Exper. L1: Experimental Psych. and Scientific Methods

• Experimental Psychology


  A branch of Psychology that focuses on conducting systematic and controlled experiments to study human behavior and cognition
• Experimental Psychology is concerned with testing theories of human thoughts, emotions, and activities
• The first step in the scientific method is to make an observation
• Measurement


  The assignment of numerical values to objects, events, or their characteristics according to conventional rules
• Experimentation

  A process undertaken to test a hypothesis that particular behavioral events will occur reliably in specifiable situations
• Requirements for an Experiment

  • We must have procedures for manipulating the setting
  • The predicted outcome must be observable
  • We must be able to measure the outcome
• Psychological Experiments


  • The Bobo Doll Experiment
  • The Little Albert Experiment
  • Pavlov's Dog Experiment
  • The Marshmallow Test
• Experimentation allows researchers to manipulate variables and observe cause-and-effect relationships.
• Bobo Doll experiment


  Emphasizes that adults are children's models of behavior
• Little Albert experiment


  Conditioning to a fear
• Dog experiment


  Classical Conditioning
• Marshmallow Test


  Delayed gratification was critical for success
• Bobo Doll Experiment by Albert Bandura
• Little Albert Experiment by John Watson
• Dog Experiment by Ivan Pavlov
• Marshmallow Test was popularized by parent's during the pandemic
• Experimental Psychology studies psychological phenomena using scientific methods
• Experimental Psychology is a scientific study of behaviors in a controlled setting
• Scientific Method is a process of objectively establishing facts through testing and experimentation
• Science

  It connotes content and process
• Methodology

  This consists of the scientific techniques used to collect and evaluate data
• Data are the facts gathered using scientific methods
• Heider called nonscientific data gathering "Commonsense Psychology"
• Non-scientific data

  It shapes expectations and beliefs; directs behavior towards others
• Common Sense or Personal Beliefs are not a valid/ reliable basis for good decisions
• Non-scientific Source of Data are gathered from sources that one deems to be credible and trustworthy
• Non-scientific Sources of Data

  • Intuition
  • Common Sense
  • Authority
  • Tradition
• Non-scientific Inference is the nonscientific use of information to explain or predict
• Gambler's Fallacy

  To estimate probability of an event to change in occurrence due to string of outcomes
• Stereotyping

  To falsely assume behaviors with ignorance to individual differences
• Overconfidence Bias

  To be more confident about own conclusions than available data
• Alfred North Whitehead's Scientific Mentality assumes that behavior follows natural order and can be predicted
• Empirical Data

  When data is observed or experienced
• Empirical Data

  Can be verified or disproved by investigation
• Characteristics of Modern Science

  • Theory
  • Good Thinking
  • Parsimony
• Theory

  An interim explanation; set of statements that explain or predict phenomena
• Good Thinking

  This is critical to scientific method. It describes the systematic, objective, and rational engagement of data collection and interpretation
• Parsimony

  Principle of preferring the simplest useful explanation
• Karl Popper believed that science advances through revising theories based on "weight of evidence"
• Replication

  An exact or systematic repetition of a study