Download True or False The Mind/Body Problem Monism Monism The Study of

True or False
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1. It's a good idea to study in as many different locations (your bedroom or
kitchen, the library, lounges around school, and so forth) as possible, so
that studying becomes a habit.
2. If you have a professor who delivers chaotic, hard to follow lectures, there
is little point in attending class.
3. Cramming the night before an exam is an effective method of study.
4. Students who are slow readers in college are generally poor students.
5. In taking lecture notes, you should try to be a "human tape recorder" (that
is, write everything down your professor says).
6. You should never change your answers to multiple-choice questions,
because your first hunch is your best hunch.
The Mind/Body Problem
Psychology (psych + logos), the study of the mind. Can the
mind be studied? Can there be a science of the mind?
Rene Descartes (1596-1650).
•  Determinism is the assumption that everything that happens has a
cause or determinant in the observable world. Can humans be
considered machines?
–  The human mind is capable of free will. Behavior is caused by
an individual’s independent decision-making
•  Dualism, the mind is not part of the physical universe. The mind is
metaphysical and therefore unknowable.
–  Problem: If the mind is immaterial how does it have a physical
affect on the brain, how does it connect to the body? Study of
mind stymied.
Monism
Monism--Psychology adopted monism because it assumed
that if the brain is the mind, it can be explained by
objective forces in the material world and there is nothing
else.
•  The brain is the mind and can be known through empirical
investigation of physical processes within it. The assumption of
physical causality of mental events (contemporary scientific
perspective).
•  What does it mean to be a monist?
Monism
Work of physiologists supported this assumption.
•  The mind is not immaterial or controlled by the soul but the result
of biological processes occurring within the brain itself. The mind
is really the workings of the brain.
•  Franz Joseph Gall 1758 to 1828, demonstrated that mental ability
was correlated to brain size, and negatively correlated to damage to
the brain
•  Paul Broca 1825 to 1880, discovered that the ability to speak was
correlated with specific brain area
•  Herman von Helmholtz 1821 to 1894, demonstrated a
communication of our minds with parts of our body was related the
distance of the pathway by using the reaction time measures.
The Study of the Conscious Mind
Wilhem Wundt (1832-1920). The structure of the mind can
be determined by the composition of its elementary parts .
•  Wundt important because he established psychology as a science
and encouraged laboratory work. Educated Edward Tichener who
emigrated to America.
•  Structuralism. The mind can be known by through the careful
analysis of the elements of conscious experience (IntrospectionEdward Tichener).
–  lawn = Narrow, spiky, green, vertical protrusions of varying
length, and width, amassed closely together on a 2 dimensional
surface.
Can we objectively observe our own experience? Can we
trust the reports of others observing theirs?
Failed because it could not be measured directly by outside
observer, not conscious of all brain activities, too
subjective.
The Study of the Conscious Mind
William James (1842-1910).
•  Functionalism, the study of the purpose metal processes serve
enabling people to adapt to their environment. Psychology should
study the purpose of conscious experience, not its structure.
•  The elements of thought are not important but how the conscious
mind aids real world accomplishments, or survival.
Typical questions from a functionalist perspective include:
•  How does a person recall the answer to a question?
•  How does a person inhibit an undesirable impulse?
•  Can a person attend to more than one task at a time?
The Study of the Unconscious Mind
Just when things were going so well….
Sigmund Freud(1856-1939). The main workings of the mind
are unconscious and therefore unaware of itself.
•  Psychoanalysis. The mind cannot be known through conscious
experience, alone.
•  The unconscious mind exerts great influence our actions, in fact it
is more important in determining our actions than the conscious
mind. The unconscious Mind can only be known indirectly by
someone who is trained in psychoanalysis.
Moved psychology toward study of mental testing of what the
mind can do in the real world and not just in the
laboratory.
When Psychology lost its Mind
John Watson(1878-1958). The mind is subjective and
unverifiable and therefore unscientific.
•  Behaviorism. Contents of the mind cannot be verified by an
independent observer. Proper role of science is to study only that
which can be observed-BEHAVIOR.
