Experimental Psychology

Chapter 1

• PSYCHOLOGY Is the science of behavior. Psychologists take a scientific approach to studying behavior.

• We use the scientific method when we conduct psychological research.

How are science, methodology, and data interrelated?

Science connotes content (what we know) and process (the systematic way knowledge was obtained). It is the
process that we will be learning about this semester.

Methodology consists of the scientific techniques we use to collect and evaluate data. There are different
processes, techniques, or methodologies that can be used to gain knowledge.

Data are the facts and figures we gather, or collect, using scientific methods.

What is commonsense psychology?

Heider called nonscientific data gathering commonsense psychology.

This approach uses nonscientific sources (opinions of friends, family, attractive people) of data and nonscientific
inference.

We are more likely to be persuaded to do something by an attractive person than by an unattractive person, but
we are not aware that their physical beauty swayed us.

Commonsense psychology

•Opposites attract.

•Getting drunk again will not help us remember things we did when we were drunk yesterday.

•Rewarding a child to play the piano will create a lifelong appreciation of playing.

•The full moon causes people to act strangely.

•Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

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Nonscientific inference is the nonscientific use of information to explain or predict behavior.

The gambler’s fallacy, overuse of trait explanations, stereotyping, and overconfidence bias illustrate this problem.

In the gambler’s fallacy, people misuse data to estimate the probability of an event, like when a slot machine will
pay off.

Why is the overuse of trait explanations a problem?

When we overuse trait explanations to explain others' behavior, we often make unwarranted dispositional
attributions and underuse situational information.

This bias can reduce the accuracy of our explanations and predictions.
We think someone is a criminal because they wear a hoodie.

How can stereotyping mislead us?

In stereotyping, we falsely assume that specific behaviors cluster together in certain kinds of people.

For example, since Imei is a Chinese-American student, she must study 10 hours a day and excel at math. In reality,
she failed calculus.

Stereotypes ignore individual differences.

Why is overconfidence bias a problem?

In overconfidence bias, we feel more confident about our conclusions than is warranted by available data. For
instance, people think they are smarter and have better information than they actually do.

This form of nonscientific inference can result in erroneous conclusions when we don’t recognize the limitations of
supporting data.

We may believe we are better drivers than we actually are and therefore can handle the effects of marijuana while
driving.

Why is the scientific mentality important? (The Characteristics of Modern Science)

Alfred North Whitehead’s scientific mentality assumes that behavior follows a natural order and can be
predicted.

This assumption is essential to science. There is no point to using the scientific method to gather and analyze data
if there is no implicit order.

What makes data empirical?

Data are empirical when observed or experienced.

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A law consists of statements created from exhaustive empirical support. The law can be applied in all situations.

Laws, like the Laws of Thermodynamics, are useful in the physical sciences.

However, in psychology, laws are less useful as we cannot predict all behavior all the time.

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A theory is scientific explanation of an observed phenomenon and a way we attempt to explain behavior. It is a
well documented, well supported, well substantiated explanation for our observations. It is never 100% proven,
but it is close.

Theories integrate diverse data, explain behavior, and predict new instances of behavior.

Example of a theory

• Classical conditioning

• Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development.

What is good thinking and why is it important?

Good thinking is critical to the scientific method.

We engage in good thinking when data collection and interpretation are systematic, objective, and rational. Must
be open to new ideas even if they contradict previous ones. Must follow the data, even if you don’t like where it is
going.

What is parsimony?

The principle of parsimony (also called Occam’s razor) is that we prefer the simplest useful explanation.

For example, Crandall (1988), with sorority data, showed that a social contagion model of bulimia was more
parsimonious than competing explanations.

How did Sir Karl Popper believe that science advances?

Sir Karl Popper proposed that science advances by revising theories based on the “weight of evidence.”

Science is self-correcting as scientific explanations and theories are challenged, and revised or replaced.

Example is Freud’s Psychosexual theory being used to explain homosexuality has been abandoned.

