PSYCHOLOGY: ITS ORIGINS, METHODS, AND THEORIES
Prepared by Dr. Gordon Vessels
Portions of this lecture are paraphrased and modified versions of information presented in lecture
outlines prepared by Donelson Forsyth and Tom Harrigan. Their material is used here with their written
permission. Some sections were written by Gordon Vessels or paraphrased by him and do not necessarily
reflect the thoughts of Dr. Forsyth or Dr. Harrigan.
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
Most people assume psychology is concerned almost entirely with the treatment of mental illness. Images
of psychologists in movies stereotypically support this notion along with shows like Dr. Phil. But there
are numerous types of psychology. Actually, there are many specializations in psychology just like
medicine.
A. Origins of the Field:
1. Near the end of 19th century things started drawing together. Questions raised by philosophers
were being examined by physiologists, and vice versa.
a.
b.
c.
d.
What is the relationship between the mind and the body?
Why do people loose their minds? What is insanity?
How do we perceive things? Why are their perceptions of the same stimulus different?
What affect do our experiences have on us? How important are environmental influences
versus characteristics and predispositions we are born with?
2. So, in terms of historical origins, Philosophy + Physiology = Psychology (Check out Vessels’
PPT slides on “Psychological Theories”). This equation, however, does not apply today. Why?
B. A Definition of Psychology:
1. Originally, the focus was on the mind only including thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and
sensations ─ all internal.
2. “Psyche” means inner spirit or soul; “ology” means the “study-of”;
3. Psychology is the study of the structures and functions (processes) of the mind: reflected in the
structuralism of Wundt and the Functionalism of James, respectively. Wundt, Titchener, and
James looked for ways to understand how our minds work.
4. The behavioral revolution took the lead in the 1920s thanks to Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, and
others. They argued that psychology should be the study of behavior and variables in the
environment that affect whether or not behaviors occur, not ill-defined internal processes.
5. Today, both of these elements are combined giving us the current definition of psychology as the
study of the mind (internal cognitive and affective processes) and behavior (externally controlled
by consequences) (Forsyth, 2005).
C. Topics in the Field or the Things that Psychologists Study:
1. Systems or physiological processes including the brain, bodily patterns, consciousness and sleep;
sensations and related perceptions.
2. Psychological processes such as learning, cognition, memory, emotion, motivation, personality,
and social behavior.
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D. Issues in the Field:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Nature vs. nurture (a biggie that will never go away);
Conscious vs. unconscious causes of personality traits;
Behavior vs. cognition;
Free will (Do human beings have it?);
Global conclusions or individualistic explanations;
What is man’s true human nature? Good? Bad? Both?;
Moral thinking vs. moral emotion.
WHAT IS A PSYCHOLOGIST?
A. Two General Types:
1. Applied psychologists search for solutions to everyday problems. They are less concerned with
research or psychology as a science. They are sometimes employed in “nonacademic”
organizations, but even universities have clinics where they are employed (Forsyth, 2005).
a. Clinical Psychologists try to assist people with mental or emotional problems.
b. Counseling Psychologists supposedly help people with less serious mental illness.
c. School Psychologists deal with learning and emotional-behavioral problems affecting school
children, and they assist teachers and parents.
d. Organizational Psychologists deal with issues in the work environment including production
efficiency, communication, leadership, program evaluation, etc.
2. Research psychologists look for explanations of human and animal behavior and mental activity.
Psychology as a true science is central here. They are usually employed by so-called academic
organizations such as universities and research laboratories like the CDC.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Learning—study the processes involved in learning;
Developmental—explore changes that occur with age;
Personality—study how people differ from each other and how this comes about;
Social—study how people behave in groups and how others influence our behavior,
attitudes, emotions, etc.;
e. Neuropsychology—study neural transmission, neurotransmitters, localization and/or
specialization of brain functions, neurophysiological correlates of mental illness, etc.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN PSYCHOLOGY:
A. Structuralism is a general category or perspective that examines in detail the parts or
elements of mental activity and their interconnections including sensation and perception.
1. “Structuralism was greatly shaped by Wilhelm Wundt who initiated the campaign to make
Psychology an independent discipline from philosophy and physiology” (Harrigan, 2005).
2. Wundt established in 1879 the first psychological lab at the University of Leipzig. In 1881 he
published the first psychology journal.
