Chapter 2 &

APPENDIX
Studying Behaviour
Scientifically

Dr. Dana A. Hayward

 Scientific Principles in Psychology

• Scientific Approach = asking and answering

questions about the world around us
• Scientific Attitudes:
– Curiosity
– Skepticism
– Open-mindedness
• Science is constantly evolving
– Ability to replicate prior findings is crucial,
but often not prioritized. Why?

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 The story of Kitty Genovese

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=BdpdUbW8vbw
– Watch from 0 – 2:52 (then pause until a few slides later)

3
Testing the Bystander Effect:
Diffusion of Responsibility?

4
 Let’s design an experiment!

• Information: A diffusion of responsibility may

have occurred
• Hypothesis: IF multiple bystanders are
present, THEN a diffusion of responsibility will
decrease each bystander’s likelihood of
intervening
• How to experimentally test this hypothesis?

5
 Experimental Design/Procedure

• Which part(s) is/are designed by the

experimenters?
• Which part(s) is/are the measured outcome(s)?

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 The Data
Data from Textbook Data from original paper

1. Look at the graph axes – what are they showing?

How were they measured?
2. Look at the data – what type of graph is it?
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3. What is the data showing?
 After Data Collection

• What did the data show?

– Difference in % that helped between
the two key groups.
– Significant? Must use statistical tests
to check
• Next, write up a journal article to
be reviewed.
– Reviewers must judge its quality an
importance * bias can occur here
8
Testing the Bystander Effect:
Diffusion of Responsibility?

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 A different Experimental Design/Procedure to
test diffusion of responsibility
After this slide,
finish the
youtube clip

Experimental
measurement 10
39/100 studies
could be replicated
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 Pop “Quiz” (ungraded)

% looking at the eyes

• Use the graph to answer the following:
1. What does the y-axis measure?
a) Time
b) % looking at the eyes
time
c) Unclear
d) Mean
2. What kind of graph is on the left
portion of the graph?
a) Bar graph
b) Scatterplot
c) Line graph
d) Pie chart
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 Two Approaches to Understanding Behaviour

• Hindsight Understanding
– Relies on explanations ‘after-the-fact’
• Drawback:
– Past events can be explained in many ways
• Out-of-sight, out-of-mind VS absence makes the heart grow fonder

• Understanding through Prediction, Control, Theory building

– Uses scientific method
• Advantages:
• Satisfies curiosity, builds knowledge, generates principles
that can be applied to new situations
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 Good Theories

1. Organize information in meaningful ways

2. Are testable
3. Have prediction supported by research
4. Conform to law of parsimony
5. Simpler theory is preferred

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 Measuring Variables

• Variable: any factor that can vary

– Height, weight, age, GPA, eye colour
• Some variables are harder to define:
– Self-esteem, stress, intelligence, etc
• Use an operational definition: the specific procedure
used to define a variable
– Eg., Intelligence measured by IQ score, GPA score, speed to
solve a hard math problem, etc
– Thus, the same variable can be defined in different ways
across different studies (need to be aware of this when
conducting research).

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 Variables con’t

• Independent variable (IV): the variable the researcher

is manipulating
• Dependent variable (DV): the variable the researcher is
measuring.
• Ways of measuring DVs:
– Self-reports
– Reports by others
– Overt behaviours
• RTs
• Psychological tests
• Physiological measures
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 Self-report examples

BIS

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https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test
 Pros and Cons of Self/Other Reports

• Pros:
– A way to measure a wide range of information,
such as beliefs, feelings, experiences, and
behaviour
• Cons:
– Only reliable if reports are accurate
• Social desirability bias
– Make ourselves look better than we are
» Over Claiming Questionnaire

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 Overt Behaviours

• Response Times (RT)

– RT can measure:
• Item detection, all the way to
• Problem-solving (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-WXg9Q5C7w)
• Accuracy
– (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjvW4q0v5AI)
• Looking Rates
– Can measure how long infants/children/adults look at different
items
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlilZh60qdA
• Sucking Rates?
– Infants can modify the rate with which they suck on a pacifier to
change what they hear
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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psgv41HVdaE
 Overt Behaviours

Laidlaw et al., 2012; JEP:HPP

Warmer colours: greater looking 20

 Overt Behaviours

• Response Times (RT)

– RT can measure:
• Item detection, all the way to
• Problem-solving (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-WXg9Q5C7w)
• Accuracy
– (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjvW4q0v5AI)
• Looking Rates
– Can measure how long infants/children/adults look at different
items
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlilZh60qdA
• Sucking Rates?
– Infants can modify the rate with which they suck on a pacifier to
change what they hear
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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psgv41HVdaE
 Descriptive Research

• Identify and understand behaviours in natural

settings
• Provides clues to cause-effect relationships
– Does not test cause-effect directly
• Need to conduct an experiment
• E.g., Case Studies

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 Case Studies
• In-depth analysis of
individual, group, or
event

• What information
could a case study
possibly tell us
about human
behaviour?

