'Psychology and Life' Summary of the 2nd chapter, Appunti di Psicologia Cognitiva

Scarica 'Psychology and Life' Summary of the 2nd chapter e più Appunti in PDF di Psicologia Cognitiva solo su Docsity! THE PROCESS OF RESEARCH The research process in psychology can be divided into several steps: STEP 1 - THEORY - In this steps observations, beliefs and information lead someone to come up with a new theory (an organized set of concepts that explains a phenomenon). At the common core of most psychological theories is the assumption of determinism: the idea that all events (physical, mental and behavioral) are determined by specific causal factors. STEP 2 - HYPOTHESIS - A tentative and testable statement about the relationship between two (or more) events, they are often stated as prediction ex. If children see a lot of violence on television they might engage a more aggressive behavior toward their peers. STEP 3 - DESIGN THE STUDY - Researchers rely on the scientific method to put their hypothesis to the test. Once they have collected their data, they proceed to step 4. STEP 4 - RUN THE STUDY - In this step the researchers will analyze the data and draw some conclusions. STEP 5 - REPORT THE FINDINGS - The researchers report the finding in a research paper and submit it for publication in a journal. And for it to be possible, they must keep complete records of observations and data analysis in a form that other researchers can understand and evaluate Moreover, secrecy is banned from this procedure because all the data and methods must be open for Public Verifiablity since others should have too the opportunity to inspect, replicate or disagree on those data and methods. When research manuscripts are submitted to most journals, they undergo a process of peer review and each manuscript is typically sent to 2 to 5 experts in the field who will provide detailed analysis of it STEP 6 - CONSIDER OPEN QUESTIONS - The scientific community reflecta on the research and identifies unanswered questions. PSYCHOLOGY CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY Most research articles start this process in a discussion section in which the researchers lay out the limitations of their work. When the data don't fully support a hypothesis, researchers must rethink aspects of their theories. STEP 7 - ACT ON OPEN QUESTIONS - The researchers might act on open questions by begin the research cycle again. The goal is to draw conclusions with maximum objectivity. Conclusions are objective when they are not influenced by researchers' emotions or personal biases. What does observer bias mean? what is it? It is an error, a distortion of evidence due to personal motives and expectations of the viewer. We can see for example a speech given by Hugo Munsterbeg in the beginning of the 20th century about what many reported heard and saw and how each one of them were different. So, every observer can reach different conclusions --> The biases of the observers act as filters through which some things are more relevant than others that instead are ignored as meaningless. the remedy to minimize observer biases is on the researchers who have to rely on standardization: procedures that have to make it possible to ensure that the results of a test are comparable between different individuals, so that meaningful comparisons can be made between the two of them. The strategy for standardizing the meaning of concepts is called operationalization. An operational definition standardizes meaning within an experiment by defining a concept in terms of specific operations used to measure it. In all the experiments we have 2 variables: • INDEPENDENT VARIABLE --> It is the 'cause', the researcher who lead the experiment is the manipulator and manipulates what we call independent variable. • DEPENDENT VARIABLE --> We can't say it is the 'consequence', because the 'consequence' would be the result. It's more like the tool which is observed and measured to reach a conclusion. It indicates degree of relationship between two variables (it measures how much the variations of a variable are associated to the variations of the other one) positive and negative correlations positive correlations = two variables go toward the same direction. negative correlations = two variables go toward different directions. PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT: Since psychological processes are very varied and complex, they pose major challenges to researchers who want to measure them. Although some actions and processes are easily seen, many such as anxiety and dreaming are not. Psychological researcher aim to make the unseen visible, to make internal events and processes external and it is important for them to provide operational definitions of the phenomena they wish to study. The review of psychological measurement begins with a discussion of the distinction between two ways of gauging the accuracy of a measure: RELIABILITY VALIDITY reliability --> it is the degree to which a test produces similar scores every time it is used, so it refers to the 'repetition' of the results. validity --> it is the extent to which a test measures what it was intended to measure in an accurate way. It refers more to the correctness of the results. SELF-REPORT MEASURES --> It is a self-behavior that is identified through a participant's own observations and reports. Self report measures are verbal answers to questions the researcher poses. BEHAVIORAL MEASURES --> Ways to study overt actions and observable and recordable reactions. Researchers use observation in a systematic manner: direct observations --> The behavior under investigation must be clearly visible, overt and easily recorded. It can be aided by technology naturalistic observations --> A research technique in which observations are made of behaviors that occur in natural environments. When they wish to test hypothesis with behavioral measures, researchers sometimes turn to archival data: archival data: Any type of information taken from existing records such as birth and death records, weather reports ecc could become valuable to test the right hypothesis. case study: Instead of focusing on a large number of participanys, some research projects will focus on an intensive observation of a particular individual or a small group. ETHICAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH Respect for the basic rights of humans and animals is a fundamental obligation of all researchers and all research proposals are reviewed by special committees. There are some factors the review board consider: • INFORMED CONSENT --> Participants are informed about the procedures they will experience as well as the potential risks and benefits of participation. They are asked to sign a statement which indicates their consent to continue. Their privacy must be protected. • RISK/GAIN ASSESSMENT --> Some experiments could carry little risk to the participants, sometimes they can be upsetting or disturbing. The risks to participants in the experiment must be minimized, especially in studies of more personal aspects of behavior. • INTENTIONAL DECEPTION --> Since for some kind of research is not possible to tell the participants the intention of the study without biasing results, the APA (American Psychological Association) has provided several strict rules on use of deception. • DEBRIEFING --> In psychological research there should always be a mutual exchange information between researcher and participant. The first one may learn something new about a behavioral phenomenon thanks to the participants' responses and, at the end of all studies, each participant must be given a careful debriefing, he/she must be provided with as much information about the study as possible and make sure that no one leaves feeling upset or confused. • ISSUSES IN ANIMAL RESEARCH --> 'Should animals be used in psychological and medical research?' this question has often produced various anwers. Animal research benefits animals as well, for example veterinarians are able to provide treatment that emerged through animal research. The APA expects researchers who work with animals to have received specific training to ensure the comfort and health of their subjects. The researchers must minimize discomfort and pain.