•  Telephone switchboard. Mind is simply switching station putting
together Stimuli with Responses as a consequence of
reinforcement. Thinking = talking.
•  Great progress in human experimentation. Animal research.
•  Skinner, modern counterpart. Environmental contingencies
explain behavior
•  Problems in handling complex thinking and language
The Blackbox Problem
Stimulusà Black Box à Response
Jean Piaget and children s thinking
Psychology - The Study of Mind (cont.)
Modern Psychology--Cognitivism(1960-present). The mind
can be studied objectively, and its covert actions are
crucial in explaining behavior.
•  Complex mental behavior cannot be explained without reference to
activity in the mind. It is possible to study mental processes
empirically through inferring the action of mental processes in the
mind (brain) to produce behavior.
•  We are moving now more toward explaining structure in the mind
by reference to structure of the brain(neuroscience). The original
goal for Wundt and his followers.
Recap
Dr. Martin's evil alter ego
Psychology as a science has studied the mind. As a science it
has assumed a determinism in the physical world and
rejects a metaphysical explanations for the way the mind
works.
The history of psychology has involved different methods and
assumptions about how the mind might be studied,
especially as it involved covert processes in the mind.
Imagine if you can, that I have an alter ego that is evil, whose
goal is to confound college students in any way that we
can. He especially likes to bring up studies that show
strange results but which buttress his beliefs about the
human condition. Would there be any way by which you
could counteract his intention and come to more realistic
understanding of psychology? Is there a way we can
evaluate whether his experiments really mean what he says
they mean?
The scientific method
Variables
Correlated Variables Suggest Relationship
Humans show variation in the traits they possess.
Variables
•  Single dimensions of traits whose variation can be
measured and assigned values are called variables.
•  Physical traits, e.g., height, weight, strength…
–  Easy to assign values to physical traits, using lbs,
inches, etc..
•  Psychological traits, e.g., intelligence, aggressiveness,
empathy, …
–  Measuring psychological traits and assigning values
more difficult (The Measurement Problem).
Scientific thinking begins with the observation that some
variables are related.
Correlations
Positive or negative correlation?
•  Hours of study and grades
•  Attending class and liking Dr. Martin
•  Alcohol use and good driving
•  Good looks and dates
•  Fraternity membership and boorish behavior
•  BO and number of friends
•  Watching reality TV and showing gender typed behavior
•  Being depressed and thinking positive thoughts
•  A psych major and being a fantastic person
If events or variables are correlated it suggests the possibility of a
causal relationship.
•  Example: People who smoke are more likely to develop lung cancer.
Examples of variables psychologists have studied
•  IQ and level of occupation
•  Spanking and moral development
Francis Galton s invented the Coefficient of Correlation (r) to measure
the relationship between two variables.
r ranges from -1.0 to +1.0.
•  Small +-.20
•  Moderate +-.50
•  Large +-.80
Positive Correlation - variables change in same direction.
•  Length of arms and legs, Money and Friends
Negative Correlation - as one variable gets smaller the other becomes
larger.
•  Percentage of people using seat belts and deaths on the highway
Which correlation is stronger, -.89 or +.89?
The Third Variable Problem
Although variables that are correlated may be causally related
it is by no means guaranteed.
•  Why is it that in elementary school children large feet are
correlated with reading better (+ correlation.).
There is a positive correlation between sexual satisfaction
between husband and wife and marital satisfaction. How
would you explain it?
Third Variable Problem
Compatible values
Marital satisfaction
Sexual satisfaction
Figure 3.4 Three possible cause-effect relationships
Myers: Psychology, Ninth Edition in Modules
Copyright © 2010 by Worth Publishers
Correlational Studies
Correlational studies examine the relationship between variables in their
natural state. In correlational studies relationships between variables
are observed but not manipulated.
1. Naturalistic Observation. Careful observation of behavior in a natural
setting with no intervention. Observation of Olympic athletes receiving
medals. Why does the silver medalist smile less than the bronze?
