9/25 Experiments in Psychology

Experimental Psychology:

Welcome to discovering about experiments in the field of psychology.  This class period is designed with the student objective of becoming more familiar to experiments done in psychology as a way to broaden your thinking and create ideas for future experimentation.

Your answers will be completed on a separate sheet of paper.  To get started, go to the following website:

http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/u/psychology-experiments.htm#s1

We will start by looking at the oldies:

1.      Read about Pavlov’s experiment:

 http://psychology.about.com/od/classicalconditioning/a/pavlovs-dogs.htm

Explain what Pavlov’s background was and what he discovered.  How did he influence the field of psychology even to today?

2.      Read about the Little Albert experiment:

http://psychology.about.com/od/classicpsychologystudies/a/little-albert-experiment.htm

Explain what Watson discovered.  What were criticisms of his research procedures?  How is this deemed unethical today?  What ever happened to Baby Albert?

3.      Read about the Asch Conformity experiments:

 http://psychology.about.com/od/classicpsychologystudies/p/conformity.htm

What were the findings of the experiment?  Is this an experiment that could be replicated here at Sprague?

4.      Read about Harlow’s experiment with Rhesus monkeys:

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/p/harlow_love.htm

What were the findings?  What has been the impact of his work?

5.      Read about Milgram’s study:

http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/milgram.htm

What were the findings?  How was this study controversial?  How did this study overcome basic beliefs in our society?

6.      Read about the Stanford Prison Experiment:

http://psychology.about.com/od/classicpsychologystudies/a/stanford-prison-experiment.htm

What did Zimbardo find about the issue of setting on behavior?  Did Zimbardo fall victim to this also?  How does this experiment not fit the ethical standards of today?

Next:  Read about the types of research and issues with experimentation:

7.  From this site:

http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/ss/expdesintro.htm

What are the three types of research?

           

8. What effect does time have on psychological research?

http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/ss/expdesintro_3.htm

9. What does causal relationship among variables mean?

http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/ss/expdesintro_4.htm

10.    What does correlational relationship among variables mean?

http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/ss/expdesintro_5.htm

11.    What is validity?  What are the three types of validity?  What are the implications about validity in psychological research?

http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/f/validity.htm

12.    What is reliability?  What does it measure?

http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/f/reliabilitydef.htm

13.    What are the different theories of intelligence?  Why is this knowledge important in constructing intelligence tests?

http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/p/intelligence.htm

14.    Take the research methods quiz.

http://psychology.about.com/library/quiz/bl_researchmethods_quiz.htm

Do all 15 questions.  Take the quiz until you get a perfect score.  On your answer sheet, tell me how many times it took you to get a perfect score.

15.    Pick any other area that you read on this site:

http://psychology.about.com/

For your answer, describe what area you went to and what you learned that will help you in the class.

9/24 Placebo Effect and Stats

Placebo Effect Described.  60 Minutes on Placebo Effect

Descriptive vs. Inferential Statistics

FRQ on Stats
The following data set includes information from survey research in a psychology course regarding how many hours each individual in the class spent preparing for the exam.
Student Amount of hours reported studying
1 2
2 3
3 6
4 8
5 9
6 9
7 21
Examine the data and respond the following:
a. What is the middle score in this distribution?  What term is used to describe the middle score?
b. What would be the most useful statistic for measuring the variation of hours spent studying?  Why is this statistic a better measure of variation than the range?


Homework---Due on 9/25

Part I: Design an Experiment that would be a double blind experiment
Identify the following:
a. Hypothesis
b. Control Group and Experimental Group
c. Independent Variable and Dependent Variable
d. Results expected to get.

Part 2: Design an Experiment that would be a single blind experiment
Identify the following:
a. Hypothesis
b. Control Group and Experimental Group
c. Independent Variable and Dependent Variable
d. Results expected to get.

9/22-23 Experiments and Statistics

Identifying Independent Variables and Dependent Variables

For the following statements create a hypothesis (Your hypothesis should, theoretically, be testable).  Then identify the IV and DV.

1.      Blondes have more fun.

Hypothesis: Changing people’s hair color to blonde will increase the amount of fun that they have.

IV ____________________ DV __________________

2.   A rolling stone gathers no moss.

     Hypothesis: _________________________________________________

     IV ____________________ DV __________________

3.   Familiarity breeds contempt.

     Hypothesis: _________________________________________________

     IV ____________________ DV __________________

4.   When the cat’s away, the mouse will play.

     Hypothesis: _________________________________________________

     IV ____________________ DV __________________

5.   Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

     Hypothesis: _________________________________________________

     IV ____________________ DV __________________

6.   An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

     Hypothesis: _________________________________________________

     IV ____________________ DV __________________

7. Fences make good neighbors.

     Hypothesis: _________________________________________________

     IV ____________________ DV __________________

8. The early bird catches the worm.

     Hypothesis: _________________________________________________

     IV ____________________ DV __________________

Name the IV, DV, control group, and experimental group for each of the following scenario.

1. A researcher is interested in how the activity level of 4-year-olds is affected by viewing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  He shows one group a 30-minute video of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and another group a 30-minute video of Barney.

