Wednesday, August 26, 2009

August 26: Introduction to Research

Good Job Everyone! I am impressed by most of you...great notes, nice system for notecards, thoughtful Neuron Note questions, connections made with other classmates. Way to go! If you cannot keep up, you need to talk to me now before it becomes a problem. Send me an email if you are having issues.

In-Class Activities:

1) Neuron Note...You read my responses to last class period's questions and wrote a new question. What do you think of this? I also gave you a "Question of the Day" -- a difficult but relevant concept that you might have found while reading or settling into the routine of studying psychology.

Today's Question: Why was Roger Sperry important?

2) You turned in your textbook website assignment. If you were not able to get it via email, I apologize. Please do it tonight. FYI: Late work will earn half points and I will not accept it once it becomes a habit.

3) Scissors Game. You passed scissors around the room as I said "Correct" of "Incorrect."
You tried to figure out the rule of this odd game. It was fun and gave you a chance to "feel" the scientific method. Observing, making a hypothesis, doing your research, finding conclusions and doing it all over again.

4) We tried to continue understanding how psychologists use critical thinking to understand behavior and mental processes by taking some notes.

5) We watched the Phil Zimbardo video "Understanding Research" to get our minds turned on to why psychologists do experiments and other types of research. It talked about placebo effect, double-blind studies, correlation is not necessarily causation, placebo effect, and more.

5) You got the Naturalistic Observation assignment. With a partner in class, you must to observe two or more people interacting for ~10 minutes and take notes. Once your notes are complete and before you talk to your partner, you write up a 1-page summary of your observation and then swap with your partner. After reading their response, you record the differences in your observations. You must complete this assignment before class on Friday.

Assignments:
1) Read chapter 1 pp. 31-42
2) Naturalistic Observation

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