3. Wundt was greatly influence by his physiological training. It was from him that psychology
was initially the study of conscious experience.
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4. Structuralism broke down consciousness into its basic elements and tried to determine how
they related to each another. Some of the basic components included sensations, feelings, and
images.
5. He used scientific introspection, defined as the detailed and systematic self-observation of
one's conscious experience (Harrigan, 2005).
6. From Structuralism came at least two psychological schools of thought and at least part of a
third:
a. Biological (psychophysiology, neuropsychology, biophysics, genetics, etc.)
b. Evolutionary (closely related to biological but also includes a social-cultural type)
c. Cognitive (structuralist in at least some ways)
B. Functionalism is an early general category or perspective that examines the purposes or functions of
conscious experience and presumes that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
1. “Functionalism took a very different point of view . . . Functionalists believed that instead of
studying the elements of consciousness, they should study the purpose or function of
consciousness” (Harrigan, 2005).
2. William James (1842 – 1910) was trained in medicine and physiology, and was greatly
influenced by Charles Darwin and various philosophers. He saw himself as a philosopher first.
His 1890 book, Principles of Psychology, has had an important influence.
3. He saw consciousness as a continuous flow of thoughts, and he thought the structuralists were off
target by trying to “investigate static points in the flow” (Harrigan, 2005).
4. “Functionalism was not confined to the laboratory or only the study of sensation and perception
like structuralism. Functionalists were interested in how people . . . responded to changes in the
real world, or how children were influenced by different educational systems” (Harrigan, 2005).
5. A good number of schools of thought in psychology grew out of functionalism, which was almost
paradoxically interested in the flow of consciousness, habit formation, and a philosophically
pragmatist belief that the value or worth of ideas and concepts must be found in their
consequences, effects, outcomes, etc.
a. Gestalt (has largely run its course; studies of perception that yielded principles or laws)
b. Cognitive (your text sees this as an outgrowth of structuralism. I see it as being more
connected with Functionalism but associated with both.)
c. Psychoanalytic (see human nature as bad and hidden in the unconscious)
d. Humanistic (see human nature as good and regard any focus on the unconscious mind as a
silly waste of time)
C. Other areas of psychology not clearly connected to structuralism and functionalism that address the
external environment, social factures, and cultural influence.
a. Behavioral (social in the sense that external factors that shape behavior are largely social)
b. Social (emerging from both psychology and sociology—your text tries to put a contemporary
spin on this by calling it “cultural and diversity”)
c. Developmental (one of the newest and most intriguing areas of psychology that has emerged
to some degree out of the psychoanalytic and cognitive schools.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES IN MORE DETAIL
A. Biological Psychology seeks to determine the biological processes that underlie behavior and mental
events and includes studies of the structure and neurochemistry of the nervous system, genetics,
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hormonal affects on behavior, nerve impulse transmission, evolutionary determinants, etc. They
investigate how the body and brain create our emotions, memories, sensory experiences, and
perceptions (Forsyth, 2005).
1. Sample Questions:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
How do evolution and heredity determine behavior?
How are messages transmitted in our bodies and brains?
How is blood chemistry linked with moods and motives?
What emotional and mental traits are we born with?
To what degree are mental disorders determined by heredity?
2. “Ironically, the current interest in the physiological bases of behavior and mental processes is a
return to Psychology's origins when Psychologists were primarily interested in both
consciousness and physiology” (Harrigan, 2005).
3. The following individuals contributed in significant ways over the decades:
a. Galton’s work begins with the collection of data for his first book, Hereditary Genius. The
theme of the book is that “genius” is genetically determined rather than environmentally.
b. Fechner’s most important achievement was his investigation of relationships in psychology
and aesthetics. His Fechner’s Law states that the intensity of a sensation rises as the
“logarithm” of the stimulus.
c. Paul Brocca studied intelligence and the role of the frontal lobes of the brain. He proposed the
theory of “cortical specialization” for both motor and sensory functions and refuted the theory
of cortical localization. He studied learning and memory by examining the effects of brain
damage on animals. K.S. Lashley later brought to light the dispute between holistic brain
functioning and localization of brain functions.
d. Many current researchers are at work today. This is a popular field since MRIs and PETs and
other brain study technologies have emerged (Primary Source: Forsyth, 2005)
B. Evolutionary psychology grew out of the structuralist school of Wundt and the biological and
physiological work at the time of Darwin, Galton, and others. Thus it is linked with biological
psychology, a boarder category. Evolutionary psychology involves putting principles from
evolutionary biology to use in research into the structure of the human mind. It can be described as a
way of analyzing psychological phenomena (Forsyth, 2005; Harrigan, 2005).
