AP Psychology

Forest Grove High School

Mr. Tusow

Anxiety Definition
Without

discussing your ideas, write

down your personal definition of
anxiety as if you were writing a
book of psychological terms.
If you have internet capabilities, you can look up

multiple definitions, but write a definition in your

own words.

Why do we need
research?
Why?

Because just asking people

how/why they felt and acted the way
they did can be misleading.

Common

up to be.

sense isnt all it is cracked

A Demonstration
Group

B close your eyes.

Group

A: Psychologists have found

that separation weakens romantic
attraction. As the saying goes out of
sight, out of mind.
Write down why this might be the case.

A Demonstration
Group

A close your eyes.

Group

B: Psychologists have found

that separation strengthens romantic
attraction. As the saying goes
absence makes the heart grow
fonder.
Write down why this might be the case.

A Demonstration
Find

a member of the opposite group.

Discuss the question below, being sure
to provide evidence.

What

impact does separation have

on romantic relationships?
When both a supposed finding and its

opposite seem like common sense, we have

a problem.

Hindsight Bias
The

problem we have is hindsight

bias, or the feeling that because
something has already happened, it
is inevitable.
I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon

Another
Demonstration
Consider

these three anagrams:

WREAT WATER
ETRYN ENTRY
GRABE BARGE

How

many seconds do you think it

would take you to unscramble each
of these?
OCHSA

Whats the point?

Hindsight

bias and overconfidence

often lead us to overestimate our
intuition (common sense). Scientific
inquiry can help us move from
illusion back to fact.
We must operate in a stake of curious
skepticism. Always ask What do you mean?
How do you know?

Clever Hans the horse

could do simple math and
spell out the answers to
simple questions. He
wasnt always correct, but
he was most of the time.

While a team of scientists,

veterinarians, zoologists
and circus trainers could
not figure out how Hans
was correctly answer the
questions, Oskar Pfungst, a
psychologist did. What did
he discover?

While Hans could not do math or correctly answer

questions on his own, he was very perceptive.

Hans was picking up on subtle body language given off

by his owner who asked the questions.

When the owner was hidden from view, suddenly Hans

could not answer the questions correctly.

How does this story relate to methodology?

Emily Rosa was a 4th grader in Colorado

in 1998. She entered a science
competition with an experiment that
challenged the legitimacy of
therapeutic touch (TT).

We will use Rosas

experiment to look at
scientific method.

The scientific method and

empirical approach are 5
step processes for empirical
investigation of a
hypothesis, under conditions
designed to control biases
and subjective judgments.
Empirical investigation is the

collecting of objective
information, firsthand, by
making careful measurements
based on direct experience.

The goal of psychology is to develop

explanations for behavior and mental
processesexplain why we do what we do.

A scientific theory is an explanation based on

integrated principles that organizes
observations and predicts behaviors or events.
Theory in everyday language is different than in
science
A good theory simplifies and summarizes facts.
Too many facts about behavior to remember them all.
A good theory produces testable predictions called

hypotheses

A Good Theory
Summarized
A

good theory:

Effectively organizes a range of self-

reports and observations

Leads to a clear hypothesis (prediction)
Stimulates further research or can be
replicated

1. Developing a Hypothesis:
Hypothesis: A statement predicting the

outcome of a scientific study or describing the

relationship among variables in a study.
A hypothesis literally means a little theory.

The 5 Steps of Scientific

Method

All hypotheses must be testable and

falsifiable, or shown to be either supported
or incorrect.
Falsifiability is the possibility that an assertion can be

shown false by an observation or experiment. That

something is "falsifiable" does not mean it is false;
rather, that if it is false, then this can be shown by
A theory cannot be
observation or experiment.
considered scientific if
it does not admit the
possibility of being
shown false.

Falsifiable Revisited

Falsifiability or refutability is the

logical possibility that an claim can be
contradicted by an observation or the
outcome of a physical experiment.
It means that if it is false, some observation

or experiment will produce a reproducible

result that is in conflict with it.
For example , "all men are mortal" is unfalsifiable: even if
someone is observed who has not died so far, he could still
die in the next instant. By contrast, "all men are immortal,"
is falsifiable by the presentation of just one dead man.

