PSY 101 Lecture Notes - Observer-Expectancy Effect, Psych, Inductive Reasoning
Document Summary
Involve attempts to measure or record behaviors, thoughts, or feelings in their natural state: ex) observation, psychologists (and other fields) use five major types. Naturalistic observation- involves observing behavior as it unfolds in its natural setting. Advantages: behaviors are spontaneous, doesn"t rely on people"s ability to report on their own experiences. Disadvantages: researchers may interfere while engaging behavior, some interesting behaviors are very rare, observer bias- researchers may selectively attend in certain events and ignore others, time consuming. Case studies- involve intensive examination of a single person or group. Ex) mass suicides or study of charles manson. Advantages: rich source of hypotheses, allows studies of rare behaviors. Ex) ted bundy, judging a book by its cover: difficult to generalize finding from a single case. Impossible to reconstruct causes from complexity of past events. Advantages: easy access to large amounts of pre-recorded data. Disadvantages: many interesting social behaviors are never recorded. Surveys- involves asking people questions about their beliefs and behaviors.
