Name: Andrea Badillo

Date: Sep. 25, 2015

Chapter 1.1

Class Period: IB Psychology Period 5

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Define Psychology

Describe Psych. as Scientific

Discipline

Levels of Analysis

Psych. Knowledge Generated

Theoretical v. Empirical Investigation

Critical Thinking + Examples

Notes
Learning Objectives
I.
Common def.: Scientific study of mental processes and behaviour & how
theyre affected by internal processes, environment
A. systematic cause and effect determined
B. observable and not emotions
C. inner & outer influence
II.
Wundt - science of consciousness Freud - psychology of
behaviour
I.
NOT SCIENTIFIC
A. pop psych - full of psychobabble, oversimplified
anecdotal, e.g. astrology
II.
Multifaceted - bio, socio, anthro
A. data collection methods vary | many topics
III.
Most psychologists study in same field, sometimes combined
I.
Biological Level
A. physiology (living organisms), genetics
II.
Cognitive Level
A. mental processes
III.
Sociocultural
A. internal and external influences
IV.
Gender: Socio: gender roles, Bio: XY, XX, hormones
(estrogen, testosterone), Cognitive: gender perception schema
I.
Studying mind
A. how people work epistemology, knowledge of world
cognitive psychology, ethics - good vs. evil
I.
Theory - psych. phenomenon explanation; make predictions about events,
reference empirical studies | open to doubt, not defined
A. Concepts - hypotheses to be tested, carefully constructed
1. Bandura - self-efficacy
success based on past
2. Dweck - mindset
a) fixed: no full
potential, no challenges
b) growth: develop
intelligence, accept criticism
II.
Empirical Investigation - research that can be observed and measured
A. Diff. methods for diff. means; main goal - improve world
B. Example - Dweck
1. studies - fixed mindset
academic underachievement
2. praising students for
intelligence fixed mindset
3. informing about developing
intelligence motivation to learn
I.
Decisions based on facts & evidence rather than feelings
A. King and Kitchener's Reflective Judgement (1994)

II.

Criteria
A. testable, evidence, rep. group, setting, real life events,
ethical, supported

Name: Andrea Badillo

Date: Sep. 25, 2015

Chapter 1.2

Class Period: IB Psychology Period 5

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Notes

Aim & Target Population

Sampling Techniques

Ethical Considerations

Application of Findings
Validity, Reliability

Generalizability

Learning Objectives
I.
Aim - purpose of study, group of investigation: target population
II.
Procedure after aim established: how data was collected clearly,
reproducible
III.
Findings: interpretation of data collection, refutable
A. IMPORTANT: only true for target population, not
generalization
I.
Participants take part in study - chosen by psychologists due to
characteristics
II.
Sample - nature of participants
A. Rep. Sample represents a whole population,
varied
1. size matters - small
individualistic differences major
B. Opportunity sampling - whoever happens to be there
1. Sampling bias - (Sears 1986) - uni
research = student part.
C. Self-selected sample - volunteers, less accurate of
population
D. Snowball sample - kind of like a pyramid scheme
E. Participant variability - trait similarities b/w part.
F. Random Sample - every member of target population
equal chance
1. easier to generalize - not ideal bc might
be overrepresented
2. Stratified sample - random samples from
sub-pop.
I.
Respect dignity of participants
A. Informed consent, Deception (may be used if no stress),
Debriefing (true aims revealed), Withdrawal from study at any time (can
also destroy records), Confidentiality, No physical/mental harm
I.
Application - how theory is used
A. made anywhere; education, crime, workplace, sport
I.
Validity - if research does what it claims to do
A. ecological: rep. of real life events
1. if artificial, no ecological validity
does not predict outside lab
B. Cross-cultural: ethnocentric or not?
II.
Reliability - Replication of results possible
I.
Checklist for generalizability
A. Rep. group of people?
B. Conducted in nat. setting? (if synthetic, not sig. to real
life)
C. Not realistic events?
D. Study supported/refuted?
E. Practical relevance?
F. Ethics

