Four Goals
1. Description
• Observing a behavior and
describing everything about it
* What is happening?
* Where it happens?
* To whom is it happening?
* Under what circumstances is it
happening?
2. Explanation
* To understand why a behavior is
happening
3. Prediction
* To be able to predict behaviors in
the future based on previously
gathered information
4. Control
* To gain knowledge and strategies
in order to be able to change or
modify people’s behavior
Six Steps
1. Generating A Research Question
• A question about behavior that the
researcher will try to answer
2. Hypothesis Formation
• Forming an informed prediction
(educated guess) about behavior
• A statement that can be tested
(proven or disproven)
Ex: We predict that children who
watch violent TV programming will
be more aggressive , relative to
children who do not watch violent TV
Six Steps
3. Hypothesis Testing
• Using a research methodology to
gather data (make observations)
4. Conclusion Formation
• Generating explanations to support
or refute your hypothesis based on
the analysis of the data collected
Six Steps
5. Reporting Your Results
• Creating a report (journal article)
explaining your findings
6. Replication
• You or other scientists conduct
further research to further validate or
possibly refute your findings
Important Concepts
Construct
Operational Definition
• The specific definition of a
behavior, an internal attribute or a
characteristic
• Identifies a measurement
procedure and the definition for a
construct
Examples
• Research psychologists must be
able to measure behavior
• Fidgeting – to move or act
restlessly or nervous
• Intelligence
• Attitudes
• Depression
• Thus, to study a behavior, we first
must precisely define how it will be
measured
Important Concepts
Example Of An Operational
Definition
Fidgeting – one fidget would be
when a person does any one of the
following:
* Taps pencil
* Scratches face/body
* Taps foot
* Shifts in seat twice in 30 sec.
Other Examples
Intelligence – Schools use
SAT/ACT as an operational
definition of intelligence
Happiness – smiling
Discontent – furrowing of
eyebrows
Important Concepts
Other Examples Of Operational
Definitions
Attitudes – are typically measured
by creating a survey
• The survey will contain several
questions related to the specific
attitude
Ex: Attitudes toward
Schwarzenegger
Q1: Do you believe Schwarzenegger
has been effective?
1 2 3 4 5
Q2: Do you believe
Schwarzenegger’s policies have
benefitted California?
1 2 3 4 5
Important Concepts
Observer Effect
• The tendency of people or animals
to behave differently from normal
when they know they are being
observed
Naturalistic Observation
Definition
Advantages
• The unobtrusive observation of a
particular behavior or situation in a
structured fashion
• Allows researchers to observe
realistic behaviors (without the
observer effect)
Examples
Disadvantages
• Classroom demonstration
Observer Bias: The tendency of
observers to have biases when
recording observations
• Non-verbal intimacy at arrivals
and departures airports (Heslin and
Boss, 1980)
• Lack of control over the
environment
Case Studies
Definition
Advantages
• An in-depth study of one person,
situation or “case”
• Ability to obtain a high degree of
detail (you can get a “complete”
picture of a person)
• Most commonly used in clinical
psychology (behavior disorders)
Examples
• Sybil
• Phineas Gage
Disadvantages
• Limited ability to generalize
findings
* Because info is so specific to the
individual being studied, it may
not apply to others
Survey
Definition
Advantages
• Participants are asked a series of
questions about a behavioral topic
• Ability to obtain information that
cannot be observed (attitudes)
* Paper/pencil, interviews,
telephone, internet surveys
Examples
Topic: Comfort level with HIV
Q1: Would you hold hands with
someone who had HIV?
Q2: Would you kiss someone who
had HIV?
• Large groups of people can be
studied
Disadvantages
• Self-reports may be inaccurate
* People can lie
* People can misinterpret their
own experiences
Correlation
Definition
Direction Of Relationship
• Measuring a relationship between
two or more variables
Positive: as one variable increases,
the other variable increases
Example
A. Children’s Age
Is there a relationship between
viewing violent cartoons and
children’s levels of aggression?
B. Children’s Height
Variables
A. Children’s aggression
B. Viewing violent cartoons
Correlation
Direction Of Relationship
Negative (or inverse): As one
variable increases, the other variable
decreases
A. # of hours working job
B. # of hours watching TV
Correlation Does Not Mean
Causation!
• Variable A may have caused the
change in B
• Variable B may have caused the
change in A
Descriptive Methods
Naturalistic observation, case studies, survey research and correlation
research allow us to describe behaviors
What is another goal of psychology?
To explain behaviors
What can psychologists use to discover knowledge that explains the cause of
behaviors?
The Experiment
Definition
• Researchers deliberately
manipulate one or more variables to
determine if there will be a change
in behavior
Example
Does viewing violent cartoons cause
children to behave more aggressive?
Independent Variable (IV)
• A variable in an experiment that is
deliberately manipulated by the
researcher
The IV is independent of anything
the participants do
Dependent Variable (DV)
• The behavioral response of the
participant
• The variable that is being
measured
The Experiment
Experimental Group
Experimental Control
• The group of participants that
receives some sort of treatment
(drug, special instructions, etc.)
• The IV is the only thing that is
different between the control group
and the experimental group
Control Group
• All other variables are held
constant
• A group of participants who
receive none, a placebo or neutral
treatment
• Establishes a “baseline” for
comparison
Purpose: Any differences in
behavior between groups can be
attributed to the manipulation of
the IV
* This is a cause and effect
relationship
The Experiment
Methods and Procedures
Operational Definition
(Experimental Group)
Aggression will be defined as:
• Randomly select Twenty-five 5year-old boys from the Bay Area
• Hitting
• Each boy watches 1 hour of
violent cartoons
• Each boy then plays with a group
of 4 other boys for 1 hour
• Kicking
• Pushing
• Shouting
The Experiment
Methods and Procedures
(Control Group)
• Randomly select twenty-five 5
year old boys
• Each boy watches 1 hour of nonviolent cartoons
• Each boy then plays with another
group of 4 boys with 1 hour
Methods and Procedures
Independent Variable: Cartoon
programs watched
Dependent Variable: # of times a
child demonstrates an aggressive
behavior (as defined by the
operational definition)
The Experiment
Results
Experimental Group: Average of 9
incidence of aggression
Control Group: Average of 4
incidence of aggression
Conclusions
• Violent cartoons caused children
to be more aggressive
The Experiment
Advantages
• Researchers can establish cause
and effect relationships between a
variable and a behavior
Disadvantages
• Behaviors may be artificial because
the environment is artificial
Placebo Effect: when the
expectations of the participants
influences their behavior
* Drug research: participants will
receive a “placebo” – a pill that has
no effect