Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 1
Thinking Critically with
Psychological Science
The Need for
Psychological Science

Psychologists, like all scientists, use

the scientific method to construct
theories that organize observations
and imply testable hypotheses
The Need for
Psychological Science

 Hindsight Bias
 we tend to believe, after learning an
outcome, that we would have foreseen it
 the “I-knew-it-all-along” phenomenon
 Overconfidence
 we tend to think we know more than we
do
The Need for
Psychological Science

 Critical Thinking
 thinking that does
not blindly accept
arguments and
conclusions
 examines assumptions
 discerns hidden values
 evaluates evidence
The Amazing Randi--Skeptic
The Need for
Psychological Science

 Theory
 an explanation using an integrated set of
principles that organizes and predicts
observations
 Hypothesis
 a testable prediction
 often implied by a theory
The Need for
Psychological Science
The Need for
Psychological Science

 Operational Definition
 a statement of procedures (operations)
used to define research variables
 Example-
 intelligence may be operationally defined as
what an intelligence test measures
The Need for
Psychological Science

 Replication
 repeating the essence of a research
study to see whether the basic
finding generalizes to other
participants and circumstances
 usually with different participants in
different situations
Description

Psychologists describe behavior

using case studies, surveys, and
naturalistic observation
Description
Case Study
 Psychologists
study one or
more individuals
in great depth in
the hope of
revealing things
true of us all

Is language uniquely human?

Description
 Survey
 technique for ascertaining the self-reported
attitudes or behaviors of people
 usually by questioning a representative, random
sample of people
 Random Sample
 a sample that fairly represents a population
because each member has an equal chance of
inclusion
Description
 False Consensus Effect
 tendency to overestimate the extent to
which others share our beliefs and
behaviors
 Population
 all the cases in a group, from which
samples may be drawn for a study
Description
Description
 If marbles of two
colors are mixed well
in the large jar, the
fastest way to know
their ratio is to blindly
transfer a few into a
smaller one and
count them
Description
 Naturalistic
Observation
 observing and
recording behavior
in naturally
occurring situations
without trying to
manipulate and
control the situation
Correlation
 Correlation Coefficient
 a statistical measure of the extent to which two factors vary
together, and thus how well either factor predicts the other

Indicates direction
of relationship
(positive or negative)

Correlation
r = +.37
coefficient

Indicates strength
of relationship
(0.00 to 1.00)
Correlation
 Scatterplot
 a graphed cluster of dots, each of which
represents the values of two variables
 the slope of the points suggests the direction of
the relationship
 the amount of scatter suggests the strength of
the correlation
 little scatter indicates high correlation
 also called a scattergram or scatter diagram
Correlation

Perfect positive No relationship (0.00) Perfect negative

correlation (+1.00) correlation (-1.00)

Scatterplots, showing patterns of correlations

Correlation
Height and Temperament of 20 Men
Height in Height in
Subject Inches Temperament Subject Inches Temperament
1 80 75 11 64 48
2 63 66 12 76 69
3 61 60 13 71 72
4 79 90 14 66 57
5 74 60 15 73 63
6 69 42 16 70 75
7 62 42 17 63 30
8 75 60 18 71 57
9 77 81 19 68 84
10 60 39 20 70 39
 Correlation
95
Temperament 90
scores 85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
55 60 65 70 75 80 85
Height in inches

Scatterplot of Height and Temperament

Correlation
Three Possible Cause-Effect Relationships
could cause
(1)
Depression
Low self-esteem
or

(2) could cause

Low self-esteem
Depression

or
Low self-esteem
(3)
Distressing events could cause
and
or biological
predisposition
Depression
 Illusory Correlation

 Illusory Conceive Do not conceive

Correlation confirming
evidence
disconfirming
evidence
 the perception Adopt

of a
relationship disconfirming confirming
where none Do not
evidence evidence

exists adopt
Two Random
Sequences

 Your chances of
being dealt
either of these
hands is
precisely the
same: 1 in
2,598,960.
Experimentation

 Experiment
 an investigator manipulates one or more
factors (independent variables) to
observe their effect on some behavior or
mental process (the dependent variable)
 by random assignment of participants the
experiment controls other relevant factors
Experimentation
 Placebo
 an inert substance or condition that may be
administered instead of a presumed active agent,
such as a drug, to see if it triggers the effects
believed to characterize the active agent
 Double-blind Procedure
 both the research participants and the research
staff are ignorant (blind) about whether the
research participants have received the treatment
or a placebo
 commonly used in drug-evaluation studies
Experimentation
 Experimental Condition
 the condition of an experiment that exposes
participants to the treatment, that is, to one
version of the independent variable
 Control Condition
 the condition of an experiment that contrasts
with the experimental treatment
 serves as a comparison for evaluating the effect
of the treatment
Experimentation

 Random Assignment
 assigning participants to
experimental and control conditions
by chance
 minimizes pre-existing differences
between those assigned to the
different groups
Experimentation
 Independent Variable
 the experimental factor that is manipulated
 the variable whose effect is being studied
 Dependent Variable
 the experimental factor that may change in
response to manipulations of the independent
variable
 in psychology it is usually a behavior or mental
process
Experimentation
 Research Strategies
Subliminal tape content
Self-esteem Memory  Design of the
Tape label subliminal
Self-esteem tapes
experiment

Memory
Statistical Reasoning

100%
Percentage
still functioning
after 10 years 99

98

97

96

95
Our Brand Brand Brand
Brand X Y Z
Brand of truck
Statistical Reasoning
100%
Percentage 90
still functioning
80
after 10 years
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Our Brand Brand Brand
Brand X Y Z
Brand of truck
Statistical Reasoning
 Mode
 the most frequently occurring score in a
distribution
 Mean
 the arithmetic average of a distribution
 obtained by adding the scores and then dividing
by the number of scores
 Median
 the middle score in a distribution
 half the scores are above it and half are below it
Statistical Reasoning
A Skewed Distribution

15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 90 475 710
70

Mode Median Mean

One Family Income per family in thousands of dollars
Statistical Reasoning

 Range
 the difference between the highest and lowest
scores in a distribution
 Standard Deviation
 a computed measure of how much scores vary
around the mean
 Statistical Significance
 a statistical statement of how likely it is that an
obtained result occurred by chance
Frequently Asked Questions
about Psychology

Can laboratory experiments

illuminate everyday life?
Frequently Asked Questions
about Psychology

Does behavior depend on

ones culture?
 Culture--the enduring behaviors,
ideas, attitudes, and traditions
shared by a large group of people
and transmitted from one
generation to the next
Frequently Asked Questions
about Psychology

Does behavior vary with

gender?
Frequently Asked Questions
about Psychology

Why do psychologists study

animals?
Is it ethical to experiment on
animals?
Is it ethical to experiment on
people?
Frequently Asked Questions
about Psychology

Is
psychology
free of
value
judgments?
Frequently Asked Questions
about Psychology

Is psychology potentially
dangerous?