IV:____________________________DV:_____________________________

Experimental group:_______________________________

Control group:_____________________________________

2. A researcher wants to test a new drug designed to increase the ability of teenagers with ADHD to take accurate notes in class.

IV:____________________________DV:_____________________________

Experimental group:_______________________________

Control group:_____________________________________

3. A physiological psychologist wants to know whether exposure to testosterone in adult female rats increases their aggressive behavior.

IV:____________________________DV:_____________________________

Experimental group:_______________________________

Control group:_____________________________________

4. A social psychologist is interested in whether people will enjoy a video game more if they are paid for playing it.

IV:____________________________DV:_____________________________

Experimental group:_______________________________

Control group:_____________________________________

5. An industrial psychologist wants to see if cooling the room temperature may have an impact on productivity of workers on an assembly line.

IV:____________________________DV:_____________________________

Experimental group:_______________________________

Control group:_____________________________________

Start/Finish Worksheet

Term	Define the term in your own words	Give an example:
Discrete Variable
Dichotomy
Trichotomy
Continuous Variable
Continuum
Measures of Central Tendency
Mode
Median
Mean
Measures of Variability
Range
Standard  Deviation
Distribution
Histogram
Normal  Curve
Skew
Outlier

9/17-19 Research in Psychology

Reasons for the Need for Psychological Research
Define the Hindsight Bias p.31
What are some famously quoted Yogi Berra --malapropisms? p. 31
Psych Science has overturned many popular ideas--Name 3. p. 32
How does Overconfidence cloud our judgments about the need for psychological research?p. 32-33
How does perceiving order in random events lead to superstitions?p.33-34
What is the point to remember about how scientific inquiry can help us sift reality from illusion?p.34
What two questions are needed for a curious skepticism? p. 35
Why is humility necessary to scientific discovery? p. 35
What 5 things does critical thinking entail? p. 35

Questions due in class on 9/19

History of Psychology and Modern Approaches 9/8-16

Psych Skits
Trading Cards

Source: Can be found on web by doing search for History of Psychology Trading Cards

History of Psychology Trading Cards

Below is a list of famous historical figures in the field of psychology.  Your job will be to create a trading card for each individual. 

Each trading card must include, but not limited to the following items:

            à a picture of the individual

            à birth/death date

            à Occupation

            à contribution to the history of psychology

            à any books or articles they completed

            à historical impact

            à an interesting fact that most people would not know about this individual

Your cards should be informative and they should look like actual trading cards:

Grading criteria will include neatness and creativity.

These websites may be useful in finding information on your respective psychologists.  You may also try a google search.

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/

http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/psy.html

www.psychology.org

http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html

Your should make a card for each of the following individuals:

You may add other names to each category

History & Research

Mary Whiton Calkins                      -  Jean Piaget

Charles Darwain                           -  Carl Rogers

Dorothea Dix                                 -  B.F. Skinner

Sigmund Freud                              -  Margaret Floy Washburn

G. Stanley Hall                               -  John B. Watson

Williams James                              -  Wilhelm Wundt

Ivan Pavlov                                               -  David Buss

Biological/Neuroscience

Paul Broca                                     -  Roger Sperry

Michael Gazzaniga                                   -  Carl Wernicke

Sensation & Perception

Gustav Fechner                             -  Ernst Weber

David Hubel                                              -  Torsten Wiesel

States of Consciousness

Ernest Hilgard

Edward B. Titchener

Learning and Cognition

Albert Bandura                              -  Noam Chomsky

John Garcia                                              -  Hermann Ebbinghaus

Robert Rescoria                             -  Wolfgang Kohler

Edward Throndike                         -  Elizabeth Loftus

Edward Tolman                             -  George A. Miller

Rosalie Rayner                               -  Eric Kandel

Motivation & Emotion

Alferd Kinsey                                  -  Carl Lange

Abraham Maslow                          -  Walter Cannon

Stanley Schachter                          -  Clark Hull

Hans Selve

Development

Mary Ainsworth                              -  Harry Harlow

Diana Baumrind                            -  Lawrence Kohlberg

Erik Erikson                                     -  Konrad Lorenz

Carol Gilligan                                -  Lev Vygotsky

Personality

Alfred Adler                                                -  Gordon Allport

Paul Costa & Robert McCrae       -             Hermann Rorschach

Carl Jung

Testing & Individual Differences

Alfred Binet                                                -  Robert Sternberg

Francis Galton                               -  Louis Terman

Howard Gardner                           -  David Wechsler

Charles Spearman

Abnormal Behavior & Treatment

Aaron Beck                                                -  Mary Cover Jones

Albert Ellis                                      -  Joseph Wolpe

Social Psychology

Soloman Asch                               -  Stanley Milgram

Leon Festinger                   -             Philip Zimbardo

Modules 1-3

Exam on 9/16

E-BOOK Access

http://ebooks.bfwpub.com/myersap2e 

charles_brent@salkeiz.k12.or.us   

password

9/3-5 Intro to AP Psych

Intro to AP Psych
Module 1--Target Goal: Trace the Origins of Psychology as a Science.

 Homework--Due 9/8 Research a psychological principle of interest. Write up a 2 paragraph explanation of the principle.