1. This theory had its beginnings with Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection. AS
presented by Harrigan (2005) the three basic principles of his theory are:
a. Variation: organisms of any species can vary in many different ways;
b. Selection: some of these variations may give an individual an advantage over other
individuals of the same species. These advantaged members will have a greater chance of
survival and reproduction;
c. Inheritance: if the advantage can be passed on to offspring, over time the advantage should
spread through the gene pool and become an inherent species characteristic.
2. Darwin's theory has been applied to biochemistry, physiology and anatomy. Evolutionary
psychologists believe that Darwin's theory can also be applied to thinking and behavior
(Harrigan, 2005).
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3. “If behavior and thinking are affected by genetic selection, then in order to fully understand
human behavior we need to understand . . . their evolution. Also if our behaviors and thinking are
influenced by evolution, then our brains may have evolved to seek out particular mates, use a
particular language, and even solve certain problems” (Harrigan, 2005).
4. The following persons were key contributors:
a. Lorenz discovered imprinting, a quick and irreversible process of learning that occurs very
early in life. His claim that aggressive impulses are inborn and the analogies he drew between
human and animal behavior have caused controversy.
b. Among other things, Galton was a Eugenicist. Eugenics is the “pseudoscience” which deals
with improving the inborn qualities of a race through selective breeding. This movement and
its misuse of evolutionary theory supported racist ideas in the 1800s.
c. Darwin proposed that natural selection functions to preserve and accumulate advantageous
mutations in genes. If a member of a species developed an advantage such as wings, Its
offspring would inherit this and pass it on to their offspring.
C. Gestalt psychology reacted against the “breaking down of the whole” by the structuralists. They tried
to focus back on conscious experiences or the mind. The word Gestalt means a unified, meaningful
whole. Gestalt psychologists see the whole as different and more than the sum of its parts. They view
experience as being much more than sensations. They proposed that we are built to experience the
whole as well as the individual sensations. The Law of Pragnanz says that we are driven to experience
things in as good a gestalt as possible. “Good” means such things as regular, symmetrical, orderly,
simple. Other Laws include Closure and Similarity. Gestalt psychologists are interested in learning
and are known for the concept of insight learning. Gestalt counseling today stresses that for every
characteristic we also have its opposite. Key Gestalt theorists over the course of history include Max
Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, Kurt Lewin (Field Theory), and Kurt Koffka (Primary source:
Forsyth, 2005).
D. Cognitive psychologists are of course interested in cognition and the mental processes involved in
acquiring, processing in working memory, storing, and retrieving information. They study learning,
attention, memory, perception, language, and problem solving, etc.
1. Unlike behavioral psychology, they propose the existence-of and importance-of internal mental
activity such as beliefs, desires, emotions, images, thoughts, and motivations.
2. The cognitive perspective, like the physiological perspective, is a return to psychology's roots.
3. Like structuralists, modern cognitive psychologists propose that in order to understand human
behavior you must study the mental events in detail; unlike the structuralists, they are not bound
to only using introspection and use the scientific method with rigor.
4. The cognitive perspective is dominant today as evidenced by the fact that it receives more than
half of psychological research dollars (Harrigan, 2005).
5. The list of important theorists and researchers includes Ebbinghaus, George Miller, Noam
Chomsky, Jerome Bruner, Robert Sternberg, and Howard Gardner. This school may be the most
popular today, rivaled only by neuropsychology.
