SOSC1960

Discovering Mind and Behavior

Lecture 2 Research Methods

Overview
The scientific method
Descriptive research
Experimental research

The Scientific Method

Science vs. common sense

Scientific method: an approach through which

scientists systematically acquire knowledge
and understanding about a phenomenon of
interest

Scientific method is used to

Describe
Explain
Predict

human behaviors and mental processes

1. Identify questions of interest

Behavior and phenomenon requiring explanation

Prior research findings

Curiosity, creativity, insight

2. Formulate an explanation
stimulating
further
research

Specify a theory
Derive a hypothesis

3. Carry out research

Operationalize variables
Select a research method
Collect and analyze the data

replication

4. Communicate the findings

Hypothesis supported or rejected

Theory supported or rejected

Scientific method

1. Identify questions of interest

More adolescent violence observed in recent

years
School bullying

School massacre

Virginia Tech Massacre

Seung-hui Cho
Photo sent to NBC news

2. Formulate an explanation

Theory: broad explanations and predictions

concerning a phenomenon of interest

Gerbners cultivation theory

Exposure to media violence fosters the
belief that the world is a more dangerous
and frightening place than it actually is
(Mean-world beliefs)
Violence is the norm rather than exception
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2. Formulate an explanation

Hypothesis: a prediction, stemming from a

theory, stated in a way that allows it to be
tested (more concrete and specific)

Exposure to media violence leads to more aggressive

behavior in adolescents

Variables: behaviors, events, or other

characteristics that can change, or vary, in
some way

Media violence, aggressive behavior

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Why do we need theories and

hypotheses?

They provide a coherent framework

to understand the relationships among

unorganized information

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3. Carry out research

Operational definition: translation of the

variables in a hypothesis into measurable and
observable procedures

Media violence?
Aggression?

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3. Carry out research

Operational definition: try it yourself

Honesty:

Racial prejudice:

Environmental-protection behavior:

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3. Carry out research

Research method

Descriptive research: tells the relationship between

variables, but it cannot determine causality
Experimental research: deliberately producing a
change in one variables in a situation and observing
the effects of the change on another variable in the
situation

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4. Communicate the findings

Hypothesis supported or rejected

Theory supported or rejected

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Types of Research

Descriptive Research

Archival research
Naturalistic observation
Case study
Survey research
Correlational research

Experimental Research

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Descriptive research

Descriptive research

Descriptive research tells the relationship

between variables, but it cannot determine
causality

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Archival research

Research in which existing data, such as

census documents, college records, and
newspaper clippings, are examined to test a
hypothesis

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Temperature and aggression. Cohn & Rotter (1997)

2006
Males
Females

9124

2007
8768

2008
8259

2240 (19.7%) 2178 (19.8%) 2232 (21.2%)

Gender and crime

Population under CSD Management / Supervision 2006-2008 in HK

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Gender and crime

Homicide trends in the U.S, by By US Department of Justice
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Advantage

Relatively an inexpensive way of data

collection

Disadvantages

No causal relationships can be drawn

Method of data collection may contain flaws
Information might be incomplete

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70% of the Interviewees Support the Construction of the Express

Railway (Singtao) January 8, 2010 Friday

A poll released by the Bauhinia Foundation Research Center

BFRCindicated that nearly 70% of the interviewees supported
the construction of the express railway. The BFRC had
commissioned Lingnan University to conduct a telephone poll on
the construction of the Express Railway which will link up Hong
Kong with Chinas high-speed rail network, interviewing more than
700 citizens in early January. Nearly 70% of the interviewees
supported the construction of the express railway. More than
69% of the interviewees said that they supported Hong Kong
constructing the express railway link; however, 12.4% said they
opposed. In addition, 63% of the interviewees agreed that the
Legislative Council should allocate funds to build the express
railway as soon as possible while nearly 19% objected to that.

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What important information is missing in

the newspaper clip?

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Naturalistic observation

Research in which an investigator simply

observes some naturally occurring behavior
and does not make a change in the situation

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Culture and pace of life (Levine &

Norenzayan, 1999)
Walking speed. Male and female
walking speed over a distance of
60 feet was measured in at least
two locations in main downtown
areas in each city.
Postal speed. As a sample of work
speed, the time it took postal
workers to complete a standard
request for stamps was measured
in each country.
Clock accuracy. As a sample of
concern with clock time, the
accuracy of 15 clocks, in randomly
selected downtown banks, were
checked in each country.
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Advantage

People are assumed to behave naturally in

their natural environment

Disadvantage

The target behavior may not occur naturally

No causal relationships can be drawn

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Case study

An in-depth, intensive investigation of an

individual or small group of people

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Case study

H. M.

In 1953, when he was 27, he had his hippocampus

and part of amygdala removed in a neurosurgery to
control epilepsy
Memory impairment
Could no longer remember new experiences for much
longer than 15 minutes

Served as a subject of research study for over 5

decades
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12473677/The-legacyof-patient-HM-for-neuroscience
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Case study

Tiny brain of a French Tax Official

Scans of the man's brain show a huge fluid-filled

cavity
Tests showed that the man's IQ is 75, but his
condition had not impaired his development or his
socialization. He is married with two children and
works in the tax office.

