psychology write up

175.102 Wellington

Psychology as a Natural Science

Course Guide and Laboratory Manual

2014

Copyright: This material is protected by copyright and has been copied by and solely for the educational purposes of the University under licence. You may not sell, alter or further reproduce or distribute any part of this course pack/material to any other person. Where provided to you in electronic format, you may only print from it for your own private study and research. Failure to comply with the terms of this warning may expose you to legal action for copyright infringement and/or disciplinary action by the University.

Table of Contents

A warm welcome to 175.102 .......................................................................... 1

Staff .................................................................................................................. 3 A personal message from Linda ... ............................................................................. 5 A personal message from Ella .................................................................................... 6

Getting information ....................................................................................... 7 Psychology notices ..................................................................................................... 7 Office staff .................................................................................................................. 7 Library staff ................................................................................................................ 7 Academic advice ......................................................................................................... 7

About the paper .............................................................................................. 8 Course status ............................................................................................................... 8 Aim ............................................................................................................................. 8 Topics covered ............................................................................................................ 8 Lectures ....................................................................................................................... 9 Laboratory classes ....................................................................................................... 9 Stream: Online learning ............................................................................................ 10 Structuring your study .............................................................................................. 10 Semester overview .................................................................................................... 12

Course materials ........................................................................................... 13 Course guide and Lab manual .................................................................................. 13 Required readings ..................................................................................................... 13

A recipe for success ...................................................................................... 15

Assessments ................................................................................................... 16 Assessment overview ................................................................................................ 16 Late assessment penalties ......................................................................................... 17 Extensions ................................................................................................................. 17 Grading policy .......................................................................................................... 18 Conditions for aegrotat pass and impaired performance .......................................... 18 Grievance procedures ............................................................................................... 18 Getting help ............................................................................................................... 18 Academic integrity and Turnitin ............................................................................... 19

Assessment 1: Short Answers ...................................................................... 22 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 22

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Marking ..................................................................................................................... 22 Due online ................................................................................................................. 22 Value ......................................................................................................................... 22 The Task: Short Answers .......................................................................................... 23 Submitting your assignment ..................................................................................... 23 Assignment checklist ................................................................................................ 25

Assessment 2. Lab report ............................................................................. 26 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 26 Objectives and rationale ............................................................................................ 26 Due dates ................................................................................................................... 27 Marking ..................................................................................................................... 28 Assessment topic: Levels of processing theory ........................................................ 28 Sources of information .............................................................................................. 29 The study ................................................................................................................... 29 Completing the report ............................................................................................... 32 Step 1: Gather the data .............................................................................................. 32 Step 2: Search the literature ...................................................................................... 33 Step 3: Write the report ............................................................................................. 34 Submitting your assignment ..................................................................................... 39 Pre reading service .................................................................................................... 40 Helpful hint ............................................................................................................... 41 Assessment 2 submission checklist .......................................................................... 42 Marking guide ........................................................................................................... 43

Assessment 3: Lab manual and attendance ............................................... 44 Due date .................................................................................................................... 44 Marking ..................................................................................................................... 44

Assessment 4: Final examination ................................................................ 44 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 44 Format ....................................................................................................................... 45 Marking ..................................................................................................................... 46 Hints .......................................................................................................................... 46 Time and place .......................................................................................................... 46

Lab Manual ................................................................................................... 47

Week 1: The study of psychology ............................................................... 48

Week 2: Research methods 1....................................................................... 50 Laboratory 1: Introduction to research design .......................................................... 51

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Week 3: Research methods 2 ...................................................................... 59 Laboratory 2: Descriptive/correlational research and reporting research findings ..................................................................................................................... 60

Week 4: Biological bases ............................................................................. 67 Laboratory 3: Psychometric testing .......................................................................... 68

Week 5: Nature nurture debate .................................................................. 82 Laboratory 4: Experimental research and referencing .............................................. 83

Week 6: Sensation and perception ............................................................. 92 Laboratory 5: Experiments in sensation ................................................................... 93

Week 7: Memory ........................................................................................ 103 Laboratory 6: Memory experiments and assignment ............................................. 104

Study “Break” ............................................................................................ 116 Assignment planning checklist ............................................................................... 117

Week 8: Consciousness .............................................................................. 118 Laboratory 7: Assignment drop in .......................................................................... 119

Week 9: Learning 1 .................................................................................... 120 Laboratory 8: Learning tool box and behaviour modification ................................ 121

Week 10: Learning 2 .................................................................................. 132 Laboratory 9: Critical thinking ............................................................................... 133

Week 11: Thought and language .............................................................. 145

Week 12: Exam preparation ..................................................................... 146

Appendix 1: Using Stream......................................................................... 147 Netiquette ................................................................................................................ 148

Appendix 2: Massey University Library .................................................. 149 Library website (http://library.massey.ac.nz) ......................................................... 149 Using the library in person ...................................................................................... 150 EndNote .................................................................................................................. 150

Appendix 3: Supporting your learning .................................................... 151 Disability Services .................................................................................................. 153

Appendix 4: Feeling overwhelmed? ......................................................... 154 Ask yourself… ........................................................................................................ 154 Tell yourself… ........................................................................................................ 154 Do… ........................................................................................................................ 154

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Appendix 5: APA referencing summary .................................................. 155 In-text referencing .............................................................................................. 155 Reference list ...................................................................................................... 156

Internal Assessment Summary ................................................................. 159

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A warm welcome to 175.102

Tēnā koutou kātoa. Greetings from the hardly-ever-windy Wellington Campus of Massey University. Whether this is your first foray into university study, or you are an experienced student, the staff are keen to support you as you work towards achieving the learning outcomes for 175102, Psychology as a Natural Science. Students who successfully complete this paper should be able to: 1. Be aware of important research findings in fundamental areas of psychology. 2. Know the terminology, concepts, theories, and methods used in scientific psychology

at an introductory level. 3. Understand the application of psychological research to everyday situations. 4. Write psychological research reports at an introductory level. 5. Have strategies to think critically about psychological issues. 6. Appreciate the practical and ethical issues in the study of psychology. This Course Guide is designed to contain all the information you need to know about the organisation and administration of the course. Read it carefully now, and come back and check it when you are in doubt about anything related to the running of the course. Most importantly, transfer the various key dates into your phone/diary – especially the due dates for assessments. This book is also your Lab Manual. You are required to bring it with you to your weekly lab sessions throughout the semester. 175.102 is an introductory course for the study of psychology from a scientific perspective. It is the core paper in psychology that requires you to learn the conventions of the academic writing form called the lab report. The course explores various aspects of psychology based primarily on eight chapters from your set text, Psychology: Australian and New Zealand edition, authored by Burton, Weston, and Kowalski (2012). The lecture programme follows the text book which begins by looking at the development of

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psychological thought. There are several different ways, known as perspectives, of understanding how people think, feel, and behave. Like many fields of study (economics, politics, religion) key researchers and theorists do not always agree. We focus on the scientific methods used to generate and communicate psychological knowledge. That will help you to think about how it is possible for scientists to challenge old ways of understanding and to generate new knowledge. These are the keys to the course and the reason this paper is required for any further psychology study at Massey University. After the history of psychological thought and the scientific methods chapters, we work our way through a range of fascinating topics including the human brain, our five senses, consciousness, and, of particular importance to students, how we learn, how our memory works and how we develop language and thinking. Psychology is an inherently interesting subject - after all, it is about you! (It’s about animals sometimes too.) You will learn about behaviour - how we think, feel, and act - in the context of biology, culture, and history. In addition, through the lab report assignments, you will learn about the process of doing and reporting research findings. By the end of the course you should have a good basic grasp of psychological terms and perspectives, and you just might find yourself thinking differently about everyday life, and especially when you read about research findings about other people’s behaviour online or in the news. Regardless of whether you are going on with more papers in psychology, you will learn much in this course that will strengthen your ability to understand and reflect on the world around you. Consider for example the issue of alcohol use in this country. There is a lot of media attention on binge drinking by adolescent and young adults. Citizens of New Zealand appear to have the right to make their own choices about how, when and how much they party. Should we be supporting individual decisions to drink or should we try to provide a more controlled environment? Rather than saying here what psychologists think the answer is, we are saying that after passing this course you will be able to apply some of the course content to inform your own position. You will be introduced to the so called “nature-nurture” debate. For example, is alcohol abuse a result of genes, home environment, wider society or all of the above? Are there ways to reduce drinking by considering these factors? You will find material in Chapter 3, the biological bases for behaviour, on how chemicals in the brain affect mood and behaviour. Perhaps this will lead you to think about alcohol in a different way. In Chapter 4, while studying sensation and perception, you might think about how alcohol affects and often impairs our judgement. You might think about the differences between legal and illegal drugs, after learning about drugs and health in the consciousness chapter (5). Chapter 6 will introduce the topic of learning and may leave you wondering just how alcohol abuse behaviour becomes

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reinforced learning. Is the euphoria of abusing alcohol really worth the next day’s hangover? If it is not, then why do so many of us persist? What rewards our behaviour? Should we be promoting safer and more constructive means of recreation, or have we built an established drinking culture, that science should not mess with? In Chapters 7 and 8 we recognise the role of language, how children acquire language and how memory works. In terms of alcohol abuse, you might see ways that apparently rational drinking decisions can be fundamentally flawed. This is just one example of how the course material might relate to a current social issue. We hope you find that whatever issue you feel strongly about, this introduction to studying psychology will give you new skills to place behaviour in a range of contexts. We hope this course will help you evaluate claims about a range of beliefs and knowledge. Critical thinking is an important skill that university students learn. In particular, the importance, when reading a newspaper headline or any other ‘fact’, of asking ourselves questions such as: How good is that knowledge? Is it research based or just an opinion? If it does come from research, is it good research? Who were the participants? Take special note as this is an election year. How are you going to decide who to vote for? Will you follow what your parents have done; be swayed by media reports of policy; decide it’s all too difficult or boring and not vote; or think about how democracies work, who has died so you can live in one, and rationally honour your role as a citizen? This isn’t a political science course, but this year you’re going to be hearing a lot about people’s attitudes and 175102 will help you evaluate them. If you want to know more about behaviour and attitudes then you’ll want to take 175101 too. That’s psychology as a social science.

Staff All you need to know and more... The paper coordinator is Senior Lecturer, Dr Linda Jones.

Dr Linda Jones Phone 801 5799 x 63410 (24 hour voicemail) Email [email protected] Office Room 7C62 “Open office” hours Wednesday 12 noon-2pm Mail box 7C51c wall

Linda is responsible for general course administration, the lecture programme, writing the assessments, some marking, and moderating your final grade. Linda does not deliver all the

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lecturers, but will give many of them. Universities are places where research and teaching go hand in hand, and in this paper we demonstrate our commitment to what is called “the teaching research nexus”. Linda’s expertise and research interests are in health psychology (specifically in dentistry) and the environment. You should expect to hear about examples of her work as it illustrates a theory or concept. That is the university way. Contact Linda, if you have problems with your enrolment, or if you have personal problems and get behind. Linda can offer more options the sooner she knows you are not keeping up with the course content or the assignments. If there are specific questions that arise for you from a lecture, you can either raise them in your laboratory session where the class may benefit from the Q & A, or contact Linda directly. Guest lecturers are Massey staff and can be emailed directly. See Linda if you have any complaints about the course. Linda says: “In a first year paper, sometimes students worry that senior staff are unapproachable or too busy to bother about the things that are actually important to your enjoyment and success. This is NOT the case with me. I am available for you to visit without an appointment during my drop-in hour (see below) or you can email me for an appointment. Although you will get to know Ella better and only see me in the formal lecture situation, remember I am very happy to get to know my students. The only way I can is if you drop in. Make a point at some stage during the semester of visiting me and saying hello. I will be pleased to meet you.” The paper’s tutor senior tutor Ella Kahu.

Ella Kahu Phone 801 5799 x 62163 (24 hour voicemail) Email [email protected] Office Room 7C51b “Open office” hours Mon 9-10 am; Wed 1-2 pm. Mail box 7C51c wall

Ella is responsible for organising laboratory class rolls in week one, and monitoring the course Stream (online) site with its resources, discussion, and assessment processes. She teaches your weekly lab sessions. Ella has just submitted her PhD studying the engagement of mature-aged distance students in their first year of university. As well as running the lab sessions, Ella is available every week for additional one-on-one support. This can be done by dropping in during “open office hours”. You can come alone

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or bring a friend. If you can’t make it during the open office hours, email Ella and arrange an appointment. Ella works part-time, so you may need to be flexible about the timing. Please note that neither Linda nor Ella will repeat work you’ve simply missed because you didn’t attend class. If you drop in or email, it is helpful to bring specific questions about content or skills, and be able to show you have done the reading first! However don’t be put off addressing problems by staff saying you need to come prepared. We want students to actively use our office hours for their learning. Alternatively, if your question is general rather than personal, you can post it on the Stream discussion forum so that other students can join in and benefit from the discussion.

A personal message from Linda ... I hope this is going to be an exciting semester for all of us. I have been fascinated by the practical side of psychology since the very first paper I took as an undergraduate, reading a BA (Soc Sci) as a part-time, mature student / parent of a growing family of five. To begin with, I attended Massey University in Palmerston North. I started out by enrolling in two intro psychology and two intro sociology papers in that first year. The first (scary) essay I ever wrote was on health beliefs and teeth - actually in sociology - with our Vice Chancellor, the Hon Steve Maharey as the class lecturer and my group’s tutor. I still have that essay, but I’ve come a long way since then and gathered quite a few qualifications! I loved being a student and didn’t stop studying until I had collected a couple of diplomas and the full set of four degrees – a bit like collecting All Blacks cards out of the Weetbix for the World Cup. Between my Master of Arts degree (MA) at Victoria University and my doctorate (PhD) back at Massey, I spent a couple of years at teachers college getting a Diploma in Teaching. I’m a member of the NZ Psychological Society, the International Stress and Anxiety Research Society, the International Academy of Design and Health and the Royal Society of New Zealand. Don’t let any of that put you off contacting me. The most important thing you can do for me is keep me in touch with student life in 2014. There is a saying about academics - we work in an ivory tower. Basically that means we get out of touch with reality. Sometimes I know that feels true for me, so I need you to drop in and say hello, and I’ll be a better lecturer for your doing that. You might like to know what I’m doing when I’m not involved with day-to-day class contact. My specific research areas are health and environmental psychology. I develop real world applications from psychological theory – almost always in dentistry! My current work for example, includes leading an international team who are developing an original computer game that children can play to reduce dental anxiety The game is

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called Dental Jungle. On the other side of the coin, I also research and develop resources for dentists to combat occupational stress. On the environmental side I’m working with post graduate students to see how manipulating the environment can help people with dementia, help children in decision making and problem solving, and even break addictions to alcohol and drugs. Well that’s enough about me, so let’s get onto the nuts and bolts of the course. Best wishes for your enjoyment and successful completion of the paper. Linda A personal message from Ella. Like Linda, I started studying psychology part time as a mature-aged student with a family. Unlike her however, I did all my study by distance which adds its own particular challenges. I enjoy teaching first year psychology students and am looking forward to meeting you all. I teach both the internal Wellington version of this paper and the distance version and enjoy both styles of delivery. As I write this, I am about to submit my PhD thesis which looks at the engagement of mature-aged distance students in the transition to university (like so many research students, I chose a topic very close to my own experiences). I run all the tutorials for the internal students so you will get to know me there. For the distance students, I manage the Stream site including the discussion forums so that will be your main way of interacting with me unless you come to the (highly recommended) campus block course. I also have open office hours each week when all students are very welcome to drop in and say hello or ask me anything about the course content or assessments. Otherwise, send me an email and we can make an appointment for a different time. I hope you enjoy your (probably first) taste of psychology as a topic – it is a fascinating discipline and one that you will find useful no matter where you are heading in your life and work. Ella.

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Getting information Psychology notices

The main source of information will be your Stream site – all class lists and other important details will be posted online. There is also a School of Psychology notice board in the Block 7 - C floor corridor, near the entrance to the teaching wing. General information about courses and events in the School of Psychology can be found here. Students may use a section of the notice board to organise discussion or study groups, buy and sell textbooks, etc. Advertisements must be course related.

Office staff

Claire Grant is the School of Psychology, Wellington Campus administrator. She works in the College office with Megan Burnett. Megan is the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Administrator. Claire and Megan have offices off the reception/waiting area by the main entrance to Block 7. They will take messages and mail for Psych staff. Go to Megan too for property that has been lost or found in Block 7. Lab manuals not collected at the last lecture will be left with Megan until the end of week 2 of semester two, 2014, when they will be consigned to the recycle bin. If you absolutely want yours back but cannot collect it, you can email Claire and request that she post it to an address you supply. Claire’s email is [email protected]

Library staff

The librarian who has psychology in his portfolio is James Duncan. Ask for him if you have any specifically 175102 course questions. He will know about the assessments you have to complete and can direct you to appropriate online and hard copy resources. James’ email is [email protected]

Academic advice

Psychology students can get psychology-specific academic advice from the school’s academic advisor, Jo Stevenson. Email Jo at [email protected] She will call you (call you back) if you want to talk over your planning psychology papers or your psychology degree, withdrawal processes and cut-off date etc. Alternatively call 0800 MASSEY and ask for Jo’s extension in the School of Psychology.

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About the paper Course status

This course is a pre-requisite for Massey University (MU) 200-level psychology courses 175.203, 175.205 and 175.206; 300-level psychology courses; and all degrees with a psychology major.

Aim

This paper broadly covers introductory content of psychological knowledge and skills that are necessary for both real life and the further study of psychology. The learning outcomes that you need to demonstrate that you have mastered in the assessments are: 1. Be aware of important research findings in fundamental areas of psychology. 2. Know the terminology, concepts, theories, and methods used in scientific psychology

at an introductory level. 3. Understand the application of psychological research to everyday situations. 4. Be able to write psychological research reports at an introductory level. 5. Have strategies to think critically about psychological issues. 6. Appreciate the practical and ethical issues in the study of psychology.

Topics covered

The topics covered are in the first eight chapters of the textbook, Burton et al.’s (2012) Psychology: Australian and New Zealand edition (3rd ed.). Chapter 1: Psychology: the study of mental processes and behaviour (pages 1-25 only) Chapter 2: The research methods in psychology Chapter 3: Biological bases of mental life and behaviour Chapter 4: Sensation and perception Chapter 5: Consciousness Chapter 6: Learning Chapter 7: Memory Chapter 8: Thought and language (pages 295-320 only)

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Lectures

Lectures are held each week on Monday from 2-4pm in LT200.

Laboratory classes

Attending lab sessions are an important and compulsory part of this paper. Lab classes start in the second week of the semester. In the first week you complete the preference form in the lecture (see below) to get into the time slot that works for you and us. We list a number of things you can do with your extra time in week one, in that section of the study material. Proposed laboratory times and location The various choices of session times for labs are available online in your personal timetable. You will be selecting one of these times to attend each week, all semester. Note however that, depending on enrolment numbers, not all of those times may be available. In addition, as some students have very tight schedules, they may be given preference in certain lab classes. Check on Stream and come to the first lecture to find out the confirmed times and rooms. Choosing your lab time In the first lecture we will give you a laboratory “sign-up” sheet where you can rank order your choice of lab time (so make sure you bring your timetable with you). Confirmed class lists will then be posted, towards the end of week one, on Stream and on the Psychology Undergraduate Notice board in Block 7. You are responsible for finding out which class you are in, for checking where your class will be held and being there on time with your copy of this book. Computer labs Some of our lab sessions are held in computer classrooms. Check the timetable carefully. Room numbers will be advised on Stream, and in class, closer to the time. Attendance is compulsory Attendance at labs is compulsory and attendance rolls are kept. There is a 1-mark penalty on the lab assessment for each session missed without a medical certificate or similar supporting document. This is equal to 1% of the final course mark for each missed session. You must attend for the full two hours. Lateness, or leaving early will be recorded and habitual lateness will be marked as absence. Ten minutes is the “operational definition” of arriving late or leaving early. Habitual is more than twice. You must attend the same

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session time you are assigned to, each week. Ella may agree to one-off or permanent change if you discuss your requirements with her.

