PSYC1001 NOTES. Science and Statistics

Transcription

1 PSYC1001 NOTES TOPICS PAGES Science and Statistics Personality Psychology Developmental Psychology Forensic Psychology Emotion Psychology Social Psychology

2 LEC 4 Predictions and Descriptive Stats (from Science and Statistics Section) Science pros and cons Informs debate Makes predictions (specific) Always tested even if wrong to be enhanced Experimental hypothesis is what is thought to occur Shaped by earlier findings or a theory Testable prediction Broad aspect All just a guessing game - no guarantee No falsification (which is what we need) Confirmation bias - shaped by beliefs of thinking you are right from your findings Cognitive dissonance - stress/discomfort for holding 2 or more contradictory beliefs Was falsifiable Aim to reduce dissonance Being paid less may make them choose to do it again Enjoy less what they are paid more for Modern day behaviourist thinking Ask what is needed to change your mind How can I be right, and how can I be proven wrong? Need to have both sides Qualify statement Also, state boundaries and limitations Null hypothesis - hypothesis of no effect - status quo Says nothing is happening (rare) Specific therefore disproven Group 1 will = group 2 Should not seek evidence but instead come up with a good null hypothesis Try to disprove Do not accept null hypothesis, try best to reject Innocent until proved guilty No loyalty or attachment Go where the best things are Maths is used to reject

3 Descriptive stats Raw scores jumbled (ordered perhaps) then frequency distribution Summarising data Skew - left (positive) Mean is affected Highest point of skew is mode (not effected)

4 LEC 5 Motivation, Achievement and How to Talk to Children (from developmental psychology section) Praise, motivation, and achievement in school Superiors attitudes Misconceptions of self esteem Encouraged to do well, if treated well Criticism decreased, praise increased High-esteem may also lead to negative behaviours (alcohol drinking) There are different types of self-esteems (fragile or secure) Cross-generational study shows this is more of a concern now Praise, motivation, and achievement in school Intrinsic - because one likes it (mastery/initial) Personal choice Extrinsic - working to achieve an external reward (performance/evaluation of accuracy) Measured by standard Immediate reward can shift Person praise Entity mindset - intelligence is fixed (results with no effort) Performance goals - not wanting to look dumb Can lead to failure due to pressure Lower goals with more stress - Carol Dweck More likely to cheat Process praise Growth mindset - intelligence is a skill achieved with hard work Mastery goals - wanting to improve Increased effort as motivation Like to be challenged and enjoy it - Carol Dweck Growth mindset intervention More you use it, the stronger it becomes Major difference in grades Boys get more process praise and more likely to have a growth mindset while girls more for non-academic and criticized academically Children are receptacle to praise Repetitive structures

5 Superiors attitudes and their effect on kids: case of gender and maths Higher maths anxiety in women Actually, causes pain in the brain affecting frontal lobes thus causing inability to perform Why Gender stereotyping - for boys Higher expectations for boys to succeed Affect Follow stereotypes regardless Equal grades have different reasoning On children Endorse what superiors say regardless More likely for girls to have the entity feel, while boys are more process praised

6 LEC 6 Social Perception Attributions (Part 1) (Social Psychology Section) Interpretation of others and their behaviours Social perception - how we think of others Attribution theory - Fritz Heider Causal explanation for someone's behaviour by crediting internal dispositions or external situations How - causal forces but also internal/personal forces (control to show or nah) Person vs situation attributions Knowing how things are categorised Accuracy needs analysis Co-variation theory - Kelly Cause of behaviour factors need to be present when the behaviour occurs and absent when it does not - emphasised 1. Consensus - extent to react the same 2. Consistency - reacting the same over time 3. Distinctiveness - same manner different stimuli Attributional biases 1. The fundamental attribution error Underestimating impact of situation and overestimating impact of personal disposition - thinking you are in that situation cos of you Power of the situation can lead to extraordinary behaviours - average "guards" mistreating more cos of role Why - we focus of the person in the situation and not the situation itself Less wait for situational ques

7 May be underlying characteristics Cultural factors - societies 2. The actor observer bias Attributing own behaviour to external causes (other shit we cannot control) but the behaviour of others to internal causes (who they are) Situational for us and dispositional for others Why - we know how situations affect our own behaviour therefore we look at other things for others 3. The attractiveness biases Physical appearance affecting our attribution their behaviour to internal and external causes Presumed that good looking, sociable people are more bright, successful, and smart etc. Unattractive child behaviours to personality and attractive to situation (bad things) 4. Cognitive heuristics Availability heuristics - overestimating odds of events occurring by how easily they come to mind Both, situational and dispositional have real consequences