Name: Andrea Badillo

Date: October 1, 2015

Chapter 1.3

Class Period: IB Psychology Period 5

Preview Chapter
IV and DV in an experiment

Operational def. of variables

Purpose of null and experimental

hypothesis

Pros and Cons of Exp. Method

Confounding variables - control

Notes
Learning Targets
Aim - see if variable affects another variable
IV: variable causing change - only changing while keeping
others constant
DV: measured after changing IV
Sometimes cannot be carried out, data collected w/ relationship shown
Positive correlation
affects x and y equally
Negative correlation
increases one variable, decreases other
Bidirectional ambiguity
cause-effect relationship cannot be
determined - unethical
Zimbardo (99) - pos.
corr. b/w appliance ownership and safe sex
Operationalized variables
IV. written so it is known what is measured
DV. what is expected to change
Exp. hypothesis - Relationship b/w IV and DV predicted exactly
control conditions - comparison
Null hypothesis - no results - results due to chance
wants to refute cant prove, just disprove
Experiments - diff. methods
lab exp. - easy to replicate | artificial, diff. reaction
field exp. - nat. env, manipulated v. | cant control all
variables
Piliavin & Rodin (69) - helping outside
metro, drunk v. lame
nat. exp. - no control over variables
Confounding V - undesirable variables, affect results
Demand characteristics - Hawthorne effect
act diff. because participants know theyre
in exp.
single blind control - participants
study knowledge
Discovery - Orne (62)
actually hypnotized or
pretense of hypnotization indifferentiable
Researcher bias - Observer bias
only seeing what confirms hypothesis
double blind control - participants dont
know, experimenters dont know what the research is about or if its a
control group or not
Participant variability
Sample characteristics affect DV
random sample, randomly assign to
treatment or control groups
Artificiality
situation far removed from reality,
question validity in findings

Name: Andrea Badillo

Date: October 1, 2015

Chapter 1.4

Class Period: IB Psychology Period 5

Diff. B/w Exp. & Non. Methods

Non-Experimental Methods

Learning Objectives
Qualitative over quantitative data, combine methods
triangulation
Exp.
Deductive approach - hypothesis tested, accepted or
rejected
Objectivity interpreting rather than finding
Non-exp
Inductive approach - gather data, then determine variables
Participant interpretation subjective
Interviews
Freud clinical interviews
Interview schedule - plan for interview itself; (in)formal,
structure
Interviewers need training - pos.
relationship w/ participant
Interviewer effects interference
(discrimination, bias)
Participant bias consider appropriate
Social desirability bias positive light
Structured - exact questions and order,
highly controlled | artificial
Unstructured - topic and time, more
revealing | difficult comparison
Semi-structured- informal w/ sched.,
closed and open questions
preferred
Survey - reliable if face to face, questionable if self-reported
Observation
naturalistic observations - nat. setting / lab setting
visual, audio, written data collected
Challenges: cant record everything, researcher bias hard to
avoid
inter-observer reliability - mult
observers w/ same data valid
Covert v. overt | unaware of obs. v. aware of obs.
Covert: Rosenhan (79) - Preconception
more powerful than symptoms in psychiatric ward
Participant obs.: part of the group observed
Participation + documentation - hard to
keep a balance
hard to document, social
situations may take full attention
Non-part. obs.: not part
Reactivity - changing behaviour when
observed
Researcher bias

 Case Study

Researchers observe behaviour of indiv. or group

desc. of feelings, sometimes
measurements, lim. aspect of behaviour
in depth investigations
Corkin (87) - brain
damage, memory functioning
Koluchova (76) childhood deprivation, emotional devel.
combo of subjective and
objective data case
biological, sociocultural,
cognitive level of analysis
not ordinary behaviour new
research | unethical in lab research
reliability low, too unique for replication
Money (74) - bio sex psych sex, born neutral
Diamond - biology sex,
hormones and chromosomes

Name: Andrea Badillo

Date: October 1, 2015

Chapter 1.4

Class Period: IB Psychology Period 5

Ethical Issues

Learning Objectives
Interview ethics
informed consent, confidentiality | personal
issues distress | abusing info
Observation Ethics
informed consent, proposals to ethics committees for covert
op. for benefit of participants
Case Study Ethics
Deeply personal info., protective of identities (obscure
identifying details), professional competence to deal w topic
right to withdraw, debriefing, confidentiality