Stream: Online learning

As with all Massey University papers, there is a Stream site for this paper that we will use to communicate with you. You will also be submitting the results from an experiment online from a Stream link, and will submit both your assignments through Stream for online marking. You should check the course Stream site at least once a week and check your email regularly as we also use that for speedy communication. In Appendix 1: Using Stream, you will find information on how to access Stream and also important advice on how to make the discussion forums more effective for everyone.

Structuring your study

According to Massey guidelines, you should be spending 12 hours per week on this paper. This is an average and it may be more in the weeks leading up to the assignments and exam. Are you an experienced student? Some of you will be experienced university students and be taking this paper as an elective later in your degree. If that is the case then you can obviously choose to skip the links and resources we provide for skills such as referencing. Similarly, there is no requirement to follow the suggested task lists. Make sure, however, that you complete the required readings (Burton et al., 2012), do any critical thinking exercises, and complete your assignments. Make sure you come on to Stream sometimes as well. Experienced students can offer good advice to new students when they see those students having the same problems that they have overcome. Are you a new student? This is a first year paper so we have included links and resources to help you acquire important student skills such as time management, library use, referencing, writing with academic integrity, etc. Your textbook also has a useful section in Chapter 1 called How to study effectively (p. 31). Make the most of these resources as the skills will help you for years to come. The Writing Guide (Burton, 2010) is another useful resource for academic writing skills that you will need in this paper and in others. The Task Lists provided for each week are a suggested timetable only, but if you are new to study then following them will ensure that you get everything done in the required time.

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Each week you should: 1. Follow the study schedule overleaf and the Task Lists for each

week. These include which parts of the textbook to read and take notes on, any recommended activities on Cyberpsych to make your learning more fun (and more effective), and any steps you should be taking towards completing your assignment.

2. Read and take notes on the relevant sections of the textbook. Your textbook has a number of features designed to guide your learning and you would do well to become familiar with them (see pages xvi-xvii). For example, each chapter starts with learning objectives and ends with questions that encourage you to review, discuss, and apply the learning. Throughout each chapter there are also learning aids that highlight things such as key debates, links between chapters, and discussion topics. These will encourage you to actively engage with the content rather than just passively read it and therefore increase your understanding and retention of the material.

3. Attend the lecture and your lab class. Your learning will be more effective if you read

the appropriate chapter in your textbook before the lecture, and if you read the lab manual for that week before you attend your lab class.

4. Go online to Stream and check there is nothing new that you need to know for this

week. There may also be some links to useful external resources. In the lead up to the assignment there may also be discussion in the forums that you will find useful.

5. Do some work on the current assignment, as suggested in the Task Lists that are part of

the study guide. To help you plan, we include a semester overview on the next page.

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Semester overview

Week of Lecture topic Required reading Lab topics Due dates

1 24 Feb The study of psychology Chapter 1 pp. 1-25 only None

2 3 March Research methods part 1 Chapter 2 1. Welcome and designing research

3 10 March Research methods part 2 Chapter 2 supplement 2. Descriptive/correlation research

4 17 March Biological bases Chapter 3 3. Psychometric tests, brain function

5 24 March Nature nurture debate Parts of a lab report Catch up week 4. Experimental research and referencing

(comp lab) Assign 1 due: 28th March 9pm

6 31 March Sensation and perception Chapter 4 5. Depth perception and colour vision

7 7 April Memory Chapter 7 6. Memory experiments and assignment (comp lab) LoP experiment data: Friday 11th April 9pm

14-25 April Easter and study time Assignment

8 28 April Consciousness Chapter 5 7. Assignment support drop in Lab report due: Friday 2nd May 9pm

9 5 May Learning 1: Operant conditioning and modelling Chapter 6 8. Learning toolbox

10 12 May Learning 2: Classical conditioning Catch up week 9. Critical thinking Lab manual due: In lab class

11 19 May Thought and language Chapter 8 pp. 295-320 only None

12 26 May Exam preparation and revision

Examination: 12th June afternoon (but check online as this can change)

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Course materials The resources you will need to successfully complete this course consist of this lab manual, the textbook, writing guide, DVD and the online resources available through Stream. Each of these is explained in more detail below.

Course guide and Lab manual

The Course guide and Lab manual (that you are currently reading) contains all the information on the course requirements, staff, assessment tasks, and required resources. It also has a Task List for each week to help you plan your study. Importantly, it contains the information you need for your weekly lab session. You are required to:

• pre-read each session before the lab; • bring this laboratory manual to every lab; and • submit this laboratory manual, including the completed lab worksheets, for

assessment at the end of the lab programme (see assessment). (Replacement copies are available, for you to download and print, on the course Stream site, but looking after the one you are given, including your work, is your responsibility.)

Required readings

The following three resources are compulsory reading for this course: Burton, L., Westen, D., & Kowalski, R. (2012). Psychology: Australian and New

Zealand edition (3rd ed.). Milton, Australia: John Wiley and Sons Australia. The exam is based on the first eight chapters of this edition of this textbook. As they may have different content, we do not recommend using earlier editions. Burton, L. (2010). An interactive approach to writing essays and research reports in

psychology (3rd ed.). Milton, Australia: John Wiley and Sons Australia. This writing guide is an essential resource for this paper as it contains the APA guidelines for lab report writing and referencing that you must follow in the lab report assignment. You will find it useful for your other papers also as it contains advice on essay writing, critical thinking, and grammar - all essential skills for university study. Cyberpsych. (Version 3). John Wiley and Sons Australia. This DVD Cyberpsych contains various videos and interactive modules to support your learning. While not directly examinable, most students find it useful for understanding and remembering the textbook content.

Buying the books Bennett’s bookshop on campus stocks the required texts bundled together or you can order online or at any other supplier. At Bennett’s there are three different packs available; choose the one that best suits you. Pack 1: Printed textbook, digital version of textbook, writing guide, and DVD Pack 2: Printed textbook, writing guide, and DVD Pack 3: Digital textbook, writing guide, and DVD

Do not delay in getting your textbooks. With a one-semester course and a lot of reading, you can’t start too soon. Get Burton et al. (2012) as soon as possible and please keep up with the reading. If for some reason you cannot buy the text book immediately then you may be able to temporarily borrow a copy from the Massey library – see Appendix 2: Massey University Library.

BUY YOUR BOOKS NOW!

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A recipe for success Doing well on a course is easier if you start as you mean to go on. There is little worse than suddenly realising, in Week 6, that you are already miles behind, so apply these 10 ingredients:

1. Purchase your textbooks immediately and get reading.

2. Prepare (and stick to) a semester plan for reading and assignments across all your papers NOW.

3. Attend all the lectures and all the lab classes. Come prepared having read the relevant textbook chapter and section of this lab manual.

4. Visit Stream regularly and use the resources provided.

5. Aim to complete your lab report a week before the due date. This will prevent panic and penalties. It also means you can use Student Learning’s pre-reading service (see Appendix).

6. Don’t just read - you need to be actively learning so summarise each section into note form for later revision - include definitions and examples.

7. Use the supports and resources available to you - including these guides, the textbooks, the DVD, Stream, Student Learning (see Appendix 3: Supporting your Learning at Massey University for details), and us!

8. If you don’t understand something or you are worried about something - ask.

9. Strive for an A grade - if you aim for a C and miss then you fail, but if you aim for an A and miss then you get a B. 

10. Revise extensively and efficiently for the exam (more tips on that later).

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Assessments

Assessment overview

There are four assessment tasks for this paper as shown in the table below. All four are compulsory. Table 1 Compulsory Assessment Tasks

Assessment Due dates Weight Assignment 1: Short answer test on academic report writing

9pm Friday 28th March 10%

Assignment 2: Lab report Data: 9pm Friday 11th April Report: Friday 2nd May 9pm

20%

Lab Manual and attendance Last lab class, week starting 12th May

10%

Final examination

12th June (but check website as this can change)

60%

To pass this course, you must meet all of the following academic requirements: • Submit assignment 1 by the final date of 30th May (this would be too late for it to be

marked, but would meet the compulsory requirement to submit your answers. Do not confuse the final date with the due date for meeting the course regulations! Short answers submitted after the penalty date receive 0 marks.)

• Submit a lab report by the final date of 30th May (Again, this would be too late for

feedback and would attract 0 marks, but would meet the compulsory requirement to submit).

• Attend lab classes (1% deduction for each one missed) • Attain a minimum of 50% from the combined internal and final exam marks. NOTE: One of the key learning objectives of this paper is that students learn how to write a psychological research report. Therefore, if you do not submit both the

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assignments, you will be given a DNC (fail) grade, even if you do brilliantly in the final examination.

Late assessment penalties

Missing the due time and date for the online submission of an assessment will incur a penalty unless an extension of time has been arranged with Linda (see contact details here or on Stream) in advance of the due date. For the two assignments, there is a precise cut- off for submission. Work received in the first two days following the cut-off will incur a penalty of 1% of the course mark. Work received between three and five days after the cut-off will receive a 2% course mark penalty and minimal feedback. Work between six and seven days after the cut-off will receive a 3% course mark penalty and minimal feedback. Work submitted later will meet the course requirements for compulsory submission but will receive 0 marks towards the final course mark and no marker’s comments. These very late submissions will simply be acknowledged as meeting the compulsory requirements for that assessment, so the student may continue on in the course.

Extensions

Short extensions on the due date for the assessments may be available in exceptional circumstances such as accident, illness, or bereavement. Please contact Linda directly, before the due date if possible, to request an extension. Requests for extensions must be accompanied by supporting documentation such as a medical certificate, counsellor’s letter, police report, or newspaper death notice.

Workload is not a reason for an extension. Nor is having to mind your neighbour’s children. The workload extension is the one most often requested and WE ALWAYS SAY NO. You have the due dates from the start of the course and must plan your life around them!

We realise the writing tone is changing from friendly and welcoming to a bit negative on this one. There’s another thing too. When students pass a paper or a degree, it says something about them. It says what knowledge area they have mastered and also that they can manage their time, write reports, think critically and so on. You have chosen to study, along with all the other things that happen in life, so now you must manage your time. Procrastination is your enemy!! Record your “essential” TV programmes for later viewing or watch later online. Say NO (like we are going to), to family requests. Leave that housework / gardening / car washing / cooking, till after your assignment is in.

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If you have plans to travel during the course, or you are representing us at international sporting events, or you know you can’t start at the same time as everyone else because of family plans like travel, moving house and the like, you should seriously ask yourself, “Is this is the right time in my life to start this paper?” or ask, “Should I be taking as many papers as I am when this is a new experience or other things are happening in my life?” Do get advice from our academic advisor (see page 7). Talk about how many papers you have enrolled in if this is your first semester ever; and make sure you are not over committed. It will spoil your experience of studying and maybe the outcome. Jo knows the dates for withdrawal without academic penalty and the date you can get some of your fees back (and that info is also on the Massey website).

Grading policy

All grades received as part of the assessment for a paper will be subject to final moderation by the Chief Examiner (Head of School), and may be adjusted in accordance with the guidelines for the distribution of final grades approved by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Board.

Conditions for aegrotat pass and impaired performance

If you are prevented by illness, injury or serious crisis from attending an examination (or completing an element of assessment on a specific date), or if you consider that your performance has been seriously impaired by certain circumstances, you may apply for aegrotat or impaired performance consideration. You must apply on the form available from the Massey University website. You have to supply evidence – see the form.

Grievance procedures

A student who claims that he/she has sustained academic disadvantage as a result of the actions of a University staff member should use the University Grievance Procedures. Students, whenever practicable, should in the first instance approach the University staff member concerned. If the grievance is unresolved with the staff member concerned, the student should then contact the relevant Head of Institute/School/Department or College office for further information on the procedures. The procedures can be found on the University website in the University Calendar.

Getting help

Start work on the assignments, particularly the lab report, early - that way, if you struggle, you will have time to seek help. The discussion forum on Stream is an excellent place to

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turn to for help regarding the assignment - you may even find that someone else has had the same question and that the answer is already there. Before you post your question, check that it is not answered in this Lab Manual though. Make sure you read the instructions carefully - often re-reading the requirements can clarify things. Attend the lab classes and use these times to ask questions or seek further clarification. In particular, the lab class in week 7, starting 7th April, will cover the assignment requirements, the experiment and the process of writing a report. Then, in week 8, the week starting 28th April after the break, the lab times will be open and Ella will be available for specific questions or concerns. Remember Ella and Linda have drop in times, or email them for learning support. If you need help managing precious study time, learning study skills, learning multi- choice test or exam essay techniques, or writing lab reports and essays - remember that the Centre for Teaching and Learning is there to help you. Check Appendix 3: Supporting your learning at Massey University, for a full list of their services and resources - everything from workshops to handouts to a pre-reading service for assignments. It always amazes (and saddens) us how many students do not access these wonderful free services.

Academic integrity and Turnitin

It is mandatory that any assessment items that you submit during your University study are your own work. Massey University takes a firm stance on academic misconduct, such as plagiarism and any form of cheating. Academic integrity breaches impact on students as it disadvantages honest students and undermines the credibility of your qualification.

Plagiarism is the copying or paraphrasing of another person’s work, whether published or unpublished, without clearly acknowledging it. It includes copying the

work of other students and reusing work previously submitted by yourself for another paper.

Plagiarism, and cheating in tests and exams will be penalised; it is likely to lead to loss of marks for that item of assessment and may lead to an automatic failing grade for the paper and/or exclusion from reenrolment at the University. Please see the Academic Integrity Guide for Students on the University website for more information. The Guide steps you through the University Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures. For example you will find definitions of academic integrity misconduct, such as plagiarism; how misconduct is determined and managed; and where to find resources and assistance to help develop the

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skills of academic writing, exam preparation and time management. These skills will help you approach university study with academic integrity. See our course Stream resources AND Massey’s advice and support for students on the Massey website: http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/staffroom/teaching-and-learning/centres_tl/centrestl- students/our-resources/academic-integrity-student-guide/academic-integrity-student- guide_home.cfm http://owll.massey.ac.nz/referencing/plagiarism.php Accidental plagiarism Plagiarism can occur unwittingly. Sometimes you have taken ideas from others unconsciously. Even if you think that you gained your idea or opinion yourself, it is always a good idea to try and find a statement that is similar in the literature and cite this. There are several good reasons for this:

• It shows that you are aware of related thinking and that you are making an effort to relate your work to that of others.

• It demonstrates an effort to maintain academic integrity. • At least until you have established some standing within the scientific community,

statements by others who have published are likely to carry greater weight with your readers since what they said has (presumably) gone through the scrutiny of an editorial board.

In addition, take care not to work too closely with your fellow students. It is fine to discuss ideas with each other but do NOT write together. And do NOT share your writing with other students. There have been instances in the past of students submitting assignments that were too similar. Both the lender and the borrower get penalised. Avoid using more than one or two direct quotes from things you read, including online sources. Sometimes students quote excessively, partly to avoid plagiarism, but also because they are unsure of their own understanding of the material. Good writing requires you to frame your presentation in a consistent style. Writing in your own words can be difficult but it is very worthwhile. Not only does it show your understanding of the material, but also it can be a very creative aspect of a study if it shows the relevance of previous studies to something that even the authors cited might never have thought about. Plus, when you have your degree, employers will expect that you have learned this way to write. Studying is not all about content - it’s about skills too.

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Turnitin This paper is in the Massey University plagiarism detection programme. Both assessments are electronically screened for plagiarism by a program called Turnitin. Your short answers and your lab report are automatically submitted to Turnitin when you submit them through Stream. Each assignment will be compared with material available on the world wide web including electronic books, journals, newspapers, cheat sites (or paper mills), web pages, previously submitted assignments, other university’s assignments, and the assignments submitted at the same time by your classmates. Ensure that you correctly acknowledge the authorship of any material in your assignment that is not your own work. There are two key ways we help you avoid plagiarism. We include an online exercise, and your writing guide (Burton, 2010) has a useful section on Academic Integrity (p. 12) that we strongly suggest you read. It also contains all the information you need on referencing to ensure that you do not inadvertently plagiarise.

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Assessment 1: Short Answers Introduction

As with any assessment, we need to know you have achieved the learning outcomes set for the course. This short answer assignment is what is known as a “formative” style assessment. You demonstrate your learning of key concepts, terminology, writing and so on, while actually studying the material. We focus on your learning American Psychological Association (6th edition) writing conventions. The assignment is formative, in that what you learn while completing the short answers will be the basic knowledge you’ll need for the next assessment, the Laboratory Report. If you use your resources for this assignment carefully you can achieve very high marks. There is a right answer for everything. Because of that, you may not get much personal feedback. However, when the date for submission-with-penalty has passed, we will post a version of a model answer, but rather than the actual answers, it may say where to go to find the answers you should have had. In that way the feedback you get will be formative too.

Marking

The assignment is marked out of 100 marks which converts to 10% of course marks that contribute to the final grade. There is no PASS/FAIL for this assessment. All marks will contribute to the final course mark. The School of Psychology policy is to complete the marking of assignment work within three weeks. We aim to meet this goal. The assignments are marked online and you will get your mark and feedback through Stream . A version of a model answer, that does not have all the answers (see above) will be available once it is not possible to gain marks. This will depend on all late-with approval work being submitted, but in good time for you to learn from it before the lab report is due.

Due online

Submit your final answers by 9pm Friday 28th March.

Value

The assignment is marked out of 100 and worth 10% of your final course marks.

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The Task: Short Answers

Complete the following short answer questions on the process of conducting and writing up research. This assignment is designed to prepare you for the second assignment where you will conduct an experiment and write the entire lab report. All questions are compulsory and should be attempted. The penalty for not completing any is simply that you will not gain marks, you will not have mastered the material, and there will not be anything that the marker can give you feedback on. Present your responses as one document, formatted as described in the presentation guidelines. Use complete sentences and paragraphs to answer each question – it is useful to always practice the art of writing well. Label each question clearly (e.g. Question 1. ...and your answer). There is no word limit but you should aim to write concisely. Include a complete reference list at the end of the assignment. The assignment questions will be distributed in class, and made available online, at the start of the semester.

Submitting your assignment

Your assignment is submitted electronically through the Stream website. A link will be made available two weeks before the assignment due date. Follow the instructions on the link carefully as you have a two-step process.

• Step one uploads a draft which you can continue to work on. • Step two submits the report for marking. The assignment is not submitted until

step 2 is complete. The markers do not have access to drafts, so YOU have to complete both steps of the process.

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Formatting The first page of your assignment must be a cover sheet. This needs to include your full name, your student number, the name of the paper coordinator, the paper number and name, the assignment number and title. Use a font size of 11 or 12 and lay out your work with double or 1½ line spacing. Number each page in one continuous sequence in the top right-hand corner (best to use the header and automatic page numbering functions in your word processing software). File formats Please name your assignment file with the following information: “Lastname Firstname course number assignment number” For example, “Jones Linda 175102 A1.docx” Submit your document in any of the following file formats ONLY:

1. Microsoft Word (doc or docx) 2. Text (txt or rtf)

Please do NOT submit your assignment in any other format as these cannot be marked. Due date: In case you missed it earlier: 9pm on Friday 28th March, 2014.