What role does the principle of modus tollens play in science?

The principle of modus tollens allows us to disprove statements using a single, contrary observation.

We can never prove a statement because a contradictory observation might be found later.

How does replication advance science?

Replication is an exact or systematic repetition of a study.

We should be able to repeat our procedures and get the same results again if we have collected data objectively
and if we followed good thinking.

Replication increases our confidence in experimental results by adding to the weight of supporting evidence.

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OBJECTIVES

• There are many scientific research methods that can be used to acquire knowledge. Each is a little different, but
all of them contribute to one or more objective of psychological science.

What are the four main objectives of science?

The FOUR MAIN OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH conducted in psychology are:

▪ description

▪ prediction

▪ explanation
▪ control

Description is a systematic and unbiased account of observed characteristics of behaviors. A description of grief
may include sadness, depression, crying. There are many different methods of descriptive research, some include
case studies and field studies.

Prediction is the capability of knowing in advance when certain behaviors would be expected to occur, because
we have identified other conditions that are linked with them. We can predict that the death of a loved one is
associated with grief, so therefore, we can predict that such a death will produce grief. Correlational and quasi-
experimental designs are used to predict behaviors.

Explanation is knowledge of the conditions that reliably produce the occurrence of a behavior. When we have
explained a behavior, we also understand what causes it to occur. Experiments explain behavior.

Control is the use of scientific knowledge to influence behavior. Once a behavior has been explained through
experimentation, it may be possible to use that knowledge to create change or improve behavior. If we do an
experiment to study cognitive behavioral therapy and find that it helps reduce grief than other therapies, we will
know to use it in the future to reduce grief levels.

How does applied research differ from basic research?

Applied research addresses real-world problems like how to improve student graduation rates.

Basic research tests theories and explains psychological phenomena like helping behavior.

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THE MAIN TOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE ARE:

▪ OBSERVATION

Observation is the systematic noting and recording of events. Systematic means that the procedures are
consistently applied to each observation.

Only events that are observable can be studied scientifically.

Observations must be objective so that there can be strong agreement among raters.

▪ MEASUREMENT

Measurement assigns numbers to objects, events, or their characteristics. This is an inherent feature of
quantitative research.

Baron and colleagues (1985) measured anger and depression using numerical scales.

▪ EXPERIMENTATION

Experimentation is the process we use to test the predictions we call hypotheses and establish cause-and-effect
relationships. When we experiment, we systematically manipulate aspects of a setting to verify our predictions
about observable behavior under certain specific conditions.

Experimentation is not always possible because our predictions must be testable.

Three minimum requirements must be met.

1. We must have procedures for manipulating the setting.

2. The predicted outcome must be observable

3. We must be able to measure the outcome.

We must be able to manipulate the independent variable and measure its effect on the dependent variable. Ethical
concerns or technological limitations may prevent experimentation. We would not test whether ingesting certain
chemicals during pregnancy cause birth defects.

What are the requirements for an experiment?

An experiment requires specifying antecedent conditions, the circumstances that come before the event of
behavior that we want to explain.

In psychology, antecedent conditions are called treatments because it is something we are giving the person to see
if it causes an effect.

Research question: Does reading Cosmopolitan cause self esteem to go lower?

Treatment?

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EXPERIMENT

• An experiment requires that we create at least two treatment conditions and randomly assign subjects to these
conditions. This allows us to compare people in the two groups to one another. The placementof people or
subjects into these two groups is controlled by random assignment.

In psychology experiments, we control extraneous variables so we that we can measure “what we intend to
measure.” We want the people who receive one type of treatment to be equivalent to people who receive the
other treatment.

How does an experiment establish cause and effect?

An experiment attempts to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the antecedent conditions or

Experiments establish a temporal relationship, because causes must precede effects. We look for differences in
behavior after subjects were exposed to the treatment, not before. However, not all prior events are causes.

What are pseudosciences?