E. Psychoanalytic psychology proposes that thoughts, memories and desires exist below our
consciousness and exert a significant influence on behavior. They see the existence of the
unconscious revealed in dreams, “slips of the tongue,” sexual drives, etc. It attempts to explain a long
list of phenomena including personality, mental disorders, motivation, and behavior in terms of the
unconscious. This theory proposes that things in the depths of our psyche or unconscious need to be
integrated with our conscious minds in order to produce a healthy personality. Freud largely ignored
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the social environment and accounted for it only in the form of the “superego” or the internalized
social standards that enable the individual, via the ego or conscious mind, to control what could
otherwise be destructive sexual and aggressive drives of the unconscious “id.” Jung and Erikson
broke with Freud because of the belief in a bad or destructive human nature. Erikson proposed the
existence of early developmental crises that he said must be resolved in order to develop normally.
His psychosocial theory brought the social to psychoanalytic theory and contributed to both social
psychology and developmental psychology. Freud said, “Every individual is virtually an enemy of
civilization. . . . There are present in all men destructive, and therefore antisocial and anti-cultural
trends. . . . For the masses are lazy and unintelligent . . . and the individuals composing them support
one another in giving free rein to their indiscipline” (Freud, 1927).
F. Humanistic psychology began as a reaction to psychoanalytic theory and behaviorism. Proponents
believe that with enough interpersonal-environmental support, people can and will grow and solve
their own problems. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers are credited with developing the humanistic
perspective, which is based on the assumption that human nature is good and that growth is normal.
Humanists think that other theories pay too little attention to important human characteristics such as
free will and individual control. Humanistic psychologist Carl Roger stated in 1961, “The mainspring
of creativity appears to be the same tendency which we discover so deeply as the curative force in
psychotherapy--man's tendency to actualize himself, to become his potentialities. By this I mean the
directional trend which is evident in all organic and human life--the urge to expand, extend, develop,
mature--the tendency to express and activate all the capacities of the organism, or the self. This
tendency may become deeply buried under layer after layer of encrusted psychological defenses; it
may be hidden behind elaborate facades which deny its existence; it is my belief however, based on
my experience, that it exists in every individual, and awaits only the proper conditions to be released
and expressed. It is this tendency which is the primary motivation for creativity as the organism forms
new relationships to the environment in its endeavor most fully to be itself” (Carl Rogers, 1961).
G. Behavioral psychology is based on the fact that mental processes can’t be studied directly.
Behaviorists feel that psychology should focus on observable behavior only. The behaviorists’ view
is (a) that nurture is more important than nature, (b) that problem behaviors can be decreased, and (c)
that good behaviors and emotions can be shaped and strengthened. Skinner’s operant conditioning
proposes that the consequences of behavior increase or decrease that behavior. Behaviorism stresses
observation and the measurement of behavior. It grew out of functionalism and associationism.
1. John Watson said, "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to
bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to become any type of
specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and yes, even beggarman and
thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his
ancestors" (Watson, 1924).
2. “Watson's ideas were radically different from that of structuralism and functionalism. He wanted
psychology to abandon the study of consciousness since it could not be directly observed. . . .
Watson contended that each person was made not born! Thus, Watson trivializing the importance
of heredity, and maintained that all behavior was controlled by environment stimuli” (Harrigan,
2005).
3. “S-R psychology eventually grabbed hold and shifted the scope of psychology from studying the
complex consciousness of human subjects to more controlled research involving simple behaviors
of animals” (Harrigan, 2005).
4. B. F. Skinner stated that “organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes, and
they tend not to repeat responses that lead to neutral or negative outcomes” (Skinner, 1971).
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G. Social psychology has its origins in Comte and Herbert Spencer. Social psychology struggles with the
fact that humans are both social and biological creatures. For Comte, the path of mental development
was one in wherein social conditions modify the operation of biology. Spencer, on the other hand, put
an individualistic and biological slant on his social theory. For Spencer, mental evolution and social
evolution are parallel with the biological evolution of mankind (Forsyth, 2005).
1. Sample Questions:
a. How are we, as members of different races and nationalities, alike as members of the human
family?
b. How do we differ as a result of different social contexts or experiences?
c. Why do people act differently in groups than when alone?
d. What kind of mind games do people play to exonerate themselves when their actions are not
consistent with their beliefs or positive opinion of when their actions and thoughts are
inconsistent with their beliefs and values?
2. The following psychologists are key players in this specialty area:
a. George Herbert Mead developed “Symbolic Interactionism,” which explains the social
emergence of the self.
b. Kurt Lewin is known for “Group Dynamics” and “Field Theory.”
c. Emile Durkheim is known for his emphasis on social transmission of social standards.
d. Erving Goffman explained that we negotiate and play out a different self in each relationship
we have.