2. Case Studies. In-depth investigation of an individual subject. The case
of Genie, raised without language.
3. Surveys and Inventories. Questionnaires or interviews which gather
specific information about behavior. Survey of American sexual
attitudes.
The Scientific Method
Psychology attempts to provide scientific explanations by
making valid interpretations of the observation of
objective, empirical, and reliable phenomena found in
the relationship between variables.
•  Objective and empirical means the phenomena are found in the
real world and can be observed by all.
•  Reliable means that the phenomena are regularly observed in the
same way.
•  Valid means it is the most parsimonious explanation for the
relationship.
Which Method Would You Use?
Survey, Case Study, or Naturalistic Observation?
What is the percentage of parents who believe spanking is a
suitable method of disciplining children?
What encourages bullying on the playground?
Can feral children who are isolated from all human contact by
their parents (extremely rare), recover to normality?
Does marriage make you happy?
Testing the Relationship Between Variables:
The Scientific Explanation of the GAC 15
Each year the average incoming first year Gustie gains 15 pounds from
September through May. My scientific explanation (theory):
•  Food often provided in infancy when we are under a state of need by a
person who holds us close and loves us
•  Food calms us and makes us feel contented, leading us to associate food
with feeling good about ourselves and being loved
•  First year in college is anxiety provoking
•  Students try to calm their anxiety by eating because of its past association
with love and security. Therefore they put on weight.
Will you accept my explanation that this is true?
•  I have a Ph.D. in psychology, and I have thought long and hard about this.
No. However scientists are skeptics, not cynics.
•  Difference between relying on theories of how things work, versus relying
on observations of phenomena in real world. How can we test this theory?
How can my theory be tested?
The Measurement Problem
To test the theory we need to know if first term students become heavier
and is this related to anxiety?
•  The variables, weight and anxiety need to be measured.
•  Variables are hypothetical constructs. We need to specify how they are
to be measured by defining a procedure (operational definition).
An operational definition describes how we measure a property of a
variable. Operational definitions should be objective, reliable, and
valid.
Weight.
• 
I have observed first term students for many years, they do become
heavier.
•  Take a photograph of class in September in Fall and Spring and judge of
heavy they are.
•  Ask Students their weight in September and then in May.
•  Use a weight scale.
Measurement (cont.)
Operational definition measuring hypothetical construct of
anxiety more difficult.
•  Will you accept my clinical judgment that first term students are
more anxious?
•  Ask students if they are anxious?
•  Sleeplessness, jitteriness, have them complete anxiety survey,
GSR.
Much more room for argument over whether the variable has
been validly measured.
Key Point in Measuring Variables
Measurement of some variables (psychological constructs)
more controversial than others.
•  Intelligence, autism, low self-esteem, ADHD….
To make progress, reliable, accurate measurement is
essential. The ability to measure something well moves
scientific study forward.
Will Gingko Biloba make you smarter?
Use of GB
• 
• 
• 
Memory test score
Use every day
Occasional use
Never
95
80
40
Is there a relationship between these variables, can we conclude:
• 
• 
People who use GB have better memories?
GB causes better memories?
What are the presumed independent and dependent variables? Do we have control over the
independent variable?
Main problem with correlational studies is that they do not control the independent variables
and allow extraneous variables to have their effects.
Extraneous Variables
• 
Any variables other than the independent variable that are likely to affect the dependent
variable.
Confounding of Variables
• 
Occurs when two variables are linked together in a way that makes it difficult to sort out the
specific effects of the relationship between variables.
Self selection of subjects allows for confounded variables.
Population vs. Sample
Correlational Study
Population
Population is the complete set of people, events, or objects
that we wish to measure.
Sample is a subset of the population.
The larger the sample the closer it approximates the
population (Law of Large Numbers).
How the sample is drawn determines whether or not it is
representative of the population?
