Invitation to Psychology

26 Chapter 1 What Is Psychology?

consent to participate and know enough about it

to make an intelligent decision, a doctrine known

as informed consent. Researchers must protect par-

ticipants from physical and mental harm, and if

any risk exists, must warn them and give them an

opportunity to withdraw at any time.

Watch the Video Special Topics: Ethics and

Psychological Research at mypsychlab

Ethical guidelines also require the humane

treatment of research animals, which are used in

only a small minority of psychological studies but

are crucial to progress in some fields, especially

biological psychology and behavioral research.

Because of increased concern about the rights

and welfare of animals, the APA’s guidelines for

using animals in research have been made more

comprehensive, and federal regulations govern-

ing the housing and care of animals have been

strengthened.

Experimental Variables LO 1.16

Imagine that you are a psychologist whose re-

search interest is multitasking. Everyone seems

to multitask these days, and you want to know

whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Specifically, you want to know whether or not

using a handheld cell phone while driving is dan-

gerous. Talking on a cell phone while driving is

associated with an increase in traffic accidents, but

maybe that’s just for people who are risk takers or

informed consent The
doctrine that anyone who
participates in human
research must do so vol-
untarily and must know
enough about the study
to make an intelligent
decision about whether to
take part.

Recite & Review

Recite: Out loud, say everything you can about correlational studies, variables, positive versus

negative correlations, illusory correlations, and drawing causal conclusions from correlational

findings.

Review: Next, go back and reread this section.

Frequent testing and grades are positively correlated, so now take this Quick Quiz:

1. Identify each of the following as a positive or negative correlation:
   a. The higher a male monkey’s level of the hormone testosterone, the more aggressive he is
   likely to be.
   b. The older people are, the less frequently they tend to have sexual intercourse.
   c. The hotter the weather, the higher the crime rate.


2. Can you also generate two or three possible explanations for each of the preceding findings?
   Answers:

Study and Review at mypsychlab

The hormone may cause aggressiveness; acting aggressively may stimulate a. 2. positive c. negative b. positive1. a.

hormone production; or a third factor, such as age or dominance, may influence aggressiveness and hormone production

• Older people may have less interest in sex than younger people, have less energy or more physical ail b. independently.

Hot temperatures may make people edgy and cause them to commit crimes; potential victims c. ments, or lack partners.

may be more plentiful in warm weather because more people go outside; criminals may find it more comfortable to be

out committing their crimes in warm weather than in cold. (Our explanations for these correlations are not the only ones

possible.)

You are about to learn...

•    why psychologists rely so heavily on

experiments.

•    what control groups control for.

•    who is “blind” in single- and double-blind

experiments, and what they are not supposed

to “see.”

the experiment:

hunting for Causes

Researchers gain plenty of information from de-

scriptive studies, but when they want to actually

track down the causes of behavior, they rely heav-

ily on the experimental method. An experiment al-

lows them to control and manipulate the situation

being studied. Instead of being passive recorders

of behavior, researchers actively do something

that they believe will affect people’s behavior and

then observe what happens. These procedures

allow experimenters to draw conclusions about

cause and effect—about what causes what.

All psychological studies must conform to

ethical guidelines, but such guidelines are espe-

cially important in experimental research. In col-

leges and universities, a review committee must

approve all studies and be sure they conform to

federal regulations. Volunteers in the study must

experiment A controlled
test of a hypothesis in
which the researcher
manipulates one variable
to discover its effect on
another.