Psychology as a Science

1. Psychology as a Science Scientific Method Research Ethics Becoming a Psychologist

2. What is psychology? the scientific study of the mind • What counts as SCIENCE? • A systematic method to test a specific claim (hypothesis) • The hypothesis should be • falsifiable • replicable • better than rival hypotheses • The findings should show causation, rather than merely correlation

3. Scientific method • Formulate a specific claim that can be tested (hypothesis) • For example: “Female rats exposed to high level of testosterone in utero will exhibit male sexual behavior as adults” • Collect evidence that either confirm or disconfirm the hypothesis

4. Group activity Scientific Method • Step 1: Formulate a testable hypothesis • Example of a poor hypothesis: ‘Hormones make you gay’ • Why is this a bad hypothesis? • How can you make it better?

5. Scientific Method: Experimental design • Step 2: Design & conduct experiment • Dependent variable: • What are you measuring? • Does the outcome of this variable depend on something else? • How will you quantify this variable? • Independent variable: • The variable that differs across conditions (hormone level)

6. Scientific Method: Experimental design Results • Confounding variables • Uncontrolled variables that could also explain the results • Were subjects assigned randomly to groups? • Were subjects in the four groups tested under similar conditions?

7. Scientific Method: Experimental design • Experiment • Conditions are manipulated • Observational study • Variables are observed (not manipulated) • Usually under natural conditions • Usually results are correlational • For example, is baboon’s size correlated with shiny fur? • A large male may gain access to more food (& thus healthier fur). Alternatively, • More food will make the baboon arger (& thus healthier fur)

8. Scientific method: experimental design • Case study • Extensive study of one individual • Compare behavior to a group of control subjects

9. Scientific Method: Experimental design Experimenter control Ecological validity Type of inference Experiment Observation Case study

10. Scientific Method: Experimental design • Step 3: evaluate hypothesis • Results • Is the difference reliable? Are we likely to replicate the results? (statistics) • Do the findings fit well with existing data?

11. Some psychological research topics: • origins of stereotypes • development of language • causes of Alzheimer’s disease • accuracy of eyewitness testimony • treatment of eating disorders • causes of romantic love

12. Research Ethics • Goal: Ethical treatment of research subjects • Guidelines and regulations regarding experimentation with humans and animals

13. Research Ethics • Holocaust medical experimenters and Nuremberg trials • Trials took place after World War II (1946) • Nazi doctors were put on trial for unethical human experimentation • Led to the Nuremberg Code • Focus on medical research • Informed consent • Avoid unnecessary suffering • Subject can stop at any time • Declaration of Helsinki (1964)

14. Research Ethics: Psychological Research Protection of human subjects • Voluntary participation (vs. coercion) • Informed consent • Are subjects aware of all potential risks and benefits? • Debriefing • Are subjects deceive in any way? • Confidentiality • Sharing information: publication of research results • Storage of records

15. Research Ethics: Psychological Research Protection of human subjects • Voluntary participation (vs. coercion) • Informed consent • Are subjects aware of all potential risks and benefits? • Debriefing • Are subjects deceive in any way? • Confidentiality • Sharing information: publication of research results • Storage of records

16. Schooling in Psychology

17. ZAPS • Homework , web (anatomy) • syllabus • textbook