Essays on Psychological Research

Clinical psychology is a branch of psychology, which main objectives is to address issues (both practical and theoretical) related to the prevention, diagnosis of diseases and pathological conditions, as well as psych correction forms of influence on the process of recovery, rehabilitation, addressing various issues and experimental study of the impact of various psychological factors on the shape and course of various diseases. (Trull & Prinstein, 2013) A common task of the clinical psychologist in the medical institution is its involvement in the differential diagnosis of various diseases, treatment and social and labor adaptation of patients. First, it is to ...

Measurement in this case refers to use and application of rules for assigning numbers to different objects. Different measurement scales are applied for different classes of objects. For instance, measuring a height of a sample population may be done in inches, whereas the weight of the sample population may be done in kilograms. The scale measurement constitutes three important properties. According to Kaplan and Saccuzzo (27), these are magnitude, absolute zero, and equal intervals. Magnitude refers to the ability to represent more, less or equal attributes of a given entity or object. This is clearly shown in a scale of weight where one ...

Recently, there has been a paradigm shift, mostly in western countries, from an emphasis on crime prevention, to punishment. According to Fowler (2008), this trend is expected to accelerate steadily, at least in the United States. For instance, with respect to juvenile crime, there has been a frequent call for heightened outlays on crime detection and law enforcement, and for increased penalties for criminal as well as other anti-social behaviour (Meyers, 2010). This paper seeks to review the psychological research evidence on the effectiveness of punishment, and propose alternatives to the current trends.

Hollin (2008) describes punishment as the response-contingent use ...

Introduction to Psychological Research Methods

A community living close to an industrial area has raised concerns about contaminants from industry causing health problems in local families. Based on current research, the public health guidelines state that children should not have blood lead levels above 10 micrograms per decilitre, because elevated lead levels may cause long-term cognitive impairment. As part of the investigation, parents of all children in the 2- to 6-year-old age range who live within a 10km radius of the industrial area are contacted and strongly encouraged to have their children assessed. Lead levels in the children’s blood of are measured. Blood samples ...

The environments we live significantly influence all lives. Living in a big city and living in a small town both presents benefits of their location. Small towns offer fewer options that large cities, but people living it are healthy and happy. In big cities, too many choices lead to stressing life. A recent psychological research suggested that increase in choices might itself lead to unhappiness (Schwartz 835). Small towns have certain aspects and qualities that one cannot enjoy while living in large cities. In contrast to living in large cities, I find life in small towns enjoyable, because of the closer ...

Introduction

What is marijuana? How is it defined and why is it controversial in the US? According to the foundation for a Drug-Free World (2014), marijuana refers to the term used to describe the dried flowers, seeds, and leaves of the Indian hemp plant. In many instances, marijuana is often interchanged with the term cannabis. The Foundation for a Drug-Free World (2014) mentions that the hallucinogen chemical found is cannabis is known as THC, and may vary substantially from each different batch of marijuana. At the street where it is mostly sold, marijuana is commonly referred to as pot, dope, ganja, grass, ...

Tina Barry

Introduction Modern psychology relies primarily in experimentation. Since animals and human beings constitute the subjects of experimentation, precautionary measures continue to improve the process of experimentation while producing the less possible amount of damage to animals or human beings. Thus, different models, approaches and theories keep coming up as to how to do experimentation in psychology for furthering research. Danziger (1985) writes that the experimentation in psychology has evolved as a social institution (Danziger, 1985, p. 133). Similarly, Schultz (1970) recognizes that modern psychological experimentation is the result of a long history of developments that have shaped this science ...

Introduction

The research on this topic generally focus on various sources to determine if there is a casual relationship between attractiveness and success. This is a subject that has been under increasing amounts of scrutiny as more medical, cosmetic and surgical techniques are developed to alter an individual’s appearance. This paper will focus upon three areas where prior researcher have determined that there might be a direct relationship and look to determine if this relationship can be substantiated. The subject areas covered by this Research Paper are the effects of attractiveness, perceptions of performance, and social interactions.

Research Question:

Does appearance have an effect ...

1. Factor Analysis Factor analysis is a statistical procedure utilized for data reduction (Bartholomew et al., 2008). This reduction is reflected in lowering a large number of variables that have similar characteristics, into smaller factors (dimensions). Specifically, based on data reduction, factor analysis is conducted to identify the unobservable and underlying structure of a set of variables which are correlated with each other. These variables are coherent but independent of one another. By coherent it implies that the variables are very consistent and relate with each other harmoniously while independent denotes that the outcomes or the results of each variable are ...

Part I

Question 1 In social and behavioral sciences, research is defined as the methodical inquiry to explain, elucidate, foretell and control the phenomenon under observation. In social and behavioral science, research involves the use of different methods and techniques such as semiotics and hermeneutics. At times the more relativist epistemology is employed in the research process. In social and behavioral sciences, researchers do not conduct research to find the correct answer to a query; instead, they look into the details and issues entailed in the subject in question.

Question 2

Good psychological research is defined by four characteristics that outline its differences ...