If random sampling
occurs it is only
within each group
Experimental group
Control group
Experimental Study of GB
Two things we would like to do in an experiment:
•  control independent variable
•  get rid of effects of Extraneous Variables because of self selection
Use of GB
Experimental Study
Population
Memory test score
•  Use every day
•  Occasional use
•  Never
95
80
40
Experimental studies control the independent variable and the effects of
extraneous variables through random assignment. This ensures groups
are the same in characteristics, allowing only the independent variable
to affect the dependent variable.
Can we conclude:
People who use GB have better memories?
GB causes better memories?
Random sampling
Representative
sample
Random assignment
Experimental group
Correlational vs. Experimental Studies
•  Subjects in correlational studies are self-selected, and the
independent variable is not controlled which may lead to
confounding by extraneous variables.
•  Experimental studies control of extraneous variables
through random assignment of subjects and ensure true
control of the independent variables.
•  Experimental studies can show causal relationships.
Why not always use experimental studies?
•  Correlational studies have better ecological validity.
•  Some phenomena cannot be studied experimentally.
Correlational or Experimental
•  According to Dr. Jerry Attrick, keeping your mind active will help
you ward of Alzheimers disease. Dr. Attrick studied groups of
older individuals 65 and older starting in 1994, none of whom
showed an indication of having Alzheimer s disease. He
hypothesized that life style differences could have an effect on
whether they maintained mental health. To test his hypothesis he
surveyed his subjects repeatedly beginning in 1994 on whether
they engaged in activities that would keep their minds active
e.g.reading the newspaper each day, working crosswords, playing
scrabble etc.. He found that those older people who engaged in
regular vigorous mental activity were nearly 50 percent less likely
to develop Alzheimer s disease. Dr. Attrick s advice is use it or
lose it.
Control group
Correlational or Experimental
•  Dr. Harry Friend declares that a friendship with "man's best
friend" makes the difference between life and death for some
cardiac patients. In looking for social factors that distinguish
between victims and survivors of coronary disease, Dr. Friend
discovered that pet ownership makes an important difference. In a
pilot study done on 92 cardiac patients one year after their release
from a Baltimore hospital, Dr. Friend found that only three people
out of a total of 53 who owned pets (including dogs, cats, birds
gerbils, and even an iguana) had died during the year, compared
with 11, or nearly 1/3 of the 39 who did not have pets. The
apparently beneficial effect of pet ownership held true even taking
into account a person's age, the severity of the illness, and the
companionship of other human beings. Dr. Friend found that pets
helped relieve the loneliness of illness even more than contact with
other people does, and that the pets' dependence created a need that
helped the owner survive.
Correlational or Experimental
•  Sex differences have long been a source of controversy in
psychological research, but a recent national study shows
overwhelming evidence that at least one gender difference, the
ability to deal with mathematical thinking, does exist. The study
centered on the results of the SAT test taken by the nation's male
and female students who plan to attend college. Approximately
50% of high school senior males and females take the exam each
year. The results show that males in every part of the nation score
above females on the math section of the test. It seems likely that
females recognize their limited capacity for mathematical thinking
since few females in the survey had chosen math as their college
major, and surveys show that it is extremely unlikely that females
will earn a Ph.D. in math although they are quite able to excel in
other disciplines. I guess this will decide who should handle the
family budget.
Subtle Mistakes in Past Research
Sampling Bias exists when a sample is not representative of
the population that are making conclusions about.
•  Incidence of Alzheimer s in Nursing homes
Experimenter bias occurs when a researcher s expectations
or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the
results obtained.
•  Facilitation with autistics? Running bright rats in a maze.
Demand characteristics - Any cues in a study that suggests
the purpose of the study or what the researcher hopes to
find out.
•  Hawthorne effect also known as Rosenthall effect.
Subtle Mistakes (cont.)
Experimenter Bias and Demand Characteristics creates problems in
Drug studies.
•  Classic Drug Study
–  Exp. Group receives Prozac. Depression lessens.
–  Control group receives nothing. No change.
•  Placebo effect - When Subject s expectations lead them to experience some
change even though they receive empty, fake or ineffectual treatment.
•  Single Blind Control
–  All participants believe they are being treated, or participants do not know
if they are being treated or not.
