Chapter 1 Brief Text Outline
Psychololgy 281
Learning and Behaviour
Professor: Dr. Snyder
Learning and behaviour…?
Commonly used terms, but what do they really mean?
Example: the Octopi and the Crabs
Octopus and crab
Octopus opens jar and eats crab!
Results
Observation
Trained and naïve octopi
Learning and Behaviour
Learning
Enduring change
Experience
Behaviour
Procedures and actions
Learning
Non-learning
Purpose of Learning?
Biological
Survival
Evolved
Studying Learning and Behaviour
Comparative Psychology
Ethology
Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology
Behavioural ecology
Science is a Way of Thinking
Understanding the natural world
Asking questions
Systematically seeking answers
Methods of Acquiring Knowledge
Science
Empiricism
Rationalism
Authority
Intuition
Tenacity
Basic Assumptions of Science
1. A true, physical universe
2. Orderly system
3. Principles can be discovered
4. Knowledge is tentative
Scientific Research Involves
Creating and posing a question
Determining how to answer it
Planning and making empirical observations
Rationally interpreting the observations
Rules of Thumb
Most facts observed in psychology are behaviours
The internal condition is not observed; it is inferred
Ideas formed from inferences are constructs
Models
Representations of reality
Need not be real
New ideas generated from models
Theories
Theory: A formalized set of concepts that organizes observations and inferences, and predicts and explains phenomena
Testable
Theories can only be disproved
Hypotheses
Hypothesis: A statement about relationships among variables that implies empirical testability
A "mini-theory"
Levels of Constraint
Precision vs. flexibility
How much constraint?
Study Designs
Naturalistic observations
Variables
Variable: Any set of events that may have different values
Behavioural variables
Stimulus variables
Subject variables
Independent variables
Dependent variables
Constants
Validity and Reliability
Validity
Reliability
Judging Scientific Theories
Testability/falsifiability
Simplicity
Generality
Fruitfulness
Agreement with the data
Evaluating Research
Replication
Reliability
Conflicting results
Sampling bias
Sample: collection of subjects selected for a study
Population: much larger collection of animals or people from which the sample was drawn
Evaluating Research
Placebo effects
Distortions in self-reports
Demand characteristics
Experimental bias
Single- and double-blind procedures
Reading Journal Articles
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
References
URL: www.psych.ualberta.ca/~msnyder/p281/notes/out01.html
Page created: 5 Jan. 2003 --- Last modified: 6 May. 2003