H. Developmental psychology looks at behavior in terms of how it changes over the life span. This field
was dominated by cognitive developmentalists for decades, but the last two decades has brought rapid
gains in our understanding of affective development, which includes, social, moral, emotional, and
personality. Erik Erikson who broke with Freud and postulated developmental crises that shape
personality, and Piaget who looked mostly at cognitive development but also affective and laid the
groundwork for others who have contributed recently such as Lawrence Kohlberg, Jerome Kagan,
William Damon, Martin Hoffman, L. Selman, and J. Youniss..
APPLICATION OF THESE SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
I.
So from each perspective, we can try to answer the questions, “Why are people aggressive?” Here are
some answers they might offer:
1. Biological—a physiological-structural abnormality is likely such as a tumor or improperly
functioning neurotransmitter; the physical need for food or physiological state of fear is driving
the person to reduce these states of arousal through aggression.
2. Behavioral—the person was rewarded for being aggressive or punished for being kind; praise for
kindness was discontinued, and the aggression that took its place resulted in some type of
pleasure such as play with a toy that was snatched.
3. Psychoanalytic—we are all born with an aggressive instinct that must be repressed or sublimated
as part of the socialization process, so the superego and ego of an aggressive person are not
serving to control the aggressive id.
4. Humanistic—conditions of inadequate support have frustrated the person’s natural selfactualizing tendency and caused a deviation from normal, healthy functioning.
5. Cognitive—the way the person understands events has caused them to see no solution to a
problem, or to think aggression will achieve a desired end aggression.
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6. Social—the aggressive person was influenced by others who modeled aggressiveness or treated
the person so badly that an aggressive reaction was elicited.
7. Gestalt—a person must be aggressive at times and non-aggressive at other times and should
recognize their capacity for each and the proper use of each.
8. Evolutionary—aggression is normal and one of the keys to the survival of the species, and many
people over thousands of years who were not sufficiently aggressive failed to survive.
RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY
A. The goals of psychology are to describe, explain, predict, change, prevent, increase, decrease,
modify, shape, extinguish, cause, and control behavior and various internal processes including
thinking, perceiving, and feeling. These goals are accomplished by using the scientific method, which
is systematic and empirical . . . [that is] . . . based on observable and measurable events.
1. Questions to answer concerning psychological research:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Why do psychologists conduct research?
How do researchers measure psychological phenomena?
How do researchers test their hypotheses?
What makes for good research?
Methodologically, what are the types of research that psychologists do?
How are theories constructed from research results and how are these theories used?
2. Research always starts with the question, “Why”?
a. Physiological psychologist: What part of the brain is responsible for creativity? What is the
neurochemistry of depression?
b. Developmental psychologist: Why are some children more talkative than others? When does
conscience normally form? Is the thinking of older children qualitatively different than that of
younger children?
c. Educational psychologist: Do people learn better in discussion classes or lecture classes? Is
there more than one way to learn? Do people construct their own knowledge? What theories
best explain the learning process?
d. School psychologist: What mental processing deficiencies cause learning disabilities? How
important are teacher-student relationships in the teacher’s effort to manage her classroom?
e. Clinical psychologist: Why do people get depressed? What therapies work best?
3. Forming hypotheses from the questions you want to answer: All research questions can be stated
in the form of a hypothesis, which is no more than a prediction about the relationship between
two or more variables.
a. Physiological psychologist: When the person is creative, the right hemisphere is actively
processing more information.
b. Developmental psychologist: Children raised by parents who encourage them are more
healthy and verbal.
4. Things that RESEARCH must do to test the hypothesized relationship between or among
variables:
a. The researcher must choose a method for measuring the variables specified.
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b. The researcher must choose a method for testing the strength of the relationship among these
variables—research design.
c. The researcher must impose or manipulate the treatment or independent variable in a
controlled way that will make it possible to determine its effects on the dependent variable.
d. The researcher must analyze the data gathered to determine if the strength and likely cause of
any change in the dependent variable.