Introduction

Psychology refers to a scholarly and applied subject that entails the scientific learning of rational roles and behaviors. It is of great concern to note that gender biases have continued to dominate most aspects of psychological research. Despite the various criticisms and efforts that have been placed to eliminate this problem, it is now clear that psychologists have failed in their efforts to eliminate gender biases in their research agendas (Rick, 1). Consequently, this raises important questions about the psychology discipline, especially with reference to its approach towards gender differences. As a result, this outwardly indicates that this is an area ...

Introduction

The double-blind randomized controlled trial is an experimental procedure where neither the experiments subject nor the person conducting it has any information about the unique aspects of the experiment. A double blind randomized controlled trial aims at measuring and comparing the outcomes that presents themselves from two or more clinical interventions. A single intervention will serve as a standard to compare or as the control in the experiment. The involved participants in the experiment will receive interventions in an organized random manner so that they all have the characteristics which are similar at every start of comparing them. Randomization ...

Psychology: Theoretical Concepts in Practice

Observation 1 Location: A blog article posted on The Wall Street Journal (http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/tag/education/) The article reviewed a study that had been released a few days earlier that had reached a conclusion that popular kids in high school earn more later on in life than their counterparts (Derby, 2012). In his review, Derby (2012) observed that the study, which was published by the National Bureau of Research, suggested that popularity is not an inborn personality trait, but rather a trait that can be acquired through building social skills and benefits the individuals.

Psychological application

This case study best illustrates the concept of nature versus ...

Social Psychology

Correlation is contrasting two sets of measurements also called variables and determining how they are interrelated but should already be in existence (Dimitrios, 2011). This allows researchers make prediction based on only one variable (Elisa, 2007). A good example would be the relationship between murder rates and owning guns. Research has shown that there are higher murder occurrences in areas where gun ownership rates were high. This is an example of positive correlation because as the number of gun ownership increase so does the rates of murder.

Deception in psychological research is whereby the researcher neglects to tell the ...

Alternative hypothesis

An alternative hypothesis is a statement or assertion that the parameter of the population (mean, variance or proportion) differs from the value expressed by the null hypothesis.

Generally, hypothesis is a statement or assertion about the parameter of a population. In psychological research, there is a statement that is usually tested to come up with a general conclusion about the characteristic of population under study. The null hypothesis (a statement that the parameter of the population like the mean or proportion is equal to a specified value) is the statement that is usually tested, however, when the null hypothesis is not right, there is always a statement ...

Introduction to Personality

Introduction to Personality Introduction This paper is devoted to the discussion of Veronica’s and Edward’s personalities from Paulo Coelho narrative Veronica Decides to Die. The personalities of the main characters were discussed form the psychoanalytic, behaviorist, and humanistic perspectives. The main concepts of three approaches to psychological research were discussed with regard to the practical implementation to the main characters’ personalities. A particular attention was paid to the analysis of the main concepts of each theory applicable to a certain occurrence. This paper is focused on the personality development. The aspects influencing the development of the ...

Abstract

The Stroop effect involves demonstrating a longer reaction time inherent in performing a more complicated task. The effects of conflict processing on reaction time is thought to be significant; the higher the level of conflict processing, the longer it takes for someone to react to that conflict. The current study measures response times based on four different exercises involving the reading of numbers and row length. The third exercise includes two levels of complexity (counting and number identification), as opposed to a single level of complexity with the remaining exercises. Eight pairs of subjects are tested for reaction time based on these ...

Abstract

The current study measures response times based on four different exercises involving the reading of numbers and row length. The Stroop effect is measured using mean reaction times to each sheet, and the t-tests for each comparison are calculated. According to the results, response time measurably decreases when order and number are shuffled.

Introduction

Cognitive conflict processing involves the selection of one stimulus among competing stimuli, requiring the ability to selectively attend to particular features in an environment. The Stroop effect is an experiment that is intended to determine one's ability to ignore conflicting stimuli while focusing on one single ...

Psychology as a science is being acted on by a number of values. What is wrong or right in the psychological sense has to be proven scientifically through fundamental research and empirical data. A part from what is right or what is not measurerable, the psychological research has to be accepted by the norms of the society. For instance, this branch of science has to offer investigations into the societal acceptabilities in particular instances. Some communities for example consider certain practices to be taboos as compared to others. Psychology fails to show the universality that exists between what is considered ...

The bond between a mother and her child is one which cannot be replicated in any way. The development of human beings is fundamentally built upon this bond and it is from our parents that our initial development grows. Through these primary relationships, we learn about love, affection and being sociable. The obvious question is whether we would successfully grow up into happy, functioning adults if we were not privy to these early experiences. Even further, the comments our parents make as we are developing through childhood and into early adolescence, can also have a marked effect on our confidence, ...

Asch’s Study of Conformity

In 1955, Solomon Eliot Asch carried out an investigation into human conformity as a social psychology study. Asch was interested in discovering under which circumstances people would be most inclined to conform. This study was pivotal in our developing understanding of social psychology as the better our knowledge of this, the less chance we have of being manipulated by others for their own ends.

The study itself focused on a group of several, male college students; they were told they would be examining line lengths in a study of ‘visual judgement.’ The men were shown one white card with one dark line ...