•  Double Blind Control
–  Both experimenters and participants are unaware of who is being treated
Descriptive Statistics
Research in Psychology and Common Sense
Is psychology a restatement of the obvious? Why do psychololgists study
what we already know?
Research shows:
•  Men are more practical than women when choosing a mate and are less
likely to fall in love at first sight than women.
•  Women are likely to become more emotionally upset during an argument
with a spouse than are men.
•  CEOs of large companies are more likely to develop ulcers from stress
than are the people who have lower status jobs without the responsibility.
•  Only children are more likely to be spoiled and have more difficulties
getting along with other children and succeeding in school.
•  Receiving a large amount of money for a disagreeable task will make the
task seem more positive than if you were paid a small amount of money.
Making sense of Raw Data
4, 3, 2, 0, 3, 1, 3, 4, 0, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 2, 4, 5, 5, 3, 4, 6
Number
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Frequency
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1
4
5
5
3
2
2
Central Score
• 
• 
• 
Mean =3.1
Mode = 3, 4
Median = 3
Dispersion
• 
Measures of central tendency
Mean, Mode, and Median
Range = 0 to 6
Descriptive Statistics
To describe a distribution we need a measure of central
tendency:
•  Mode – Most common score.
•  Median – Score in the middle of the distribution.
•  Mean - The arithmetic average of the scores in a distribution.
And a measure of variability
•  Range-highest and lowest score
•  Standard Deviation - An estimate of the variability of scores
around the mean.
–  SD = Sqrt(Sum(Score - Mean)2/N)
Populations of scores
SD= 3
SD = 8
M = 15
Figure 3.10 The normal curve
Myers: Psychology, Ninth Edition in Modules
Copyright © 2010 by Worth Publishers
64.1%
The intelligence test used by most psychologists has:
97.7%
•  a mean of 100
•  a standard deviation of 15
99.8%
The percentage of scores from the mean to +1 SD? To –1 SD? From –1 to +1?
The percentage of scores from 1 to 2 SDs? Those with a score less than 2SDs?
The percentage with a score greater than 2SDs. -1 SD or below? At the Mean?
Saul has an IQ of 85. How many standard deviations is he
away from the mean?
Mary has an IQ of 130. How many standard deviations is she
from the mean.
Kirsten has an IQ which is -2 standard deviations from the
mean. What is her IQ?
Daniel s IQ is a +2/3 a standard deviation from the mean.
What is his IQ.
Statistics
Statistics
1. On the first test in political science, John received a score
of 75. The mean for the test was 45 and the sd was 15.
What was his percentile?
2. On the first test in political science, John received a score
of 75. The mean for the test was 45 and the sd was 15.
On the second test the mean was 50 and the sd was 5.
John's score was 65. On which test did he receive a better
score?
Solution:
•  Compute how many SDs away from mean.
75-45 = 30, 30/15 = +2 SDs
•  Sum percentages contained in normal curve
From Bottom to Mean = 50.0%
From Mean to +1SD = 34.1%
From +1SD to +2SD = 13.6%
Percentile =
97.7%
Solution:
•  The greater the number of SDs from the mean the better the score.
•  Compute SDs for 1 and 2
Test 1, 75-45 = 30, 30/15 = +2SDs above Mean
Test 2, 65-50 = 15, 15/5 = +3SDs above Mean
John did better on test 2.
Statistics
3.
On the third test, his score ranked him in the 15th
percentile. The mean was 48 and the sd was 7. What was
his score?
Solution:
•  On the curve the first point where the percentage of scores would
equal 15 is at -1SDs. His score was 41.
Statistics
4. On the fourth test John recovered and received a score 1
1/2 standard deviations above the mean. if his score was 83
and the sd was 9, what was the mean?
Solution:
John's score is 1 1/2 SDs from mean or 13 1/2 points
(1.5 X 9 = 13.5).
Mean equals John's score - 13.5 points.
(83-13.5 = 69.5)
Inferential Statistics
For a psych test in which the mean was 63 and the SD was 3, what
percentage of people had a score between 60 and 66?