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,495607,00.html

Advantages

Flexibility

Researchers are free to explore avenues of inquiry

that arise during the course of the study

Provides detailed account of the cases

behavior, emotions, and thinking

Disadvantages

May not generalize to others

Cannot establish cause and effect
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Survey research

Sample

Research in which people chosen to represent

a larger population are asked a series of
questions about their behavior, thoughts, or
attitudes
E.g., public opinion survey

http://hkupop.hku.hk/
Popularity of the Chief Executive, Freedom Indicators,
Peoples ethnic identity etc.

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Gender roles vary across cultures

Premarital sex and pregnancy across cultures

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Advantage

The behaviors, thoughts, or attitudes of a large

population can be inferred

Disadvantage

Social desirability effect

The sample may not be representative

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Correlational research

Research in which the relationship between two

variables is examined to determine whether they are
associated, or correlated

Examples

Wealth and happiness

High school grades and university GPA
Interview performance and job performance
IQ and work salary
Time watching violent TV programs per week and
frequency of physical fights at school
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Determine the direction and magnitude of

association among variables

Direction : positive or negative correlation

Strength: -1------ 0 ------ +1

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Positive correlation

As the value of one variable increases, the value of

the other variable will also increase
Highs with highs, lows with lows
12
10

happiness

5000

20000

60000

100000

130000

10

happiness

income

8
6
4

50000

100000
income

150000
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Negative correlation

As the value of one variable increases, the value of

the other variable will decrease
Highs with lows, lows with highs
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income

happiness

5000

10

20000

60000

100000

130000

happiness

10
8
6
4
2
0
0

50000

100000
income

150000
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Strength of correlation

Strength: correlation
coefficient (r) range
from 0 to 1

r = +/- 1: perfect
correlation
r = +/- 0.5: some correlation
r = 0: no correlation

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Interpreting correlation

Correlation casual relationship

Imagine you found a positive correlation (e.g.,
r = 0.7) between wealth and happiness
What does that mean?

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1.

Interpreting correlation
More money makes people happier.
Money

2.

Happiness

Happier people makes more money.

Happiness

3.

Money

Healthier people are wealthier and happier.

Health
Money

Happiness
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Interpreting correlation

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Interpreting correlation

How do we interpret these correlations? Try it

yourself

r = 0.6 between time playing violent video games per

week and aggressive behaviors
r = 0.5 between shoe size and vocabulary size

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Experimental research

Experimental research

Research which can examine cause-effect

relationships by deliberately producing a
change in one variables in a situation and
observing the effects of the change on another
variable in the situation

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Experimental research

Researchers manipulate the causal variable

(independent variable) and observe its effect
on the effect variable (dependent variable)

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Experimental research

Independent Variable (IV): a variable that an

experimenter manipulates

Violent TV programs

Dependent Variable (DV): a variable that an

experimenter expects will be affected by
manipulations of the IV

Physical aggression in playing with friends

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IV

DV

Manipulation

Any difference?

Experimental condition: participants who receives the manipulation

Control condition : participants who receives no manipulation (for
comparison purpose)

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Core logic

The experimental condition and the control

condition should be identical in all respects
(e.g., participant characteristics, room
temperature) except the IV, so that we can
single out the IV as the cause
If this cannot be assured, then there are
alternative explanations for the observed
difference in the DV

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 Random assignment to condition

A procedure in which participants are assigned to

different conditions on the basis on chance and
chance alone
Aim: to weed out preexisting group differences
Equivalence between the experimental condition and
the control condition in terms of participant
characteristics can be assumed thereby

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Illustration

Theory: The arousal model of personal

space

Individuals seek to maintain psychologically

comfortable interpersonal distances
If personal space is invaded, arousal and
discomfort would arise, leading to
compensatory behavioral responses

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Middlemist, R. D., Knowles, E. S., & Matter, C. (1976). Personal space invasions in the lavatory:
Suggestive evidence for arousal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 541-546.
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Hypothesis

Decreases in interpersonal distance would lead

to increases in the delay of urination and
decreases in the persistence of urination

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Condition 1: Close distance condition

"Don't use,
washing urinal"

Participant

Confederate

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Condition 2: Moderate distance condition

"Don't use,
washing urinal"

Participant

Confederate
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Condition 3: Control condition

"Don't use,
washing urinal"

Participant

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Middlemist et al. (1976)

IV: personal space invasion

Close distance condition

Moderate distance condition
Control condition

DV:

Delay of onset; time taken to start urination

Persistence: duration of urination

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An illustration

Allen (2003)

Question of interest: about 90% of pet owners

describe their pets important, cherished family
members, and say that their pets make them
feel calm, happy, and able to handle stress

Allen, K. (2003). Are pets a healthy pleasure? The

influence of pets on blood pressure. Current
directions in Psychological Science, 12, 236-239.

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Allen (2003)

Correlational research

Elderly with pets feel less stressful and make fewer

visits to physician than do elderly without pets
(Siegel, 1990)
Pet owners show lower lipid levels and levels of other
cardiovascular risk factors (Anderson, Reid, &
Jennings, 1992)

The correlation between ownership of pets and

health is positive.
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Allen (2003)

Correlational research

Perhaps pets have no effect at all: people who

choose to acquire pets are healthier or more relaxing
than those who choose not to have a pet

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Allen (2003)

Experimental research

Half the participants (extremely stressful

stockbrokers living alone) were randomly selected to
adopt a pet cat or dog
While under stress, the participants who acquired
pets had blood pressure increases that were less than
half the increases of the participants without pets

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Required readings

Ch. 2

Next topic

Memory

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