5. Possible Ways to Gather Data:
a. Observing (Counting/Rating/Recoding): watching events as they occur. This can be done in a
natural setting, or in a laboratory setting. All observers try to be objective no matter what the
setting might be. Structured or unstructured observation procedures and recording forms can
be used, and the recordings can be made at the time of the observation or after based on
recall. Recordings and ratings can also be carried out while viewing videotapes (Forsyth,
2005). Examples: studied helping in a subway in New York by staging an emergency and
watched how people reacted; Piaget and Freud watched their children grow up and developed
theories based on their observations. Some researchers record specific things such as amount
of child-parent interaction, time spent watching TV, etc. My observation method for
classrooms has codes for about fifty different kinds of student-to-student interactions
(Forsyth, 2005).
b. Asking: interviewing or questioning people in writing about themselves and/or others they
know, have observed, or have preconceived ideas about. There are many ways to do this
including questionnaires and rating scales.
6. Types of Research Designs:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Experimental
Quasi-experimental
Correlational
Survey
Case Studies
Naturalistic observation
Existing Data Sets (Meta Analysis)
7. Experimental Designs: From Thomas Harrigan (2005)—paraphrased:
a. Theory: Research ideas are often facilitated by theories, which are broad-based scientific
frameworks that help to explain the causes of behavior.
b. Literature Review: This is the most difficult part of any type of research. You want to know
what other people have done. Use can use tools like the following. (Note: If possible show
the class how to find a primary reference using psych lit).
c. Hypotheses: Once you've reviewed the literature, it times to make some tentative predictions
or educated guesses, called hypotheses, about the outcome of a study that you want to run.
Hypotheses are based on the literature review, are more specific than theories, and can be
described as the 'true' starting point of your research study. Hypotheses can be thought of as
predictions about the outcome of some study that you want to carry out.
d. Operational Definitions: Once your hypotheses have been stated, you now describe exactly
what behaviors you will be observing. These exact definitions of behavior are called
operational definitions. Operational definitions are very important in psychology because
psychology is interested in things that can mean different things to different people.
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e. Specify Independent and Dependent Variables: Variables are factors in your study that can
change in terms of quantity or quality (i.e., hair color, shoe size, gender, etc.). You have to
define which of these variables you will be manipulating or not. Independent variables are
things that are manipulated by the experimenter. Dependent variables are things that may
change as a result of manipulation of the independent variables. Dependent variables are
often considered the scores or outcomes of a study.
f. Identify Your Population: After identifying your variables, you have to determine all of the
members of the group that you want to study. This is the group of people that will ultimately
be affected by your findings. The population you choose is usually very large. Too large in
fact to test everyone that comprises the group. Because it is impossible to measure everyone
in your population, you must choose and measure a sample of the population.
g. Experimental and Control Groups: Once you sample as been chosen, you now must randomly
assign the members of your sample to either the experimental group or the control group. The
experimental group is the group of subjects that will be exposed to the independent variable.
The control group will not be exposed to the independent variable.
h. Run Your Study: You are now ready to run your study. Expose the experimental group to the
independent variable and measure the dependent variable.
i. Determine Your Results and Draw Your Conclusions: Statistics will help you determine if a
meaningful difference exists between your experimental and control groups.
2. Correlational Research: (From Thomas Harrigan, 2005)
a. “It is not always possible to perform experimental designs to test hypotheses. Can you think
of some examples? Since these topics are still very interesting, researchers use a less
powerful type of design—a correlation.”
b. “With correlational designs you cannot draw cause and effect conclusions. If you used an
experimental method you could have drawn cause-and-effect conclusions. Why?”
c. “A correlation is a measure of the relationship (association) between 2 variables taken from
the each member of a group. Have the students generate some examples.”
d. “Researchers are interested in two properties of correlations: their direction (positive,
negative, or zero); their strength denoted by r (regression).”
3. Surveys:
a. Surveys are often used when the researcher wants to study or gather data from a large number
of people.
b. Survey research is usually descriptive in nature but not always. Researchers often use the
information from surveys to develop hypotheses.
4. Case Histories:
a. “Case histories are often very interesting research methods in which intensive information is
collected about one or a few individuals. The information collected can include test scores,
medical and demographic data, subjective accounts,” (Harrigan, 2005) or anything else of
interest.
b. “Pros: Can provide the basis for hypotheses development and subsequent controlled
research.”
c. “Cons: Relies on the accuracy and objectivity of the person reporting. It is also difficult to
generalize from a case study to the population at large. And case studies are very difficult to
replicate.”