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Assignment checklist

Reread all the instructions and check that you have done everything that is required. 

Edit your assignment - go through and check that it all makes sense, that the answers are all clear and well expressed.  Mark your own assignment. Use the marking guide overleaf and award yourself marks for each part. If you are not giving yourself full marks, change something!



Give your assignment to a peer – preferably someone with a good command of English. Ask them to do two things: Highlight any sentences or parts that they found difficult to understand. Proofread and correct any typos, spelling errors, punctuation errors etc. Do NOT rely on a computer spellchecker for this important stage.



Polish your assignment - fix any problems identified, make sure it is immaculately presented. 

Submit your report on Stream as per the TWO STEP guidelines. Remember to always keep a back-up version of the file in case something goes wrong. 

Reward yourself! You deserve it! That’s one reason we made the due date Friday. Now you’ve got the weekend to do whatever you like! Big night out? 

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Assessment 2. Lab report on Levels of Processing

Introduction

The lab report assignment aims to give you practical experience in conducting experimental research using quantitative methods. The task will support your learning of some important concepts and methods used in scientific psychology from Chapter 2 of the textbook. You will gain some basic skills in conducting laboratory experiments and in writing a research report based on the experiment. The assignment will give you actual experience with addressing psychological questions empirically. We want you to appreciate that it is not simply the results of psychological studies that are important, but also the ways, that is, methodology, which obtained the results. We hope you will come to realise that research findings are of little value unless the data were obtained, analysed, and presented in ways that allow us to make accurate and valid descriptions and inferences. The lab report content is linked to your learning of an aspect of Memory – levels of processing – from chapter 7 (Burton et al., 2012.)

Objectives and rationale

As with Assignment 1, most of the course’s learning outcomes are assessed, but this time the assessment style is “summative”. That is, you are required to show, at the end of a period of study, that you have achieved the learning outcomes. It is like a summary of your learning. In particular the lab report assesses your skill in undertaking a study by finding supporting literature and forming a hypothesis, collecting data, presenting results, your developing critical thinking skills, and demonstrating learning of the scientific writing style for a lab report. We want you to be able to analyse statements about people’s psychological functioning in order to come to sound and reasoned conclusions. Psychologists have to deal with complex issues so it is crucial that they have well-developed critical thinking skills. In particular, you need to be able to carefully evaluate statements made about people’s behaviour and the causes of it. For instance, do food additives cause hyperactivity? Are recovered memories of childhood abuse really recovered factual experiences? Can dental “silver fillings” cause depression? Can you predict who will drive through orange/red traffic lights? Is it safe for freight-truck drivers to drive all night?

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To be able to address claims and controversial statements, you first need to be able to think objectively and clearly. Often you have to sift through conflicting or even contrary evidence. Even if data are presented in support of the statements made, and even when these data can be agreed on, their interpretation is often the subject of hot debate and opposing positions. It is crucial that you learn to carefully, clearly and critically evaluate the reasoning behind these statements and not simply take them at face value because you agree with the viewpoint expressed. Sound reasoning about psychological issues is a fundamental aim in psychological research. Understand research methodology This course stresses the value of gaining psychological knowledge using a scientific approach, in particular, through observation, correlation studies and experimentation. Data are only as good as the method used to obtain them. Science aims to collect meaningful data and to systematically analyse these data. Hence it is important to know how the data were obtained. This requires you to understand the logic and methods used in scientific “empirical” research. In addition, you get the practical experience of considering ethical issues in the study of psychology Learn the fundamentals of writing psychological reports We also want you to practise expressing your thoughts in writing in a clear and concise manner. It is crucial to learn how to systematically report your research findings and your interpretations of these. Science, by its very nature, requires not only clear thinking and sound research, but also making research findings public so that others can critically examine what you have found. Our assignment provides an opportunity for you to develop this important communication skill. We put considerable emphasis on correct presentation, even stressing correct punctuation. The research community throughout the world considers it essential to standardise reporting of research to ensure that readers are clear what methods were followed, what data were obtained, and how these were analysed and interpreted by the researcher. We provide notes and a marking guide, but you will need to follow the Burton (2010) text.

Due dates

There are two due dates for this assessment. Conduct the experiment (using at least two participants) and submit your data online before Friday 11th April at 9pm. The class data will then be available before Friday 18th April for you to download. Then you have two weeks to write the remainder of the report. The tutorial before the break will focus on the

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experiment and on how to write the lab report and then there will be a drop in tutorial session in the week after the break. The report is due on Friday 2nd May at 9pm.

Marking

The lab report is marked out of 100 marks which converts to 20% of course marks that contribute to the final grade. There is no PASS/FAIL for this assessment. All marks will contribute to the final course mark. Also see the Assessment Overview on page 16 for policy and rules around assessments.

Assessment topic: Levels of processing theory

Your task is to conduct a piece of research and write up a full lab report as demonstrated in Burton (2010). The topic of the research is Craik and Lockhart’s Levels of Processing theory as outlined in Burton et al. (2012, p. 275-276). Each of you will collect data from between one and three participants and submit it online. Data from the whole class (both internal and distance students) will then be collated and you will use the whole class participants and data for your lab report. The aims of the research are to test the Levels of Processing theory with a current sample and to explore whether memory changes with increasing age. The experiment is run from a link on Stream which will be made available closer to the time. Please do NOT trial it on yourself – you may get a chance to do this in class or we will put up a mock link for you to have a go. Follow the steps below and make sure you also refer to the writing guide where there are detailed instructions on how to write and format a lab report. There is also a sample report in there which you may find useful. You should know much of this from assessment 1.

Data due date: Friday 11th April 9pm (on Stream)

Report due date: Friday 2nd May 9pm (on Stream)

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Sources of information

Textbook (Burton et al., 2012): • Chapter 2: Research methods in psychology • Chapter 7: Memory

Writing guide (Burton, 2010):

• Chapter 5: Research reports • Chapter 3: Critical thinking • Chapter 6: In-text citations • Chapter 7: Reference list • Appendix 4: Sample report

Other resources:

• Detailed instructions on the experiment (here) • Overview of report writing and the marking guide (here) • The lab classes in weeks 7 and 8. • Your own research at the library, Massey librarians • OWLL and resources available to all students

The study

These are our instructions to you as a student. Some of this information will end up in your final report but not necessarily all of it. DO NOT copy anything from here – that would be plagiarism. Research aims: The aims of our research are to test the level of processing theory and to explore if memory is influenced by age. Your report will have two hypotheses based on these two aims.

You will be using the data from all the 175102 students for this experiment. Therefore you must conduct the experiment and submit your results on Stream by:

Friday 11th April 9pm Your tutor will then post summary full-class data on Stream within the week. Please make life easier on everyone by completing this task on time.

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Research design: The experiment has three parts: 1. Word classification exercise 2. Reading comprehension task 3. Word recognition test 1. Word classification exercise In this part, the participants answer a series of questions about different words. There are three kinds of questions based on the three levels suggested by the Levels of Processing theory. There are 12 questions of each type.

1. Structural: questions based on the spelling of the word 2. Phonemic: questions based on the sound of the word 3. Semantic: questions based on the meaning of the word

The actual questions are as follows:

QUESTIONS WORD Does it contain the letter a? glove Does it rhyme with ship? daisy Is it a type of expression? grin Is it a type of bird? pool Does it rhyme with dirt? skirt Does it contain the letter l? flour Is it a type of office supply? paper Does it contain the letter j? rope Does it rhyme with crate? fiddle Does it rhyme with grapple? chapel Is it a type of herb? rock Does it contain the letter o? roach Does it rhyme with store? moan Is it a type of roadway? lane Does it contain the letter r? bear Is it a type of fish? paint Does it rhyme with skunk? monk Does it contain the letter s? pond Is it a type of vehicle? cart

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Does it contain the letter k? field Is it a type of precious stone? sonnet Does it rhyme with rove? clove Does it contain the letter w? wood Does it rhyme with feet? juice Is it a type of weather? book Is it a type of weapon? knife Does it rhyme with fill? petal Does it contain the letter v? fence Does it contain the letter b? label Does it rhyme with load? code Does it rhyme with bail? pail Is it a type of animal? flame Does it contain the letter d? claw Does it rhyme with dice? singer Does it contain the letter m? miner Is it a type of communication? speech

2. Reading comprehension task The participant is asked to carefully read a short story about two identical twins. This is what is known as a distraction task. It serves no purpose in the experiment other than to ensure a few minutes pass before the participant completes the memory recognition task. It also stops the participant mentally rehearsing the words (if they somehow guessed it was a memory test). 3. Word recognition test In this final part, the participant is presented with 72 words as shown below, one at a time, and asked if the word was one of the target words in the first task. Half of the words were in the task and the other half were not. wood pool hammer singer

face paint knife apple

spoon chapel diary pail

room daisy claw watch

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chalk horse label paper miser stone snake pond grin rain petal grass form glove

bear taxi wasp skirt easel lane field signal sonnet window rock string miner duck

juice clove music pearl code moan brush witch rope mast chisel flame speech brake

copper monk fiddle cart drill volt twig roach flour book robber rail fence honey

Completing the report

Follow the steps below for conducting the experiment (gathering the data) and afterwards, writing the report.

Step 1: Gather the data

1. Find your participants You need to find at least two people to take part in the experiment. Do not use yourself as a participant – your knowledge of the experimental design would be a possible confound in the research. Your participants need to be over the age of 15 and speak fluent English. There is no upper age limit. Bear in mind that one of our research aims is to see if memory changes with age so we need a wide range of ages (but we don’t want everyone getting data from just teenagers and over 80s either!) 2. Informed consent This is an important ethical principle in psychological research. You need to inform each participant that they would be taking part in a simple reading exercise with three parts. Do NOT tell them that it is a test of memory as that will influence their approach to the task. Explain that it will take about 15 minutes and that their responses will be shared with your fellow students but that the scores will be completely anonymous. Make sure they understand what is expected of them before they agree to take part.

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3. Run the program Follow the link on Stream to fire up the program. Make sure they record their age and gender and then let them work through the process. They cannot ask you any questions while doing the tasks. If you are testing more than one person, make sure that they do the exercise individually so no one sees what will happen in advance. When they finish, the results are automatically sent through to Massey. 4. Debrief your participants After the process is complete you can explain to your participants the real purpose of the experiment. How you reward them is up to you but make sure you say thank you! You can also offer to share with them the overall results later as many participants find this interesting. The final date for gathering data is Friday 11th April. 5. Download class data The results from each participant is automatically recorded in a class spreadsheet which will then be redistributed after Ella has checked it. It should be available on Stream by Friday 18th April. Download the data from Stream and calculate summary statistics as required.

Step 2: Search the literature

An important part of conducting research is reading the literature to find out what other people have found and theorised on the topic. Normally, you would do this before designing and conducting the experiment, however, the semester timeframe makes that impossible. While this is shown here as Step 2, there is nothing to stop you starting this process before you gather the data. It can be quite time consuming so the sooner you start the better. You need to use the library resources (see Appendix 2 for a summary of their services or follow the link in the Library Block on Stream) to find some past research on the topic. While the requirements of the assignment only ask for two journal article citations in your introduction, this is the minimum. If you want to do really well (and you should be striving for an A ) then you need to find more sources. Your textbook can provide a starting point for your search but it is not enough on its own. The Burton (2010) book on Writing for Psychology has some useful tips on finding information (starting page 5) although it doesn’t mention Google Scholar which is a good search tool to use (see the Library website).

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You will need to find journal articles that test the Levels of Processing theory. As this research is a ‘classic’ it is okay if you use some of the original work by theorists such as Craik and Lockhart. You also need to discuss the theory of how age influences memory (there is a small amount in Chapter 12 of your textbook on page 492 to get you started). Do not rely just on your textbook but try to find some research articles – ideally research that did what you are doing – tested levels of processing theory and compared people of different ages.

Step 3: Write the report

We have already said that scientific writing is clear, precise and unambiguous. Scientific reports are for communicating to the reader exactly what was done, why it was done, what was found, and what interpretation the writer is putting on the findings. That is why the conventions (rules) have developed to the level of detail that the American Psychological Association (APA) requires. In the School of Psychology we follow the conventions used in the majority of English-speaking psychological publications, the APA style. The definitive book, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition) is, however, far too detailed for beginning students in psychology, so we use Burton (2010) because it generally follows the APA style, but makes exceptions where it is considered more appropriate for an undergraduate report.

In all the School of Psychology’s four deliveries of 175102, there is an emphasis on correct formatting of psychology reports. In the past, when we did not do this as much, we found that many of our advanced students were poorly prepared for their research reports and thesis writing. Each year some students lose marks because they do not follow Burton (2010) carefully. It is important not to gloss over points about formatting and the markers will not be able to award marks if they find errors, including such things as the wrong use of indents, commas, full stops and semicolons. If in doubt, check with us or use the pre-reading service from the student learning centre.

Do NOT wait for the full-class results to be posted online before you start

on your report. There is a lot to do for this assignment and you need to

make an early start on the process of searching for relevant literature and

then writing the report. You can write the introduction and most of the

method section without the results.

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Word and page limits There is no word limit for this assignment other than the abstract (150-250 words) and title (12 words). However, each section should be brief and to the point. It is important for you to learn to express yourself succinctly in experimental reports; unnecessary or waffling writing is unlikely to get you more marks and may even lose you marks. Critical thinking Writing your lab report is not simply about conforming to a particular style of presentation. It is also about critical thinking. It would be a good idea to review Chapter 3 – Critical Thinking in Burton (2010). Many basically good assignments lose marks because they show lapses in one or more places in the report where critical thinking is required. Some of the most important include showing precision, accuracy, and logical coherence in: • the understanding and use of technical terms; • identifying and reviewing relevant previous research; • developing sound arguments and hypotheses for your study, based on that

research; • the presentation and analysis of the data you obtained; • showing how your findings relate to previous research; • and identifying weaknesses in your study and possible further research.

Terminology The word “proof” is legitimate in philosophy and mathematics, but not in empirical disciplines such as psychology. Results may “support” or “fail to support” a hypothesis. They never “prove” it. Do not use the term “this study” when referring to the experiment you are reporting. If you do, it is often unclear whether you are referring to another experiment in the literature that you have cited, or to the present experiment being reported. “The present study” is much clearer. Avoid using the term “significant” when referring to findings, unless you are talking about the result of a test of statistical significance. Try to avoid personal pronouns such as “I” and “we” in reports as they are normally distracting and superfluous. For example, “I feel that these results support the hypothesis because...” can be more succinctly stated as “The results support the hypothesis because… “

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Verbs and tense Be careful to use the appropriate verb tense. You can usually tell which tense to use from the context of the sentence. For instance, most sentences in the Introduction and Method refer to past actions and therefore should be in the past tense. For example, “Smith (1980) found that...”, “The participants were instructed to...” Although much of the material in the Results and Discussion sections will require the past tense, it is sometimes appropriate to use the present tense. For example, “These data support an interference theory of forgetting.” Sections of your report You should consider a report to be a formal way of telling a story to the reader. The title and abstract prepare the reader for what the report is about. The introduction gives them relevant background information - what we know and what we don’t know about the topic. It includes the reason for your study (aim), and what you expect to find (your hypotheses). The method tells the reader who participated, what you used, and what you did and the results summarise your findings. The discussion compares the results to the aims and hypotheses. Like all good stories, it then links back to the introduction, to make sense of your results in the light of previous studies. It points out any shortcomings in the study and suggests future research ideas. It ends with a conclusion that tells the reader why this study was important. Below is a summary of the contents of each section. You will need to read Burton (2010) for the finer details on what to say, how to say it and, importantly, how to format it.

Title

The best title is one that communicates to the reader the central finding of the report. Try to include the variables and also make sure it makes sense. The title has a 12-word limit.

Abstract

The abstract is a summary of the entire report. Note where and how it appears in the report. Note also the marking guide which makes it clear that the abstract must include the area, hypotheses, method, results and conclusions. Use between 150 and 250 words and only one paragraph.

Introduction

This is where you use the journal articles you have found. Your introduction needs to firstly explain the Levels of Processing theory including defining key terms and introducing key theorists. Then you need to summarise some past findings from journal

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articles. The purpose of the introduction is to justify your aims and hypotheses so make the links between the background information and the present investigation very clear. Because we are also exploring the impact of age on memory, you need to have a paragraph that explains this – in relation to Levels of Processing theory. And again, follow this up with a paragraph summarising what other people have found in their research. The final paragraph of your introduction states the aims of the research and should include TWO hypotheses, which stem from your reading of the literature. Firstly, what do you predict you will find for the three different types of processing and, secondly, what effect (if any) do you predict age will have on your results. It is simplest (and acceptable) to keep this second hypothesis a very general prediction - as in will the overall score be the same, better, or worse as age increases. If you want to get more complex, however, and your reading of the literature suggests that age has a different effect on each of the three levels of processing then you may want to make this hypothesis more detailed. Generally, we advise keeping your report simple and doing it really well rather than making it complicated and risking doing it wrong. All ideas and information in the introduction should be clearly (and correctly) referenced, and, as explained earlier, you are expected to use at least two journal articles as sources. Do not use random material from the internet like Wikipedia or psychology.about.com. Read the section on Searching the Literature in your writing guide (Burton, 2010, p. 6) including the section on evaluating the quality of information found on the internet. You need to locate academic sources – so use the library databases, and if in doubt contact library staff or learning support.

Method

Describe the participants, the materials, and procedure, in sufficient detail for somebody else to replicate it. Make sure you describe all the participants and not just the two you collected data from. Refer back to Burton (2010) for what information you need to include about the participants. Because multiple computers were used, you do not need describe the computers. It is okay in apparatus to say that the computer program was supplied by the School of Psychology at Massey University. In the procedure section you will need to explain in detail each of the tasks and the order of events. The method is always written in the past tense and you may not use lists – the entire report should be in whole sentences and paragraphs. Remember not to copy anything directly from this lab manual – use your own words to describe what happened.

Results

Download the results document from Stream and use the data from all the participants. Note that tables and graphs have very specific formatting of both content and labels that

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you must follow. Burton (2010) says that in this section you should “provide a conclusive statement about the support or non-support for the research hypothesis” (p. 94). This is unclear and is contrary to usual APA practice. It is best to ensure that the data in the results section clearly shows the support or non support of the hypotheses – but this should not be explicitly stated – as in mention the data but not the hypotheses. The explicit comparison of results with hypotheses happens at the start of the discussion section. Another point to note is that you should place your table and graph in the results section and not at the end of the report as shown in the report example (see page 104 for Burton’s discussion of this point). For your results section you need to include: 1. A table that shows the overall means and standard deviations for the three levels of

processing. 2. A short paragraph that highlights important information from that table in relation to

the first aim and hypothesis of the research. 3. A bar graph that shows the scores by age group. If your hypothesis regarding age was

the simple option then your graph need only show overall scores per age group. If however you made a prediction about the different levels of processing at different ages then your graph needs to show this. You do NOT need to show error bars on your graph as Burton (2010) says.

4. A short paragraph that highlights patterns or elements in the graph in relation to the hypothesis you outlined in your introduction. Including the standard deviations may be useful if they illustrate anything interesting.

Make sure that in the paragraphs you do not simply repeat the same data – try to express it in a different way that draws the reader’s attention to important elements. The results spreadsheet you will receive may have additional information such as gender and the response times (in milliseconds) for each type of processing. Feel free to include other analyses of these data but, if you do, then make sure you discuss them in the discussion section and link the findings to the literature. And remember my earlier advice about keeping it simple!