Immortal?

All good hypotheses need an

operational definition.
An operational definition is a specific

description of the concepts involving the

conditions of the scientific study.
Operational definitions are stated in terms of how the

concepts are to be measured and what procedures

(operations) are being employed to produce them.
They are intended to eliminate bias.

In class example
With

a partner, write an operational

definition for the following variables:

Tall
Old
Happiness
Intelligent
Popularity
Good music

Operational Definitions
Smile

or Not?

2. Performing a controlled test: A

hypothesis must undergo rigorous tests
before it will be accepted as a
legitimate theory.

To make a test controlled, one must account

for the independent variable.
Independent Variable: A stimulus condition that

the experimenter changes independently of all other

carefully controlled conditions in the experiment.

In Rosas experiment, she tested 21 TT

practitioners to see if they could sense which
of their two hands was closest to her hand
when they could not see it.
To do this, she made a cardboard screen with two

holes in the bottom. The practitioners would put

their hands through, palms up. Rosa would hold her
hand, palm down a few inches from either of the
practitioners hands.

For both Rosa and Hans experiments, the

presence of patterns in the experiment could
have jeopardized the findings. To eliminate this
Rosa and Pfungst used random presentation.

Random presentation is a process by which

chance alone determines the order in which the
stimulus is presented.

In Rosas experiment, randomization was

achieved by a coin flip to determine whether she
put her hand above the practitioners left or right
hand.

In the Hans experiment, Pfungst made sure to

ask math questions with random answers in
which there were no predictable patterns
(answers of 2,4,6).

3. Gathering objective data: getting

information by direct observation that
relies only on the independent variable
and not on the experimenters hopes.
This data is called the dependent
variable.
Dependent Variable: The measured outcome

of a study, or the response of the subjects in the

study.

good way to remember which

is which:
Independent Variable (IV) = stimulus or cause
Dependent Variable (DV) = response or effect
Both the IV and the DV must have an operation
definition. That means, you must explain what
each will look like and how it will be measured.

Confounding Variables: Variables

that have unwanted influence on the
outcome of an experiment.
Or, other possible explanations for the

dependent variable (result).

Validity

One goal when designing experiments is to

ensure validity.

Validity refers to the extent to which a test

measures what it is supposed to measure.
Face validity refers to the extent to which a measure

appears on the surface to measure what it is suppose to

measure.
Criterion validity is a way of assessing validity by
comparing the results with another measure.
Construct validity is a way of assessing validity by
investigating if the measure really is measuring the
theoretical construct it is suppose to.

For Rosas dependent variable, she

recorded whether the TT practitioner said
left or right, and whether or not that
was correct.

For Pfungsts study of Hans, the DV was

simply the horses hoof-taping in response
to each question asked, making sure to
keep track of the number of correct
answers given.

4. Analyzing the results: This step

consists of looking at the data collected
and seeing if it supports or disproves the
hypothesis.
We will briefly discuss stats next class, but it is not a major part

of our psychology class. No worries, this is not a math class.

In Rosas experiment, the

analysis was pretty clear. By
design, there was a 50%
chance a practitioner could
guess correctly. So in order to
disprove her hypothesis, they
would have to answer correctly
significantly more than 50% of
the timethey did not.
She concluded that TT

practitioners could not detect the

human energy field.

For Hans the chance level of

simply guessing the correct
response was near zero, so any
consistent level of correct
responses would support the
hypothesis that Hans could do
math.

That hypothesis was rejected,

however, as Hans was unable
to correctly answer any
questions in the absence of his
owner.

5. Publishing, criticizing and

replicating the results: The last
step of the scientific method is to have
the results withstand the criticism and
scrutiny of the science community.

Critics check each others work by replicating the

study, sometimes under slightly different
circumstances to see if the same results can be
duplicated.

Replicate: To do a study over to see if the

same results are obtained. To control for
bias, the replication is most often done by
someone other than the original
researcher.

