BM CH1:

• Empiricist


  basing one's conc's. on systematic observations

  conducted studies on people & animals acting in their natural environments or in a specially designed situations

  don't base conc's. on intuition, on casual observations of their own experience or what other people say.
• empiricism


  answering psychological q's. w/ direct, formal observations

  & communicating w/ others about what they have learned.

  
  

  use of verifiable ev. as the basis for conc's.; collecting data systematically & using it develop, support, or challenge a theory.
• producers


  develop the ability to work in research laboratories and make new discoveries.

  expect to write up their results and present them at research meetings.

  Research scientists or prof's.
• consumers


  need to be able to find, read, and evaluate the research behind important policies, therapies, and workplace decisions.

  reading about research so they can later apply it to their work, hobbies, relationships or personal growth.
• ev.-based treatment


  a psychotherapy technique whose effectiveness has been supported by empirical research
• Scared straight


  program for teenagers who are at risk of being involved in the criminal justice system. Visit prisons, where selected inmates describbe the stark, violent realities of prison life. Resulting in them wanting to lead a 'straight', law-abiding life.
• Scared straight Eval. Weaknesses

  can cause it to get worse. randomised, controlled studies in which young adults were assigned to either Scared Straight or a Control program. Found an increase in Scared straight programs compared w/ controls. 20% more.
• Scared straight Eval.


  should always seek empirical ev. to test the efficacy of our interventions.
• What do psychologists do?

  1. Act as empiricists in their investigations

  2. Test theories through research & revise their theories based on the resulting data.

  3. They follow norms in the scientific community that prioritise objectivity & fairness.

  4. Take an empirical approach to both applied research & basic research.

  5. Make their work public- submit work to journals for review & respond to the work of other scientists.
• Empiricism- empirical method/research


  involves using evidence from the senses (sight, hearing, touch) or from instruments that assist the senses (such as thermometers, timers, photographs, weight scales, and questionnaires) as the basis for conc's.

  
  

  Can be used for both applied & basic research q's.
• Empiricists aim


  be systematic & rigorous and to make their work independently verifiable by other observers
• Theory-data cycle


  scientists collect data to test, change, or update their theories

  
• Cupboard theory of mother-infant attachment

  a mother is valuable to a baby mammal-she is a source of food. The baby animal gets hungry, gets food from the mother by nursing, & experiences a pleasant feeling (reduced hunger).

  Over time, the sight of the mother acquires pos. value because she is the "cupboard" from which food comes
• Harry Harlow (1958) Contact comfort theory Background

  babies are attached to their mothers because of the comfort of their warm, fuzzy fur.

  mother= provides food & contact comfort.
• Harry Harlow (1958) Contact comfort theory

  Separated the 2 influences- food & contact comfort.

  Built 2 monkey foster 'mothers'- the only mothers his lab-reared baby monkeys ever had.

  One was made of bare wire mesh w/ a bottle of milk. Offered food, not comfort.

  One was covered w/ fuzzy terrycloth & warmed by a lightbulb suspended but no milk. Offered comfort, not food.

  
  

  Purposefully created a situation that might prove his theory wrong.
• Attachment outcomes


  1. Contact comfort theory supported- babies spent most of their time clinging to the cloth mother.

  2. Cupboard theory supported- the babies spent most of their time clinging to the wire mother.

  3. Neither theory supported- monkeys divided their time eqaully between the 2 mothers.
• Harlow Results


  Ev. in favour of the contact comfort theory. Data showed that the monkeys would cling to the cloth mother for 12-18hrs a day. When hungry, they would climb down and nurse from the wire mother then go back to the cloth mother.
• Harlow theory-data cycle


  Used 2 theories to make specific predictions about how the monkeys would interact w/ each other. Data he recorded (time spent on each mother) supported only one of the theories.
• Theory


  Set of statements (as simple as poss.) that describes general principles about how variables relate to one another.
• Hypothesis (or prediction)


  is stated in terms of the study design. The specific outcome the researcher will observe in a study if the theory is accurate.
• Data


  set of observations. depending on whether the data are consistent w/ hypotheses based on a theory, the data may either support or challenge the theory. Data that match the theory's hypotheses strengthen the researcher's confidence in the theory. When it doesn't match, these results indicate that the theory needs to be revised or the research design needs to be improved.

