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Experimental Psychology: Chapter 1_Experimental Psychology and the Scientific Method
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BS Psychology
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Chapter 1: Experimental Psychology and the Scientific
Method
- Psychology – science of behavior
- Psychological science – research about the psychological processes underlying behavior.
• Science ➔ scientia ➔ knowledge
o Content – what we know such as the facts we learn o Process – an activity that includes the systematic ways in which we go about gathering data, noting relationships, and offering explanations
- Methodology – scientific techniques used to collect and evaluate psychological data
- Data – facts and figures gathered in research studies
Experimental psychology started 1862 Father of Experimental psychology: Wilhelm Wundt
THE NEED FOR SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY
We all collect and use psychological data to understand the behavior of others and to guide and own behavior.
- Commonsense psychology – kind of everyday, nonscientific data gathering that shapes our expectations and beliefs and directs our behavior toward others
As commonsense psychologists, we find that our ability to gather data in a systematic and impartial way is constrained by two very important factors: sources of psychological information and our inferential strategies.
- Commonsense beliefs about behavior derived from data we collect from our own experience and what we have learned from others. The data we collect in our everyday lives have been generated from a very small sample of behaviors, and the conclusions we draw from them are the subject to a number of inherent tendencies, or biases, that limit their accuracy and usefulness. Often, the sources of our commonsense beliefs about behavior can be unreliable, and the explanations and predictions that we derive from them are likely to be imperfect.
NONSCIENTIFIC SOURCES OF DATA
Very often, the data we gather as commonsense psychologist come from sources that seem credible and trustworthy. Psychological information, particularly when it is offered by people we like, respect, or admire is typically accepted without question.
- Confirmation bias – once we believe we know something, we tend to overlook instances that might disconfirm our beliefs and we seek, instead, confirmatory instances of behavior.
Research has shown that we are more likely to believe information if it comes from certain kinds of individuals. But other people are not our sole source of data about psychological processes. We gather a lot of information about behavior from our own observations and interactions with others and the conclusions we draw from them. Researchers have discovered that we are not always privy to our own decision-making processes. We are often unaware of factors that influence our attitudes and behavior.
The inferential strategies we use when we process data are sometimes too simply to be completely accurate.
- Myths and Superstitions – make believe concepts which is culturally structured.
- Commonsense Assumptions – came up from data from our own experiences
NONSCIENTIFIC INFERENCE
- Perceiving others by their traits
- Stereotyping
- Overconfidence bias
One of the first and most important kinds of data we collect about others comes in the form of traits we assign to them.
All commonsense psychologists are trait theorists – at least when it come to explaining the behavior of others. When we understand other people’s behavior, there is a strong bias to overlook situational data in favor of data that substantiate trait explanations. Our ability to make accurate predictions about someone’s traits increases with length of acquaintanceship.
The process of stereotyping illustrates a related problem of nonscientific inference.
- Overconfidence bias – a phenomenon wherein we compound our inferential shortcomings. Our predictions, guesses, explanations tend to feel much more correct than they actually are, and the more data we have available (accurate or not), the more confidence we have in our judgments about behavior.
These and many other inferential biases exist in human information processing. They are believed to be the brain’s way of coping with an immense volume of information. If we want to be able to rely on our conclusions and use them as general principles to predict behavior across many settings and conditions, we need to proceed more systematically and objectively – in other words, scientifically.
- Scientific Method - steps scientists take to gather and verify information, answer questions, explain relationships and communicate this information, answer questions, explain relationships and communicate this information to others
CHARACTERISTICS OF MODERN SCIENCE
The Scientific Mentality
- The psychologist’s goal of prediction rests on an assumption: Behavior must follow a natural order; therefore, it can be predicted.