Operational Definition
Practice
Using

the definition of anxiety that

you wrote earlier, you will be
working in a group to operational
define a study on anxiety.

Identifying Variables
Homework

Experimental Method: A kind of

research in which the researcher controls
and manipulates the conditions including
the IV.
Experiments seek to isolate cause and effect.

Experimental method must account for

independent variables, dependent
variables and confounding or extraneous
variables.
No single experiment is conclusive

There are many challenges with

conducting experiments. First one has to
make sure that all groups being tested
have the same conditions. These are
called experiment controls.
Controls are used to eliminate confounding

variables.
This is different than the control group.

Representative Sample
For

an experiment to be valid, one

has to make sure the subjects are
drawn from a population which
consists of everyone who fits the
description of your test group. This is
called a representative sample.
Does the group you are testing resemble

the group you are drawing conclusions

about?

Representative Sample

Representative
Sample: A sample
obtained in such a way
that it reflects the
distribution of
important variables in
the larger population in
which the researcher
are interested-variables
such as age, SES,
ethnicity, education.

Random Assignment

Third, once a population has been randomly

selected for participation, we must put them
into participant groups: Control group and
experiment group.

Like selection for the experiment, placement

into groups should be done randomly,
meaning that each participant has an equal
likelihood to be in either the control or the
experiment group.
Why would random assignment be important?

Control Group vs.

Experiment Group

Control group: the

group that is NOT
exposed to the
treatment.

Experiment group:
the group in the
experiment that IS
exposed to the
treatment.

Increasing Reliability

Double Blind Study: An experiment where both

the subject and the person administering the
experiment do not know the nature of the
independent variable being administered.

M&M Experiment

Experiment Check List

Experiments
hypotheses
Experiments
Experiments
Experiments

start with a testable prediction:

aim to manipulate an IV
measure the DV
have at least two groups:

control and experimental

Experiments test the effect of the IV on the DV

Representative sampling is a must
Random selection is a must
Random assignment is a must

 Sometimes

we are unable to do
experiments for ethical or practical
reasons. In this case we must do
another kind of research.

-Ex post facto: Research in which we

choose subjects based on a pre-existing

condition.
-Ex: Cancer research.

Case Studies

Case studies are observational techniques

that study one person/group in depth with
the hope of revealing universal principles.
Case studies often suggest further directions

for studies, but can be misleading if the person

being studied is atypical.
Numbers can be numbing, but the plural of anecdote
isnt evidencejust because we get some facts, we
cannot necessarily generalize.

Naturalistic observations are a method

where subjects are observed in their
natural environment.
Like all descriptive studies, naturalistic

observations do not explain behavior, they

describe behavior.

Why would it be important for subjects to not know they

are being observed?

 In

a longitudinal study, one group

or subject is studied for an extended
period of time to observe changes in
the long term.

+ Same subjects for the entire study

- Time and expense

These studies are designed to cut down

on time and expense.
Cross-sectional studies look at a cross section of the

population and studies them at one point in time.

Ex: No child left behind

Cohort-sequential studies look at a cross section of

population and then studies them over a short period of

time.

correlation study is one where

researchers try to show the
relationship (or correlation) between
two variables.

Correlation studies are largely based in

statistics.
It is important to remember that correlation

does not necessarily mean causation.

A survey is a research
technique using self
reported attitudes or
behaviors of a specific
group
Usually by asking questions

a random representative of
the group.

What are some dangers of

using a survey?

Surveys and Wording

Even

subtle changes in the order or

wording of questions can have a
huge impact on results.
not allowing vs. forbidden
aid to the needy vs. welfare
affirmative action vs. preferential
treatment
revenue enhancers vs. taxes

Each university or group doing research must

have an Institutional Review Board which is
responsible for making sure research is
preformed in an ethical manner.

The APA says deception is to be avoided

whenever possible. However, when deception
must be used, the subjects are to be
debriefed as soon as possible after the study.

