Experimental Psychology

Dr. Kim MacLin is Associate Professor of Psychology and Law at the University of Northern Iowa. She received her Ph.D. in the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Social Psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. She teaches Introductory Psychology, Psychology & Law, Social Psychology, and Research Methods. She was a recipient of the 2005 Outstanding Teaching Award for Untenured Faculty. Her research interests focus on criminal appearance stereotypes, the source of those stereotypes, and how those stereotypes impact memory and decision making in a variety of legal contexts.

 



To the Instructor.
To the Student.

 

I. BASIC PRINCIPLES IN EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY.

 

1. An Introduction to Scientific Inquiry.

The Topics of Experimental Psychology.

Science.

Facts, Theories, and Speculation.

Psychological Science.

The Scientific Method.

Experimental design.

Applying Assumptions of the Scientific Method to Experimental Psychology.

The Psychological Experiment.

Development Hypotheses in Experimental Psychology.

Other Research Methods.

Observation Methods.

Archival Research.

Correlational Studies.

Survey Research Methods.

 

2. The Psychological Literature: Reading For Understanding and As A Source of Research Ideas.

Ideas, Hunches, and the Psychological Literature.

Using the Internet.

Electronic Databases: Indexes, Abstracts, Full Text.

Reading and Understanding Psychological Articles.

A Form for Recording Articles.

 

3. Basic Experimental Design in Psychology.

The Logic of Experimental Psychology.

Operational Definitions.

Independent and Dependent Variables.

Experimental and Control Groups.

 

4. Advanced Design Techniques

Factorial Designs.

Quasi-Experimental Design.

Functional Designs.

Additional Considerations: Generalization of Results.

 

5. Experimental Design and Control.

Controlled Contrasts.

Scientific Interferences.

Types of Control.

Experimental Paradigms.

Use of Treatment and Control Groups.

Exercise.

 

6. Control Of Subject Variables.

Equality of Subjects in Treatment Groups.

Random Assignment.

Matching Subjects.

Within Subject Control.

Subject Loss (Attrition).

 

7. Design Critiques.

Experiment Briefs.

 

8. Ethics of Experimental Research.

Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.

Research with Humans.

Case Studies.

 

9. The Research Process.

Doing Research.

Writing a Research Paper.

Reporting Data.

Sample Manuscript.

Submission of Manuscript.

Poster Sessions at Professional Meetings.

II. ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTS.

 

10. Cola Tasting.

Introduction.

Special Issues: Control Problems.

Identification of Cola Beverages.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

11. Territoriality in Parking Lots.

Introduction.

Special Issues: Field-based Studies.

Territorial Defense in Parking Lots: Retaliation against Waiting Drivers.

Questions.

 

12. Fanning Old Flames.

Introduction.

Fanning Old Flames: Arousing Romantic Obsession through Thought Suppression.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

13. Picture Memory.

Introduction.

Comprehension and Memory for Pictures.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

14. Hormones and Toy Preferences.

Introduction.

Special Issues: Selection of Subjects as a Source of Independent Variables.

Special Issues: "Politically Incorrect" Findings.

Early Androgens Are Related to Childhood Sex-Typed Toy Preferences.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

15. Maternal Behavior.

Introduction.

Special issues: The Use of Animals in Psychological Research.

Maternal Behavior Induced by Maternal Blood Plasma Injected into Virgin Rats.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

16. Children's Reasoning.

 

17. Creative Porpoise.

Introduction.

Special Issues: Small n Designs.

The Creative Porpoise: Training for Novel Behavior.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

18. Perspective Shifting.

Introduction.

Recall of Previously Unrecallable Information Following a Shift in Perspective.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

19. Therapy for Anger.

Introduction.

Special Issues: Single-Subject Design in Clinical Studies.

Stress Inoculation: A Cognitive Theory for Anger and Its Application to a Case of Depression.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

20. Prosocial Behavior.

Introduction.

Questions.

Effects of a Prosocial Televised Example on Children's Helping.

 

21. Alcohol And Condoms.

Introduction.

Special Issues: Multiple Experiments.

Special Issues: Studying Complex Social Behavior in the Laboratory.

Why Common Sense Goes Out the Window: Effects of Alcohol on Intentions to Use Condoms.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

22. Karate Techniques.

Introduction.

Special Issues: Subject Variables.

Memory for the Frequency of Occurrence of Karate Techniques: A Comparison of Experts and Novices.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

23. Disputes In Japan.

Introduction.

Questions.

Disputes in Japan: A Cross-Cultural Test of the Procedural Justice Model.

 

24. False Confessions.

Introduction.

The Social Psychology of False Confessions: Compliance, Internalization, and Confabulation.

Analysis.

Questions.

 

Appendix A: Computational Procedures for Basic Statistics.

Appendix B: Statistical Tables.

Glossary.

References.

Credits.

Name Index.

Subject Index.