Psychology Unit Two Notes : Research Methods

After reading through chapter six, I began reading chapter seven of our psychology text titled, Learning. Learning is something we do everyday even we don’t realize it. While reading chapter seven, I learned that there are three different types of learning, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and cognitive learning. Classical conditioning stands for two types of stimuli linking providing us the tools to have a reaction; this is the type of learning that involves automatic behaviors. Operant conditioning is the type of learning that causes a change in behavior, in reaction to consequences; this is the behavior that involves choosing of choices. Lastly, cognitive learning is the obtaining of new skills, behaviors, and information through

Throughout this semester of Psychology 150 I have learned a great deal about several different concepts that I consciously, and sometimes unconsciously, find myself applying to my life. There are five different psychology topics I found that held the most relevance to my life. Some of these topics do not deal with myself exclusively, but they do affect the people I hold dear to me. The topics range from disorders to personality differences, and they all affect me in some way, both indirectly and directly.

I will now be explaining the five roles of research and giving an example for each one of the roles. The five roles of research include: research to inform policy or practice, research to extend knowledge and understanding, research to improve practice, research to aid reflection and allow progress to be monitored and finally research to examine topics of contemporary importance.

Naturalistic observational research is important because it allows researchers to observe people in a natural habitat without any variable manipulation. Most importantly in naturalistic observation, the researcher does not interfere with the situation in any way. Naturalistic observation can be structured or unstructured; for this study, unstructured naturalistic observation was mostly used. There were pre-determined characteristics that the researchers wrote down on a spreadsheet, however, specific behaviors were recorded as they happened (i.e., the type of reaction that resulted from each person who picked up the card). Naturalistic observation is important in psychological research because it gives insight into the natural behaviors of people. When a person is unaware they are being observed it reduces change in behavior, which can occur when if they are aware that they are being observed.

Theories are a series of interconnected proposals. Theories are an effort to describe, explain, predict, and finally control a period of events. We are able to base our experiments and select the contenders for the experiments off of our theories. We are able to test our theories by how well the cumulated data describes, relates to and predicts reality. Theories act as patterns for interpreting specific data that we may refer back to. These patterns ensure we stay on topic and are able to obtain the proper results needed to verify our theories.

Psychologists look for explanations for human behaviour; they reach conclusions through research processes which attempt to explain or even predict said behaviour. Researchers strive to obtain facts

In Psychology 101, you learn about a personal fable; something that I have not lost. I have always wanted to change the world that I was destined for greatness and teaching elementary school students gives me that power. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Answer: A positive correlation means that increases in the value of one variable are associated

A theory is a set of systematic informed hunches about the way things work. A good theory goes beyond accepted wisdom and offers explanations and speculations about phenomena. Additionally, a good theory consists of a system of concepts which means that the theorist were able to make connections among his ideas. A theory tends to shape our perception of reality and behaviour and guides us through unknown areas.

A theory is an explanation of why or how things are related to each other (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Additionally, a theory is defined as a plausible or scientifically acceptable principle, or a body of principles, offered to explain phenomena (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2017). Furthermore, crime theories examine and attempt to identify relationships among humans, criminal behavior, and specific factors such as biological factors, psychological factors, sociological factors, and economic factors (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Since we have defined a theory, let us further discuss how theories are created beginning with the components of a theory.

* Predict: Offering predictions (or hypotheses) about how a given condition or set of conditions will affect

A theory is primarily meant to explain or predict an event, behaviour or outcome. Proponents of a theory look for evidence to support the theory. This evidence should be independently observed and consistent after repeated observations. Some theories are speculative or ideas or guesses floated to encourage researchers to undertake the observations required to prove or disprove the theory. The question often debated is what comes

Hindsight Bias is also known as I knew-it- all- along effect, after the event has occurred to see the events as having been predictable. Therefore we often tend to say that we knew the answer on the test even though we gave the wrong answer. For example, when I went to my very first job interview I wrote and memorized the story about my self. Even though I knew exactly how I would answer that question when the question came out on the interview I’ve answered it completely differently. Of course I failed the interview and was angry on myself, but it was too late to complain. Another example of hindsight bias in my life was the decision about my education. When I just moved to the United States I wanted to have fun with my friends and work as

A debate rages in psychology. It is not one of the usual kind, dwelling on a specific aspect of the mind or a new drug, but a controversy dealing with the very foundations of psychology. The issue is determining how psychologists should treat patients and on what psychologists base their choices. Some feel that they must be empirically-supported treatments, treatments backed by hard data and scientifically supported. Others feel that this standard for treatments is much too confining for the complex field of psychology and that many good treatments cannot be backed by hard data. The American Psychological Association President Task Force on Evidence-Based Treatment came out with a plan for psychology that effectively maintains a high

In this fast paced world we live in it is often hard to find the time to ask ourselves, “Who am I?” To even begin to scratch the surface of this question one must first understand the brain and how experiences shape who we are. These events can either be tragic, uplifting, or redefining. Psychology states that these experiences can affect the outcome of a person's personality (Wood, et. al., 2014). Personality is a multifaceted array of idiosyncrasies that help us understand a person’s behaviors, identity, and characteristics. Inside my mind is a vault filled with nineteen years worth of memories and learned behaviors that have impacted me in some way. In order to gain a better understanding of who I am I must delve deep into my mind and analyze the core components of my personality.