Discussion

Open this section with a brief summary of the results in relation to the aim and hypotheses. This should always be your first paragraph - make a clear statement as to whether or not your hypotheses were supported. Next address each one in more detail, showing which results were as predicted and which were not, linking this to the theory and past research from the introduction (skipping this section is the most common error that students make, so be sure you do it!). If you have unexpected findings, as in your

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hypotheses were not fully supported, then you need to suggest a reason why - possibly a different theory or alternatively a flaw in your research. Next, comment on the limitations of the experiment. Were there any problems/flaws with how it was run? Are there any confounding variables that make it difficult to interpret the findings? Is it limited in terms of the people? The process? For each limitation you need to cover three things: why is it a limitation, how might it have influenced the results, and what should be done in future to overcome it. Make sure you then discuss possible future research, suggesting ideas for how the area of study could be extended. Finally, end with a concluding paragraph that summarises the report and makes the implications of those findings clear. Linking the research into the real world is useful at this stage.

References

Use the APA (American Psychological Association) referencing system, 6th edition, which you should have mastered during assessment 1. It is explained in full in the Burton (2010) writing guide so keep it open as you work. Please follow the guidelines carefully. You will lose marks for errors, even seemingly trivial ones, as we want you to acquire the skill of correct APA referencing.

Overall

As well as marks for the content and formatting of each section, marks are awarded for original input (both in terms of literature and in terms of thought), good style (grammar, punctuation, spelling, coherence), and correct use of APA conventions including sub- headings and presentation. See the marking guide on page 43 for full details. Note that the order in which you present your report is not the order in which you should write the report. The abstract and title must be written last for example, as they are summaries of the whole report. Also, you can write most of the method section as soon as you have conducted your experiment and you can write most of the introduction as soon as you have found some relevant literature.

Submitting your assignment

Your lab report assignment is submitted electronically through the Stream website. A link will be made available two weeks before the assignment due date. Follow the instructions on the link carefully as you again have a two-step process. Step one uploads a draft which you can continue to work on, and step two submits the report for marking. The assignments are marked online and you will get your assignment returned through Stream with a mark and with comments and feedback from the assignment marker.

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File formats Please name your assignment file with the following information: “Lastname Firstname course number assessment number, file format: For example, “Jones Linda 175102 A2.docx” Submit your document in any of the following file formats ONLY: Microsoft Word (doc or docx) Text (txt or rtf) Please do NOT submit your assignment in any other format as these cannot be marked. Formatting The first page of your assignment must be a cover sheet. This needs to include your full name, your student number, the name of the paper coordinator, the paper number and name, the assignment number and title. You do NOT need to follow Burton’s (2010) detailed instructions for this (see page 65) but it is good practice for following APA guidelines. Use a font size of 11 or 12 and lay out your work with double or 1½ line spacing. Number each page in one continuous sequence in the top right-hand corner (best to use the header and automatic page numbering functions in your word processing software). If you wish, you can also include a running head as recommended by Burton (2010, p. 66). Back up Make sure you keep several backup copies of your assignment while you are working on it and of the finished product. Computers can and do fail, and they get stolen and damaged. Flash-drives are inexpensive relative to the cost of courses and textbooks, so buying one and backing up your work should be part of your writing routine. (You have been warned!)

Pre reading service

First year and distance students have access to a free service where you can send your draft assignment to a Writing Consultant for review and advice. This does mean you need to plan ahead so that you have time to get the feedback and then make any changes. Note that they give advice on things like writing style, presentation, and referencing rather than content. You can submit two assignments per semester and as a lab report is a tricky

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assignment, this would be a good one to choose. You apply by filling out the form in your Academic Writing and Learning Support Stream course. For more information: http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/learning/distance-learning/services/study-support/pre- reading/extramural-assignment-pre-reading-service.cfm

Helpful hint

Markers use the marking guide at the end of this section as a guide to their scoring. You can use it to check sure you have everything covered.

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Assessment 2 submission checklist

Before you submit your lab report, complete the following To Do list.

Reread all the instructions in this manual, and check that you have done everything that is required.  Check that your report is presented according to the presentation guidelines in here and in your Writing Guide (Burton, 2010).  Edit your report – go through and check that it all makes sense, that your paragraphs are clearly structured and that it flows well.  Mark your own report. Use the marking guide and award yourself marks for each part. If you are not giving yourself full marks, why not? Change something!



Give your report to someone NOT taking this course - preferably someone with a good command of English. Ask them to do two things: 1. Highlight any sentences or parts that they found difficult to understand. 2. Proofread and correct any typos, spelling errors, punctuation errors etc.

Do NOT rely on a computer spellchecker for this important stage.



Polish your report – fix any problems identified, make sure it is immaculately presented.  Submit your report on Stream as per the TWO STEP guidelines. Remember to always keep a copy in case something goes wrong.  Reward yourself! You deserve it. Yes, now you can do the housework or wash the car / dog/ take your kids and their cousins to the pask. 

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Marking guide

TITLE: Key variables (dependent and independent) and findings 3

ABSTRACT: See Assignment 1. Marks deducted for lengthiness (>250 words) and for using paragraphs

7

INTRODUCTION 20 General background info on levels of processing and the impact of age on memory

Clear summaries of previous research relevant to the present investigation Description of the aims and hypotheses of the present study Appropriate citations of at least two journal articles General coherence and readability, including conciseness METHOD 15 Participants described briefly Materials (is it understandable?) Procedure (could another researcher repeat it?) RESULTS 20 Table with columns labelled, captions and data correctly presented for APA Short paragraph describing the results in the table and referring to it Graph with correct caption, axes labelled, and appropriate data shown Short paragraph describing the results in the graph and referring to it DISCUSSION 20 Comparison of obtained results with hypotheses Interpretations of the results, reasons for the support or non-support of the hypotheses, comparison of findings with theory and research from introduction

Description of the limitations of the study including an explanation of how each of these factors could have affected the results

How a future study might correct the limitations and extend knowledge Conclusions and implications of the findings REFERENCES 10 Quantity and quality of literature cited Formatting of intext citations and reference list (APA 6th)

OVERALL STYLE Grammar, punctuation, spelling, coherence, readability, original thinking

5

TOTAL 100

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Assessment 3: Lab manual and attendance Due date

Your lab manual must be handed in at the end of your final lab class in the week beginning 12th May. If you miss this class, place the lab manual in the assignments drop box in 7C50 or give it to Ella in 7C51b by 5pm Wednesday 14th May.

Marking

The “workbook” and attendance are worth 10% of your final course mark. The lab manual is an achievement based assessment (ABA). In this form of assessment there is a list of criteria for awarding marks; see the final page of this Laboratory Manual for the assessment criteria. If you meet the criteria, you get the marks, so you know ahead of time what is required. You can aim for, and achieve, full marks with the ABA system. The only feedback you will get is highlighting on the ABA form. The penalties for missing labs are deducted from the assessed ABA mark. The lab manuals will be returned to you at the last lecture on Monday 26th May. Any manuals not collected at that lecture will be available from the College Office until the second week of semester two then destroyed. (see page 7, Office staff.)

Assessment 4: Final examination Introduction

The final exam is a summative assessment. In principle, everything in your text book in Chapters 1-8 (only pages 1-25 in Chapter 1 and pages 295-320 in Chapter 8) is examinable. In reality we can only ask so much in a three hour exam, so we focus on key principles of psychology, theories and applications. The Wellington and extramural deliveries of 175102 have the same exam, written by Linda, as she coordinates both courses. That means that any extra material from Wellington lectures or given by guest lecturers, or from the EM contact course or from different Stream sites, cannot be included. The exam is based solely on Burton et al. (2012). WARNING: The 175102 textbook was changed in 2013. Exams written by Linda before then are NOT based on Burton et al. (2012). The old textbook and the new one have similar chapter structures but the old textbook will have had slightly different content so

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not all questions will be relevant to you. Looking at old papers will give you a sense of what to expect and Linda’s examination style; but content will vary.

Format

The exam will be in three parts. Part A: Multichoice (60% of the exam mark) This section will be 120 multi choice questions. The focus will be on chapters 3-8 of the textbook, but questions linked to the scientific method, theorists and schools of psychological thought (essentially chapters 1 and 2) may be built into other questions. The style of multi choice questions varies. Some questions will test factual learning; some will be about the application of psychological terms and concepts from definitions to everyday situations, and some will make links between research methods and research findings from other chapters. The variation from factual material to applied problems will separate those that learned the material from those who have deeply processed and understand the material. The multi choice section is worth 60 marks. You should therefore spend 108 minutes on this section. That gives you just under one minute per question. All questions are worth equal marks with marks awarded for the correct answer. Marks are not deducted for wrong answers, so it is worth making a guess where you do not know. Do not leave any blank response boxes on the response card. Part B: Critical thinking essay (10% of the exam mark) Part B requires an essay demonstrating critical thinking about a description of real research. This assesses students’ understanding of the strengths and limitations of knowledge generated by the scientific method. This essay is worth 10 marks. You should allocate 15-20 minutes for this. There will be one compulsory essay question. In it, you are given a brief “lay person’s” summary of a real study that has been conducted and published. You have to comment on it, rather like the discussion section of a lab report. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the reported research? The wording of the actual question will be very similar to previous exams that Linda has written, so that is a good reason to check out previous exams. The study you have to critique is always different.

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The question goes something like this: Write an essay discussing any research issues that you think are relevant to the report below. Your critique may include design strengths and weaknesses, how the findings have been interpreted, and ethics, but you are not limited to these. Chapter 2 is particularly important for your preparation for this question. We will cover it in the final lab class. The question gives you the chance to show us you have met a key course learning outcome and the reason this paper is a core paper in the psychology major. Part C: Short answers (30%) The final section of the exam will be short answer questions. You will answer one from each of chapters 3-8, so a total of six questions. You will have two choices for each chapter. The questions will require a paragraph answer, or a labelled figure (drawing), or a table. Each short answer question in this section will be worth five marks so you should spend about nine minutes on each question. Old exams As part of your revision, it is a good idea to practice on old exams which are available on the library website (click on the Exam Papers link under Quick Links at the bottom of the library home page). Note however the warning above and that the format of 175102 exams varies by campus and by year. Focus on Wellington, or recent extra mural exams. You can see what the part B studies are like from these papers too.

Marking

The exam is marked out of 100 and is worth 60% of your final course grade. Scripts are not commented on, so if you do request your script back, all you will see is a line through the marked page, and the final score. After marking, the score is added to the internal assessment and is graded. There can be some scaling within a class to meet university grade distribution targets. It is a rare occurrence but is an option if an exam appears to be too hard or too easy. Your final grade will be posted on MyMassey.

Hints

Linda will give exam hints about the questions in the final lecture to aid your study.

Time and place

Student Administration are responsible for informing you where you go to sit the exam, and the date and time of day to be there. Examination arrangements are between you and Student Administration, although the paper coordinator writes the exam and oversees the marking.

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Students think the paper coordinator is the examiner, but they are not - it is the University. You “buy” the course from the university and they examine you before awarding you the paper. Certainly the paper coordinator writes the exam and is responsible for the initial course grading, but as we said in the grading policy, the university moderates that and can change the paper coordinator’s recommendations. Note: When you sit the exam you write the essays in a blue covered exercise booklet. On the cover it gives the instruction that from then until the grades are published, you are not allowed to contact the paper coordinator. If you had a problem, like illness, you contact Student Administration.

Lab Manual The remainder of this book is your Lab Manual. For each week of study there is a task list which you can use to help structure your study and ensure you stay on top of the readings and assessments. Then, for weeks 2-10 there is a section that will be used in your lab class for that week. We recommend you read this BEFORE you come to class. Make sure you bring this book with you – as explained earlier, you will complete the exercises in class and this forms part of Assessment 3.

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Week 1: The study of psychology

Buy your textbooks Hopefully you actually did this the minute you enrolled but if not, get on to it now.



Familiarise yourself Read through this Course Guide, highlighting important bits, if you haven’t already. It pays to be familiar with things like the requirements of the course, assessment tasks etc. If you are new to study then have a look at the appendices on the Library and Student Learning.

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Stream Log on to Stream and start exploring. Update your profile, and put up a photo.

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Burton et al. (2012) textbook Start reading your textbook straight away. Make sure you take notes as you go. Chapter 1: The study of psychology, pp. 1-25 Other parts of this chapter that are not examinable but are worth reading include: How to use this book, pp. xvi-xvii How to study effectively, pp. 31-34

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Lecture Attend the first lecture in LT200 on Monday at 2pm. This will be based on Chapter 1 so try to read it before you come. Remember to bring your timetable as you will be asked to fill out a lab preference form.

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More tasks overleaf...

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Cyberpsych DVD Take a moment when you have read the chapter to do the quick test of your understanding of the different psychology perspectives.

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Assessments Plan your semester. Put all the dates for all your assessments in your diary – and have warning dates too (e.g. 2 weeks till the Assign1, or Lab report due.).

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Time management skills New to study? Take a break from psychology and spend half an hour attending this worthwhile online lecture on time management. Follow the link from Stream. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKo8QWNBM3s



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Week 2: Research methods 1

Burton et al. (2012) textbook Chapter 2: Research methods Lots of new ideas this week so take your time. Don’t just read - engage in some active learning. Make flash cards with new words on one side and the definition on the other.



Lecture This week is the first lecture on research methods. Students can find some of these concepts challenging so come along for additional explanations and examples that will expand on your textbook and help you understand.

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Lab 1 First week of labs this week. Make sure you check which class you have been allocated to on Stream. Read through the information in this manual in preparation. Remember to take this book with you.

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Cyberpsych DVD There are two animations that talk you through the statistical principles in Supplement 2. These are highly recommended especially for students who feel they struggle with mathematical concepts. Three other interesting video clips discuss issues in research.

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Assessment One: Short answers Make sure you have looked at the requirements and know what you need to do. Any questions, ask in class or on the Stream forum. Put the due date in your diary.

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Laboratory 1: Introduction to research design

Objectives 1. Welcome and introductions; 2. to discuss issues from the lecture from Chapter 2 on research methods; 3. to develop an understanding of the process of designing research; 4. and to begin to build a vocabulary of psychological terms. Introduction One of the most important aspects of the study of psychology is the research process. Psychology is empirical; this means that the knowledge of human behaviour is built through research: formal systematic observation. Your textbook describes the four characteristics of scientific psychological research: 1. A theoretical framework: Research is based on theory – a systematic way of

explaining observations. 2. A standardised procedure 3. Generalisability 4. Objective measurement

Measuring variables Psychology research is based on empirical scientific methodology. This approach is objective. That is, all concepts are defined in a way that identifies the aspects that vary from person to person (variables), and that can be observed and measured, either directly or indirectly. Variables that exist in a physical sense can be measured directly, for example, measuring a blood-alcohol level is one way to measure how drunk a car driver is. However many variables of interest to psychologists may not exist in a physical sense but are concepts such as intelligence, motivation, or aggression. We call these concepts hypothetical constructs because we cannot observe them directly or prove their existence. Rather we infer their existence by observing what are presumed to be their effects on behaviour. 1. Brainstorm some variables that psychology might study. Don’t limit yourself to

physical/demographic categories such as age and gender. Consider attitudes, experiences, behaviours…

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In research, such variables need to have an operational definition, meaning that they need to be defined in a way that we can “operate” research on them. Your textbook describes this process as ‘operationalising’. In essence, an operational definition allows us to measure real and hypothetical constructs that we observe. The following table provides examples of how we might operationally define some concepts. Table 2 The Relationship between Hypothetical Constructs and Operational Definitions

Hypothetical construct Operational definition

Intelligence Score on IQ test

Tiredness 20 hours without sleep

Reading ability Words read correctly per minute

Anxiety Rise in blood pressure

Operationalising concepts gives us increased precision in research as well as being more informative. Compare, for example, saying that a person has 20/20 vision versus excellent eyesight; or saying that a child’s IQ is 15 points higher after brain-gym versus saying brain-gym makes children brighter. Operationalising also give us verifiable accuracy. For example, a claim that meditation reduces stress is hard to confirm or deny, but with the operational definition that 30 minutes of a specific meditation technique every day for a week will lower blood pressure, the claim can be measured and objectively evaluated. Without the precision, clarity and verifiable accuracy of an operational definition, it is difficult to understand complex phenomenon, such as human behaviour. It is, of course, entirely possible for there to be several alternative operational definitions for the same concept. Many accepted operational definitions are a matter of convention; for example, a score on the intelligence test is probably the most commonly used measure of intelligence, but it is not the only valid measure. A major potential problem with operational definitions is that they may not truly capture the original concept and lack

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validity. From the meditation example above, is blood pressure a genuine (valid) measure of stress? If not, then the operational definition should be revised. Finally, the operational definition makes replication possible. Other scientists can copy or adapt experiments, which is an important aspect of generating “empirical” scientific knowledge. 2. Revisit the variables you listed above. How would they be operationalised in

research? 3. The way that we measure a variable, how we operationalise it, must be reliable and

valid. Are your ideas for measuring the variables valid and reliable? In most research, particularly experimental designs, we start by formulating a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a prediction that can be tested. For example; “people remember better if they learn something just before sleeping” is a hypothesis that could be tested. The hypothesis is developed from theory and previous research on similar topics. 4. Based on your own experiences, develop a hypothesis for the relationship between the

each of the following pairs of variables:

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a. Health and exercise participation

b. Alcohol consumption and driving

c. Brain damage and friendship

d. Choose one of the variables from your earlier list and develop a hypothesis about how that variable might be related to another variable.

Types of research Research falls into three broad types: experimental, descriptive and correlational although, as your textbook points out, this typology is by no means clear and rigid and using a mix of approaches is common.

In experimental research the situation is carefully controlled and a variable is manipulated to see if it has an effect on another variable. Unlike descriptive/correlational methods, experimental methods are able to establish clear cause-and-effect relationships. However, experimentation has limitations. One of the most obvious is that experiments may be artificial and contrived because of the rigorous control that must be exercised over the things that can vary (variables). In some cases an experiment may be inappropriate for ethical reasons.

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The logic of an experiment is that if we change one variable (IV) and there is a systematic change in some other variable (DV), we have established a causal relationship between the two variables. This relationship is diagrammatically depicted in Figure 1.

Independent Variable (IV) Dependent Variable (DV)

The manipulated variable (the hypothesised cause)

The measured variable (the hypothesised effect)

For example:

tiredness problem-solving ability

endorphins pain levels

psychotherapy psychological health

Figure 1. Cause-and-effect relations between independent and dependent variables

In descriptive research people are observed as they naturally exist rather than manipulating their circumstances. Case studies, naturalistic observation and surveys are all useful methods. Data recorded from observing behaviour can provide a wealth of information from which to generate ideas for further study or to add to existing theories of behaviour. Many researchers and postgraduate psychology students, especially those whose research is in the organisational psychology, or health psychology fields, use psychological tests, interviews, and surveys as data collection techniques. Data can be both quantitative (numerical scores) or qualitative (such as interview text). In correlational research, statistics are used to determine if there is a relationship between two variables. Usually the data comes from surveys. 5. For each of the hypotheses in Question 4 above, choose the best of the three research

types for testing that hypothesis. How would it be done? Why is this the best approach?

a. Health and exercise participation

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b. Alcohol consumption and driving

c. Brain damage and friendship Conducting a survey Health and Exercise Survey: complete the handout you will be given in class. Then discuss the following questions: 6. What are the variables that are being measured?