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STATISTICAL TESTING OF DATA
A. Statistics is a set of math tools for analyzing and interpreting research data. Descriptive statistics
describe and summarize data (e.g. an average score).
B. Inferential statistics . . . determine whether or not the results of an experiment are significant or could
not have occurred by chance.
C. Measures of central tendency give information about the typical score in a set of numbers (part of
descriptive statistics).
D. Measures of variance provide information about the . . . [range or] spread in . . . [scores]. This is a
part of inferential statistics.
E. Understanding and using statistics are vital in evaluating claims that affect our lives.
F. Psychologists report the likelihood that their findings might have resulted from chance alone, and
they use the terms “statistical significance” to convey the likelihood that the treatment rather than
chance caused the change.
G. We need to realize that a relation between two events [or variables] does not prove that one of the
events caused the other. A relation is a correlation and proves nothing.
H. We should consider alternative explanations that might account for a particular event or claim ─
[there could be a third event or variable that will yield the true explanation].
EVALUATING RESEARCH
As citizens we should be able to evaluate the quality and validity of the results of studies. No study is
perfect, and some studies are better than others. Learn to look for their flaws.
A. Is it valid?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Were the variables in the hypotheses measured adequately?
Who was in the sample? Does the sample represent people in general?
Was cause inferred from correlational research?
Did the researchers try to use a control (or comparison) group? In other words, was it a controlled
study from which an inference about cause might be justified?
B. Was the study ethical?
1. Did the researchers use deception?
2. Was informed consent obtained?
C. Was it informative and/or useful . . .
1. To other scientists?
2. To users of research in other fields?
3. To individuals?
ETHICAL RESEARCH PRINCIPLES FROM THE BLELMONT REPORT
A. The principle of Respect for Persons acknowledges the dignity and autonomy of individuals, and
requires that people with diminished autonomy be provided special protection. This principle requires
that subjects give informed consent to participation in research. Because of their potential
vulnerability, certain subject populations are provided with additional protections. These include live
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human fetuses, children, prisoners, the mentally disabled, and people with severe illnesses.
B. The principle of Beneficence requires us to protect individuals by maximizing participated benefits
and minimizing possible harms. Therefore, it is necessary to examine carefully the design of the study
and its risks and benefits including, in some cases, identifying alternative ways of obtaining the
benefits sought from the research. Research risks must always be justified by the expected benefits of
research.
C. The principle of Justice requires that we treat subjects fairly. For example, subjects should be
carefully and equitably chosen to insure that certain individuals or classes of individuals—such as
prisoners, elderly people, or financially impoverished people—are not systematically selected or
excluded, unless there are scientifically or ethically valid reasons for doing so. Also, unless there is
careful justification for an exception, research should not involve persons from groups that are
unlikely to benefit from subsequent applications of the research.
REFERENCES:
Forsyth, Donelson (2005). Introduction to Psychology: What is Psychology? Retrieved from
http://www.has.vcu.edu/psy/psy101/forsyth/introx.htm/ Used here with the permission of the author.
Harrigan, Thomas (2005). Introductory psychology: chapter 1 lecture Notes. Retrieved from
http://xnet.rrc.mb.ca/tomh/chapter_1_lecture_notes.htm Dr. Harrigan is a professor of psychology in
Canada and has given his written permission to draw extensively from his notes.
Rogers, Carl (1961). On Becoming a Person. A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin (also 1967 - London: Constable).
Skinner, B.F. (1971). Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Reprinted by arrangement with Hackett Publishing
Company in 2002.
Watson, John (1924). Behaviorism. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.
Freud, Sigmund (1927). The Future of an Illusion. Volume 21 in The Standard Edition of the
Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. Translated by James Strachey. London:
Hogarth Press, 1968.
Piliavin, Rodin, and Piliavin’s (1971)
The National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research
Belmont Report (1979). THE BELMONT REPORT: ETHICAL PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES FOR
THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN SUBJECTS OF RESEARCH. AGENCY: Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare. ACTION: Notice of Report for Public Comment. SUMMARY: On July 12,
1974, the National Research Act (Pub. L. 93-348) was signed into law, there-by creating the National
Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research.
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