The Placebo Effect

This week in class, we learned about the different types of observation and experimentation. These methods are the basis of all scientific study. Experimentation is the only method of scientific manipulation that can help determine whether one variable causes another. Observation merely observes and documents what naturally happens. In experimentation, the researchers control for as many variables as possible. They leave one variable as the independent variable and manipulate it in order to record what happens to the dependent variable. Additionally, when subjects are selected to take part in the experiment, they are divided into two groups: the experimental group and the control group. The control group is the group used to measure the norms for the dependent variable when the independent variable is not manipulated. The experimental group is the group in which the experiment actually happens; the independent variable is manipulated and the dependent variable is effected. This split is done randomly, also known as random assignment. Random assignment is done so as to eliminate the influence of any confounding variables, such as age, gender, IQ, socio-economic status, and race. Once this is done, the experiment can be administered.

We also learned in class that experimenter bias can have a huge impact on the outcome of the experiment. If the experimenter told the people in the control group to drink their water, the control group would know that they're not receiving the vodka and be confused. If the experimenter told the experimental group to drink the vodka, then the experimental group would try to guess what the experimenters want to see and act accordingly. This is called demand characteristic. To prevent any of this confusion, experiments are conducted using the double-blind method. In the vodka-water experiment, both groups would receive covered cups so that they would not be able to tell which substance they would be drinking. Furthermore, the water would be laced with vodka so that it at least smelled like the real drink. Most importantly, the experimenters don't know what substance they are giving to the people and cannot subconsciously influence how the people act. Double-blind is the ideal method, although single-blind (method) procedures are conducted. In single-blinds, the researcher knows what he's giving but the subject doesn't know what he/she is receiving.

Hypothetically, what would happen if a researcher told a person in the control group that, "this medicine works wonders?" The person would immediately think that they are part of the experimental group and alter their behavior so that it seems like the medicine is working. Their behavior might change, but their bodies might react to simply thinking that the medicine is working. It has been scientifically proven that thinking you are receiving a substance will make your body react to the phantom substance. How cool is that? Naturally, this often skews the control group's results, so it has to be eliminated as a confounding variable. By the way, this is called the placebo effect.

If anyone has ever seen "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and watched the first Quidditch match, you will know that Harry used the placebo effect on Ron. Ron was nervous and didn't even want to play the game. Harry pretended to slip some Felix Felicis (liquid luck potion) into Ron's pumpkin juice. Once Ron thought he had drunk the potion, he acted as if he had. When Hermione, who also thought that Harry had slipped the potion into Ron's drink, confronted him about the illegality of his actions, Harry showed her that he had only pretended to add the potion.

I find it amazing that the human mind can be capable of this. Just thinking that you have done something that will help your performance is enough to make your performance as good as it would have been had you taken the substance. Fascinating. Since our study of AP Psychology is still in its infancy, I look forward to more fascinating truths about how the brain works.

Here's the video link in case anyone was interested. Funny enough, the top comment reads, "Power of PLACEBO."

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0BUXUXceHQ

Yay. Chapter 2!

Mrs. Perl. I'm not going to lie. I'm looking at these notes I have on statistics and they just don't provide me with any inspiration for a solid blog post. I'm not sure how many exciting things I can say about standard deviation, descriptive statistics, or a central tendency. And what about ethics? There's certainly nothing fun about ethics. So, lets jump around a bit.

First, I never actually mentioned anything about the bio-psycho-social analysis even though we didn't focus on that this week. In my defense, though, it was covered on a test that we DID take this week. Basically, this type of analysis consists of analyzing a situation from the biological, psychological, and social perspectives--not just one. You can't just look at an eating disorder and claim it was only caused due to social pressure. You also must look at psychological aspects or see if it was caused by depression or something that has to do with their biology. You have to look at the big picture.
In Government last year we learned about something called the political schema. This means that everyone has a foundation of information in their head that directs new information and determines how they will process it. For instance, a republican will process all information very differently than a democrat would. It could be the same exact piece of information but their opinions and already acquired knowledge will determine how they will process the new information. What I'm getting to is that in politics, although they talk a lot about seeing the big picture, that doesn't happen much because their political schema just takes over.

Okay, now let's talk chapter 2.
I just want to get one thing out of the way first. When we were talking about placebos I kept thinking about this House episode that I watched. Dr. House is on a plane and someone gets really sick. While this person is experiencing all these weird symptoms, all the other passengers are freaking out. House stands up and starts talking about how dangerous this disease is and how contagious it can be. He then starts listing symptoms of this disease and says that if anyone starts experiencing them to notify him because their lives could be at serious risk. He names symptoms like your hands will begin to shake or you'll get dizzy..stuff like that. Anyway, people all start to freak out and tell him that they're feeling dizzy and that they're hands are shaking. House then tells them that none of those are real symptoms and its all psychological (or caused by anxiety).