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 Case Studies

• Advantages
– Can study a rare phenomenon in detail
– May challenge validity of current theories
– Can provide insights into many areas
• Disadvantages
– Cannot determine cause-effect
– Potentially poor generalizability
– Potentially biased data handling/analyzing

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 Naturalistic Observation

• Observation of behaviour in a natural setting

Jane Goodall Bullying in schools

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 Naturalistic Observation

• Advantage:
– Provides a rich description of behaviour

• Disadvantage:
– Does not permit clear causal conclusions
– Potential bias in interpreting the
observations
– Mere presence of an observer may change
the subjects’ behaviour
• Risko & Kingstone (2011)
• Does looking behaviour towards a provocative
item in a room change between wearing an
eye tracker and not wearing an eye tracker?

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 Survey Research Methods - example

https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/ipsos-reid-survey-reveals-some-canadians-are-taking-their-gaming-next-level 27
 Survey Research Methods

• Need ‘representative’ sample

– Cannot study entire population
– Sample must reflect important characteristics of
population
– Use random sampling

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 Survey Research Methods

• A representative sample
– Is one that reflects the important characteristics of the population
– A sample composed of 80 percent males would not represent a
student body in which only 45 percent are men
• Random sampling
– To obtain a representative sample
– In which every member of
the population has an equal
probability of being chosen
to participate in the survey.

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 Should you trust internet/pop media surveys?

• Tom fills out a political attitude survey posted on the Internet.

– Web based surveys generally consistent with other survey
methods (if researchers use random sampling)
• Claire mails in a dating satisfaction survey that came in a
fashion magazine to which she subscribes.
• Sam responds to a local TV news phone-in survey on a tax
issue (Call our number, press 1 to agree, 2 to disagree).

• For each survey, can the results be trusted to reflect the

general public's attitudes?
– All self-selected

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 Correlational Research:
Measuring Associations between Events
• Goal: determine the extent to which an
association exists between two variables (X &
Y)
– Researcher measures one variable (X)
– Researcher measures second variable (Y)
• Important
– Variables are not manipulated just measured

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 So You’ve Found a Correlation

• Bidirectionality
– Two-way causality
– X causes Y
– Y causes X
• Spurious association
– Not genuine
– 3rd variable problem

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 Correlation Coefficient

• Correlations are mathematically described by

a correlation coefficient
• Coefficient
– Ranges from -1.0 to +1.0
– Sign indicates direction
– Absolute value indicates strength

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 Direction of Correlation

• Positive relationship – Variables change in same direction

– As X is increasing, Y is increasing
– As X is decreasing, Y is decreasing
• E.g., As height increases, so does weight.

• Negative relationship – Variables change in opposite

directions
– As X is increasing, Y is decreasing
– As X is decreasing, Y is increasing
• E.g., As number of hours of daylight decreases, number of
symptoms of depression increases

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 Scatterplots

• Depicts the correlation

– Shows direction (positive or negative) of relationship

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 Correlational Studies

• Advantages
1. Show the strength of relationship present
2. Can be used to make predictions about variables
3. Identifies ‘real-world’ associations
• Disadvantages
1. Can’t assume cause-effect relationship exists
2. Relationships may be due to a third unmeasured
variable
3. Shows an association NOT a cause
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 Question Break

1) I want to investigate whether someone’s level of

curiosity relates to their looking patterns on a visual
search task.
– What kind of study is this?
2) Below are 2 scatterplots: What do each of them show?

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Hayward et al (2018b) Hayward et al (2018a)
 Experiments

• Three Essential Characteristics:

1. Manipulate one variable
2. Measures whether this variable produces
changes in another variable
3. Control for other factors that might influence
results

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 Experiments

• Characterized by
– Random assignment of
participants to the different
conditions
• Experimental and Control
– Manipulation of independent
variables
• Presence of cell phone
– (some) control over
extraneous variables
• Same traffic, weather, no radio
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 Participant Assignment

• Randomly sort participants into the different experimental groups

– Random sampling: equal chance of someone from the population being
chosen
– Random assignment: equal chance of the sample participants being
assigned to any of the experimental groups
• Cancels out preexisting differences (gender, sex, race, traits, etc)
• Groups:
– Control: baseline (or does not get treatment, etc)
– Experimental: receives manipulation (or gets treatment, etc)

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 Manipulation of Independent Variable(s)

• IV: The variable(s)/factor(s) the experimenter

manipulates
• Need to control for other factors
– Otherwise cannot be sure whether the outcome of
the experiment is due to the experimental
manipulation
– E.g., Experiment: want to determine how cell phone
usage affects driving. Don’t put the control group in
a small car and the experimental group in a large
truck
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 Measuring the Dependent Variable

• The factor we are measuring, and may be

influenced by the IV manipulation
– Operationally defined. Takes abstract concepts
and quantifies them
• E.g.,
– Concept: level of distraction when driving with a cellphone.
– Operational definition: time it takes to brake after an event,
following distance, weaving, missing exits, etc
• Differs for every experiment. Researchers don’t always
agree

