CH1:

INTRODUCTION TO
STATISTICS
LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

1. Identify the significant people who contributed to the
development of psychological statistics.
2. Discuss the events that lead to the development of
psychological statistics.
3. Describe the goals of psychology.
4. Discuss the importance of statistics in psychology.
LEARNING OUTCOMES

5. Identify the categories of statistics.

6. Discuss the different categories of statistics.
7. Compare and contrast the different categories of
statistics.
STATISTICS
• A branch of mathematics that deals with the
“COLLECTION”, “ORGANIZATION”,
“PRESENTATION”, “ANALYSIS” and
“INTERPRETATION OF NUMERICAL DATA” to assist
in making a more effective decision
COLLECTION OF DATA
• The process of gathering numerical information.

• METHODS OF GATHERING INFORMATION:

interview, questionnaire, experiments, observation, and
documentary analysis.
PRESENTATION OF DATA
• The exposition and arrangement of data in appropriate
tables and graphs.

• GRAPHICAL PRESENTATION: bar graphs,

frequency polygon, pie graphs, etc.
ANALYSIS OF DATA
• The process of describing the properties, characteristics,
or behavior of the data; correlations of different
quantities or variables of the data gathered.
INTERPRETATION OF DATA
• The process of explaining the meaning of statistical
findings for the formation of valid conclusions
Ex. testing the significance of the results
“A correct interpretation of results will lead to a valid
conclusion of the study. Therefore, helps in making
correct decisions.”
 HISTORICAL ROOTS OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL STATISTICS
• PSYCHOLOGY –science that deals with the study of
human behavior and cognition or mental processes.
• This definition resulted from natural observations,
scientific exposure, and interactions of early
philosophers/psychologists who look for explanations,
reasons, causes, and effects on what, why, and how
nature and nurture affect individuals.
PHILOSOPHERS
• SOCRATES (469-399 B.C.)- believes thoughts and
knowledge come from within us and the understanding
of self allows one to live a virtuous life.
• PLATO (427-347 B.C.)- believes humans are rational
beings born with the ability to understand the
relationship of events around them.
PHILOSOPHERS
• ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.)- stressed the
importance of experience rather than reason, that man’s
reasoning is a form of making generalizations from
experience and observations made.
 EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY ORIGIN
1796

• Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811)- dismissed his 24-

year-old assistant, David Kinnebrook, when he differed
from Maskelyne by 800 milliseconds in judging stellar
transits (estimating the moment a given star passed the
meridian wire in the Greenwich telescope) –
Kinnebrook’s mistake was proven serious statistically
EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY ORIGIN
1796
• Friedrich Bessel (1784-1846)- introduced the
concept of “personal equation”, an attempt to correct for
the constant errors of observers. His measurement led
to the realization that perceptual-cognitive processes
took a quantifiable time.
• Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887)- believed
that mind and matter are simply different ways of
conceiving of one and the same reality
EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY ORIGIN
1796
• Hermann von Helmhotz (1891-1894)- offered a
comprehensive theory of color vision and a famous
unconscious inference theory of perception.
• Charles Darwin (1809-1882)- established the
continuity between animals and humans and made
comparative psychology important.
EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY ORIGIN
1796
• Franciscus Cornelis Donders (1818-1889)- his use
of the reaction technique to measure the time taken by
mental processes exerted a major impact as a method of
choice in the early prerequisites of experimental
psychology.
• Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)- founder of
experimental psychology
FOUR KNOWN PSYCHOLOGISTS
• William James (1842-1910)- formed a psychology
laboratory at Harvard University; his lab was used for
teaching demonstrations rather than experimentation
and original research
• Granville Stanley Hall (1846-1924)- first president
of the American Psychological Association. In 1883, Hall
created the first experimental psychology lab in the U.S.
at John Hopkins University.
FOUR KNOWN PSYCHOLOGISTS
• James McKeen Cattell (1860-1944)- first professor
of psychology in the U.S. at the University of
Pennsylvania
• Edward Bradford Titchener (1866-1927)-
published Experimental Psychology: A Manual
Laboratory Practice.
• Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)- invented the
statistical technique of correlation and developed the
coefficient of correlation.
• Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)- first
psychologist to study learning and memory.
• Franz Anton Mesmer (1737-1815)- theorized a
natural energetic transference that occurred between all
animated and inanimate objects—animal magnetism
or mesmerism
• James Braid (1795-1860)- proposed the term
“hypnosis” for the technique derived from animal
magnetism
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)- introduced
psychoanalysis
 IMPORTANCE OF STATISTICS IN
PSYCHOLOGY
• Psychology, like any other field, has goals that guide its
investigation of human nature. These goals are:
-TO DESCRIBE the different ways of how people behave.
-TO EXPLAIN the various causes of why certain process
or behavior occurs.
 IMPORTANCE OF STATISTICS IN
PSYCHOLOGY
-TO PREDICT and determine how the organism will
behave.
-TO CONTROL or change an organism’s behavior and
mental processes through modifying or altering
undesirable behavior.
 RELEVANCE OF STATISTICS IN
PSYCHOLOGY
1. To scientifically accomplish the goal of psychology—
Statistics binds all the scientific studies into
universally valid, reliable, and accepted newly
discovered information.
2. Psychological Research is the cornerstone of the field
—Statistics are essential for determining if certain
treatments/methods are effective or not.
 RELEVANCE OF STATISTICS IN
PSYCHOLOGY
3. Psychologists need to keep up with the fast-paced
lifestyle, literature, entertainment, and environmental
developments—Statistics provides methods and
procedures that aid psychologists and researchers in
gathering important factors to comply with the reality
mentioned above.
 RELEVANCE OF STATISTICS IN
PSYCHOLOGY
4. For College students—By understanding Statistics, they
can organize, their time and interpret the situation and
information in a meaningful way.
5. Statistics enables the researcher to draw general
conclusions— Through Statistics, researchers are forced
to use precise procedures and methods in the conduct of
research to gain results with valid and reliable
conclusions.
 RELEVANCE OF STATISTICS IN
PSYCHOLOGY
6. Statistics enables the researcher to predict “how
much” of a thing will happen under conditions he
knows and measured.
7. Statistics is everywhere. Pursue higher studies? You
will study higher statistics tools. Want to become an
RPm? The board tests statistics knowledge. Want to
become a professor? You need statistics in conducting
your research (Professors conduct research).
 CATEGORIES OF STATISTICS
• DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS—refers to the field of
statistics that includes collecting. Classifying, graphing,
and averaging the data. Its objective is to “describe” and
“summarize” the important features, properties, and
characteristics of the data without attempting inference
or meaning.
Ex. All participants, 100% reported an experience of one
traumatic event considered equivalent to criterion A of
DSM V-TR Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• INFERENTIAL STATISTICS—demands a higher
order of critical judgment. Its objective is to analyze the
data leading to the prediction of inferences. This
method is required to estimate, to compare, or to
predict results based on the data gathered.
Ex. The results showed a mean of 10.75 for group A and a
mean of 11.92 for group B. The study concluded that there
is a significant difference in the critical thinking skills of
college students.
 END OF CHAPTER

REFERENCE:
Lambojon, F., Jr., Ibañez, K. G., Arcega, A., Coroña, R., &
Francisco, J. (2021). Psychological statistics. Mindshapers
Co., Inc. Publishing Company.