  
  

  A set of observations representing the values of some variable, collected from 1+ research studies.
• preregistered


  a study in which, before collecting any data, the researcher has stated publicly what the study's outcome is expected to be
• Replication


  the study is conducted again to test whether the result is consistent.
• Weight of the ev.

  the collection of studies, inc. replications, of the same theory.

  
  

  A conc. drawn from reviewing scientific lit. & considering the proportion of studies that's consistent w/ a theory
• Falsifiable


  a feature of a scientific theory, in which it's possible to collect data that will indicate that the theory is wrong.

  
  

  a theory should lead to hypotheses that, when tested, could fail to support the theory.
• Norms


  shared expectations about how they should act.
• How can science progress?

  Following the theory-data cyclem the norms & practices of the scientific community.
• Self-correcting


  being open to falsification & skeptically testing every assumption.

  discover its own mistaken theories & corrects them.

  
  

  a process in which scientists make their research available for peer review, replication, & critique, w/ the goal of identifying & correcting errors in the research.
• Merton's Scientific Norms- Universalism

  Scientific claims are evaluated according to their merit, independent of the researcher's credentials or reputation. The same preestablished criteria apply to all scientists and all research.

  
  

  Even a student can do science—you don't need an advanced degree or research position.
• Merton's Scientific Norms- Communality

  Scientific knowledge is created by a community and its findings belong to the community.

  
  

  Scientists should transparently and freely share the results of their work with other scientists and the public. (open to peer review & criticism)
• Merton's Scientific Norms- Disinterestedness

  Scientists strive to discover the truth, whatever it is; they are not swayed by conviction, idealism, politics, or profit.

  
  

  Scientists should not be personally invested in whether their hypotheses are supported by the data.

  Scientists do not spin the story; instead, they accept what the data tell them.

  Scientist's own beliefs, income, or prestige should not bias their interpretation or reporting of results.
• Merton's Scientific Norms- Organised Skepticism

  Scientists question everything, including their own theories, widely accepted ideas, and "ancient wisdom."

  
  

  Scientists accept almost nothing at face value. Nothing is sacred—they always ask to see the evidence.
• Applied research


  done w/ a practical problem in mind & the researchers conduct their work in a local, real-world context.

  
  

  eg. if a school district's new method of teaching language arts is working better than the former one.

  test the efficacy of a treatment for depression in a sample of trauma survivors.
• Applied researchers


  might be looking for better ways to identify those who are likely to do well at a particular job, and so on.

  may be less familiar with basic theories and principles
• Basic research


  enhance the general body of knowledge rather than to address a specific, practical problem.
• Basic researchers


  might want to understand the structure of the visual system, the capacity of human memory, the motivations of a depressed person, or the limitations of the infant attachment system.

  Knowledge generated by them may be applied to real-world issues later on.

  may not have an applied context in mind.
• Transactional research


  the use of lessons from basic research to develop and test applications to health care, psychotherapy, or other forms of treatment and intervention.

  represents a dynamic bridge from basic to applied research.

  
  

  eg. basic research on the biochemistry of cell membranes might be translated into a new drug for schizophrenia.

  basic research on how mindfulness changes people's patterns of attention might be translated into a study skills intervention.
• Transactional researchers


  attempt to translate the findings of basic research into applied areas.
• Scientific Journal


  scientists want to tell the scientific world about the results of their research, they write a paper and submit it.

  they practice the communality norm.

  Usually come out every month & contain articles written by various researchers (peer-reviewed)
• Peer review


  rigorous process.

  kept anon.- given an honest assessment of the research. comment on how important the work is, how it fits with the existing body of knowledge, how competently the research was done & how convincing the results are.