20 Chapter 1 What Is Psychology?
stranger. You might have parents and their infants
come to your lab, observe them playing together
for a while through a one-way window, then have
a stranger enter the room and, a few minutes later,
have the parent leave. You could record signs of
distress, interactions with the stranger, and other
behavior. If you did this, you would find that very
young infants carry on cheerfully with whatever
they are doing when the parent leaves. However,
by the age of about 8 months, children will of-
ten burst into tears or show other signs of what
child psychologists call “separation anxiety” (see
Chapter 3).
One shortcoming of laboratory observation
is that the presence of researchers and special
equipment may cause participants to behave dif-
ferently than they would in their usual surround-
ings. Further, observational studies, like other
descriptive studies, are more useful for describing
behavior than for explaining it. If we observe
infants protesting whenever a parent leaves the
room, we cannot be sure why they are protest-
ing. Is it because they have become attached to
their parents and want them nearby, or have they
learned from experience that crying brings an
adult with a cookie and a cuddle? Observational
studies alone cannot answer such questions.Tests LO 1.11
Psychological tests are procedures for measuring
and evaluating personality traits, emotional states,Tests
Procedures used to
measure and evaluate
personality traits, emo-
tional states, aptitudes,
interests, abilities, and
values.
book and TV movie, eventually launching an
epidemic of multiple personality disorder (see
Chapter 11). Detective work by investigative jour-
nalists and other skeptics later revealed that Sybil
was not a multiple personality after all; her diag-
nosis was invented by her psychiatrist, Cornelia
Wilbur, who hoped to profit professionally and
financially from the story (Nathan, 2011). Wilbur
conveniently omitted the fact that she had pre-
scribed addictive drugs to her patient and had
threatened to withhold them unless Sybil pro-
duced other “personalities.”Observational Studies
In observational studies, the researcher system-
atically and unobtrusively observes, measures, and
records behavior while taking care to avoid in-
truding on the people (or animals) being observed.
The purpose of naturalistic observation is to find
out how people or other animals act in their nor-
mal social environments. Psychologists use this
method wherever people happen to be: at home,
on playgrounds or streets, or in schoolrooms,
offices, and bars. But they also do observational
studies in the laboratory. In laboratory observation,
they have more control of the situation: They
can use cameras and recording devices, determine
how many people will be observed at once, main-
tain a clear line of vision, and so forth.
Suppose that you wanted to know how in-
fants of different ages respond when left with aObservational Studies
A study in which the
researcher carefully and
systematically observes
and records behavior
without interfering with
the behavior; it may
involve either naturalistic
or laboratory observation.
Psychologists using laboratory observation have gathered valuable information about brain and
muscle activity during sleep.