Well, chapter 2. How exciting. Correlation does not prove causation. You must be careful of your word choice when creating a survey. A case study studies one person in depth. Experiments do not mimic real life. You must control for all confounding variables. If this blog were an experiment to see how long you could read this for without getting bored if you had a lollipop in your hand. Then I would randomly assign a random sample into a control group and an experimental group. Only the experimental group would get a lollipop. Both groups would have to read this blog. The independent factor would be the lollipop holding while the dependent factor would be how long they were able to read this for without getting bored. You could even operationalize this experiment by asking the participant every paragraph how bored they are on a scale from 1-5.

Well, that's my reflection of the past week of psych studyin'.
Have a lovely holiday.

The Recent Past

A lot of what we have talked about in the past week or two in Chapter 2 has been very relevent to my life and mom's life in the past year or so. A year ago my mom decided to take part in a weight loss study.

The study itself was one where they would put a balloon in the subjects' stomaches hoping that it would take up room in the stomach causing the subject to get full faster and not eat as much, thus, lose weight. The thing that really stood out to me about this study in the beginning was when my mom told me that it was a double blind study/experiment. I asked her what that meant and when we learned about it in this chapter it made a whole lot more sense.

She went in on the morning of Sukkot eve last year for the surgery. She had no idea whether or not she would get the balloon because in a double blind study she or the person giving her the information doesn't know. She came home from the hospital with a horrible headache and nausea and I immediately thought, well, she must have the balloon if she is this sick.

Every month for 6 months she would go to the doctor and get weighed in. The pounds were shedding away, but she always lived with the mystery of "do I have the balloon, or don't I?" She could after all have the placebo. Since they didn't know which participants were getting the balloon in the first, they still put them under for a little while to act like some of the subjects were getting it which acted as the placebo. So who knew she could have thought it was there.

In the end, the balloon was indeed in her stomach and she is now a living example of how this study helped people lose weight.

Statistics

Reading and learning about statistical significance pointed out things that many of us would say "well duh, that makes sense" (perhaps hindsight bias?), but things that many of us overlook every day.
Often times I hear about research results and statistics and think that they have to be correct, but after reading this chapter I know that's not necessarily so. It's very easy to make things look like they are something when they are in fact not.

Things like standard deviation help us accurately present and understand results. Sometimes when you have data with many numbers and you have a few high numbers, the overall average is affected. However, with standard deviation we can see how the scores vary around the mean (average). This will help us more accurately read the results.

Another measurement that helps us is statistical significance. Often times in our experiments, despite controlling confounding variables and getting results that make it appear to be that one thing caused another, things can be due to chance. Statistical significance helps gives us a picture of how likely it is that the results occurred by chance. If it is less than 5%, the results are considered to have statistical significance.

I think these things are important for all of us to keep in mind while we surf the internet. There are often articles and websites that show statistics that don't accurately portray reality. We must be very careful and hesitant to believe everything that we read.

Ethics in Research

The APA (American Psychological Investigation) has a strict set of rules involving the ethics of doing research/experiments/testing on people. They require that:

1. All participants must sign consent, and be informed about the nature of the experiment. If the participant is a minor the parent must sign the consent.
2. The experimenter must provide protection from any harm that could possibly happen to a participant.
3. There is complete confidentiality.
4. An experimenter absolutely must debrief participants after the experiment. This means telling the participants exactly what you did while conducting this experiment. It is especially important if the experiment is a double-blind or single-blind procedure.

Clearly psychologists and researchers must take extreme measures in ensuring that their experiments are ethical. It's also important to note that these guidelines are just a basic summary. If you visit the APA website and find the code of ethics, you will see just how lengthy and in depth it really is. 

So we understand the importance of the ethical treatment of humans in experiments. But what about animals? Do they have just as strict guidelines? Are they equally protected? A few years ago I added myself to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) email list. I think it's safe to say that this was possibly the biggest mistake of my entire life. Almost every single day I receive a heart-wrenching email about animals in awful, unthinkable situations, whether it be horse slaughter (please, no!), farm workers drop-kicking little piglets (BUT WHHHHY), and the dreaded topic of puppy mills (brb, gonna go cry for days.) The most recent email contained this horrific message: "When I arrived here, I was devastated. Dogs were sharing a cage with the decomposing bodies of their dead brothers and sisters. One dog may have severed his leg on the cage's wire flooring and was left untreated. Many had seemingly never even seen daylight."  Okay, Lily, why did you just do that to yourself? You knew it wouldn't be good... I never open these emails. The subject line says enough for me. 