A pseudoscience is any field of study that gives the appearance of being scientific, but has no true scientific basis
and has not been confirmed using the scientific method.

Modern pseudosciences include past life regression (using hypnosis to uncover past life), reparenting(therapist
acting like the parent of the patient, while regressing them to a child-like state to give them the parenting they
lacked), and rebirthing (child is forcibly restrained until enraged then when crying parent can bond with child, used
for adopted children).

Chapter 2. RESEARCH ETHICS

Research ethics are a framework of values within which we conduct research.

Ethics help researchers identify actions we consider good and bad, and explain the principles by which we make
responsible decisions in actual situations.

Must consider the welfare and safety of both animals and humans who we do research with. Certain types of
research could never be done, even though it would provide exceptional knowledge on a topic area.

Institutional review boards (IRBs), which are composed of laypeople and researchers,

evaluate research proposals to make sure that they follow ethical standards. Universities and hospitals should
always have IRBs, but not all institutions do.

Primary job of the IRB is to ensure that research participants are protected.

What is its purpose?

IRBs protect the safety of research participants. Their first task is to decide whether a proposed study increases
participants’ risk of injury sincepsychological research can cause physical and/or psychological discomfort.

As researchers, we must accurately estimate the degree of risk in our research. We typically do this by reading the
literature and consulting with colleagues.

IRBs will also help researchers estimate the degree of risk involved in their studies.

What do "at risk" or at "minimal risk” mean?

Studies that place subjects at risk increase the chance of harm compared with not participating in the study.
Minimal risk studies do not increase the likelihood of injury.

IRBs should approve an “at risk” study when a risk/benefit analysis determines that risks to participants are
outweighed by gains in knowledge.

Another task for the IRB is to safeguard the subject’s rights by making sure each subject is provided with an
informed consent. A subject or guardian agrees in writing to the subject’s participation after relevant details of the
experiment have been explained.This description may include risks and benefits, but does not extend to deception
or the hypothesis. Perhaps the most important principle built into ethics codes is the right of a participant to refuse
to be in the study or discontinue participation.Ethical researchers, therefore, cannot coerce participants to agree
to be in the study or prevent participants from discontinuing the study.

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CONSENT FORM

• Subject must be fully informed about the study, including how long it will take, and able to ask questions

• Subjects must give consent freely, without coercion.

• Subjects must be informed that they can drop out of research at any time.

• Researcher must make potential risks and benefits clear to subjects.

• Subjects must not be asked to waive their legal rights in the case of injury

CONSENT

• Consent must be in writing that is clear and understandable to the subjects and subjects should receive a copy of
it.

• If subject is a minor, then parent or legal guardian must give consent and minors must still be given as much
detail about the study as possible, for their age.

• Minors age 7 and above must give assent, or agree to participate.

• Assent must also be obtained for those who are cognitively impaired.

• However, the hypothesis should not be revealed.

Which three principles did the Belmont Report (1979) emphasize?

The need for ethical principles began being discussed after World War II crimes become evident to the rest of the
population. The Nuremberg Code of 1947 formed the basis of today’s ethical standards, but has since been
expanded.

The Belmont Report (1978) was created partly because of the Tuskegee syphilis trials and proposed three
principles:

1. RESPECT FOR PERSONS: individuals have the right of self-determination (basis of informed consent).

• Every human being has the right to make his/her own decisions about research

• Provisions must be made for vulnerable populations.

2. BENEFICENCE: minimize harm and maximize potential benefits (basis of risk/benefit analysis).Are society’s
benefits worth more than the subjects’ risk?

3. JUSTICE: fairness in both the burdens and benefits of research

– Previous to Belmont report, most research was conducted on people in hospital wards while the benefits went to
the wealthy. This is an injustice. Cannot select people just because they are disadvantaged or easily manipulated.

Who is targeted by APA ethical guidelines? The APA Guidelines

APA published it’s own set of guidelines for research in 1971.