• Alfred North Whitehead ➔ scientific Mentality
- He postulated that faith in an organized universe is essential to science. If no inherent order existed, there would be no point in looking for one and no need to develop methods for doing so. Research psychologists share the belief that there are specifiable (although not necessarily simple or obvious) causes for the way people behave and that these causes can
be discovered through research. ➔ determinism
Gathering Empirical Data
- Data are observable or experienced
- Aristotle assumed that order exists in the universe, and he set about describing that order in a systematic way by collecting
empirical data ➔ data that are observable or experienced.
- Another important of characteristic of empirical data, however, is that they can be verified or disproved through investigation.
- Thus, gathering empirical data in a systematic and orderly way is preferable to commonsense data collection, but it still cannot guarantee that the correct conclusions will be reached.
Seeking General Principles
- Modern scientists go beyond cataloging observations to proposing general principles – laws or theories – that will explain them. We could observe endless pieces of data, adding to the content of science but our observations would be of limited use without general principles to structure them. o Laws – principle that have the generality to apply to all situations o Theory – devising and testing an interim explanation o Hypothesis – testable prediction
- Theories pull together, or unity, diverse sets of scientific rules that can be used to predict new examples of behavior. Testing predictions stemming from a theory has been the cornerstone of psychological science.
• Sir Karl Popper, a modern philosopher of science ➔ science
progresses only through progressively better theories.
- Theories also guide the course of future observations: We must remember that what we observe is very much determined by what theory suggests should be observed; and we must remember also that the way in which observation will be reported and interpreted is a function of the theory that is in the observer’s mind.
Good Thinking
- a central feature of scientific method
- Our approach to the collection and interpretation of data should be systematic, objective and rational. Good thinking includes being open to new ideas even when they contradict our prior beliefs or attitudes. It also follows the rules of logic.
- Principle of parsimony or Occam’s razor
- William Occam, 14th century philosopher who cautioned us to stick to a basic premise: Entities should not be multiplied
without necessity. ➔ simplicity, precision, and clarity of
thought**.** When two explanations are equally defensible, the simplest explanation is preferred until it is ruled out by conflicting data.
Self-Correction
- Modern scientists accept the uncertainty of their own conclusions.
- Experience favors a “weight-of-evidence” approach : The more evidence that accumulates to support a particular explanation or theory, the more confidence we have that theory is correct.
Publicizing Results
- Modern science has become a highly public activity. This continuous exchange of information is vital to the scientific process. o Conferences o Scientific Journals
Replication
We should be able to repeat our procedures and get the same results again if we have gathered data objectively and if we have followed good thinking. We can replicate the findings by setting up the same tor similar conditions and observing whether or not the outcome is the same.
THE OBJECTIVES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
- Description – initial step toward understanding any phenomenon, whether it is the path of the starts in the heavens or the complexities of human and anima behaviors. In psychological science, it refers to a systematic and unbiased account of the observed characteristics of behaviors. Examples: o Case studies – common in clinical, organizational and forensic psychology and are used to make inferences about the origins of psychological disorders, developmental processes and the influence of life events. o Field studies – observational studies of groups of people (or animals) in real-life settings. Observers are able to gather descriptive data about many kinds of social and cultural experiences. o Surveys and interviews are frequently used to gather descriptive information, such as attitudes and opinions.
- Predictions – second objective, refers to the capacity for knowing in advance when certain behaviors would be expected to occur-to be able to predict them ahead of time – because we have identified other conditions with which behaviors are linked or associated. Correlational and quasi- experimental designs are commonly used to predict behavior. o Correlational designs – researchers look for statistical relationship between different events, behaviors, or experiences. o Quasi-experimental designs – researchers look for systematic differences among groups of people and use the results to make predictions
- Explanation – includes knowledge of the conditions that reliably reproduce the occurrence of a behavior. o When we have explained a behavior, we also understand what causes it to occur.
o To explain behavior ➔ experimental research design –
systematically manipulate aspects of the setting with the intention of producing the specific behavior. 4) Control – application of what has been learned about behavior. Once a behavior has been explained through experimentation, it may be possible to use that knowledge to
effect change or improve behavior. Control is rarely the intent of experimentation, but some research is conducted with the intent of producing behavioral change along with increasing knowledge.
