PSYC 2030 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Psychophysiology
5 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSYC 2030 Chapter 2 Notes
Introduction
Detecting Relationships: Correlational, Experimental, and Cross-Cultural Designs
• Though very useful, psychophysiological responses are far from perfect indicators of
psychological states.
• Ee though a ifat’s heart rate or rai ae atiity ay idiate that he or she is
attending to a stimulus, it is often difficult to determine exactly which aspect of that
stimulus (shape, color, etc.) has captured attention.
• Furthermore, changes in physiological responses often reflect mood swings, fatigue,
hunger, or even negative reactions to the physiological recording equipment, rather
tha a hage i the ifat’s attetio to a stiulus or eotioal reatios to it.
• For these reasons, physiological responses are more likely to be valid indications of
psychological experiences when participants (particularly very young ones) are initially
calm, alert, and contented.
• A brief review of the data-gathering methods that we have examined thus far
• In the sections that follow, we will consider how investigators might design their
research to test hypotheses and detect developmental continuities and changes.
• Once researchers have decided what they want to study, they must devise a research
plan, or design, that permits them to identify relationships among events and
behaviours and to specify the causes of these relationships.
• Here we consider the three general research designs that investigators might employ:
correlational, experimental, and cross-cultural designs.
• The Correlational Design In a correlational design, the investigator gathers information
to determine whether two or more variables of interest are meaningfully related.
• If the researcher is testing a specific hypothesis (rather than conducting preliminary
descriptive or exploratory research), he or she will be checking to see whether these
variables are related as the hypothesis specifies they should be.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