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7. What are some of the research questions that could be answered using this survey? 8. Why is a survey a good tool for this research? 9. What are some of the limitations of using a survey like this?

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Definitions Write your own definitions of these words from this session. Include examples if it will help your learning. Empirical: Descriptive research: Correlational research: Experimental research: Hypothesis: Variable: Independent variable: Dependent variable: Operationalising:

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Week 3: Research methods 2

Burton et al. (2012) textbook Supplement 2, Statistical principles Finish Chapter 2 and read the statistical supplement. This chapter has a lot of new and important information so take the time to make sure you understand it.

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Lecture This week’s lecture follows on from last week and looks more closely at experimental research methods.

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Lab 2 In class this week we will look at the results of the survey we conducted last week. Again make sure you have read the lab manual in advance. Another good idea is to have a go at filling in the definitions page before each week. Then, if there is something you don’t quite understand, you can ask your tutor for another explanation.

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Stream Remember to go online regularly. We update the site each week and there may be useful resources to support your learning.

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Assessment One: Short answers You should get started so it is not a rush later. 

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Laboratory 2: Descriptive/correlational research and reporting research findings

Objectives 1. To discuss any issues from the second lecture from Chapter 2 on research methods; 2. to experience calculating descriptive statistics; and 3. to develop an understanding of the concept of correlation. Introduction Two main points covered in the text, Chapter 2, on research methods are that: studies use “samples” rather than whole populations; and those samples are most conveniently summarised by numbers. The most basic and common descriptive statistics show the range of a set of numbers between highest and lowest, and the central tendency, which is a number that shows a centre point for a set of data. The three you will use in this course are the mean – or average score, the most common score called the mode and the actual mid-point score called the median. More complicated, but conveying very important information is the statistic that describes how much variation there is in a set of scores, the standard deviation. Table 3 Class Data of Attitudes towards Health and Exercise Participation

Participant Exercise Participation Health beliefs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mean

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Today you will calculate some descriptive statistics for the results from last week’s survey. To make the mathematics easier you will use 10 participants’ data but your tutor will share the full class results with you. Exercise 1: Calculation of descriptive statistics Mean score (M): Add all the scores for each variable separately. Divide the total (also called the sum) by the number of scores you added. Standard Deviation (SD): The Standard Deviation is a measure of variability: how much the scores vary from the mean. This will be calculated by the tutor. Discussion questions 1. What else would some reading Table 3 need to know in order to understand the data? 2. How were the variables operationally defined? 3. Do you think these operational definitions valid and reliable – and say why or why

not? 4. For the data you have summarised with descriptive stats, explain whether or not you

can be confident that the statistics (M and SD) accurately represent the class’s beliefs and exercise participation.

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Exercise 2. Plotting the correlation (relationship) Use the data from Table 3 to produce a scatter plot, and label this as Figure 1. Format the label in the same way as other figures in this Laboratory Manual. Don’t forget to label the axes too.

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The linked image cannot be displayed. The file may have been moved, renamed, or deleted. Verify that the link points to the correct file and location.

Interpreting a correlation See your text book for a more detailed explanation of correlations – Burton et al. (2012), page 59. Direction When interpreting a correlation first note the direction of the correlation - is it positive or negative? A positive correlation is when two variables change together in the same way, i.e. as one increases in value or strength, so does the other; as it decreases, so does the other. An example of a hypothesis with a positive correlation is “the more time spent studying the text book, the better the test results will be.” A negative correlation is when the value or strength of one variable decreases as the value of the other variable increases; For instance, an alternative version of the hypothesis about studying, as a negative correlation, could be, “the more time spent watching television, the worse the test results will be.” Strength or magnitude The second aspect is the strength (magnitude or size) of the relationship and it is represented by a statistic “r” which is a number in the range -1 to +1 with 0 as the midpoint. The closer the correlation statistic “r” is to either +1 or -1, the stronger the relationship; the closer to 0 the weaker the relationship. A value of one (either +1 or -1) indicates a perfect correlation; a value of 0, no correlation i.e. the variables have no relationship with each other, and there are all points in between. Discussion questions 1. Is there any apparent “visual” correlation in your scatterplot? If so what is the

direction and apparent magnitude? 2. What can we say now about the relationship between the class’s participation in

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Correlations and causal relationships It is very easy to confuse a correlational relationship with a causal relationship. Psychologists need good critical thinking skills to avoid making such errors. If you were told that there was a strong positive correlation between physical punishment by a parent and aggressive behaviour by the child, it could be tempting to suggest that the two are more than just correlated: that “the physical punishment by the parent causes, or is in a causal relationship to, the aggression by the child”. However, there are two other possible interpretations: The causal direction may be the opposite. That is, the child’s aggressive behaviour may lead the parent to use physical punishment. There may be a third variable influencing both. For instance, a poor social environment may be the true cause of both the parent’s behaviour and the child’s behaviour. With any correlation between two variables, A and B, always consider the three possibilities as shown in the figure below.

A causes B B causes A C causes A & B A B A B A B C

Figure 2. Potential relationships between variables.

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Exercise 3 Given the following correlated relationships, clarify what the possible nature of the relationship might be. Hint: first sort out which bits of the relationship are the variables A and B; then what might variable C be if there is one? 1. There is a positive correlation between a mother’s attitude to “creepy crawly bugs”

and a child’s fear of spiders. 2. There is a negative correlation between the number of cigarettes a student smokes and

their grades.

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Definitions Write your own definitions of these words from this session. Include examples if it helps you learn. Descriptive statistics:

Mean:

Median:

Mode:

Range:

Standard deviation:

Correlation:

Strength:

Direction:

Population:

Sample:

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Week 4: Biological bases

Assignment 1 Assessment One is due next week so you should have started work on it by now. Read the instructions carefully and if you have questions, bring them up in class or in Stream or visit your tutor during her open office hours.

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Burton et al. (2012) textbook Chapter 3: Biological bases Remember, don’t just read the material - engage with it. This chapter lends itself well to strategies such as flashcards, mind maps, and diagrams.

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Lecture & Lab 3 Keep up your attendance at the lecture and labs. Remember you will lose marks if you do not attend the lab class each week. This week in the lab classes, we will be doing brain function tests.

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Stream If for some reason you have not logged onto Stream, do it this week to make sure you know how. Next week the first assignment is due and you will need to submit it online.

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Cyberpsych DVD Cyberpsych really comes into its own for this chapter. There are two animations[- one on the structure of the brain and one on neurotransmitters - looking in particular at the impact of alcohol on brain function. There are also mini videos showing some more recent findings on the brain.

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Laboratory 3: Psychometric testing

Objectives

1. To discuss any issues from the lecture from Chapter 3 on the biological bases of behaviour;

2. to learn how the anatomical arrangement can be used to study brain organisation; and

3. to illustrate how neuropsychological tests can be used to assess aspects of brain functioning

Introduction One focus within psychology is the investigation of biological processes that underlie human behaviour. Biopsychology, a branch of neuroscience that deals with behaviour, explores fundamental questions concerning the relationship between behaviours, sensory and emotional experiences, one’s sense of self, and aspects of brain functioning. Psychology paper 175.205, “Brain and Behaviour” evaluates biological explanations of behaviour alongside their psychological counterparts and considers the role of neuroscience in human health and disease. The organisation of the cerebral cortex is the context for this week’s exercises. The cerebral cortex is a layer of cell bodies, or ‘grey matter’ on the surface of the cerebral hemispheres. It is the most recently evolved area of the brain. Functions performed by the cerebral cortex include perception of sensations, planning and execution of movement, learning, speech, reasoning, and memory, although these functions are not confined solely to the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is divided into two hemispheres, a left and right hemisphere. In addition, each hemisphere of the cerebral cortex can be considered to consist of four lobes: the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes. Although each lobe carries out a wide range of functions, each has particular specialities. Within each lobe is one of the so-called “primary-projection areas”. These include sensory projection areas, locations where information from the sense organs is first received in the cortex; and the primary motor cortex - that part of the cortex from which directives to the voluntary muscles originate.

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Each hemisphere receives sensations from, and sends motor impulses to, the contralateral (opposite) side of the body. For example, touching something with the right hand will result in the sensation being processed in the left hemisphere, and damage resulting from a stroke affecting the motor cortex in the left hemisphere will affect movement on the right side of the body.

Figure 3. Lobe function (from Burton et al., 2012, p. 110) Neuropsychological assessment Neuropsychological assessment is the identification and measurement of psychological deficits that are the result of some form of brain damage. The brain damage may be the result of stroke, tumour, car or motorbike accident, or sport or work-related injury. The neuropsychological examination investigates brain functioning by examining the brain’s product - behaviour. Testing ranges from interviews to formal standardised tests. The results of neuropsychological testing may provide patients with a realistic diagnosis and prognosis of their capabilities and limitations and this can form the basis of a rehabilitation programme. The study of the dysfunctional brain can also provide us with important insights into the working of the normal brain.

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The following exercises will look at five ‘neuropsychological’ tests that indicate brain damage in different lobes of the cerebral cortex, see Table 4. Table 4 Five ‘Neuropsychological’ Tests to Determine Dysfunction Associated with Different Lobes of the Cerebral Cortex

Function Lobe associated with function

Neuropsychological tests

Ability to shift perceptual and motor sets to conform to changing demands

FRONTAL 20 Questions PASAT Digit symbol exchange

Tactile perception PARIETAL Stereognosis test

Language comprehension TEMPORAL Token test

Important notes

• The exercises are only intended as an indication of neurological testing and its relationship to brain structure and function.

• The present tests should not be taken to indicate anything neuropsychologically meaningful as they would be when used in a clinical neuropsychological test battery and with valid reference norms with which to compare the results.

• In actual neuropsychological testing the tester has extensive training and experience in both administering the tests and interpreting the test results.

• A diagnosis would rarely be made on the result of a single set of tests - it would be formed by integrating information from a large number of sources.

• Tests are usually administered under controlled standardised conditions and the results are compared to extensive normative data. You are not doing any of these.

During today’s session, think about ethical considerations for neuropsychological testing. Please note before you start: Many people find some of the following tests quite difficult. Do not get concerned if you are one. If you have trouble, read the important notes again and remember this is just an imperfect lab exercise.

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Exercise 1: Symbol-digit exchange The Symbol-Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) (Smith, 1973) is a composite test of cognitive skill and attention, requiring effective integrated visual scanning, and attention. The SDMT is a speed test, where the participant is required to insert the digit that matches a symbol from a 9-symbol-digit key onto a page of lines of random symbols. Spreen and Strauss (1998) suggest that the SDMT is possibly “the most sensitive test of cerebral integrity” (p. 255). Further, Spreen and Strauss (1998) claim that the SDMT is the single best measure for detecting reduced information processing speed, and is to be preferred over reaction-time testing or the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) (Gronwall & Sampson, 1974) both of which are used to assess for information processing problems. The SDMT has the advantage that it can be administered as a group assessment.

Method Participants One lab class of 175.102 students. Apparatus SDMT sheet, one per participant, stopwatch. Procedure The form contains all the instructions for administrator and for the participant, including a series of trials before the main test.

Results Record your score here, and add your score to the class data. Your tutor will calculate M and SD. My total number: My total correct:

Discussion Looking at your own score, comment on why you think you achieved it. Also comment on the procedure of the activity. Do you think the group assessment had any impact on the results? How might this be done differently? Can you think of any kind of research where this test might be useful?

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Exercise 2: 20 Questions

Method Participants One student. Apparatus 20 Questions picture sheet. Procedure Work in pairs. Decide who will be the experimenter and who will be the participant. The experimenter will administer the test and note the strategies used by the participant to locate the correct picture. The experimenter is to give to the participant the 20 Questions picture sheet. Then say to the participant: I am thinking of one of the objects on the sheet. Your task is to find it by asking questions. You can ask any kind of questions you like, but I can only answer by saying YES or NO. The whole idea of the task is that you should find the object I am thinking of with as few questions as possible. Continue the test until the participant determines what object you are thinking of, or until 20 questions have been asked.

Results

1. How many questions did it take for your participant to find the object?

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2. List strategies that your participant used.

Discussion

1. How does 20 Questions test frontal lobe functioning?

2. How do you think this test should be scored?

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Exercise 3: PASAT (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test)

Method Participants One student. Apparatus Recorded presentation of auditory stimuli. Procedure Work in pairs. Decide who will be the experimenter and who will be the participant. The experimenter is to complete the following steps: Instruct the participant as follows: You are to listen to a recorded list of single numbers, and are to add each number you hear to the number immediately preceding it. That is, the second number is added to the first, the third number to the second, and so on. You must say your answer aloud. So, if the taped list was 2, 4, 1, 6, 3, 1 the correct responses would be 6, 5, 7, 9, 4. I will give you a practice trial to check that you understand the task requirements. Use the following list. Give the numbers verbally, at a slow pace, so that the participant gets some practice at the task. list 1, 4, 2, 5, 2, 6, 3, 5, 4 correct answer 5 6 7 7 8 9 8 9 Then say to the participant: I will now play you a recorded list of numbers. You will hear a list of 40 single numbers. I want you to add the numbers together just like you have done in the practice trial. The presentation of the numbers gets faster as the list goes on. Don’t worry if you make a mistake or leave some out. I want to see not only how long you can keep going without stopping, but also how quickly you can pick up again if you do stop. Play the recording.

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Results On the list below note any errors the participant makes. The list, with correct responses, is: 2, 4, 1, 3, 2, 5, 3, 4, 1, 6, 6 5 4 5 7 8 7 5 7 3, 6, 1, 2, 4, 1, 7, 2, 4, 4, 9 9 7 3 6 5 8 9 6 8 2, 4, 1, 3, 5, 2, 3, 1, 4, 2, 6 6 5 4 8 7 5 4 5 6 3, 4, 2, 2, 7, 1, 5, 4, 3, 2 5 7 6 4 9 8 6 9 7 5

Discussion

1. Explain how performance on this test relates to frontal lobe function.

2. What are the advantages of having more than one test (e.g. SDMT, 20 Questions and PASAT) of frontal lobe functioning?

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Exercise 4: Stereognosis test Stereognosis is the recognition of objects through the sense of touch. The objective of the present test is to see if the participant can identify simple everyday objects by touch alone. (People are often not aware they have this deficit as we normally identify objects by sight before we touch them.)

Method Participants One student. Apparatus A bag containing everyday objects; stopwatch or a watch showing seconds; and a blindfold. Procedure Work in pairs. One person is to be the experimenter; one person is to be the participant. Experimenter: Make sure that the participant does not see the objects to be identified at any stage of the experiment. The participant should be blindfolded before being asked to identify the objects. Place an object in the participant’s right hand. Do not let the participant make a judgment by using both hands at once. Ask the participant to identify the object by touch alone. Record the result in Table 5. If the participant takes longer than 30 seconds record it as a fail and move on to the next trial. Repeat the procedure with a new object, alternating left and right hands for 10 trials. A different object should be used on all trials. If, on any trial, a participant fails to identify an object, take it back and place it in their other hand, to see if they can identify it then.

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Results Table 5 The Number of Correct Trials for each Hand

Object Decision correct? (Y/N)

RIGHT HAND

1 2 3 4 5

LEFT HAND

1 2 3 4 5

Number of correct trials: Left hand = Right hand =

Discussion

1. If a participant cannot name an object what might this indicate apart from lack of touch recognition?

2. If a participant consistently failed to identify objects with their right hand but identified them successfully with their left hand what specific area of the cortex might possibly be damaged?

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Exercise 5: Token test The token test measures language comprehension: either speech comprehension or reading comprehension.

Method Participants One student. Apparatus A Token Board. Procedure Work in pairs. One person is to be the experimenter; one person is to be the participant. The experimenter places the token board down on a flat surface in front of the participant so that all shapes on the board are within comfortable reach of the participant. The squares should be nearest the participant and the apex of the triangles nearest the experimenter. Progressively work through the trial statements below. Say each statement to the participant in a clear voice. Make sure the statement is expressed clearly as you may not repeat the statement. (If you miss-say the statement, or noise prevents the participant from hearing correctly, then repeat the statement without loss of points to the participant). Each trial is worth one mark for a perfect performance. Any mistake by the participant (e.g. mistakes a colour or shape, or gets the order wrong, or asks for the statement to be repeated) results in no point for that trial. The participant is not to start responding until the experimenter has finished saying the trial statement. The experimenter must clarify the above conditions to the participant before the trials begin, AND make sure that they know the correct response for each trial, so can place a tick or a cross by each statement as they proceed.

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Trial Statements “Touch the large red square.” “Touch the small green triangle.” “Touch the small yellow square and then the small red square.” “Touch the large red triangle and then the small green square.” “Touch the large blue square before you touch the small green triangle.” “Touch the large green square after you touch the small red triangle.” “Touch the large green square but not the large red square.” “Touch any square except the large red square.” “Touch any square as long as it is not red or small.” “Touch the triangle that is not small but is green.”

Results Score = ___________ Write a sentence describing the results.

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Discussion

1. Why don’t we just ask participants to verbally repeat the statements back to

demonstrate their comprehension? (Hint: We want our neuropsychological tests to be specific for just one type of deficit.)

2. How would you assess performance on this test?

3. What are the ethical considerations with psychological testing that you have considered during today’s lab?

References Gronwall, D. & Sampson, H. (1974). Paced auditory serial addition test. Auckland, New

Zealand: Oxford University Press. Smith, A. (1973). Symbol digit modalities test. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological

Services. Spreen, O. & Strauss, E. (1998). A compendium of neuropsychological tests.

Administration, norms, and commentary (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

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Definitions Write your own definitions of these words from this session. Cerebral cortex: Contralateral: Norms: Frontal lobe: Parietal lobe: Temporal lobe: Occipital lobe:

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Week 5: Nature nurture debate

Assessment 1 Your first assignment is due on Friday of this week (28th March). Submit it online through Stream before 9pm. Make sure it is in the correct file format as per the instructions.

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Burton (2010) writing guide You should be using this resource to help answer the questions in assignment one and learning about referencing. It will also be an invaluable resource for your second assignment, the lab report.

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Burton et al. (2012) textbook No new reading this week, so an opportunity to catch up if you have slipped behind.

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Lab 4 This week’s class is in the computer labs so make sure you check on Stream where you should be going. We will be discussing experimental research design and conducting some computer based brain experiments.

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Lecture In this week’s lecture, Linda will discuss one of psychology’s enduring debates – nature versus nurture.

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Laboratory 4: Experimental research and referencing

Objectives 1. To introduce and explain plagiarism; and 2. to introduce the referencing style of the American Psychological Association (APA); 3. to understand experimental research; and 4. to investigate two aspects of brain function using computer experiments. Plagiarism Submitted work must be your own. Plagiarism is not permitted at Massey University. The University defines plagiarism as: “Presenting as one’s own work the work of another, including the copying or paraphrasing of another’s work without acknowledging it as another person's work through full and accurate referencing” (taken from http://owll.massey.ac.nz/referencing/plagiarism.php). More broadly, it involves attempting to pass off someone else’s words or ideas as your own. The clearest example of plagiarism is copying verbatim from a book, journal, internet site, or study guide without putting the material in quotation marks and without providing an appropriate citation (e.g. for direct quotations from books or journal articles, an appropriate citation would include the author, date of publication, and page number). It is important to realise, however, that plagiarism does not apply only to published work. Another example of plagiarism is when one student copies another student’s assignment (with or without the other student’s knowledge), or when two students copy sections of their assignments from one another. In addition to direct copying, plagiarism occurs when a student paraphrases another person’s work without acknowledging the source, or summarises another person’s ideas and work without providing an appropriate citation (e.g. for books and journal articles, an appropriate citation would include the author and date of publication). As discussed, plagiarism is not permitted and carries severe penalties. The penalty will depend on the severity of the plagiarism, but it may lead to a zero grade for the assignment, failure of the paper or even exclusion from enrolment in the paper, programme, or University. As you know, Turnitin compares your work to a vast resource from books, journals, material on university websites around the world and anything you might have found on

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the internet. It also stores previously submitted student work so it is not a good idea to use any part of an assignment written in other years by psychology students, or co-write assignments with students in this course. If you wish to know more about Massey’s Academic Integrity Policy and the resources available to support students, use the link below: http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/university-management/avc- academic/academic-integrity/en/academic-integrity-students.cfm Plagiarism exercise Understanding plagiarism is important Follow the link on Stream and choose to be “Tyler”. The task will take approximately ten minutes. http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/ Referencing When writing your lab report assignment, you must use APA referencing style to correctly format the in-text citations and the reference list at the end of the report. A summary of the formatting of references is available in Appendix 5, but for full details refer to your writing guide textbook (Burton, 2010). Using the materials provided in class, answer the following questions: In text referencing 1. When do you use ‘and’ between authors and when do you use ‘&’?