- Applied research – research that is designed to solve real- world problems
- Basic Research – research designed to test theories or to explain psychological phenomena in humans and animals
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD: TOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL
SCIENCE
Observation
- It is the systematic noting and recording of events. Only events that are observable can be studied scientifically.
- The key to studying internal processes is defining them as events that can be observed.
Measurement
- It is the assignment of numerical values to objects or events or their characteristics according to conventional rules.
- We are familiar with such conventional physical dimensions. Rather than relying on global impressions, we use standardized units, agreed-upon conventions that define such measures. Standards are not always as clear-cut for dimensions of human behavior. o Quantitative research – numbers are assigned to represent different features of an observation o Qualitative research – describe their observations using words instead of numbers o Subjects - research participants
- Our measurements must be consistent across each set of conditions. If measurement is inconsistent, we cannot compare our measured observations directly.
Experimentation
- The process undertaken to test a hypothesis that particular behavioral events will occur reliably in certain, specifiable situations.
- We systematically manipulate aspects of a setting to verify our predictions about observable behavior under specific conditions.
- Experimentation is not always possible. Our predictions must first be testable. First , we must have procedures for manipulating the setting. Second, the predicted outcome must be observable. Third , we must be able to measure the outcome. Experimentation must also be objective.
- At times experimentation might be possible, but it cannot be carried out for ethical reasons.
SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
1) Identifying Antecedent Conditions
- Explanation means specifying the antecedent conditions of an event or behavior.
- Antecedent conditions or antecedents – circumstances that come before the event or behavior that we want to explain.
2) Comparing Treatment Conditions
- Treatments – specific sets of antecedent conditions
- We compare different treatment conditions so that we can test our explanations of behaviors systematically and scientifically. Treatment used in experimentation, does not necessarily mean that we must actively do something to treat each subject (although it can mean this). Rather, it means that we are treating subjects differently when we expose them to different sets of antecedents.
3) The Psychology Experiment
- Psychology experiment – controlled procedure in which at least two different treatment conditions are applied to subjects. The subject’s behaviors are then measured and compared to test a hypothesis an=bout the effects of those treatments on behavior. We must have at least two different
Was this document helpful?
Experimental Psychology: Chapter 1_Experimental Psychology and the Scientific Method
Course: BS Psychology
999+ Documents
Students shared 2875 documents in this course
University: Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Was this document helpful?
Chapter 1: Experimental Psychology and the Scientific
Method
• Psychology – science of behavior
• Psychological science – research about the psychological
processes underlying behavior.
• Science ➔ scientia ➔ knowledge
o Content – what we know such as the facts we learn
o Process – an activity that includes the systematic ways
in which we go about gathering data, noting relationships,
and offering explanations
• Methodology – scientific techniques used to collect and
evaluate psychological data
• Data – facts and figures gathered in research studies
Experimental psychology started 1862
Father of Experimental psychology: Wilhelm Wundt
THE NEED FOR SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY
We all collect and use psychological data to understand
the behavior of others and to guide and own behavior.
• Commonsense psychology – kind of everyday,
nonscientific data gathering that shapes our expectations and
beliefs and directs our behavior toward others
As commonsense psychologists, we find that our ability to
gather data in a systematic and impartial way is constrained by
two very important factors: sources of psychological
information and our inferential strategies.
• Commonsense beliefs about behavior derived from data we
collect from our own experience and what we have learned
from others. The data we collect in our everyday lives have
been generated from a very small sample of behaviors, and
the conclusions we draw from them are the subject to a
number of inherent tendencies, or biases, that limit their
accuracy and usefulness. Often, the sources of our
commonsense beliefs about behavior can be unreliable, and
the explanations and predictions that we derive from them are
likely to be imperfect.
NONSCIENTIFIC SOURCES OF DATA
Very often, the data we gather as commonsense
psychologist come from sources that seem credible and
trustworthy. Psychological information, particularly when it is
offered by people we like, respect, or admire is typically accepted
without question.
