can answer these questions. #1: How can we describe data with measures of central tendency and variation? #2: What principles can guide our making generalizations from samples and deciding whether differences are significant? Do you recognize these key terms? Put a star (*) by the ones you don’t recognize. Go back to your reading guide or the textbook and make sure you can identify & explain them. Statistics Measures of central tendency Mean Median Mode Measures of variation Range Standard Deviation Normal Curve (“bell curve”) Normal distribution Statistical significance

16

1. What is an experiment’s main purpose? 2. If a lab environment is generally artificial, why do psychologists do laboratory experiments? 3. Why do some psychologists use animals in psychological research? 4. Give one example of how humans have benefitted from animal research. 7. Describe the two issues that surround the debate concerning the use of animals in research. 8. Give one example of how animal research has benefitted animals. 9. List the 4 ethical principles developed by the American Psychological Association (APA).

Y Frequently Asked Psychology about Psychology (pp. 38 – 43) Before reading SURVEY pp. 38 – 43. Look at the pictures, figures, tables, cartoons, read any quotations and anything else in the margins. Y Some QUESTIONS to consider BEFORE you read pp. 38 - 43:

10: “Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life?” 11: “Does behavior depend on one’s culture and gender?” 12: “Why do psychologists study animals, and is it ethical to experiment on animals?” 13: “Is it ethical to experiment on people?” 14: “Is psychology free of value judgments?”

READ “Frequently Asked Questions about Psychology” (pp. 38 - 43)

17

YREHEARSE: STOP! Look at these questions again. Recite your answers to them aloud. Check yourself by going back to your answers in this reading guide and/or go back and reread your textbook. Make sure you can answer these questions. #1: Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life? #2: Does behavior depend on one’s culture and gender? #3: Why do psychologists study animals, and is it ethical to experiment on animals? #4: Is it ethical to experiment on people? #5: Is psychology free of value judgments? Do you recognize these key terms? Put a star (*) by the ones you don’t recognize. Go back to your reading guide or the textbook and make sure you can identify & explain them. Debate over use of human/animals in research Culture American Psychological Association’s Ethical Guidelines (What are the 4 principles?)

18

19

20

21

22