2. When do you use ‘et al’ rather than list all the authors’ names?

3. What is the correct formatting for a quotation?

4. What always follows the quotation?

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5. What do you do if a sentence has more than one citation?

6. What is a secondary citation?

7. How do you format a secondary citation?

Reference list 1. What order is the reference list?

2. What books and articles do you include in the reference list?

3. What kinds of sources need to have the page numbers included the reference?

4. What are the last two pieces of information in a book reference?

5. In a journal article reference, which part is in italics?

6. Which part is in italics for a book reference?

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Writing a reference Using the instructions in the Appendix of this laboratory manual, correctly format references for the sources your tutor gives you. When hand writing references, use underlining to show what is in italics. Brain function experiments Experiment 1: Hemispheric specialisation This experiment supports the material you learnt in Burton et al. (2012) Chapter 3. Running the experiment is a good way to revise the work on the different tasks performed by the left and right hemispheres of the brain. In this experiment you will be judging whether the two members of a pair of briefly- presented letters are the same or different. There are two ways in which the letters could be processed. On the one hand, given the short presentation time, you might not actually read the letters, but instead compare their shapes and decide whether they are identical. Such a strategy would involve using spatial information; therefore you should be faster for letter pairs that are presented to the left visual field. On the other hand, you could identify the letters and compare the letter names in order to determine whether the letters are the same or different. In this case you would be performing a linguistic task, and you should be faster for letter pairs that are presented to the right visual field.

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Method Participants Students in first-year psychology laboratories. Apparatus A computer that can run the VISHEMI program, for the presentation of stimuli and the recording of responses. Procedure Run the VISHEMI computer program. The exercise consists of a number of practice trials followed by the main session of 40 trials. Each trial consists of an asterisk * presented in the centre of the computer screen. The * will then be replaced by a letter and a second letter will be presented to the left or right of the first letter. Your task is to indicate, as rapidly as possible, whether the two letters are the same or whether the two letters are different. Take careful note of the on- screen instructions, as lack of compliance will reduce the validity of your results. In particular, complete adequate numbers of practice trials. If you have time to re-run the program complete more than one block of experimental trials and average your two sets of results. After completing the main session of 40 trials (or two sets of 40 trials), copy your own average reaction times for the left and right visual fields into your lab manual below :

Results LVF = RVF =

Discussion 1. According to the above reaction times, in which hemisphere did processing appear to

be most efficient?

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2. Does this indicate verbal or spatial processing? 3. How confident can you be in the results of this experiment? In any research it is

important to consider what the limitations of the research design might be. For example, can you think of any confounding (extraneous) variables that are not adequately controlled in this study? What else might have influenced the speed of processing (the DV) other than the type of processing (the IV)?

4. Can you think of any other limitations with this experiment? Experiment 2: The Stroop test The Stroop test involves colour naming and has been used since the 1930s for both academic research and as a test of cognitive flexibility in neuropsychological assessment. Participants are asked to name colours as fast as they can. In one condition they are presented with a list of words and asked to identify the various ink colours in which the words are printed. In a second condition the procedure is repeated, still requiring the participant to name the ink colour, but this time each word on the list is itself the name of a colour other than the ink colour. For example, a person may be presented with the word green written in red ink. In this situation people have great difficulty naming the ink

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colours ("red" in this case). Sometimes a control condition is added in which people simply name the colours of various patches. The usual explanation of the difficulty people experience in the experimental condition of a Stroop test is that people read words automatically, and therefore it is difficult to suppress the automatic process of reading in favour of a response to the ink colour. It is normal to find this task difficult, but people with frontal lobe damage find it especially hard, if not impossible. This is because changing one’s perceptual set to accommodate changing demands is one of the functions carried out by the frontal lobes. The requirement to make a verbal response, and thus to use the facial muscles important for speech, also challenges frontal lobe function because the frontal lobes are responsible for the planning and execution of motor responses.

Method Participants Students in a first-year psychology laboratory. Apparatus A computer running the Stroop test program, for the presentation of Stroop word lists. Procedure Run the computer program STROOP TEST The test consists of two lists of 18 words. In both lists the stimulus words are RED, GREEN, YELLOW, or BLUE. The task is to read through both lists out loud (but quietly) and as fast as you can, saying the name of the colour ink that each work is printed in. In the first list the ink colour of each word is the colour named by that word. In the second list the ink colour of the word is different from the colour named by that word. For this list your task is to say the name of the ink colour, not the colour named by the word (e.g. if the word BLUE is presented in a yellow ink, you must say "yellow"). For both tasks it is important that you say the words out loud as you read them (i.e., a motor response is required).

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Results Time for list 1 Time for list 2

Discussion 1. Which list took you the longest time to complete? 2. Why could you not use the results you obtained to make a prediction regarding frontal

lobe functioning? 3. What additional experimental controls would you need if this test were to be used in a

serious assessment of frontal lobe functioning?

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Additional readings if interested Benton, A. L. (1994). Neuropsychological assessment. Annual Review of Psychology, 45,

1-23. Hemispheric Differences Corballis, M. C. (1980). Laterality and myth. American Psychologist, 35, 284-295.

(Michael Corballis is a New Zealand researcher with an international reputation in hemispheric research).

Hellinge, J.B. (1993). Hemispheric asymmetry: What’s right and what’s left. Cambridge,

MA: Harvard University Press. Kinsbourne, M. (1982). Hemispheric specialization and the growth of human

understanding. American Psychologist, 37, 411-420. Springer, S.P., & Deutsch, G. (1998). Left brain right brain: Perspectives from cognitive

neuroscience (5th ed.). New York, NY: W.H. Freeman. The Stroop Test MacLeod, C. M. (1991). Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative

review. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 163-203.

Shum, D.H.K., McFarland, K.A., & Bain, J.D. (1990). Construct validity of eight tests of attention: Comparison of normal and closed head injured samples. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 4, 151-162. Sugg, M.J., & McDonald, J.E. (1994). Time course of inhibition in color-response and word-response versions of the Stroop task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 20, 647-675.

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Week 6: Sensation and perception

Burton et al. (2012) textbook Chapter 4: Sensation and perception Another very technical but interesting chapter this week on how your senses work. Take comprehensive notes that will make your revision easier. What about creating flash cards of the key terms this week?

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Lecture This week’s lecture on sensation and perception will be by Dr Alan Winton from our Palmerston North campus.

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Lab 5 Back in your usual classrooms this week for some hands-on experience with aspects of sensation and perception.

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Assessment Two: Lab report The due date might seem a long way away, but this is a challenging assignment, so why not get started? The first steps are to read the instructions, find your participants, and get them to conduct the experiment on Stream.

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Writing guide This resource has lots of information relevant to your next assignment including tips on finding literature for your introduction (see page 5).

Cyberpsych DVD This chapter on sensation and perception lends itself well to the more visual style of Cyberpsych. Check out the animation covering both vision and hearing.

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Laboratory 5: Experiments in sensation

Objectives 1. To discuss any issues from the lecture on Chapter 4, sensation and perception; 2. to compare monocular and binocular depth perception; and 3. to explore screening tools to assess colour vision loss.

Experiment 1: Depth perception

Introduction Human beings perceive distance or depth through a variety of visual cues, both physiological and psychological. Clues are based on the way the visual system interacts with the visual stimulus. Figure 4 shows the various types of cues we have available to us. Binocular cues are based on the slightly different view of each eye and therefore you need both eyes for these. Monocular cues, on the other hand, only require one eye. The purpose of this experiment is to study the role of binocular cues in depth perception. The method involves comparison of monocular and binocular vision. Because binocular vision has available all the monocular depth cues plus additional binocular depth cues it is predicted that binocular vision results in better depth perception than monocular. Work in pairs and take turns as experimenter and participant. The experimenter should read the entire procedure section before beginning the experiment.

Method Participant One first year psychology student. Apparatus A baseboard with a fixed rod and a scale with rod holes for the moving rod and a small shield.

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Figure 4. Depth cues Procedure The order of the trials is to be random, and therefore unpredictable to the participant. There are 42 trials in all, 21 of which are to be binocular and 21 monocular. The type of trial (monocular or binocular) changes after each 7 trials, producing a counterbalanced presentation order . The experimenter enters one of the 21 possible positions of the moveable rod against each monocular and each binocular trial in the table below to indicate the position of the moveable rod on that trial. The 21 positions range from -10, through 0, to +10 in 1-cm steps. Make sure that each position is used once for binocular and once for monocular viewing, and that the participant always uses the same eye for monocular viewing. The experimenter sits at the table and places the baseboard on the table so that the shield is closest to the observer. The observer is seated directly facing the shield at a distance of 1.5m, (see Figure 5). The back of a chair or other object may be used as a headrest.

Visual Depth Cues

Binocular

Retinal Disparity Convergence

Monocular

Pictorial Physiological

Accommodation Motion Parallax

Texture gradient Interposition Linear Perspective Light and Shadow Elevation Relative size

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The participant is requested to make 42 judgements in all, 21 with both eyes open and 21 using only the preferred eye. The experiment records each response but no feedback regarding errors is given to the participant until all of the trials have been completed.

Figure 5. Illustration of the set-up in visual depth perception experiment. When the presentation orders have been entered into the table and the equipment is correctly set up you are ready to start. The experimenter reads the following instructions to the participant: “Your task will be to judge the distance in whole centimetres between a fixed rod and another that will be positioned at various distances either in front of or behind the fixed one. The actual distance between the two rods will vary between -10 or +10 cm, and might be zero. Use positive numbers to indicate that the movable rod appears closer. On each trial please hold your head in the same stationary position, eyes level with the top of the shield. Before each trial close your eyes and keep them closed until I tell you to open either one or both of them. On each trial you are required to make your response within 5 seconds.” While the participant’s eyes are closed the experimenter places the movable wooden rod at the predetermined point on the baseboard. The experimenter then gives the instruction to open either both eyes or the preferred eye, depending on whether it is a binocular or monocular trial, and asks the participant to indicate the distance between the two rods. The observer indicates the distance between the two rods in whole centimetre units from +10cm through to -10cm. The recorder enters the distance in the table.

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Binocular Trials Monocular Trials TRIAL Type Rod Position Response Error Rod Position Response Error 1 B 2 B 3 B 4 B 5 B 6 B 7 B 8 M 9 M 10 M 11 M 12 M 13 M 14 M 15 B 16 B 17 B 18 B 19 B 20 B 21 B 22 M 23 M 24 M 25 M 26 M 27 M 28 M 29 B 30 B 31 B 32 B 33 B 34 B 35 B 36 M 37 M 38 M 39 M 40 M 41 M 42 M Sum of errors (Binocular) - Sum of errors (Mono) =

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Results Calculate the error by subtracting the response from the actual rod position. For example: actual rod position -1 response -3 error is (-1) - (-3) 2 When calculating the sum of errors ignore any negative signs as only the magnitude of the error is important, not the direction. From the error subtotals at the bottom of the table calculate the mean errors for the binocular and monocular conditions. Overall mean error binocular (cm) = ________________ Overall mean error monocular (cm) = ________________

Discussion 1. What was the independent variable (IV)? 2. What was the dependent variable (DV)? 3. Was the experimental prediction (the hypothesis) given in the introduction supported?

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4. The experimental design was meant to minimise monocular cues in order to make it

easier to demonstrate a binocular/monocular difference. What monocular cues may not have been eliminated?

5. Why was the order of the monocular and binocular conditions counterbalanced? 6. Was there any evidence of carry-over effects? 7. How would this experiment be run as a between-subjects design? 8. Give one advantage and one disadvantage of running the experiment this way.

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Experiment 2: Colour vision

Introduction Normal colour vision depends upon three types of photo pigments in the cone photoreceptors. This experiment studies the effect of levels of light on colour vision. The Farnsworth D15 Colour Test you will be using is designed to separate people into one of two groups: 1. strongly colour deficient or 2. mildly colour deficient or colour normal. The purpose of this experiment is to assess whether the Farnsworth D15 Colour Test is appropriate under all lighting conditions or whether it is necessary to use controlled lighting conditions.

Method Participant First year psychology students. Apparatus Farnsworth D15 Colour Tests Latex gloves Procedure Both the participant and the experimenter should wear a latex glove on their preferred hand. It is important to keep the glove clean and to not touch the caps with your other hand. The sets are expensive and they have a special non-reflective surface that readily absorbs body oils. Their scientifically-specified colour properties are damaged by handling. Instruct the participant to look away. Take out the coloured caps and shuffle them randomly, colour side up, out of the sight of the participant. Then give the participant one minute to arrange the caps in the correct order beside the fixed cap in the tray. When the minute is up, close the box and turn it over, then open it again to reveal the numbers on the bottom of the caps. If they have been arranged correctly, they will be in number order from 1 to 15. The first half of the participants will do the test with normal classroom lighting. Then swap roles and the second half of the participants will do the test with the classroom darkened as much as possible.

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Results Enter the results in the table. Leave the square blank if the cap is in the correct position and put the chip number if it is incorrect. Total the number of errors below. Class data will be gathered by your tutor. Table 6 Results from Colour Vision Test

Good light condition Poor light condition

Chip 1

Chip 2

Chip 3

Chip 4

Chip 5

Chip 6

Chip 7

Chip 8

Chip 9

Chip 10

Chip 11

Chip 12

Chip 13

Chip 14

Chip 15

TOTAL ERRORS

CLASS AVERAGE

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Discussion 1. What was the dependent variable (DV)? What was the independent variable (IV)? 2. Given what you know about colour vision, what do you think would be an appropriate

hypothesis? 3. Is your hypothesis supported? What is the evidence for this? 4. There is a fundamental flaw in the way we conducted this experiment. Remember that

one of the key principles of the experiment is that the two groups are identical in every way except for the independent variable. How else did our participants differ? Why is this a problem?

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5. What other limitations does our experiment have? Consider why they are problems and what should be done to prevent them in future.

6. Based on the results, what conclusions can you draw about the use of the Farnsworth

D15 test?

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Week 7: Memory

Burton et al. (2012) textbook Chapter 7: Memory We study this chapter out of order because it is important to you as a student and it is the focus of your lab report. Understanding how memory works can really help with your learning and revision.

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Lecture The paper’s senior tutor, Ella Kahu, will deliver this week’s lecture on memory.

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Lab 6 We are back in the computer labs this week, doing some experiments on long and short term memory. We will also talk about your next assignment and discuss the processes of searching the literature and writing up your lab report.

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Cyberpsych DVD Quite a few resources available on your DVD this week including a useful interactive module on enhancing your memory as well as an opportunity to see how good you would be as an eyewitness to a crime.

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Assessment Two: Lab report This is your last week to get your participants to complete the online experiment. The due date for this COMPULSORY task is Friday 11th April by 9pm.

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Laboratory 6: Memory experiments and assignment

Objectives 1. To discuss issues from the lecture on Chapter 7, Memory; and 2. to investigate by computer experiment, retrieval from long-term memory, and

processing in short-term memory; 3. to introduce inferential statistics; and 4. to discuss the Levels of Processing experiment and writing up of the lab report for

assignment 2. Memory experiments Cognitive psychology deals with the acquisition and use of information. Cognitive psychologists study such mental processes as memory, reasoning, information processing, language, problem solving, and decision-making. The ability to remember is crucial for everyday functioning. To drive a car, to recognise a friend, to recall a phone number, to answer an exam question: all require the ability to remember. Without memory, life is reduced to meaningless action. In this lab we experiment with two aspects of memory. Memory holds information that is stored over time. Remembered items go through three stages: encoding (acquisition), storage, and retrieval. According to a model proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (see your set text), memory is comprised of three types of information store, as shown in Table 7 below. Table 7 Characteristics Associated with the Three Types of Memory SENSORY MEMORY SHORT-TERM

MEMORY LONG-TERM MEMORY

Duration Short duration, temporary storage Presumed to exist in each modality

Without rehearsal only a few seconds. Information soon forgotten.

Long-duration (life long)

Capacity Reasonably high (Visual = around 25 simple items)

7 ± 2 items

Almost infinite

Coding Relatively unprocessed information in a sensory trace

Visual and acoustic Primarily semantic Imagery

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Experiment 1: LTM storage and retrieval When most people talk about memory they are normally referring to LTM. LTM contains all of our (relatively) permanent knowledge, skills, and lifetime experiences. Information is stored in LTM through a complex process of forming associations, and giving meaning to the new information to be remembered. That is, the information becomes incorporated into an existing information network. The more meaningful new information is made, and the more associations that are formed with it, the better that information will be remembered. LTM gives us the ability to store vast amounts of information. It also has the unfortunate tendency to lose some of that information. Log on to the Stream site for this course to access the computer programs.

Method Participants One introductory psychology student. Apparatus Computer presentation of stimuli. Procedure Run the computer program LTM based on a study by Jenkins (1974). Directions will be given in the program. The task requires the participant to read a series of 22 “acquisition sentences”. Each acquisition sentence is followed by a simple question relating to the sentence, that the participant must try to answer verbally (out loud, but quietly). The questions force the participant to attend to the acquisition sentences, and make it more likely that they will be remembered. Following the list of 22 acquisition sentences a list of 20 “test sentences” are given. When each test sentence is presented the participant must indicate if it is "old" (i.e., was a sentence in the previous list of 22 acquisition sentences), or "new" (was not a sentence in the previous list of 20 acquisition sentences). Responses are recorded by clicking the “New” or “Old” buttons on the screen At the end of the experiment the computer will output how many of the 20 test sentences were judged correctly. Copy the results into your lab manual and answer the discussion

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questions using the information provided by the computer. Your answers will be discussed with the class as a whole after the completion of the computer exercises.

Results The number of test sentences judged old = The number of test sentences judged new =

Discussion 5. What aspect of retrieval from LTM does the experiment demonstrate? 6. What are the implications of the results? Note: the answers to these questions appear on screen when you have finished the tests.

References Jenkins, J. J. (1974). Remember that old theory of memory? Well, forget it! American

Psychologist, 29, 785-795.

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Experiment 2: STM - serial or parallel processing?