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 Subject Designs

• Between-Subjects design
– Some participants get one
experimental manipulation (A),
while the others get the other
experimental manipulation (B)
• Within-Subjects design
(repeated-measures)
– All participants participate in
all experimental manipulations
(A and B)

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 Subject Designs con’t
Between-subjects
• PROS:
– Timing doesn’t matter
– No practice effects
• CONS:
– Variability due to individual
differences across the two
groups
– Need many more subjects
Within-subjects (repeated measures)
• PROS:
– Less random noise
– Fewer participants needed
• CONS:
– Carryover effects
– Practice, fatigue, etc
– Timing may matter (if you
have a long delay between
experimental conditions)
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 Interaction Effects

• Occurs when you have 2 or more independent

variables, each of which has at least 2 conditions

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Research Validity

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 Threats to Research Validity

• Confounding
variables
• Rival explanations
• Both groups
listened to music -
one happy; one sad
• Did the music from
Mozart make the
difference or the
mood created by it?
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 Placebo Effect

• Change in behaviour based on expecting a

change/improvement
– Increased confidence, calms individual, etc
• E.g., Sugar pill
• Decreases internal validity
– Provides alternative explanation for changes in
experimental/treatment group (confound)

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 Threats to Research Validity

• Experimenter Expectancy Effects

– Unintentional ways experimenters influence
participants (in direction of the hypothesis)

• How to minimize? - Double-blind procedure

– Neither participant nor researcher knows which
experimental condition the person is in

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 Evaluating psychological research
• Peer review
– Identify flaws that could undermine study’s
conclusions
• Statistics
• Research design
Threats to Research Validity

Are we confident
the results will
occur again?

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APPENDIX

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 Descriptive statistics

• Numerically describe data set (distribution of

measures)
 Summarizing a set of scores with frequency
distribution
• Shows how many participants receive each score (measure)
• Can glance for certain characteristics of data; tendency of
scores clustering

Notice researcher used intervals of 3 points,

rather than each possible score 1-33

Number of intervals chosen is arbitrary

 Histogram

• Graph of a frequency distribution

– Scores (intervals) plotted on X axis
– Frequencies plotted on Y axis
• A bar (or column) above each score, height of bar indicates how frequently score
occurred
 Measures of central tendency

• Central score in a dataset; where the scores tend to cluster

– A single number to typify the dataset
• 3 measures
– Mean
• average
– Median
• Middle score in a data set
– Mode
• Most frequent score in a data set
 Measures of central tendency can differ

• Generally only report one

statistic
– Mean is the best statistic
when data have normal
distribution
• Normal curve
– Half sample falls on either
side of mean
– Mean=median=mode
– As move away from mean,
frequency of each score
 Non-normal distributions

• Data is skewed
– Tilted sharply to one side
or the other
• Mean is affected by
extreme scores (outliers)
– Not a good measure of
central tendency in
skewed distributions
Mean: 88
• Median and mode Median: 93
Mode: 100
better reflect central
tendency
 Dispersion/variability
• Measure of how loosely or tightly bunched
scores are (spread of scores)
• Dataset of IQ scores below:
Set 1 80 85 85 90 95

Set 2 25 65 70 125 150

• Mean for both is 87; second has larger

spread/variability
 Range

• Simplest measure of variability

• Difference between highest and lowest
measures
Set 1 80 85 85 90 95 Range: 15

Set 2 25 65 70 125 150 Range: 125

• Even though 2 datasets have the same central

tendency; they may have wildly different
variability
 Standard deviation

• Range can be deceptive

– Same range may have different distributions
– Only accounts for extreme scores (highest -lowest)
• Measure of variability that takes into account
how far each data point is from the mean
– More clustering= smaller SD
 Variance
• Average of squared
deviation scores about
the mean
– standard deviation Squaring
Deviation score
=sqrt of variance removes (-); so
• Can be used to can sum
divide normal curve:
2/3rds= within 1 SD
of mean; 95% within
2 SD of mean; 99%
within 3 SD
• Allows estimation of
probability Deviation score
– Less than 1%
chance find outlier
3SD
 Factor analysis

• Reduced a large number of

correlations among many
measures to a smaller number
of clusters
– Valuable tool when identifying
dimensions of behaviour
• Within single study often
many variables measured
– Try to correlate all measures
– If measures cluster together
suggest related
•
 Statistical significance

• Minimum level is less than 0.05

– 5/100 cases this effect will
happen by chance
• p<0.05
– Probability that the findings
would have occurred by chance
less than 1/20 cases What are chances of selecting someone with
IQ of 145; if mean 100 and SD 15

– Statistically significant Need to know mean and SD

– Unlikely to be a chance
occurrence
– Largely controlled by sample size
 Testing the null hypothesis

• Null hypothesis: any observed

differences between control and
experimental group are due to
chance
• Assume it is true
• Compare means between 2 groups
– Account for variance (standard
deviations)
– If more than 2 SD outside of mean
(less than 5%)=significant; reject null
 Practical significance
• “ a difference is a
difference that makes
a difference”
• Real world
importance
• With huge sample
sizes, can have
statistical significance
but effect so small
useless to help make