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Lecture #2 Research Methods

Lecture #2 Research Methods. Music: “Forever” Chris Brown “ Dangerous ” Akon. Today’s Agenda.

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Lecture #2 Research Methods

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  1. Lecture #2 Research Methods Music:“Forever”Chris Brown “Dangerous”Akon

  2. Today’s Agenda • 1. Theoretical Perspectives in Psychology (p.11) • Application to the phenomenon of depression • 2. Research Methods (Ch. 2): • a) Descriptive/correlational • b) Experimental • 3. Improving Academic Performance (Ch. 1) • a) Time management • b) Study skills • 4. Quiz Questions

  3. 1. Theoretical Perspectives (6) • 1) Biological: • How physiology affects thoughts and behavior • 2) Cognitive: • How your mind (thoughts) influence behavior • 3) Psychodynamic: • How the unconscious influences behavior • 4) Behavioral: • How the environment shapes behavior • 5) Humanistic: • Freedom of choice and actualization of the self as determinants of behavior

  4. 1. Theoretical Perspectives (cont’d) • 6) Evolutionary: • How the behavior initially solved an adaptive problem and increased chance of reproductive success

  5. 1. Application to Depression • 1) Biological Vulnerability: • Genetic vulnerability • Neurochemical imbalance in the brain • 2) Cognitive Vulnerability: • Self-blame (attribution bias) • Dysfunctional beliefs • 3) Psychodynamic View: • Overly harsh superego • Unresolved grief over early loss • Anger turned inward

  6. Theoretical Perspectives on Depression (cont’d) • 4) Humanistic View: • Loss of meaning and purpose • Failure to actualize yourself • 5) Behavioral View: • Lowered social support • Loss of rewards • 6) Evolutionary View: • Disengagement is adaptive and promotes survival (e.g. prevents pursuit of unrealistic goals)

  7. 2. Research Methods a) Descriptive Designs • Case studies: • Good for rare phenomena, or when other methods can’t be used • Surveys • Validity issues: • Wording (e.g. public poll) • sampling biases (e.g. Hite report) • social desirability (e.g. beer consumption) • Correlational (r) • Describes the strength of the relationship between 2 variables (r= -1.0 to +1.0) • Correlations enable prediction but say nothing about causation

  8. 2. a) Correlational data

  9. 2.a) Correlations • Third variable can account for a relationship

  10. 2. b) Experimental Studies • Most powerful method to detect cause and effect relationships • Independent Variable (“X”): • What is manipulated; the “cause” or explanation for something • Dependent Variable (“Y”) • The outcome (the something) affected by the manipulation • How does “X” affect “Y”? • Control Group: • No manipulation, otherwise treated the same. • Differences between control and experimental groups allow conclusions about the effect of “X” on “Y.”

  11. 2. b) Experimental example

  12. 3. Improving Your Academic Performance • a) Time Management Skills: • Written schedule with study blocks • Prioritize your goals • Break down difficult tasks into small steps • Do the hardest task during your “best time” • Note: Distributed learning is more effective than massed learning • Reward Yourself! • After, not before  • b) Study Skills • Study Area: • “Stimulus-response” theory • Combat distractions!

  13. 3. b) Study Skills (cont’d) • Reading: • SQ3R method: • Survey • Question • Read • Recite • Review • Summary: For success in university: • 1) Attend your lectures • 2) Take good notes • 3) Keep up with weekly readings • Time management & SQ3R

  14. 4. Quiz Questions: (breathe in…. and out….) • Consider the following research methods: • A) experimental study • B) case study • C) naturalistic observation • D) survey • E) correlational study • What would be the most appropriate research method for the following hypotheses: • 1) Smoking is associated with reduced life expectancy • 2) Tranquilizers are prescribed more in times of economic crisis • 3) The repression of anger leads to depression • 4) Children in orphanages have lower IQ

  15. 4. Quiz Questions (cont’d) • 2) Which correlation coefficient would reflect the strongest relationship between 2 variables? • a) .20 • b) .45 • c) -.60 • d) -.75 • e) can’t tell based on the numerical value

  16. See you next week! Study Hard!

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