Introduction The limited capacity of 7 ± 2 items of information is perhaps the most striking feature of STM as noted by Millar’s classic research (see your set text). Usually it seems as though information currently in STM is simply “there” and is not subject to a retrieval process. Research evidence suggests, however, that the retrieval of information from STM is not instantaneous but is accomplished by a serial (item-by-item) search. This surprising finding comes from a series of experiments conducted by Saul Sternberg in the 1960s and 1970s. The reason we are not aware of this systematic search is that it occurs at a very fast rate, giving an impression of instant access to all items. If the search for an item in STM is serial then it would be expected that as the number of items in STM increases, then the time taken to find a given item would also increase. In contrast, if items are found in STM by a parallel search then the search time should be independent of the number of items in STM. The present experiment will investigate whether STM does use a serial search strategy, and if so, estimate how long it takes to search for each item in STM..

Method Participants One psychology student. Apparatus Computer presentation of stimuli. Procedure Run the computer program: STM. Directions will be given in the program.

Results Copy the results per item from the computer screen. This will include average decisions times for each number of items and a value for r, the correlation between the number of items and the decision time. Record your decision times and the other information provided by the program here. 1 item:

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2 items: 3 items: 4 items: Correlation r = Line of best fit: Decision time = ____ [#items] + ________ (m) (b) Complete and label a scatter plot with your decision time data. Label your graph as Figure 2. Format the label in the same way as other graphs in this Laboratory Manual. Don’t forget to label the axes too.

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The linked image cannot be displayed. The file may have been moved, renamed, or deleted. Verify that the link points to the correct file and location.

Inferential statistics activity With the 4 item data from the program, you can calculate an inferential statistic called the regression line or line of best fit, with a linear regression equation. When you have data for the time it takes for your brain to process information with one to four items, you can use the data to predict your processing speed for five or six or more items. Use the regression equation formula and your data to calculate the time it would take to make the decision if there were five items in memory. Formula: y = m (x) + b y = the time in msec to search when the list has x items m = the slope of the graph, which is the extra time it will take in msec for each extra item added to the search process. x = the number of items being processed by STM (five in this case) b = constant (the time you took to press the computer key regardless of the number of items in memory. This figure is also the point at which the regression line will intercept the y axis). Decision time = ____ [#items] + ________ (m) (b) Example: (20 * 5) + 476 = 576. In this example, it would take an average of 576 milliseconds to respond if there were five items in short term memory. Next draw in a line of best fit. This is best accomplished by graphing the decision time associated with five items in STM and the response time when there are no items in memory (the value of b) and using a ruler to draw a straight line between these points. Note that the line should be solid between the values of 1 and 4 on the X axis but dashed between 0 and 1 and from 4 onwards. This is to represent which data is extrapolated rather than observed.

Discussion 1. As the number of items in STM increased what happened to the decision time?

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2. Do the results support the concept of serial processing of information in STM? 3. What form would the graph relating reaction time and memory set size take if parallel

processing had taken place? 4. How much time did each extra item in short-term memory add to the search process?

How does your figure compare with the value of approximately 38 msec per item often found in studies of this kind?

5. Approximately what response time would you expect if the memory list comprised 12

items? Why should researchers exercise caution when extrapolating graphical data beyond the range over which they were collected?

6. What does the correlation coefficient (r) tell us?

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7. How would you run the experiment as a between-subjects design? Would it be wise to do so? Why or why not?

Assignment experiment: Levels of Processing This session will discuss the Levels of Processing experiment that you are conducting for your lab report. Use the following spaces to take notes on what you need to do and, most importantly, to record which details need to go in which sections of your lab report. Take detailed notes! Notes

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Title

Independent variable/s

Dependent variable/s

Introduction

Hypotheses

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Method Participants

Apparatus

Procedure

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Results

Discussion

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Study “Break” The next two weeks are called the mid-semester break. But don’t be fooled. The word “break” refers to the fact that there are no lectures or

tutorials and no assigned reading. It does NOT mean a break from study. Instead you should:

Have a little break Spend some time with the family over Easter and take a breather from study. Oh and eat some well-earned chocolate!

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Burton et al. (2012) textbook Catch up on your reading and note taking. You should have completed Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 by now.

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Assignment 2 Work on your assignment – use the planning sheet overleaf to help. You should have already found your participants and conducted the experiment. The class results will be available on Stream by Friday 18th April. In the meantime, you should be searching for literature and writing your introduction and method sections.

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Writing guide You should be starting to use this resource a lot this week. While this lab manual has a basic summary on how to write a lab report, you need to refer to Burton (2010) for the finer details on both content and formatting.

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Assignment planning checklist

How are you going with your lab report? At the very least you should have already found people to complete the experiment online. It is now time to get started on the report itself. Remember, all the instructions you need for the assignment are in here AND in the Writing Guide (Burton, 2010). Below is a To Do list to help keep you on track. Students always think that assignment writing is easier than it is – writing a good lab report takes time, so start now. Fill in your own due dates to help keep yourself on track. Remember the goal?? Always strive to do the best that you can – and that means putting in the time and effort.

TO DO DUE DATE DONE

1. Search in the library databases and find at least two relevant articles

 2. Run the experiment and collect your data Friday 11th April  3. Write draft of the method section  4. Write draft of the introduction section  5.

Write draft of results section including formatting graph and table

 6. Write draft of the discussion section  7. Write draft of the abstract  8. Write an informative title  9. Format reference list in correct APA format  10. Polishing: Edit and proofread as per checklist  11. Submit 9pm 2nd May 

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Week 8: Consciousness

Assignment: Due Friday 2nd May 9pm Complete the submission checklist on page 42 before submitting your assignment. Make sure it is in the correct format and read the instructions for submitting your assignment carefully. If you have been following our guidelines then this will be a stress free event.

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Burton et al. (2012) textbook Chapter 5: Consciousness

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Lecture Just because the assignment is due this week, don’t let that be a reason not to attend the lecture. It is important to keep up with the course content. The lecturer may be Professor Philippa Gander from MU’s Sleep/Wake Research centre.

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Lab 7: Optional This week’s lab class is an optional assignment support drop in session. This is your chance to bring along your nearly finished report, ask specific questions of your tutor, go over particular sections and hear other students’ questions and the answers.

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Stream As we get closer to the due date there may be discussion on Stream about the assignment. You can post questions here and your tutor will respond.

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Cyberpsych DVD There is a range of video clips on sleep this week to support your learning. The main animation illustrates a sleep research project, similar to the Sleep Wake Research Centre here on Massey Wellington’s campus.

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Laboratory 7: Assignment drop in

This week’s lab is an optional assignment support lab. Your tutor will be available for questions and group discussion on the assignment. Times may vary slightly from the normal lab times – we will post full details on Stream.

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Week 9: Learning 1

Assignment If you didn’t manage to submit your assignment last week, don’t give up – it is still worth submitting. As outlined earlier, work submitted up to 7 days late without an extension can still receive some marks. Remember too that this is a COMPULSORY assessment – if you do not submit a report, you cannot pass the course.

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Burton et al. (2012) textbook Chapter 6: Learning Take the time to really understand the concepts by practising and thinking up your own examples as they can be a little confusing at first.

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Lecture Research shows that people who attend lectures and actively engage with the content get better grades. Is that you? Dr Winton from Palmerston will be delivering this lecture.

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Lab 8 This week’s lab class will give you an opportunity to apply what you have been learning about learning to yourself. Don’t forget you will be handing in your lab manual next week so now is a good time to make sure it is up to date.

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Laboratory 8: Learning tool box and behaviour modification

Objectives 1. To discuss issues from the lecture on Chapter 6, Learning; 2. to help you understand the different consequences of behaviour, and in particular the

consequences that strengthen and the consequences that weaken behaviour; and 3. to help you distinguish between positive and negative reinforcement.

Introduction This week we do not want to hear you say anything about how people THINK. Operant conditioning is learning from consequences. Individuals learn behaviours and they also learn how their behaviour causes learning in others by their reactions. For example, a young woman drinks too much on a night out with her friends and gets wasted/trollied, one consequence is that she might vomit – an aversive stimuli that should put her off but probably won’t. It’s because sometimes a more powerful positive reinforcer is acting on the same behaviour. The fact that her friends share and value a binge drinking culture will be a stronger predictor that she will do this again. Their possibly unstated approval outweighs the woman’s parent’s stated disapproval or the messages from the wider community that this is risky behaviour. Unfortunately friends’ pictures on Facebook of her lying in the gutter by the vomit can be positively reinforcing if the friend group values it. Only something like the woman finding herself with an STD or pregnant, but unable to remember having sex, might make her reassess the value she puts on drinking behaviour, or what friendship actually is. While behavioural psychology theory does not explore how people think, and only observes behaviour and how it is strengthened or weakened, nevertheless, it accepts a person (or any animal) has values and preferences. David Premack, who was a behavioural researcher from the 1950s and 60s, noticed something he called “high probability behaviours” (Premack, 1959). These are basically things people like doing, such as going out and drinking with friends: still possibly learned. Premack proposed that high probability behaviours should be deliberately used to strengthen wanted actions, or to decrease unwanted behaviour. With youth drinking, the undesirable behaviour TO THE YOUTH DRINKING CULTURE would be the sober person, so friends are socially reinforced for getting drunk. A less value laden example might be that tooth brushing at a health camp can be strengthened by art activities or swimming being contingent on a child having brushed

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their teeth. The high probability behaviour being that children like swimming and/or art activities, so they will change their low probability behaviour – tooth brushing – to be rewarded by the thing they like. Parents might despair of getting their teen safely through the years of identity and values exploration, but can help if they too find high probability behaviours to use as reinforcement for strengthening their idea of socially desirable actions. The activities that follow are designed to get you thinking about what are the basic principles of reinforcement and punishment, who has the power to deliver consequences – it’s not about parents and partners, it’s everything you do. The law is a codified set of behaviour that is deemed unacceptable to a given society in a culture at some point in time, and the consequences. This means we have included some ethics questions too. There is an opportunity to find out what you like and are your high probability behaviours, in case you want to plan your own behaviour modification programme. The terminology in operant conditioning can sometimes be a little confusing as we take some terms that are commonly understood one way and use these same terms slightly differently when talking about operant conditioning. Table 8 Four Types of Operant Conditioning

Positive (something added)

Negative (something removed)

Reinforcement (increases behaviour)

Positive reinforcement Something nice is given

Negative reinforcement Something unpleasant is removed

Punishment (decreases behaviour)

Positive punishment Something unpleasant is given

Negative punishment Something pleasant is removed

Note: Whether something is pleasant or unpleasant depends on the person Exercise 1 Which types of operant conditioning are demonstrated in the following examples? Explain your answer as some of these examples have more than one possible answer. 1. Giving stickers to children for working quietly resulted in more quiet work

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2. Looking angrily at someone who is talking resulted in them not talking

3. Walking away from a bully led to them not bullying any more

4. A child crying at bedtime results in them not having to go to bed – they get worse

5. A student studies hard to get higher grades

6. A disobedient child gets sent to her room and so she is more obedient

7. Tom is kind to his little sister because his Mum lets him off the dishes

8. An employee stops getting to work late because he has been given a warning

Exercise 2: Personal examples In small groups, discuss and write examples from your everyday life. Try to think beyond parenting. Ask yourself why you do or don’t do things – what is reinforcing your behaviours and what would punish other behaviours? 1. positive reinforcement

2. negative reinforcement

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3. positive punishment

4. negative punishment

Exercise 3: Fat kids? Read the “Fat kids? Turn on bicycle-powered TV” newspaper article. Discuss the questions then write your own informed answers.

1. Identify / list what positive reinforcement… a. the children are getting for peddling?

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b. the parents are getting for installing the cycle powered TV?

c. the researcher is getting for doing his research? 2. List and say how the behaviours are being strengthened by negative reinforcement…

a. for the parents?

b. for the kids?

c. for the community generally? Ethics - Answer the following questions that arise from studies like “Fat kids? Turn on bicycle-powered TV”, that use the principles of behavioural psychology to deliberately change behaviour.

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1. Is it appropriate to use punishment when primary school aged children become “couch potatoes”? (e.g. physical punishment or remove a positive reinforcer). Explain your answer.

2. Is it appropriate to use non-reinforcement when primary school aged children become

“couch potatoes”? (i.e. ignore the behaviour). Explain your answer. Exercise 4: Shaping behaviour Shaping is the reinforcement of closer and closer approximations to a desired behaviour. For this activity you will observe a demonstration of how to shape a behaviour, and then work in pairs to shape a behaviour with your partner. Notes 1. Why might some attempts to shape behaviour work better than others?

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2. Would shaping work as effectively if you used punishment rather than reinforcement?

Why or why not? 3. Think of some examples of shaping from real life.

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Exercise 5. The Premack Principle What motivates you? What are your high probability behaviours? Complete the Preferred Items & Experiences Questionnaire (Sarafino, 1996, p. 152).

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In the table below list the items you value the most and may motivate you or have reward power. Beside each, note whether it is a primary or secondary reinforcer and note whether you would need to receive it continuously, or on a partial reinforcement schedule. Table 9 Preferred Reinforcers Item from PIEQ Primary/secondary? Schedule?

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Definitions Write your own definitions of these words from this session. Include examples if it helps you learn. Positive reinforcement: Negative reinforcement: Positive punishment: Negative punishment: Schedule of reinforcement: Shaping:

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References Premack, D. (1959). Toward empirical behaviour laws: 1. Positive reinforcement.

Psychological Reviews, 66, 219-233. Sarafino, E. (2002). Principles of behaviour change: Understanding behaviour

modification techniques. New York, NY: John Wiley

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Week 10: Learning 2

Burton et al. (2012) textbook Chapter 6: Learning Another catch up week. Work your way through the rest of the learning chapter and, as always, think about how it applies to you and your life. Make sure you can define all the key terms listed at the end of the chapter and have a go at the questions too.

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Lecture Remember that you will get a lot more out of the lectures if you take the time to read the relevant sections of the textbook first. This week Dr Winton will cover the other theories of learning.

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Lab 9 This is the final lab class of the semester. We will look closely at critical thinking, and practise exercises similar to the essay you will be expected to write in your exam.

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Cyberpsych DVD The Cyberpsych modules provide variety in learning, but at times it may be better to spend the time writing notes or thinking up personal examples.

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Lab Manual As this is the last class, you must hand in your lab manual for grading. You will get it back at the final lecture.

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Laboratory 9: Critical thinking

Objectives 1. To discuss issues from the lecture on learning; 2. to gain practice at critical thinking and evaluating research studies; and 3. to try an exam-type question on critical thinking.

Introduction Psychologists and researchers need to be able to think clearly and critically. Unfortunately, there is some concern that our education system does not always encourage people to think. Much of our education focuses on memorising information, without necessarily developing an in-depth understanding of that information. This is of considerable concern in the training of psychologists and researchers who must be able to analyse written arguments, scientific reports, complex human behaviour and the interactions between people. Psychologists then often need to make decisions that can substantially impact on people’s lives. Critical thinking skills are an especially important skill in a field such as psychology for a number of reasons. First, humans (and hence psychological concepts) are complex. It can be easy to get lost in this complexity. Second, many of the topics that are dealt with within psychology are emotionally laden (e.g. male violence, cultural validity of intelligence tests). It can be difficult to remain objective with topics that have a high emotional content. Finally, there is a tendency to mistake familiarity (we all continually observe human behaviour on a day-to-day basis) with systematic and objective knowledge. For many people, their knowledge of human behaviour may be largely based on hearsay, and unconfirmed beliefs, and media interpretations of events, as well as personal experiences. A large number of articles could be cited that illustrate the importance of being sceptical and logical when evaluating beliefs. The following exercises provide an opportunity for you to think critically about psychological research. This provides a test of your understanding of material covered in earlier labs, in particular your learning on research methods, and also your ability to rationally analyse information.

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Exercise 1 The competent planning, running, and analysis of psychological experiments depends on the ability to think logically and critically about the concepts involved. Today’s task is to critically discuss the data or spot the likely faults in the use of statistics, reasoning, presentation of data, or research design in the examples below. Determine how these faults could be corrected. Note this is good practise for the critical thinking essay in your final exam, where you will have to demonstrate critical thinking about summaries of actual scientific reports. Critical questions to consider 1. Is the sample adequate and appropriate for the aim of the study? 2. Are there any confounding variables that might influence the results? 3. Are the measures valid and reliable? 4. Is the research design sound? 5. Are the data faulty or misleadingly presented? 6. Is there faulty reasoning or logic? 7. Are the conclusions warranted? What else could explain the findings? 8. Is the study ethical? 9. How could these problems be fixed?

Some useful terminology Observer effect Social desirability bias Reliability Validity Operational definitions Sampling bias Extraneous variables Confounding variables Artificiality Invalid assumptions Placebo effects Order effects Response set Anecdotal evidence

Informed consent Deception Do no harm Voluntary participation Random assignment Random selection Double blind procedure Sample/population Self report Control group Representativeness Generalisation Experimental control Experimenter bias

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Excerpt 1 Figure 6 graphs the positive gains occurring during psychotherapy. It covers one client who started therapy in August (month 1), and was treated until December when the clinic closed for the summer holidays. What can we say about the effectiveness of this psychotherapy?

Figure 6. Gains during psychotherapy

Gains

Months

1 2 3 4

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Excerpt 2 As part of a visual depth perception experiment, a student was required to estimate which of two objects was closer using only one eye at a time. After four trials she had estimated correctly three times with the right eye but only twice with the left eye. From this, the experimenter concluded that depth perception in humans is somewhat better for the right eye than the left.

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Excerpt 3 In the first clinical human test of a breakthrough schizophrenia vaccine, 450 men in a community were vaccinated, while 680 were left unvaccinated as controls. Soon afterwards there was a national health survey. Not one of the vaccinated men reported any symptoms of schizophrenia, confirming the effectiveness of the vaccine.

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Excerpt 4 A survey found that 60% of the accidents occurring during the early hours of Saturday morning involved drivers that had been drinking. This result further supports the belief that alcohol is a contributory factor in traffic accidents.

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Excerpt 5 A weekly women’s magazine ran a survey to determine how many women had contemplated suicide following divorce. The following week they published their results. Nearly 85% of women indicated that they had considered suicide following their divorce. The findings caused a major news frenzy, especially with women’s support groups demanding greater financial support for separated women, and greater ease of accessing that support.

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Excerpt 6 Dr Boyd, an experimental psychologist working in an American university animal lab, investigated the causal effects of hunger on aggression in cats. He took ten cats, kept them in individual cages, and put them on a food deprivation schedule so that at the end of two weeks the cats weighed 80 percent of their normal body weight. He then put the cats together in pairs for 15 minutes and using naturalistic observation, watched to see if aggression or fighting would occur. In all cases the cats showed the threat posture, and in most cases fighting occurred. Dr Boyd concluded that hunger increases aggression in cats, and that there is a strong correlation, even in humans, between eating and violence. “The well fed just don’t want to fight” he reported.

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Excerpt 7 It has been established that people in a meditative state produce more alpha waves (brain waves of 8-12 cycles per second). It has also been claimed that by using biofeedback techniques, people are able to enhance their alpha production. The result has been the sale of biofeedback units for the purpose of inducing a meditative state. A biological- psychologist decided to investigate the claims for these biofeedback units. Over a period of two weeks 10 participants were given six treatment sessions. During these sessions the participants used a recognised biofeedback unit to provide information regarding the type of brain waves they are producing. By the end of the sixth session all 10 participants were producing significantly more alpha waves. The psychologist therefore concluded that the units were not hoaxes, and would in fact help people who were trying to manage stress thorough relaxation and meditation.

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Excerpt 8 An experimenter took 20 participants who said that they believed in astrology, gave them their horoscopes for the previous day, and asked them how accurate the horoscope had been in predicting the previous day’s occurrences. The participants rated their opinion on a six-point scale that ranged from ‘extremely accurate’ to ‘extremely inaccurate’. All 20 participants reported their horoscopes as being accurate to some degree, and none reported their horoscope to be inaccurate. The experimenter concluded that horoscopes can predict what will happen.