Inferential statistics are used to interpret data, and give us
estimates of whether our samples predict populations, from
which we can draw conclusions.
Joe s score on the psych test was –1.33 standard deviations from the
mean of 50. The standard deviation was 9. What was his score and
approximately how well did Joe do on the test.
Research question: Are there differences in American men
and women in mental rotation OR are their abilities the
same? How do we find this out?
-1.33 X 9 = 12
50-12= 38
Approximate percentile rank = 10 percentile.
One way is to use the sample of men and women who take
the mental rotation test.
Females
Males
One possibility:
Separate Populations
Abilities are different
Males and females
510
560
Second possibility:
Populations overlap
Same Abilities
We test
representative
samples to
estimate pops.
Inferential Statistics
Usually randomization creates samples that are very similar in
characteristics to populations, but sometimes your samples are quite
different from populations simply because of chance.
•  Analogy to tossing a coin 20 times and counting numbers of heads and
tails.
In research we want to estimate what is the likelihood that when we
observe samples that suggest that populations are different, it can be
the result of sampling error.
When the estimate of that likelihood is very low we say the samples are
statistically significantly different from each other. The accepted level
of significance is .05, which means that the differences we observe
between our samples will occur by chance approximately five chances
out of 100. This means that there are good odds that the differences ar
real.
Stroop
Control Condition Mean = 0.35
SD = 0.17
Experimental Condition Mean = 0.71
SD = 0.55
The t test = -2.17. The t test is insignificant, p > .05.
Drawing Conclusions From Experiments
Drawing Conclusions (cont.)
Conclusions about experiments depends on Internal and
External Validity
Internal Validity depends on how well the study was designed
and carried out.
External Validity is whether the experiment was
representative of the real world phenomena you would like
to explain.
Problem:
•  The design allowed the experiment to effectively manipulate the
independent variable
•  Participants were randomly assigned to the groups that differed in
the levels of the independent variable
•  The measures of the variables were valid, powerful, and reliable.
•  Finally, the change in the dependent variable was correlated with
the manipulation of the change in the independent variable.
If internal validity strong can you conclude that the
experiment explains a real world phenomena?
Theories in Psychology
Theories provide testable hypotheses that can be tested in research.
•  What if an experiment is done that tests the theory and the results are right
in line with those predicted by the theory. Does that prove the theory?
Science is tough.
•  Theories can only be supported, or disproved by experiments, they cannot
be proved.
Not all theories are scientific. To be scientific theories need to generate
testable hypotheses in the real world.
•  This is the problem with intelligent design it doesn t generate hypotheses.
•  Freud s psychoanalysis has opposite problem it generates too many
explanations.
Parsimony. Theories that are simple are to be preferred over theories that
are complex.
•  Do our operational definitions measure the properties of
hypothetical variables accurately, in terms of how they work in
real life situations? Does watching violent TV lead to serious
violence in our society?
•  There is causality in our experiment but it may not necessarily be
the same causality that works in the real world because of the
different context of the experiment.
Ethics in Behavioral Science
1. A subject's participation in research should be voluntary and
based on informed consent. Subjects should never be coerced into
participating in research. They should be informed in advance
about any aspects of the study that might be expected to influence
their willingness to cooperate. Furthermore, they should be
permitted to withdraw from a study at any time if they so desire.
2. Subjects should not be exposed to harmful or dangerous
research procedures. This guideline is intended to protect subjects
from psychological as well a physical harm. Thus, even stressful
procedures that might cause emotional discomfort are largely
prohibited. However, procedures that carry a modest risk of
moderate mental discomfort may be acceptable.
Ethics in Behavioral Science
3. If an investigation requires some deception of subjects (about
matters that do not involve risks), the researcher is required to
explain and correct any misunderstandings as soon as possible.
The deception must be disclosed to subjects in "debriefing"
sessions as soon as it is practical to do so without compromising
the goals of the study.
4. Subjects' rights to privacy should never be violated.
Information about a subject that might be acquired during a study
must be treated as highly confidential and should never be made
available to others without the consent of the participant.