APA ethical guidelines apply to psychologists and students when they assume the role of psychologists during
research or practice.

Participants may be considered to be a minimal risk, that is, “risk that is no greater in probability and severity than
that ordinarily encountered in daily life or during the performance of routine physical or psychological
examinations or tests.”

• Observations of public behavior, anonymous questionnaires and archival research usually fall into the minimal
risk category. Informed consent is not always mandated in minimal risks studies (i.e. observing public behavior),
but is usually obtained when possible (anonymous questionnaires).
PRIVACY LAWS

• HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability) passed in 2003 prevent medical records from being used
for research without written consent from participants.

Explain APA guidelines on deception.

DECEPTION may be used when it is the best way to obtain information.

In 1969 deception was used in 66% of research, in 1978 it fell to 47%, in 1986 is was 32% and in 1992 it increased
to 47%

Deception may not be used to minimize the participants’ perception of risk or exaggerate their perception of
potential benefits.

Which steps must researchers take if deception is used?

Subjects must be allowed to withdraw from the experiment at any time and should never face coercion to remain.
The experimenter should provide debriefing (full disclosure) after either their personal participation or the
completion of the entire study. Full disclosure means explaining the true nature and purpose of the study to the
subject at the end of their participation or at the completion of the entire experiment.

Debriefing involves explaining the true nature and purpose of the experiment.Debriefing is an essential component
of good experimental research.We must offer our participants a full explanation of our study any time that we use
deception. Are all effects of deception removed once a subject is debriefed?

What is a confederate? Why is the use of a confederate deceptive?

A confederate is an experimenter’s accomplice.Use of a confederate is deceptive because subjects are led to

Explain the difference between anonymity and confidentiality.

Anonymity means that subjects are not identified by name.

Confidentiality means that data are securely stored and only used for the purpose explained to the subject.

How do researchers achieve these goals?

Researchers achieve anonymity by collecting data without names and assigning code numbers.They achieve
confidentiality by storing data in a locked safe and only using the data for the purposes explained to the
participants.

How do psychologists protect the welfare of animal subjects?Protecting the Welfare of Animal Subjects

Animal welfare is the humane care and treatment of animals.The care and treatment of animals in research is
regulated by the Animal Welfare Act of 1966, which deals with general standards for animal care. Congress
amended the act in 1991 to include new regulations that address the psychological well-being of higher animals.
Must provide enrichment to nonhuman primates and other animals that live in social groups.Institutions that
conduct animal research must establish an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) to evaluate
animal research before it is conducted.
The IACUC must determine that the researchers have explored all alternatives and have documented that there
are no other feasible alternatives.

In his book, Animal Liberation, Peter Singer chronicled numerous cases of animal abuse. One famous example is
Brady’s monkeys.

ANIMAL RIGHTS is the position that sensate species (those that can feel pain and suffer) have equal value and
rights to humans.Animal rights became a hot issue in 1984 when the heart of a healthy baboon was transplanted
into a dying newborn baby.

What is scientific fraud? What motivates fraud?

Scientific fraud involves falsifying or fabricating data. For example, the work of Sir Cyril Burt on intelligence and
genes.

A researcher’s graduation, tenure, promotion, funding, or reputation may motivate researchers to commit fraud.

What are the main lines of defense against fraud?

The peer review process filters submitted manuscripts so that only 15-20% of articles are printed. Replication,
where researchers attempt to reproduce the findings of others, is the second line of defense.

What is plagiarism? Why is it wrong?

PLAGIARISM is misrepresenting someone’s “ideas, words, or written work” as your own.Plagiarism is a form of
fraud, in which an individual claims false credit for another’s ideas, words, or written work.

Which ethical issues may be involved in research reports?

Authorship credit should only be given to those who made a major contribution to the research or writing.

Researchers should not take credit for the same research more than once.

The ethical solution is to cite original publications when republishing data in a journal article or republishing
journal articles in an edited volume.