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Exam Practice In the final exam for 175.102 this year, you will find a section on Critical Thinking . A section like this has appeared in exam papers written by Dr Jones since 2007, so you should check out past years’ papers. You will have to write an essay on a research report. Each year this part of the exam has a similar starter. It will be something like this: “Write an essay discussing any research issues that you think are relevant to the report below. Your critique may include design strengths and weaknesses, how the findings have been interpreted, and ethics, but you are not limited to these.” Work in groups to develop a model answer and then the class will compare answers. ………………………………………………………………………………… Psychologists have known for some time that mood can have an effect on memory: for

example, we're more likely to remember events that are consistent with our current state of

mind, and a bad mood is known to reduce the likelihood of people recalling false memories.

In the latter case, the theory is that a bad mood triggers a more sceptical, careful mode of

processing, in contrast to the less vigilant, conceptual thinking style that characterises a good

mood. Now Joseph Forgas and colleagues have taken this line of work out of the lab and into

the real world, showing how the weather can affect our memory via its effects on our mood.

The researchers employed the help of a newsagents shop in Sydney and tested the ability of

73 shoppers to recall ten objects, including a piggy savings jar and toy cars that were placed

around the counter. The shoppers were quizzed after they left the store, with half of them

tested on rainy, cloudy days and the others tested on bright, sunny days.

A mood questionnaire confirmed that the shoppers tested on rainy days were in a worse

mood than those tested on a sunny day, and the memory test showed the rainy-day

shoppers correctly identified three times as many items as the participants tested on a sunny

day. Moreover, the rainy-day shoppers were less likely to have false memories for objects

that hadn't been around the counter.

"This finding suggests that some allowance for such mood effects could be incorporated in

applied domains such as legal, forensic, counselling and clinical practice," the researchers

said.

Source: Forgas J, Goldenberg I, & Unkelbach C. (2009). Can bad weather improve your memory? An unobtrusive field study of natural mood effects on real-life memory. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(1), 254-257.

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Notes

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Week 11: Thought and language

Burton et al. (2012) textbook Chapter 8: Thought and language, pp. 295-320 Last chapter and only the first half is examinable. If you have children or an interest in language do take the time to read the rest however. Don’t forget to summarise the information into note form and perhaps create some flashcards – exam revision is just around the corner.



Lecture This week’s lecture will cover the final chapter that we are studying, thought and language.



Cyberpsych DVD A couple of useful interactive modules on the DVD relating to language and problem solving.



Stream Come and check on Stream for some interesting You Tube links on language acquisition.



Catch up time No more labs this week so time to get on with the reading and revision. If you have slipped behind on your reading, now is the time to start putting in extra hours to catch up. The end of the semester is approach faster than you think!



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Week 12: Exam preparation

Lecture This lecture is not to be missed. There will be some useful hints on the exam content as well as tips and strategies for exam revision. Your lab manuals will also be returned.



Burton et al. textbook Make sure you have had a go at the questions at the end of each chapter – they are a useful revision tool and some of the exam short answer questions come from here. Make sure you know the meaning of all the key terms listed too.



Stream There will be some very useful resources on Stream to help you prepare for your exam. We will also provide links to Student Learning resources that you might find handy.



Lab Manual Go back to the first half of your lab manual and reread the section on the exam.



Old exams Old exams are available through the library web site. But note the comments in here about which old papers are relevant.



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Appendix 1: Using Stream

You can access Stream via any computer connected to the internet. If you have an internet connection at home or elsewhere, you can access the Stream site for this paper at any time. It is also possible to access the online environment from work (seek permission first if from work as there may be access issues, e.g. firewall protection), friends’ computers, libraries or similar public access points such as internet cafes.

You can access Stream from the Massey homepage (through 1 or 2 shown above) or directly at http://stream.massey.ac.nz.

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Netiquette

This is a series of tips for effective use of the online discussion forums: 1. Before asking a question about the organisation of the course or requirements of the

assessment tasks - revisit the Lab Manual. The answer is almost always there. 2. Understand that while the tutor monitors the forums, he/she may not reply

immediately to a question. It is better for students to try to answer each other’s questions. The tutor will contribute if things are going off on the wrong tangent.

3. Write your comments/questions concisely and clearly. 4. Put your question/comment in the right forum - e.g. do not post a question on the

assignment in the Introductions forum. 5. Ensure that the title of your post is informative to enable easy searching. For example,

do not title posts with “Help Please” 6. Refrain from posting actual answers to assignment questions in the discussion board.

This can create a problem and the end result may very well be that some students can receive marks that are not indicative of their own work.

7. Respect other people’s opinions. It is easy to unintentionally offend. 8. Be forgiving and understand that words and phrases can be misinterpreted. 9. Be mindful of whether you are replying to the sender (as a private message) or to the

whole group. 10. Don’t feel that you have nothing to contribute - even a brief contribution or a question

asking for clarification can have a significant impact. 11. Be respectful of your own and other people’s right to privacy. Do not publish personal

contact details or the details of others in the public forums. 12. Avoid typing in ALLCAPS (unless this is for a reason) as it is seen as the equivalent

of shouting. 13. Don't hesitate to ask a question - it's highly likely that if you wonder about something,

at least one other person has the same question and everyone in the course can benefit from the answer (but see point 1 above!).

14. Be aware that Massey University has clear regulations on the use of Information Communication & Processing Systems (http://its.massey.ac.nz/policies/index.htm) and the consequences of inappropriate behaviour.

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Appendix 2: Massey University Library The Library provides resources and help to support your study. Please contact us if you need help finding information or requesting Library material. Phone: 0800 MASSEY (0800 627 739) ask for the Library OR call direct +64 6 350 5670 ext. 2880 Email: [email protected] There are two key ways to access Library help and resources:

• Library Website – access to our resources and services • Visiting the Library in person – make the most of any visits to campus

Library website (http://library.massey.ac.nz)

You can use the Library website to find resources by:

• searching Discover – search across our physical collections and a large proportion of our electronic resources (article databases, e-journals, e-books and more) – so you get both books and a selection of articles and other resources in the one search.

• searching the Catalogue (using Encore or Classic) to find and request books, theses, DVDs and other items held at any of the Massey Libraries.

• using Subject Guides – a quick way to the key resources in your subject area • searching individual Article Databases to find journal and newspaper articles on

a topic. This will provide access to our full range of databases. • printing copies of past exam papers – sorry we don’t have the answers!

You can also log in to your MyLibrary record to check your due dates, renew your books, view your reading history and request items from the Catalogue. There are request forms on the website to request resources and help – look under the Quick Links for Forms.

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For advice on finding information see the How to Find section. These pages include onscreen demonstrations of key information skills that will help you get started. As well as The Library for Distance Learning page, use The Library for Undergraduates or Postgraduates (whichever is appropriate), Subject Guides, Article Databases, and check out our blog Library Out Loud (LOL), follow us on Twitter or Facebook for the latest news from us.

Using the library in person

You’re welcome at any of the Massey Campus Libraries – in Albany, Palmerston North and Wellington. Services available from these libraries include Information Desks where you can get help in using Library resources, research consultations for postgraduate students and EndNote support, access to computers and photocopiers, wireless network from your laptop (setup is required). All Massey libraries provide help and support, but not all resources are held in every Library. All the details about our libraries, including opening hours, locations and services are available on the Library website, under About Us. When you are visiting, why not take advantage of our professional help (at the Information Desks) or if you are a postgraduate, book a Research Consultation with a subject specialist Librarian. Details are on The Library for Postgraduates page.

EndNote

EndNote is specialised software for organising the research and articles you find. It allows you to: 1. Create, store, and manage your references 2. Import and store references from electronic databases 3. Annotate, sort and search your references 4. Create bibliographies instantly in a variety of bibliographic styles 5. Insert citations into your Microsoft Word documents. See the Library’s EndNote webpage (under Quick Links on the website) for further information on ordering the software, and our training and help materials.

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Appendix 3: Supporting your learning Whether you are; a distance or internal student, first year or postgraduate, a high achiever or just scraping by, Massey University is committed to helping you reach your full learning potential. During your studies, you may want to explore effective ways in dealing with the following:

• planning essays and reports • assignment structure and format • using and referencing sources • using Stream to its full effect • enhancing study skills • effective time management strategies • reading and note-taking • exam preparation • postgraduate level writing • inclusive and accessible learning resources

Support is available in the following programmes to help you to advance and further develop your skills in academic writing. Internal Individual Appointments You can make an appointment to discuss either study skills, using Stream effectively or the review of an assignment with a Learning/Writing Consultant. Make sure you book in advance to avoid disappointment. Workshops Each campus offers a series of workshops to cater to the wide genre of students ranging from first year students to postgraduates. Students will be able to participate in on presentations that cover strategies for writing assignments to effective time management. OWLL (Online Writing and Learning Link) Website The Online Writing and Learning Link is a centralised website for academic writing and study resources. It allows all Massey students to access an extensive range of resources about study skills, assignment writing, avoiding plagiarism, exam skills, FAQs and how to navigate your way through Stream. Utilise the useful tools

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such as APA interactive and the Assignment Planning calculator. Go to http://owll.massey.ac.nz for more information. Writing and Study Skills Handouts A large collection of handouts on topics ranging from the correct way of referencing to effective exam strategies is available. View these online at http://owll.massey.ac.nz or request a hard copy if you do not have Internet access. Centre for Teaching and Learning have created an Academic Writing: A Guide to Tertiary Level Writing booklet which is also downloadable free from the OWLL website. If you would like a hard copy, you can purchase it for $5.00 from Centre for Teaching and Learning, Manawatu. Online Assignment Pre-reading Service If your primary mode of study is distance or if you are an internal student within your first eight papers at Massey, you are entitled to utilise the online assignment pre-reading service. You can submit up to two assignments per semester to Writing Consultants for review and advice related to the structure, focus, style, presentation, and use of outside sources before the assignment is submitted for marking to your lecturer. The turnaround time is three working days. To submit your assignment, go to the Academic Writing and Learning Support course on Stream or contact [email protected] Academic Q + A To ask any question related to the academic skills of writing, researching, referencing or to see what other students have asked and read the answers, go to the Academic Q + A discussion board which can be found on the Academic Writing and Learning Support course on Stream. A Learning Consultant from the Centre for Teaching and Learning will answer all questions within 24 working hours and other students will often contribute too. Staff supporting your learning at Massey Various staff members who work in the Centre for Teaching and Learning have specialist skills in the areas of learning, postgraduate, writing, Pasifika, ESOL, disability and transitional. To book an appointment to utilise their services see below. Centre for Teaching and Learning Wellington Campus For all Wellington students who would like to book an appointment to see an advisor, please contact:

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Phone: +64 4 801 5799 extn 624498 Email: [email protected] Hours: 8.30am – 4.30pm Location: Wellington Campus Block 5, Ground Floor (level A) Entrance E, Tasman Street, Wellington

Disability Services

Massey University provides a range of services to students with physical, sensory, learning, or medical impairments including deafness, mental health issues, long-term injury or illness. The services include many types of support that may assist you in your studies, for example, note takers, reader/writers and equipment, extended time for the exam. To find out further information about services at the Wellington Campus please contact the Disabilities Office on ext 6139.

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Appendix 4: Feeling overwhelmed? Are you thinking of withdrawing? Are you not feeling well? Are you having doubts, sudden feelings of incompetence? Has something overwhelming happened to you or someone you love? Do you have an awful realisation of time running out?

Ask yourself…

• Who can help to see I have all the information I need to make a good decision? (Linda, lab tutors, the counsellors, friends, and family)

• Do I really have to decide now? • Will I feel better after a cup of coffee / the baby has gone to sleep / my student

allowance arrives / the weather clears?

Tell yourself…

• I’ve got this far, I might as well finish. • I might get an extension of time for the assignment. • I could ask for help if I am confused and don’t know if I’m on the right track. • There are people around who can help if I ask. For example: Linda, your lab tutor,

any of the psychology lecturers (they are all approachable), also the Student Learning Centre, Student Health and Counselling, family and friends.

Do…

• Talk about it with one of us. Make contact with us and find out how you are going, and what suggestions we can make to help you.

• Discuss withdrawing with others who are important to you. • Get on with what needs to be done now (leave future tasks to the future).

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Appendix 5: APA referencing summary All referencing in your lab report should be in APA format (6th edition). This is a brief overview of the formatting rules; refer to Burton (2010) for a more detailed explanation.

In-text referencing

References in the text of your report: Cite all references in the text (the body of the report) by enclosing in parentheses the author’s surname and the year of publication, for example, “A recent study (Jones, 1998) showed that...” If the name of the author occurs in the text, the reference citation need be only the year of publication, for example, “Jones (1998) has said that...” Multiple authors If the reference has two authors, connect the surnames by an ampersand (&) if the reference is in parentheses, for example, “A recent study (Jones & Smith, 1998)...” or by “and” if the authors are referred to in the text, for example, “Jones and Smith (1998) have shown that...” If a reference has between two and five authors, the citation includes the names of all authors the first time it appears. Later citations of the same reference include only the surname of the senior author and the abbreviation “et al.” for example, “A recent study (Jones, Smith, Boren & White, 1998) showed...”; “The study previously cited (Jones et al., 1998) is...” If a reference has six or more authors, use just the surname of the first author followed by “et al.” in all citations. Quotations Use quotes sparingly. It is almost always better to use your own words, or to use quotes to emphasise or support something you have already said. If you quote directly from a source, give the page number(s), for example: Grasse (1949) considers his test simply as a more sensitive index of “impairment in both the concrete and abstract sphere” (p.13). Citing secondary references When you cite an article or book which you have not actually read, but which is referred to in another source which you have read, the format is: Smith (1942, as cited in Bloggs,

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1985). In such a case, the Reference section would include a reference to Bloggs’ publication not Smith’s.

Reference list

The reference list, at the end of the report, includes all references cited in the text and only those references. It is not a complete bibliography on a topic. References are arranged alphabetically by author’s surname, or for multiple authors by the name of the senior (first-named) author. The author’s last name is given, followed by an initial (or initials but one is sufficient) for both male and female authors (e.g. Clarke, P., not Clarke, Peter). This is called inverted order. In the case of multiple authorship, the inverted order is used for all names, with each name separated from the preceding name with a comma. The final name is preceded by an ampersand (&). If there are eight or more authors, the first six names are listed followed by three ellipsis points... and then the final author’s name. References to an author alone are listed first, followed by those of which he or she is the senior author. References with one senior and different second or third authors are arranged alphabetically by the surname of the second author, etc. Several references to the same author or authors are arranged by year of publication, the earliest first. References use italics for book or Journal titles and for the volume number. The reference list is formatted using a hanging indent. The second and subsequent lines of each reference are indented one tab stop. References for books Cite author, year, title, place of publication, and publisher, in that order. Note that book titles only have a capital letter on the first word, and are in italics. Martin, D. W. (1977). Doing psychology experiments. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.

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For “place of publication” use the name of the city and the country unless it is in the United States, in which case use the city and the state abbreviation. Write the publisher’s name in as brief a form as will be fully intelligible. Say which edition of a book was used, except for first editions. Note that edition is abbreviated (ed.). Anastasi, A. (1982). Psychological testing (5th ed.). New York: Macmillan.

References for chapters in edited books Cite author, year, chapter title, editors, book title, edition (if not the first), page numbers, place of publication, and publisher, in that order. Note that Editor is abbreviated (Ed.). Use (Eds.) if there is more than one editor. Note that only the first word (and proper nouns) of book titles have a capital letter. Singh, N. & Winton, A. (1989). Behavioural pharmacology. In J.K. Luiselli (Ed.).

Behavioural medicine and developmental disabilities (pp. 152-179). New York: Springer-Verlag.

References for journal articles Cite author, year, title of article, journal title, volume, and page numbers, in that order. Note that journal titles have capitals for all major words. Note too that the journal title and volume (not the issue) are the only parts in italics. Clarke, D. (1999). Depression as a function of life events, social support and sociocultural

factors: A New Zealand study. Social Research and Social Change, 6, 53-76. Podd, J. (1990). The effects of memory load and delay on facial recognition. Applied

Cognitive Psychology, 4(1), 47-59. Stillman, J.A., Brown, G.M., & Troscianko, T. (2000). Influence of sensitivity on

response bias in taste and audition. Perception & Psychophysics, 62, 1645-1654.

References for electronic sources Most information aside from books is now accessed from the internet. For journal articles, the reference is the same as for a print source but has the doi (document object identifier) on the end. If there is no doi, this is replaced by “Retrieved from url of the journal website.” Note that this is NOT the search engine or database that you may have used to locate the article.

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Online journals Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (2001). Title of article. Title of Periodical,

xx, xxx-xxx. doi:xx.xxxx/xxxxxx Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (2001). Title of article. Title of Periodical,

xx, xxx-xxx. Retrieved from http://www.bmj.com

Other online sources For other online sources such as websites or documents, refer to Burton (2010). Note the need to carefully consider the credibility of such sources – for instance do not use sites such as wikipedia or psychology.com.

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Internal Assessment Summary

The following marks have been recorded for you on the Massey University results system, for the internally assessed work. If you think there has been an error, please see Linda or Ella urgently. Labs attended or excused (Maximum 8): _________ Note that labs that are missed without a medical certificate or similar supporting documentation will incur a 1 mark penalty on the Lab manual and attendance assessment. 1. Short answers: __________________ (Percentage converted to mark out of 10) 2. Lab report: __________________ (Percentage converted to mark out of 20)

3. Lab manual and attendance __________________ (Mark out of 10) Total internal coursework mark (40% of the final course mark)

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175.102 Assessment criteria for grading the laboratory manual (achievement based assessment)

Indicators of an A grade (8-10) Indicators of an B grade (6-7) Indicators of an C grade (5) Indicators of an F grade (<5) Preparation Student’s participation and

comments in class and in the lab manual reflect prior reading and

preparation for class.

Comments and contributions reflect some preparation and

prereading of course materials.

No evidence of pre-reading of lab manual and other course materials.

Fails to respond to lab tutor’s attempts at support.

Participation Tutor has awareness of active participation in all activities and thoughtful contributions to class

discussions.

Tutor notes good interaction with other students and some

contribution to class discussion.

An acceptable level of interaction and engagement with the material.

Fails to regularly engage with other students and/or class

discussion, to the extent that the non-engagement is noted by the

tutor. Lab exercises All exercises completed, data

recorded and tables, graphs etc correctly drawn using APA

conventions.

Most exercises completed, data recorded and tables, graphs etc.

mostly correctly drawn.

Some exercises completed, data recorded and a good attempt to draw tables, graphs etc has been

made.

Fails to complete data recording. Graphs and tables show little

evidence of learning correct APA style.

Activity evaluation All exercise comments demonstrate critical thought and

informed comment.

Some degree of critical comment with most exercises completed.

Comment for most exercises completed, but lacks critical

thought.

Lacks ability to reflect on the events; or does not undertake any

critical evaluation of the exercises. .

Overall Student performs at an outstanding level across all categories.

Understanding of objectives for the lab class is demonstrated to a high

degree.

Student performs at a high level, and in some instances at an

outstanding level.

Demonstrates a good achievement of lab objectives.

Student does a reasonable job of completing the lab manual and

with acceptable class contribution.

Demonstrates an achievement of lab objectives.

Little evidence to support a pass mark for the manual. Little

contribution to the class learning environment.

An understanding of the lab

objectives is not fully demonstrated

Mark

Less deductions for missed labs

Final Mark (out of 10)

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