Spring 2014 Unit One: Research and Biology Review

Transcription

1 Spring 2014 Unit One: Research and Biology Review YAP METEA VALLEY PSYCHOLOGY

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3 The Davidson Clinic Experiment You are the personnel director of the Davidson Pediatric Clinic, a rather large facility which employs over 50 persons, including pediatricians, nurses, secretaries, receptionists, and housekeeping and maintenance personnel. At the center of the clinic is a large waiting room where the parents and babies wait to see the doctors. The babies in that waiting room cry so much that many employees are unable to concentrate on their work. As a result, morale among the employees is very low, and several persons have reported headaches and other stress-related symptoms. The executive director of the clinic has come to you with this problem and has asked you to do something about it. You have observed the interactions among all persons in the waiting room and have determined that the crying almost always begins when the babies first see a nurse. The nurses in the clinic always wear white caps, white uniforms, white hose, and white shoes. You wonder if the sight of a nurse dressed this way is frightening to the babies. Perhaps the babies would cry less at the sight of a woman wearing more colorful clothes. You decide to do an experiment to determine if that is indeed the case. 1.Identify the problem. 2. What past research would you want to review? 3. Formulate the hypothesis. 4. Design your study. Identify the variables in your experiment. Independent Variable Dependent Variable 5. Identify the groups in your experiment. Experimental Group Control Group

4 6. Collect your data. How would you conduct this experiment. Write out your procedure & BE SPECIFIC!!! 7. Analyze the data. When examining the relevance of your data, what psychological statistical measures will you use and why? What specific data will you need to look at? 8. Draw conclusions and report your findings. What will you do with your information? How is it useful to the field of psychology?

5 Determining Schools of Psychology Read the following sentences and decide which school of psychology would most agree with it. Use the following schools: Neuroscience, Psychodynamic, Behavioral, Humanistic, and Cognitive. You should identify 4 different sentences for each of the 5 schools of psychology. 1. People are free spirits, and science will never be able to really understand what causes their behavior. 2. Basically, our personalities are shaped and determined by the things that happen to us during our lives. 3. I believe that hormonal changes, brain anomalies, and neurochemical differences help determine a person s actions. 4. Difficulties often stem from a person s false perception of reality. 5. Our body has control over our feelings. 6. Most of the time we do what we do in order to defend ourselves against threats that come from inside our own brains. 7. Most people s personalities are set by the time they are 5 or 6 years old. I don t think people really change much after that. 8. All of the talk of deep-rooted forces seems like bunk to me. We should just worry about what people actually do. 9. I believe that an individual s mental processing is an important determinant of behavior. 10. Science makes a mistake when it tries to take everything apart. If you want to understand a person, you have to look at him or her as a whole. 11. The best thing about people is that we are free to make choices and direct our lives. 12. Symptoms of depression are often the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. 13. Strong drives such as sex cause people to behave in certain ways. 14. I think that anyone could grow up to be a criminal if he or she was raised in the wrong environment.

6 15. If someone is constantly thinking of negative things about himself, this could lead to a low self-esteem. 16. I think people are not really conscious of the kind of forces that direct their behavior. 17. The consequences that you receive for your behavior will shape your personality. 18. We are first and foremost thinking creatures able to compare the past with the present and make judgments. 19. Thinking and feeling are the most important causes of behavior. 20. Abnormal behaviors that are seen in several members of a family must have a genetic component.

7 CATEGORIZING RESEARCH STUDIES Various studies are described briefly below. Your task is to judge the type of design, the data-collection method, and the settings of each study. To do this, read each description carefully and use the following coding system to record your judgements in the blanks to the left of each item. Design (E= experiment, C= correlational study, D= descriptive study) Data-Collection Method (SR= self-report, O= observational) Setting (L= laboratory, F=field) For those studies with an E, UNDERLINE the Independent Variable and CIRCLE the Dependent Variable. DESIGN DATA SETTING 1. Subjects are randomly assigned to watch either a violent or a nonviolent video, then are observed for aggression while playing with a large inflated Bobo doll in the lab. 2. The responses of children to a Bobo doll in the lab are observed and the amount of aggression is recorded. 3. The relation between birth order and amount of aggression against a Bobo doll in the lab is assessed. 4. The relation between birth order and the amount of aggression on the school playground is assessed during recess. 5. At a camp, subjects are randomly assigned to watch either a violent or a nonviolent video. Then their level of aggression is monitored at athletic events. 6. The amount of aggression on the school playground is observed during recess. 7. Subjects are randomly assigned to watch either a violent or nonviolent video in the lab, then complete a questionnaire designed to assess their level of aggression. 8. The relation between birth order and level of aggression reported on a questionnaire completed in the lab is assessed.

8 DESIGN DATA SETTING 9. Children are interviewed in the lab regarding their opinions about aggression. 10. The relation between birth order and a self-report tally of aggressive incidents occurring at home is assessed. 11. Children are interviewed for their reaction after seeing a fight on the playground. 12. At a camp, subjects are randomly assigned to watch either a violent or a nonviolent video, then their level of aggression is assessed by questionnaire.

9 Summary: Ethical Guidelines Directions: Summarize the following psychological experiments and explain how each violated ethical guidelines established by the APA. 1) John B. Watson s experiment on Classical Conditioning little Albert Violation of ethical guidelines: 2) Stanley Milgram s experiment on obedience Summary: Violation of ethical guidelines: 3) Martin Seligman s experiment on Learned Helplessness Summary: Violation of ethical guidelines:

10 The Nervous System The nervous system consists of the brain, spinal cord, and a complex network of neurons. This system is responsible for sending, receiving, and interpreting information from all parts of the body. The nervous system monitors and coordinates internal organ function and responds to changes in the external environment. This system can be divided into two parts: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. [The central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord.] Let's take a closer look at the peripheral nervous system Peripheral Nervous System The peripheral nervous system is divided into the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. The somatic nervous system controls skeletal muscle as well as external sensory organs such as the skin. This system is said to be voluntary because the responses can be controlled consciously. Reflex reactions of skeletal muscle however are an exception. These are involuntary reactions to external stimuli. The autonomic nervous system controls involuntary muscles, such as smooth and cardiac muscle. This system is also called the involuntary nervous system. The autonomic nervous system can further be divided into the parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions. The parasympathetic division controls various functions which include inhibiting heart rate, constricting pupils, and contracting the bladder. The nerves of the sympathetic division often have an opposite effect when they are located within the same organs as parasympathetic nerves. Nerves of the sympathetic division speed up heart rate, dilate pupils, and relax the bladder. The sympathetic system is also involved in the flight or fight response. This is a response to potential danger that results in accelerated heart rate and an increase in metabolic rate. By Regina Bailey Using the information above, complete the following diagram and application questions: Peripheral Nervous System Controls: Controls: Controls: Controls: Describe a specific situation in which your sympathetic nervous system would be activated, how your body will react, and how this will help the situation. What happens (biologically speaking) after the situation you just described is over? What would happen if your sympathetic nervous system was not sending messages properly?

11 NERVOUS SYSTEM V. ENDOCRINE SYSTEM Directions: - Using information from the previous page, complete the nervous system column. - Using the Prezi (see URL below), complete the endocrine system column. - Be prepared to apply these comparisons in class!! What is it? NERVOUS SYSTEM ENDOCRINE SYSTEM What does it do? What does it consist of? (major parts or divisions) How does it control the body? If there is damage to this system, what might the impact on the body include?

12 The Neuron

13 B r a i n D i a g r a m s