• Confirmation bias – once we believe we know something,
we tend to overlook instances that might disconfirm our beliefs
and we seek, instead, confirmatory instances of behavior.
Research has shown that we are more likely to believe
information if it comes from certain kinds of individuals. But other
people are not our sole source of data about psychological
processes. We gather a lot of information about behavior from our
own observations and interactions with others and the conclusions
we draw from them. Researchers have discovered that we are not
always privy to our own decision-making processes. We are often
unaware of factors that influence our attitudes and behavior.
The inferential strategies we use when we process data
are sometimes too simply to be completely accurate.
• Myths and Superstitions – make believe concepts which is
culturally structured.
• Commonsense Assumptions – came up from data from our
own experiences
NONSCIENTIFIC INFERENCE
• Perceiving others by their traits
• Stereotyping
• Overconfidence bias
One of the first and most important kinds of data we
collect about others comes in the form of traits we assign to them.
All commonsense psychologists are trait theorists – at least
when it come to explaining the behavior of others. When we
understand other people’s behavior, there is a strong bias to
overlook situational data in favor of data that substantiate trait
explanations. Our ability to make accurate predictions about
someone’s traits increases with length of acquaintanceship.
The process of stereotyping illustrates a related problem
of nonscientific inference.
• Overconfidence bias – a phenomenon wherein we
compound our inferential shortcomings. Our predictions,
guesses, explanations tend to feel much more correct than
they actually are, and the more data we have available
(accurate or not), the more confidence we have in our
judgments about behavior.
These and many other inferential biases exist in human
information processing. They are believed to be the brain’s way of
coping with an immense volume of information. If we want to be
able to rely on our conclusions and use them as general principles
to predict behavior across many settings and conditions, we need
to proceed more systematically and objectively – in other words,
scientifically.
• Scientific Method - steps scientists take to gather and verify
information, answer questions, explain relationships and
communicate this information, answer questions, explain
relationships and communicate this information to others
CHARACTERISTICS OF MODERN SCIENCE
The Scientific Mentality
• The psychologist’s goal of prediction rests on an assumption:
Behavior must follow a natural order; therefore, it can be
predicted.
• Alfred North Whitehead ➔ scientific Mentality
• He postulated that faith in an organized universe is essential
to science. If no inherent order existed, there would be no
point in looking for one and no need to develop methods for
doing so. Research psychologists share the belief that there
are specifiable (although not necessarily simple or obvious)
causes for the way people behave and that these causes can
be discovered through research. ➔ determinism
Gathering Empirical Data
• Data are observable or experienced
• Aristotle assumed that order exists in the universe, and he set
about describing that order in a systematic way by collecting
empirical data ➔ data that are observable or experienced.
• Another important of characteristic of empirical data, however,
is that they can be verified or disproved through investigation.
• Thus, gathering empirical data in a systematic and orderly
way is preferable to commonsense data collection, but it still
cannot guarantee that the correct conclusions will be reached.
Seeking General Principles
• Modern scientists go beyond cataloging observations to
proposing general principles – laws or theories – that will
explain them. We could observe endless pieces of data,
adding to the content of science but our observations would
be of limited use without general principles to structure them.
o Laws – principle that have the generality to apply to all
situations
o Theory – devising and testing an interim explanation
o Hypothesis – testable prediction
• Theories pull together, or unity, diverse sets of scientific rules
that can be used to predict new examples of behavior. Testing
predictions stemming from a theory has been the cornerstone
of psychological science.
• Sir Karl Popper, a modern philosopher of science ➔ science
progresses only through progressively better theories.
• Theories also guide the course of future observations: We
must remember that what we observe is very much
determined by what theory suggests should be observed; and
we must remember also that the way in which observation will
be reported and interpreted is a function of the theory that is
in the observer’s mind.
More from:BS Psychology
More from:
BS Psychology
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
999+ Documents
- More from:BS PsychologyPolytechnic University of the Philippines999+ Documents