It is clear that organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States, and the even more (in)famous organization, PETA, are concerned with how animals are treated. Just a few months ago I received an email from the HSUS urging that I call my US Representative and voice my disappointment at the proposed "King Amendment," which, if passed, could repeal many animal protection laws on farm animal confinement, horse slaughter, puppy mills, shark finning, and more. So what exactly are the guidelines for the treatment of animals used in psychological experimentation?

The APA not only has a code of ethics for humans, but a strict code of ethics for animals as well. First, the APA requires taking multiples steps in ensuring that the research is justified. All non-animal options must be considered, the experiment must be approved by an animal care committee, and the scientific purpose of the experiment must be of sufficient significance. Animals must be cared for humanely and be held in healthful conditions throughout their stay in a facility. Again, like the code of ethics for humans, there is much more involved here. If you're really curious/concerned you can check this link out. It gives you all the information you need and more: http://www.apa.org/science/leadership/care/guidelines.aspx

Therefore, if experiments adhere to the APA guidelines for the ethical treatment of animals, PETA and the HSUS should have nothing to worry about here. Let's hope I won't find an email condemning the APA in my inbox anytime soon. Now, I really should get myself off that email list.. 

BIO-PSYCHO-SOCIAL APPROACH IS EVERYTHING

Going over my notes, the whole bio-psycho-social approach thing is the first thing that really jumps out at me. The bio-psycho-social approach is everything... but actually.

Biological influences include:

• natural selection of adaptive traits
• genetic predisposition responding to the environment
• brain mechanisms and hormonal influences
• personality, abnormal psychology, and treatment of psychological disorders

Psychological influences include:

• states of consciousness
• learned fears and other learned expectations
• emotional responses
• cognitive processing and perceptual interpretations

Social-cultural influences:

• presence of others
• cultural, societal, familial expectations
• peer and other group influences

Different levels of analysis form an integrated approach that considers the influence of social-cultural, psychological, and biological factors. Each of these three factors are important to consider on their own when studying psychology, but put them all together and you've hit the jackpot! You get a clearer and more developed perspective on behavioral and mental processes when you look at things from each perspective- biological, psychological, and social-cultural. Congratulations, you've just become a psychologist!!

You:

Perspectification (Yes Mrs. Perl, I created a new term)

When thinking of a blog post I was (as usual) at a loss for words. I can talk my head off all day but somehow when it comes to these blog posts I can't think of one thing. I stared at my notes for a good one second an something came to me (which is very unusual). I saw the title of Unit 1: Psychology's History and Approaches and realized that it was such a classic Mrs. Perl title (who knew she wrote our Psychology book). Suddenly all my mind could say was PERSPECTIVE! 

I took myself back to class this past week and thought of all the different approaches to psychology:

Dualists (people who think the mind and the body are separate entities; we're born with knowledge) like Socrates, Plato, and Renee Descartes. 

Monists (people who think the mind and body are the same; we learn through experience) like Aristotle. 

Empiricism which is the view that knowledge is derived from experience and can only be known by observation and experimentation. People who contributed to this belief are Francis Bacon and John Locke. 

Then finally when psychology is really born, with Wilhelm Wundt, we see things like structuralism (wanting to understand the structure of the mind) with people like Edward Titchener and functionalism (concerned with the function of the mind) with William James. 

All of these people and ideas all give a different piece of psychology.

I thought about all the different subfields of psychology: 

Biological psychologists who study the interaction between the mid and the body.

Developmental psychologists who study the development of person from 'womb to tomb.' 

Cognitive psychologists who look at how we perceive, pay attention, our memory, language, thinking, and problem solving. 

Educational/School Psychologists who study teaching, learning, human development, attitudes, and traits. 

Personality psychologists who study persistent traits.

Social psychologists who ponder how de view one another, interact, etc. 

Additionally, I thought about the bio-psycho-social approach, and the importance of seeing each one together as a whole, and not each separately. When looking at each one separately, one misses the whole picture. However, when looking at each affect as a whole - one gets the whole picture.

I thought this was so appropriate being that it is Mrs. Perl's class and that perspective is so important (how classic). I think going into our AP Psychology class it's very important for us all to make sure we're looking at the whole picture instead of just one perspective. It's important to look at all perspectives instead of just one and seeing a very narrow point of view. 

The Dreadful Package of M an M's.

When I was a kid I would always try to pick out the bag of candy that had the most reds or blues in it. For some reason no matter which candy it was those two colors were always the best. I never had the problem with M and M's ( chas veshalam I ate them they are ou-d) but I would with jelly fish and Laffy Taffys. I always never got the good colors. I was always stuck with the yellows and oranges, the colors that tastes disgusting.
One time I was complaining to my mom and I said "Why do they make less of the good colors? Those are the ones that people eat". My mom responded saying it just seems like that but in reality the quantity of all the colors are equal. I never agreed with her.
Friday, August 30, 2013 at around 11:30 was the first time I understood that my mom was right and the "leaders of candy" don't hate me. They actually have a specific about of candy colors per color. It may not be the same amount but you should always get all the colors. They do make the better colors more. However I was right to, you never get the colors you want. When I got my package of M and M's I didn't get any reds or blue. But I should have. They make it that there should have been a percentage of those colors in my bag, but there was not and that's what helped me understand surveys.
Surveys have to be taken by a lot of people to get an accurate result. If you look at one bag of candy you can't see the actual percent of how many of one color is products. However the more bags you take the more accurate it will be.
Surveys are a great way to see how a percentage of people feel about something. People though have to be wary of them because of how inaccurate they can actually be. You can take a survey of everyone in the phone book but you have to realize that's not everyone because there are people that aren't listed. You can go send a survey out to our school but you have to realize some kids wont answer it.
You have to now to take a survey to come out with an accurate results. Strategies to make sure you have the most random and diverse people taking the survey. Understanding how people think so you know how to word a question.
There are many things that need to be thought out before you take an accurate survey. However when you do you can get an amazing result. Just like the candy the main thing about surveys is numbers, the more the better.

The Bio-Psycho-Social and All That

We discussed in class what the Bio-Psycho-Social approach is and why is it significant to get an accurate picture of a person and their situation. This is actually something I always wondered about on my own, and now that we're actually learning about it, so many things have finally "clicked" in my head. I always wondered how people were evaluated, and if they were only evaluated based on a single aspect, i.e. their social characteristics. If this were the case, I thought, then the whole evaluation process would be unfair, biased, inaccurate, and unhelpful. There are so many other significant factors and major aspects that make up a person that by just evaluating them by this alone would not paint a clear picture at all. In fact, only evalutating a person based on one aspect of their lives could even skew the examiner's opinions in the completely wrong direction, and then the evaluation would be more harm than good. In order to really help someone, it is necessary to get a basic, yet thorough grasp of who they are and what makes them that way, and that is only possible through the Bio-Psycho-Social approach.

"WEEEOOOOWEEEOOOO! STOP! HINDSIGHT BIAS!!!"

To my fellow classmates and future psychologists- thank you! Thank you for making me feel like I need to write twelve paragraphs for this blog post. And I will!! 
(Overconfidence, anyone?). 
   
     Our introduction to psychology seemed like way more than an introduction, wouldn't y'all agree? I already feel like I know everything there is to know, but this is far from the truth. There is still an insane amount of information that awaits. And I'm being totally, completely honest when I say that I am super excited to dive in. 
    
     Psychology has always sounded fascinating to me. I want to know why people behave the way they do. I want to understand. I feel like life will suddenly make a whole lot more sense if I do. Obviously psychology can't explain everything, but it can sure help to make a few things clearer. I have said that by taking this AP I'm going to "learn so much about (insert name of complicated person here)!" We shall see whether I understand people more after taking this course. Perhaps I'll be able to address this question in my last blog. 
     
     Shall I get to the facts? Two things in particular that interested me were the ideas of hindsight bias and overconfidence. Hindsight bias is what happens when we look back at something after the fact and believe that it was inevitable. In regard to research findings, hindsight bias can easily occur. When someone is told that something is true based on research, they are likely to believe it. It is easily imaginable, and can even seem like common sense. If you ever hear someone using the phrases "I could have predicted it," or "I knew it all along", cry out, "STOP! HINDSIGHT BIAS!". Trust me, they'll love it.
    
     The second concept we addressed is overconfidence. Overconfidence is natural in humans. We believe that we can easily solve a problem, give the right answer to a question, or behave in a certain way. In reality, often times our expectations for ourselves are too high. Our tendency to overestimate ourselves often affects our sense of judgement.

    These concepts involve forming conclusions based on intuition and personal experience. This can be an issue when tackling a psychological question. Since the tendency to use hindsight bias and overconfidence is incredibly high, formal research is an absolute necessity. 

   Another aspect of psychology that we learned about was the way surveys are conducted. What struck me the most is the fact that the way a question on a survey is worded affects people's answers. The example that was given is the difference between "Are you in support of a woman's right to choose to have an abortion?" and "Do you believe it is right to kill an unborn fetus?" Nobody wants to answer "yes" to the second question, even if they are, indeed, pro-abortion. This just shows how incredibly wary we must be when confronted with statistical evidence. We may not be aware of how a question is worded and how that may have affected, or even mislead the research.

     Okay, so this was a total of eight paragraphs. (And I'll admit, some were pretty short). I mean, duh, I knew it all along that I wouldn't actually write twelve paragraphs. C'mon people.
(Can you say "hindsight bias"?)