Frequency Distribution: A summary

chart which shows how frequently each
of the various scores in a set of data
Battery
Frequency
Relative
Percent
occur.
life,
(f)
frequency frequency
minutes

Table: Life of AA
batteries, in minutes

360369

0.07

370379

0.10

10

380389

0.17

17

390399

0.23

23

400409

0.17

17

410419

0.13

13

420429

0.10

10

430439

0.03

Histogram: A bar graph depicting a

frequency distribution. The height of the bars
indicates the frequency of a group of scores.

Mean (average): The measure of central

tendency most often used to describe a set of
data.
To calculate mean, simply add all the scores and divide

by the number of scores.

While the mean is easy to calculate, it has a big

downside. It can easily be influenced by extreme scores.

Median: A measure of central tendency

represented by the score that separates
the upper half of the scores in a
distribution from the lower half.
The big advantage of this is the median is not effected by

extreme scores.

Mode: A measure of central tendency

which represents the score that occurs
most often.

Mean, Median, Mode

The weekly salaries of six employees at

McDonalds are $140, $220, $90, $180,
$140, $200.
For these six salaries, find:
(a) the mean
(b) the median
(c) the mode

Mean, Median, Mode

Answers

Mean:
Median:

90+ 140+ 140+ 180 + 200 + 220 =$ 161.67

6
90,140,140,180,200,220

The two numbers that fall in the middle need to be averaged.

140 + 180 = $160
2

Mode:

90,140,140,180,200,220

The number that appears the most is $140

Standard Deviation (SD): A measure of

variability that indicates the average
distance between the scores and their
mean.
A low standard deviation indicates that the

data points tend to be very close to the mean,

whereas high standard deviation indicates that
the data are spread out over a large range of
values.

Normal Distribution

The standard deviation and mean together tell us

a lot about the distribution of scores.

MEAN=50

SD=20

A data set with a mean of 50 (shown in

blue) and a standard deviation of 20.

Normal Distribution

A normal distribution
is a bell shaped curve.

A standard deviation of 15 accounts for about 68% of responses.

Skewed Distribution

A distribution is skewed if one of

its tails is longer than the other.
The first distribution shown has a
positive skew. This means that it has
a long tail in the positive direction.
The second distribution has a
negative skew since it has a long tail
in the negative direction.
Finally, the third distribution is
symmetric and has no skew (normal
distribution).

A Skewed Distribution
Are

the results positively or

negatively skewed?

Correlation: A relationship between two

variables in which changes in one variable
are reflected in the changes in the other
variable.
Correlation Coefficient: A number between

1 and +1 expressing the degree of relationship

between two variables.

If the correlation coefficient is a positive number, there is

a positive correlation (connection) between the variables.

If the correlation coefficient is a negative number, there is

a negative correlation (connection) between variables.

Height and weight-the taller a person is, usually means they weigh more too

Education and years in jailpeople who have more years of education tend to have fewer
years in jail

If the correlation coefficient is 0, there is no correlation

between variables.

Positive Correlation

Negative Correlation

No Correlation

Positive Correlation
Coefficients
Positive

correlation coefficients
indicate a stronger connection as
they get closer to 1.

Correlation Practice
For

each studies below, identify if there is

a positive or negative correlation:
The more young children watch TV, the less they read

(Kaiser, 2002)
The more sexual content sees on TV, the more likely
they are to to have sex (Collins et al. 2004)
The longer children are breast-fed, the greater their
later academic achievements (Horwood & Ferguson.
1998)
The more often adolescents eat breakfast, the lower
their body mass (Timlin et al. 2008)
Answers: negative, positive, positive, negative

Illusory Correlation
Correlation

coefficients are important

because they allow us to see
relationships between variables and
prevent us from seeing relationships
that do not exist.
Illusory Correlation: believing there is a

relationship between two things, when none exists

We are likely to notice instances that confirm our beliefs
Ex. getting chilled wet causes people to catch a cold

Comparing Research
Methods

FRQ #1

Imagine you are a sports psychologist interested

in the usefulness of a new visualization technique
that has been developed for Olympic divers. You
have decided to conduct an experiment to
determine if the technique is effective. Discuss
the importance of each of the following in regard
to the experiment you are designing: