Detective L - Bio Stuff (and Psych stuff)

[Detective L]

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"You can call me 'Dante the Demon Killer.' Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"​

Name: Dante
Alignment: Neutral
Alias(es): Demon-Killer / Son of Sparda
Secret Identity: Dante

Looks:

Dante stands at around six feet and with a more rounded face, a small scar going across his right eyebrow and cheek, and his eye color seems to be grey-blue. His hair is black, with the sides of his head shaved, forming a mohawk out of the hair at the top of his head, tapering off into a point at the nape of his neck. He also sports a strange glowing tattoo on his back between his shoulder blades.

His attire consists of a faded black, 3/4-length, hooded leather jacket with red interior linings and the British Union flag sewn on the left arm, a gray tanktop, black fingerless gloves, black faded jeans, black military boots, and a necklace reminiscent of half of the Perfect Amulet that features prominently throughout the series. His sword is slung over his back favoring his left hand, and his pistols are placed in holsters at the back of his waist, under his coat. Dante also seems to be ambidextrous, favoring either hand for melee attacks with his weapons.

Personality:

Dante is very rebellious towards authority figures, but laid-back to anyone else. Living on the periphery of society and caught between two worlds, he feels like an outcast. Young and angry, but with a quick wit and black humor, he is disaffected and disassociated with society, and seemingly quite apathetic. He has no fear, and no respect for authority, especially not the demonic authority that runs the world in which he lives. He has no qualms with engaging in debauchery and other hedonistic acts, mostly because he believes he won't be around for too much longer, because of all the demons constantly breathing down his neck.

However, Dante has a huge heart beneath all of this rough exterior. He purposely chose to live out his life his own way because his eyes were opened to evil as a child, especially when the people who were supposed to take care of him turned out to be demons. He decided to take a stand and fight back, no matter what happens. But even after all of the hatred, violence and murder, Dante would often look at himself and see if he could call himself human, going so far as to rip his chest open to see his own heart.

Rank & History

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Rank: 4 (Renegade)
Origin Type: Magic
Origin Story:

Dante is the elder child of an Angel named Eva, and the Demon, Sparda. Due to this, he was born a Nephilim, a mixture of the two races and as such, has gained access to both their abilities.

History:

Dante seemingly hunts down other demons in the twisted shadows of Limbo City, while slowly coming to grips with his ethereal powers. Dante grew up in various institutions, orphanages, youth correction facilities, and foster homes, but these were mostly operated by demons, and often resulted in torture and violence. Dante has therefore developed a deep hatred of demons and authority in general, but tries to stay incognito.

In spite of this he attracts attention thanks to his violent tendencies and the actions of the demons against him. Dante is not subtle in his war against them, even going so far as punching out a bouncer in front of a group of people in order to enter a nightclub run by demons. The demons are even less subtle when fighting Dante, perfectly willing to tear apart Limbo City to subdue him. These mutual acts of sabotage have allowed the demons to use the media to portray Dante as public enemy number one. Thus, he escaped to NBVille, in search of peace. But would he find it? Or would he only have to face his demons, once more?

Abilities & Equipment

• Strength: 15
• Intelligence: 20
• Speed: 25
• Durability: 15
• Energy: 45
• Technology: 20

Power/Ability: Nephilim Physiology
Description of Powers:

Dante is a Nephilim, which means he is a hybrid of an Angel and Demon. Through this, Dante is able to focus his Demonic or Angelic powers into objects to enhance them (like for example, any rudimentary weapon or a specialized weapon created using his abilities), focus it into himself to gain certain appendages (like for example, gain larger fists, or wings) as well as into the environment around himself (like for example, focusing it into the air to create thrusts to push him out of the way). There is a distinction between using either Demonic or Angelic variations, as they shine in either a bright red or bright blue, respectively.

Weakness: Despite his Angel and Demon abilities, Dante's body is human when not enhanced with his abilities.
Equipment: A basic broadsword, a small knife and two hand guns.

Other Information

Allies:
Enemies:
Other:

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[Detective L]

Basic Information

• Name: Levi Ackerman
• Gender: Male
• Age: 23
• Clan: Uchiha

Looks:

Levi has short, straight black hair styled in an undercut, as well as narrow, intimidating grey eyes with dark circles under them and a deceptively youthful face. He is quite short, but his physique is well-developed in musculature from extensive workout. He is usually either frowning or expressionless; that, plus his extremely calm demeanour, often makes it difficult to guess what he is thinking.

When forced to take leave from his duties due to injury, Levi was seen in a black suit, plain white shirt, cravat, and dress shoes. He is mostly seen in his regular ANBU outfit.

Personality:

Levi is described as a "clean freak" by those who know him personally, as he prefers his environment and himself to be spotlessly clean. He is averse to having either himself or his equipment soiled, and he has been known to wipe down his blood-smeared blades while still on the battlefield. However, he will not hesitate to touch filth if he deems it necessary.

Despite his preoccupation with cleanliness, Levi is abrasive and not very approachable. He rarely shows emotion, giving a cold impression to others. His manner of speaking tends to be blunt and insulting, his comments are frequently coarse or otherwise inappropriate, and he is not above provoking or belittling those who oppose or irritate him. His sense of humour tends toward the vulgar, insulting, and dark. All of this makes him unsettling to a great many people.

Although he rarely shows it, Levi does have a sense of morality and empathy. One of his most defining characteristics is the great value he places on preserving human life. He himself has stated that he hates unnecessary casualties, and he tells his subordinates to use their judgement so that they can avoid blunders that might cost them their lives.

Though Levi is aware that his battle skill is in a different league from that of almost any other shinobi alive, he is not particularly arrogant about it, as he knows from experience that no shinobi is invulnerable. Few will argue with his claims that only he can handle certain difficult tasks, because he has proven his ability to accomplish them.

Village Information:

Village of Birth: Land of Fire
Village of Alliance: n/a


Rank & Chakra:

Ninja Rank: Jounin
Specialty: Advanced Handseal Specialist ⇀ Advanced Kenjutsu Specialist ⇀ Seal Caster⇀ Namikazeron
Elements:

➳ Fire Release ⇀ Completed
➳ Earth Release ⇀ Completed
➳ Wind Release ⇀ Completed
➳ Water Release ⇀ Completed
➳ Lightning Release ⇀ Completed
➳ Blaze Release ⇀ Completed

Custom Elements:

➳ Chloroform Release ⇀ Completed
➳ Mawscape Release ⇀ Completed
➳ Liquid Nitrogen Release ⇀ Completed
➳ Draconium Release ⇀ Completed

Your Ninjutsu:
➳ Ninjutsu ⇀ Completed
➳ Genjutsu ⇀ Completed + Sharingan Genjutsu
➳ Taijutsu ⇀ Completed
➳ Kenjutsu ⇀ Completed
➳ Fūinjutsu ⇀ Completed
➳ Medical Ninjutsu ⇀ Completed
➳ Kinjutsu ⇀ Completed
➳ Kaito's Taijutsu ⇀ Completed non-advanced
➳ Yin Release ⇀ Completed
➳ Fūinjutsu ⇀ Completed
➳ Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan ⇀ Completed
➳ Rinnegan ⇀ Completed
➳ Summoning ⇀ Snakes and Hawks Signer/Signed

Custom Fighting Styles:

➳ Way of the Warrior Monks ⇀ Mastered
➳ Way of the Barrier ⇀ Mastered
➳ Infinite Sword Style ⇀ Mastered
➳ Hidden Rope Art ⇀ Mastered
➳ Namikazeron ⇀ Mastered


Background Information:

History:



Other:

Advanced Hand Seal Specialist - Due to possessing only one arm, Levi is able to perform all Ninjutsu techniques with merely the formation of a single hand seal. He has been shown to be skilled enough to perform these one handed hand seals with a weapon in hand.

Advanced Kenjutsu Specialist - Outside his general fighting prowess, Levi is highly skilled in close combat and Kenjutsu, even with only one hand. Due to this expertise, Levi is capable of gaining an increased damage to his freeform Kenjutsu and Taijutsu (+10 damage) and access to Iaido based Samurai techniques.

Yin Release Specialist & Draconium - Levi as a Yin specialist will be able to gain an increase in their chakra draining abilities, allowing them to passively siphon 30 chakra per turn from enemies, and due to their heightened spiritual energy, the user becomes aware of all Genjutsu and spiritual techniques and entities and gains the ability to use Genjutsu Kai without a seal. Thanks to his Yin prowess, Levi developed a special element. Coated in a black shade, Draconium utilizes Yin chakra and Lightning to create a unique element special to Levi.

Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan - Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan literally meaning "Eternal Kaleidoscope Copy Wheel Eye", is the highest known form of Sharingan. The appearance of the pupil drastically changes, differing from the users original shape. When active. Levi can track speeds even further beyond that of the MS. The timing of his counters, the chaining speed of multiple techniques and the ability to see through the enemy's moves greatly increase even beyond the levels of MS. Not only that but Levi gains the ability to see through visual genjutsu S rank and below. The link to Genjutsu is further increased as he gains the ability to cast any and every genjutsu without the need for handseals as long as he has a clear line of sight to the target. Also, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan gives Levi access to the same powerful and forbidden techniques available to the user through his MS and even some additional ones. Like all EMS users, Levi will however,not suffer any damage or decrease drawbacks in his EMS activation time limit through the use of MS based techniques. Futhermore, Levi gains access to stronger and more potent techniques of Blaze Release.

Rinnegan - With the infusion of Hagoromo's chakra, Levi gains the Rinnegan and a passive +30 damage up to S rank, turning his techniques into a black color. Levi gains an additional 750 chakra points added to base chakra level due to achieving the Rinnegan, and gains complete immunity to visual based Genjutsu. Levi gains access to the Six Paths being able to use 2 Paths at a time, as well as being able to see chakra and the chakra flow of other targets. He also has access to chakra rods, as well as his normal EMS techniques and abilities.

Swords & Daggers - Levi carries on him, a single golden small sword at all times, located on his left waist as well as a longer katana on his right hand side. Despite his single arm, Levi is easily capable of retrieving his dagger or sword, even showcasing the ability to use his feet to maneuver his sword in mid air in his fight against Momoshiki.

Picture:


Theme Song:

Battles:

Won:

Lost:

​

 

[Detective L]

Re: Detective L - Bio Stuff z,z

Victor Frankl - Existentialist Theory​

Background:​

-Viktor is regarded as one of the foremost representatives of Existential Psychology.
-Started in Vienne, where he worked as a Psychiatrist and Neurologist at the University of Vienna.
-Taught at various universities around the world, and the first Logo-therapy center outside of Vienna was opened in the US in the 1970s.
-Frankl's approach came into the market dominated mostly by Psycholoanalytic Theories and Behaviorist theories at the time.
-Studied under Freud as well as under Alfred Adler.

-Felt that Freud placed too much emphasis on will-to-pleasure (need satisfaction) and felt that Adler over accentuated the will-to-power (self-esteem needs). He felt that Freud and Adler only represented human nature as one sided. Felt that humans sought more in life than pleasure and power.
-Frankl felt that people sought will-to-meaning (the desire to find meaning or purpose in their life).

-At Auschwitz, he realized this.
-He is regarded as a very positive Existentialist (unlike Jean Pierre Sattre, who felt that people were doomed with freedom, and had to face the inevitable death and suffering). However, Frankl's belief in the indestructable significance and unconditional meaningfulness of life, makes him more positive.
-He spoke of Tragic Optimism, that we can find meaning in guilt, suffering and death.

*Only in the face of suffering, are we confronted with what we ought not to be, and through that, we strive to what we ought to be.

-Thus, we can deal with stressful situations. Through our fallability we are able to learn from our mistakes and to do right on our mistakes, through our guilt, we are able to improve and through death, we can realize that we are facing a unique and once-in-a-lifetime situation and to make the best with the opportunities given to us by life.

The View of the Person Underlying the Theory:​

-Frankl's view of the person highlights the fact that as humans, we have been given the freedom to exercise responsibility, that is, to live a life beyond brute existence, to live a dimension of meaning and in realizing timeless values as these emanate from a divine or a trans-human dimension and to live a highly personalized life as we, in our own unique ways, embrace opportunities and fulfill tasks that life presents to us.

1. The Freedom to be Responsible:​

-According to Existentialist Philosophers and Psychologists, human persons are primarily spiritual beings - a being that has freedom and responsibility. This forms the basis of Frankl's view and description of personality.
-He sees that the person is more than just a highly developed animal formed by heredity and the environment, but that we have been give the freedom to be responsible (UNIQUE TO HUMANS)
-Thus, we constantly face choices and we have the freedom to choose, we are also not compelled to do something. However, because of free will, we are held responsible for our choices (and can't be blamed on drives and needs).
-This freedom, therefore represents the spiritual (or noooooooooogenic dimension) that Frankl speaks of.

2. A level of being beyond Brute Existence:​

-Frankl believes that the human person needs to find a reason (or purpose) to live, and that true fulfillment is hardly possible without a sense of purpose in life.
-Feels that the central issue for people is not the struggle for survival, that is characteristic of animals, but rather the aim to find and experience meaning and purpose, in life.

*Meaning: Frankl means the opportunity, task or duty presented to, or discerned by us, through our conscience as something to embrace, realize and act upon in each of our situations, in our lives.

Each situation contains a unique challenge to live our lives purposefully, and with meaning. Basically, we are meant to live our lives beyond the mind kind of existence in the pursuit of power and pleasure.​

-Frankl takes a stand against reductionism of Psychoanalytic theories and learning theorists, in that explaining human behavior on the basis of phenomenon that make up the subhuman levels of being, thus saying that there is no difference between humans, and animals. Of course, Frankl believes that we have something they don't.
-We are able to transcend above our situations, and intelligently, beat them and overcome any obstacle placed before us. We can change for the better.
-The will-to-meaning is a reality that can't be regarded as a rationalization of hidden drives and suppressed instincts.
-This is very in line with the humanist approach (like Abraham Maslow, but doesn't believe that self-actualization is the final goal we sought).
-Believes that we want to know about our humanity, that we want to find out why we exist, what our purpose is and that we will sacrifice a lot to find this, whether for ourselves, the ones we love or for something better or greater than ourselves.

3. The Trans-human Dimension:​

-Frankl's view of the person (that human beings have free will, and this will is a will to meaning) is embedded in the philosophy, that life itself has meaning.
-Meaning without responsibility leads to chaos, and that to find the meaning of life, is impossible as it doesn't exist.
-Frankl contends that one cannot create or invent meaning, but that meaning is found. It exists in the objective sense (proven, that we feel addressed by conscience and that we act on it responsibly).
-According to Frankl, conscience is the vehicle through which we detect meaning, the one right thing to use in the right situation.

*Conscience, unlike the Superego, has transcendent qualities, that means to have it, is to be able to discern higher values and meanings, grasp their significance and embrace them (and thus, we are not subjected to the internal social restrictions of the superego that we succumb to in fear of what will happen if we don't).

-Conscience functions on a higher level, and it is our link to the trans-human dimension (and also our ability to hear the voice of the transcendent).
-Outside and beyond ability to manipulate and destroy life's meanings, and values from the Trans-human dimension, they have timeless and universal significance. Life's meanings can be discovered by anyone, at any time. This what Frankl means that life is unconditionally meaningful.
-this is shown through the phenomenon of faith, which is the unshakable belief that life has ultimate meaning.

*The subjective experience of the objective existence of the Trans-human dimension is graphically contained in the Scriptural description of faith, that states that, "The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

-Frankl maintains that a man or woman of faith, is able to say "yes" to meaning, in any and all circumstances.

4. A highly personalized way of being (or life):​

-Frankl contends that we cannot explain a higher dimension from a lower dimension, in doing so would be reductionism.
-What he calls the supra- or transcendent dimension of being, evades human grasp. We can only become open and receptive to dimensions of timeless values, if we experienced them ourselves.
-That is why, no one belief or religion can say that they know the truth, about everything.
-We all have the inalienable right to decide to who or what, we feel accountable whether its society, humanity, our conscience or God.

*We are constantly in a state of becoming, what we are meant to be. "Man transcends his being by being an ought."

-the point is, something is only meaningful to the person of it has been personally experienced. That is why, Frankl contends for religion to survive, it has to become profoundly personalized.
-religion is only genuine when it is existential, when we choose it ourselves.

The Structure of the Personality:​

The Three Dimensions of Personality:

1. Physical; the human person is described akin to a mechanism, or machine, a complex biochemical mechanism that is powered by a combustion systems.

2. Psychological, contains the needs and drives that are characteristic to animals.

3. The third, is the spiritual or noogenic dimension, which is unique to humans.

*If human behavior is viewed from a sub-human (non-spiritual) level of being, then the unique spiritual aspects of human existence can either be missed or seen in distortion (think Interstellar).

-On the physical level, humans resembles machines, on the psychological level its animals and yet, without the spiritual, it does not make sense so it needs to be combined.
-Due to our spiritual capacities, we are free - we are open systems, open towards ourselves (we can think about and change ourselves) and toward the world (we can be addressed, called to responsibility and react accordingly).

-In Behavioristic/Learning Theory, the person is seen as a mechanism. Person is shaped by the influences of the environment. In Psychoanalytic theory, person is seen analogous to animals and behavior is determined by needs, drives and instincts.
-Will is forgotten.

-The holistic nature of human functioning is explained by Frankl as due to our self-awareness, we intelligently experience our needs and drives. Thus, a full comprehension of sight is lost on the spiritual or uniquely human aspect.

#The Spiritual Core of the Personality:​

-Frankl describes the spiritual dimension as the physical ground of being, the human personality has a core. We are in fact, our own higher form of awareness (consciousness as conscience, think Westworld).

"Man is spirit. By the very act of his own self-transcendence, he leaves the plane of the merely biopsychological and enters the sphere of the specifically human. In actuality, man is free and responsible."

-From the basis of of this evaluating and self-determining ground of being, the personality of a person is formed.
-Thus, it is neither our genetic make-up, nor our environment, that shapes our personality. But rather, with what we have and what we do with it.

#The Dynamics of the Personality:

-Frankl speaks about the noodynamics or the spiritual dynamics of being human, rather than the psychodynamics. As spiritual beings, we are differentiated from animals in that, our wills are free.
-Humans are oriented toward meaning, and unlike animals, we transcend ourselves and our circumstances. We can also seek, and find meaning in life and dedicate our lives to this meaning. Dynamics are based on;

1. The Freedom of Will
2. The Will to Meaning
3. The Meaning of Life​

1. The Freedom of Will:

-An investigation shows that each of us believes that our will is free, that we face challenges daily yet we aren't forced to act on them, nor programmed or conditioned to do something.
-However, our will is not free and that is shown that we must contend with the limitations and constraints placed upon us by our environment, on what we can and cannot do. Despite this, humans still transcend beyond their obstacles.

2. The Will to Meaning:

-Frankl maintains that the will to meaning is deeper and more powerful than any other human motivation.
-the following 4 observations show this;

I: The Will to Meaning is manifested in circumstances of wealth, and poverty.

II: The satisfaction of the physical and psychological needs are not the ultimate aim of human striving, but rather the means to being free to strive towards spiritual goals.

III: The more we pursue happiness, the more it evades us as in effect, happiness is the attainment of meaning and it cannot be pursued in the end.

IV: When the Will to Pleasure and the Will to Power are the uppermost in behavior, this would be a sign that our Will to Meaning is frustrated.

3. The Meaning to Life:

-Frankl points out that meaning of life can be found in 3 ways;

i) Creative Values

-Values that we experience through what we contribute to life. A task or goal that makes us feel fulfilled, can be a job.

ii) Experential Values

-Blessings we receive from life, like love.

iii) Attitudinal Values

-Values we experience through right attitude we have toward life, especially towards things like suffering and death. What attitude we will adopt toward it.

*If situation can be changed and suffering can't be avoided, then what is retained is the freedom to change ourselves.
*The moment suffering has reason or challenges us to rise above ourselves in becoming exemplary human beings, it loses its unbearable quality and it becomes another one life's tasks that, because it affects us so move, offers us the opportunity to achieve moral greatness.
*The freedom to live a life of worth and dignity remains, even in suffering.

#The Development of the Personality:

-Frankl does not provide any stages, but rather says that there core or spiritual nucleus of the personality is present since birth, since we are spiritual creatures. Personality develops throughout the lifetime.
-Thus, only in death or at the end of our lives, are we fully actualized, we are continually becoming and we are the force behind our becoming. We are self-determining.
-Fully developed in maturity, if still place pleasure and power high then we are childish, immature or even neurotic.

#Optimal Development:

-According to Frankl, we attain optimal development when we function on the spiritual level, and the spiritual nature is evident. When we function at this level, we exercise our freedom of will, and aim to realize meaning in life.
-He points out that optimally developed people are rare, as it takes courage and boldness to be optimally human.

i) Self Determining Action

-Take a stand concerning themselves and circumstances, freely decide what they should do, and how they should act.
-does not attribute fate to internal or external pressures, or factors.

ii) Realistic Perception

-Separate and distance themselves from what is happening to the, in order to view things objectively and critically. They perceive the situation, self and circumstances realistically.

iii) Humor

-Distance self from weakness and problems, can laugh at self.

iv) Self-Transcendence

-Are outward looking, rather than turned in on the self. Move beyond the self.
-Want to be involved in something that gives their life meaning. Want to be faxed with a task, or challenge, and feel like they have a calling.
-Happiness and satisfaction not primary goals, but side effects of meaning fulfillment.

v) Future Directedness

-Are actively future directed as they continue reaching out beyond a mere day-to-day existence. Have goals and visions for the future.
-Past is a rich treasure of fulfilled possibilities. Death is not a threat, but a meaningful conclusion of the life that offered opportunities.

vi) Work as a Vocation

-Work is an opportunity to make a worthwhile contribution to life.

vii) Appreciation of Goodness, Beauty and Truth

-Receptive to experience of good, beautiful and genuine things life offers.
-Deeply enjoy and appreciate things like music, art, literature, nature, etc.
-Each moment is ready with new meaning, and open to new experiences daily.

viii) Respect and Appreciation for the uniqueness of others

-Attitude toward others is one of respect and appreciation, never make people the object of own satisfaction or use them to achieve selfish ends. Want to have meaningful encounters.
-Free from prejudice and discrimination in their attitude towards others.

viiii) Meaning in Suffering

-Have accepted the tragic facilities of life, and in such a way that it does not diminish their joy in life and that their belief in meaning of life is actually deepend that it is unshakable.
-These people heave reached the highest point of development.

#Views on Psychopathology:

1. The Noogenic Neurosis:

-Frankl believes that most people do not reach their optimal development cause they lack the courage to respond to the challenges of life and exercise their freedom responsibly.
-Responsibility is evaded, avoided, shirked or minimized. Conscience becomes dulled.
-People seek power, satisfaction and pleasure. They have a speed mania due to their denial of the spiritual side.
-Life becomes empty and meaningless, existential vacuum develops. Some characteristics like; unplanned day to day existence, fatalistic attitude toward life, conformism and totalitarianism.

2. Human Dignity of the Psychiatric Patient:

-Even psychotic and mentally deficient people are humans and have dignity.
-The so-called life not worth living does not exist, as the nucleus of man is indestructible and if this were not the case, it would be futile to be a Psychiatrist.

#Psychotherapy:

-Logo Therapy, therapy through meaning.
-Help people discover, or rediscover meaning in their lives.
-To challenge people to become aware of things that require them to be responsible and demand their love, care and involvement.
-Not problem centered, but meaning-centered therapy.
-Focus is not on their problems, but their freedom to deal with them, take a stand by the way of the attitudes they choose to adopt.

#Interpretation and Handling of Aggression:

-Unmistakable and pronounced evil inclination in human nature - Like Freud.
-Aggression is an inherent part of human make-up. We are shaped by the kind of society in which we live = violence breeds violence (behaviorism).
-But we have the freedom and ability to not only control aggressive impulses, but also to counteract and overcome them.
-We can resist negative pressures and conditioning and even change the environment for the better. The freedom to bear oneself in one way, or the other.

*What we choose to do in the face of aggressive impulses and how we deal with it in the environment.

 

[Detective L]

Re: Detective L - Bio Stuff z,z

African Perspectives:​

#Intro and Background:

-Psych theories are very Westernized and does not take into account the African context (its predominantly white and male).
-A kind of scientific racism (where racism is justified on grounds of scientific evidence) and scientific colonialism.
-Even when Psychology is taken on by Africans themselves, in African universities, the neo-colonial structures of the discipline are not easily challenged. Western theories and concepts are often simply assumed to be superior, as they dominate the current curricula.
-Very few Universities in South Africa even teach "African Psychology".

-In response, various African perspectives emerged which function to critique existing Psychology (focusing on its neglect and misinterpretation of Africa and Africans) and secondly, as an alternative Psychology, developing an autonomous set of accounts of Psychology of Africans and their everyday lives.
-Has origins in the USA where "Black Psychology" developed in the 1960s in response to "Ethnocentric Psychology".
-The ABP (The Association of Black Psychologists) was established in America in 1968 and their journal, "The Journal of Black Psychology" is still a major forum for the development of African-centric ideas in the discipline.

*Holdstock provides one of the most comprehensive overviews on African perspective of Psychology, and he accuses mainstream Psychologists of neglecting the possibility that Africa may have Psychological dimensions that are singularly "unique and valid". He is of the opinion that "relevant and applicable methodologies are required to unravel and understand the African psyche."
-Such a thing, does not exist yet.

The main obstacles to developing an African perspective in Personology:

-Debate arose between those against acknowledging African context-based Psychology, and those for it.
-According to Dawes, the impetus for the quest to African Psychology can be ascribed to three factors:

1. The fact that Psychology collaborated in the oppression of American blacks and in the African colonial project through the comparison of the "primitive" (Africans) and the "modern" (American) mind, this applies specifically to the development of the "Afro-centric paradigm" and "Black Psychology" in the USA.

2. The fact that Psychology in the USA and South Africa "has had little relevance to the problems facing the black and the poor". When it did, the discipline used models which were unsuited to the understanding the local conditions of life with the result that the effectiveness of Psychology in resolving problems of these populations, could be questioned.

3. The claim that "Psychologists imported to the continent do not accurately portray African life and mentality", thus questioning the appropriateness and applicability of mainstream theoretical and empirical knowledge for Africa.
​

#The View of the Person and the world view underlying the perspective:

-African psychology is not just psychology in Africa, it is also not just a collection of different African indigenous psychologies, but it assumes and expresses a unity of consciousness and world view, on an identifiable and inclusive African way of being, living and relating.
-It is rooted within Africentric paradigm that assumes a common African worldview and view of the person, "a generic African self is derives from a common African cultural genus and a metaphysical unity".
-Founded on a holistic and anthropocentric ontology, which implies that humans form an invisible whole with the cosmos (and therefore, unity with God, other humans and nature) - "a person-centered society" - from which everything is understood and explained.

*Holdstock describes holism in Africa as something that people experience in their daily lives and they respect the connectedness of all things to form an invisible whole.

*Within this invisible cosmic whole, Sow maintains that 3 cosmic order or realities can, theoretically, be distinguished;

1. Macro - Cosmos
2. Meso - Cosmos
3. Micro - Cosmos​

1. Macro-Cosmos:

-In Africentric thought, it refers to the domain in which God is encountered. This is the order in which the religious existence that enfolds the full humaness of traditional Africans is grounded.

-Sow points out that according to various African myths, there was originally no distinction between God and humans, and that they lived together with one another. But God withdrew, and humans had to become self-reliant. This gave rise to people's first religious experience (however, withdrawal of God is not the same as the Fall of Man in Judeo-Christian religion).
-Rather, the transcendence of God with ancestors acting as the intervening medium and contact with God. For everyday existence, the ancestors are more important than God and form an inherent part of the daily African functioning.
-Seen as religious functioning, but not in a church sense.
-Africans carry religion with them, thus there is no distinction between the sacred and worldly, between religion and non-religion or between spiritual or physical facet of life.
-Traditional religion does not focus on the individual, but on the community they belong to (to belong to the community means to be religious).

*With the exception of Jung's psychodynamic view of religion, few Western personality theories recognize the religious basis or even dimensions of human functioning.

2. Meso-Cosmos:

-A kind of no-man's land, where coincidence and the forces of the ancestors, malignant spirits and sorcerers hold sway. Situated in the world of individual and collective imagination and it involves the ancestors, the living reality (animals and humans) as well as the natural physical reality (forests, bushes, trees, rivers, etc).

-To the Africentric view, with reference to this level (the domain of ancestors, spirits, sorcerers, shamans, etc) rather than with reference to a personalize unconscious or behavioral modeling that African people tend to explain their own behavior, conflicts as well as events like sickness and health.
-The most important of these forces are the ancestors, who mediate between the living, and the "living dead" (remembered dead or ancestors) and continue to influence the lives of the living.

*Holdstock notes that the ancestors are not experienced as deities or spirits, but as persons with whom a speaking relationship can be attained.

-Meso-cosmos level is important for Personologist, as it is the level that explains human dynamics.
-In contrast to Western theories that explains behavior as the outcome of intrpsychic dynamics (like Freud, Jung and Erikson) or interpersonal dynamics (like Adler, Horney and Carl Rogers), the African perspective attributes behavior wholly to external agents, outside the person.
-The self is seen outside.
-African view corresponds with Behaviorism (attribute behavior to an external agent) and with aspects of Lacanian psychoanalysis and other post-modern approaches, shared system of signifiers rather than intrapsychic.
-Thus, African Psychology challenges the freedom and autonomy that are central to Western Psychology.

*One of the consequences of modernization (which includes colonialism) is a loss of historical rootedness, and continuity found in the macro and meso-cosmic orders of existence.

-Some African Psychology proponents claim that Africans suffer psychologically for having lost some of their rootedness in the macro and meso-cosmic order, that should serve as guidelines for their daily lives in the micro-cosmic order.
-However, it is not completely lost.

3. Micro-Cosmos:

-Is the domain of the individual person in his/her everyday collective existence which is wholly influenced by the macro and meso-cosmos.
-This collective existence is typified by the philosophy of Ubuntu, which implies that a person is only a person, because of other people.

*Ubuntu is thus a code of ethics which governs one's interactions with others. Typified as "morality, humaness, compassion, care, understanding, empathy, honesty and humility". It refers to our humane qualities, that which differentiates us from animals and our ability to have feelings.

-It is not a theoretical construction, but manifests itself through the interaction of people and through good acts.
-People with Ubuntu do not take take advantage of people, but helps the weak.

*Difference in ethos and values between the Westerner and the African, creates important differences in behavioral modalities, particularly in respect to the relationship between the individual and the community.

-According to Nobles, the European ethos rests on the principle of individual survival, individuality, autonomy, uniqueness, etc. In Psychology, it is expressed in concepts like Ego, I-Identity, self-concept and self actualization, catered for all Psychoanalytic theories and Person-Oriented ones.
-The traditional African ethos rests on the survival of the community, co-operation, interdependence, collective, responsibility, communality, group orientation and agreement.
-Linked to the concepts of "us/we", a people identity or extended identity/self.

*Thus, the self does not play a very central role in the daily African life, like it would in Western cultures.

#Cognitive Function and Concept of Time:

-The cognitive functioning of Africans are intuitive rationality, and emotion more than on rationality and analyses.
-Their rational functioning is closely interwoven with their collective way of life.
-Logic of the heart - personal, spiritual center of man, spontaneously present, intuitively sensing, existentially apprehending and totally appreciating.
-Time is a two-dimensional phenomenon with a long history, a present and virtually no future, circular, therefore the future has no meaning for Africans because it has not yet been lived and is therefore, not part of time and cannot be, unless it falls within the rhythm of natural phenomena.
-Actual time (events currently happening or have happened) and potential time (something that will definitely happen in the immediate future) in natural rhythm of life.

-Time can be bought or sold, "time is money" but for Africans, time has to be created and produced.
-They wait for time, or produce time, when they sit and do "nothing".
-Africans can ask ancestors to intercede on their behalf, by sorting out a problem in the past, which will resolve the current problem and the future will be taken care of, because ancestors are timeless creatures.

#Optimal Development:

-One of the dangers, may be represented in a colonial sense, represented from the vantage point of, and for the benefit of the West.
-Presented as being a possession of the Western side, reduced to a projection of Western wishes.
-Pasteur and Toldson believe Africans are better equipped to reach and sustain optimal development and psychological health (balanced use of left and right hemispheres) while Westerners are more left hemisphere focused (logic, etc), and this causes them more stress due to the imbalance.

*Another factor is the collective existence, where Westerners are individual based and always competing while Africans are more selfless, which counteracts anxiety and tension.

*Music is also more than mere notes, but are the expressions of real feelings, through active participation of singing and dancing, and underlines the importance of rhythm of people, and its role in poetry, music, art, theatre and in healing practices.

#Views on Psychopathology:

-Cannot be separated from the holistic ontology.
-Which implies that health, whether its physical, mental, societal, refers to a state of wholeness and integration and ill-health refers to a state of fragmentation and disintegration.
-Illness is seen as disharmony with the universe, and must be corrected to heal it.

*This view implies that from an African perspective, mental illness is not devoid of physical symptoms, and that all mental disorders should be seen as Psychosomatic disorders.

-The interaction is based on the concept of the primary and invisible unity between body and mind, rather on the Western idea of reciprocity between mind and matter.

*Holistic premise implies that in the African conception of health and illness, it is the whole body that is considered either ill or well, not just a part.

-Linked to the meso-cosmic order, the African view of Psychopathology cannot be separated from the role of ancestors, the malignant spirits and sorcerers play in their lives.
-Pathological behaviors and illness are seen as the result of disharmony between person and their ancestors, or caused by evil spells or deeds of spirits and sorcerers.

*Ancestors come forth in altered states of consciousness like dreams during waking in the form of visions and voices, or through a diviner or medium.

-Adhering to traditions and rituals = good ancestors that fights evil and is bhill.
-Ignoring traditions and rituals = bad ancestor, becomes malignant spirit and causes ailments, as punishments or warnings to amend behavior.

*Malignant spirits and sorcerers are seen as the cause of mental disorder, amongst traditional African people.

#Psychotherapy:

-Therapeutic process in the African context differs from Western psychotherapy mainly in regards to the importance of verbal communication and the role of individual patient in the therapeutic process.
-In Western context, verbal communication is the most important feature. While in traditional African healing practices, there seems to be a strong focus on the expressive capacities of the whole body.
-In the West, its also more focused on the individual with group and family therapy playing a secondary role. While in the African context, therapy or healing is grounded in the collective existence of the micro-cosmic order where individuals are seen as integral parts of the community.
-African therapeutic systems emphasize "collective social responses to afflictions" rather than individualistic diagnosis and treatment (patient may send family member as substitute for a therapy session).

 

[Horus]

Re: Detective L - Bio Stuff z,z

*Randomly posts spam and runs away*

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[Detective L]

Re: Detective L - Bio Stuff z,z

Consumer Psychology:

Chapter 1:
Technology-Driven Consumer Behavior:

#To Understand the evolution of the Marketing Concept, the most prominent tools used to implement marketing strategies, the relationship between value and customer retention and the objectives of socially responsible marketing:​

-The Study of Consumer Behavior describes what products and brands consumers buy, why they buy them, when they buy then, where, how often they buy them, how often they use them, how they evaluate them after the purchase and whether or not they buy them repeatedly.
-Like how people buy cars because they need transportation, but also, so the car expresses their characteristics.

#Marketing Concept:

-The essence of marketing consists of; satisfying consumers' needs, creating value and retaining customers.

*Marketing Oriented companies do not try to persuade consumer to buy what firm has already produced, but rather to produce products that they know they can sell, thereby satisfying consumers' needs and turning them into loyal customers.

#Development of the Marketing Concept:

-Three parts; The Production Concept, the Product Concept and the Selling Concept.

1. Production Concept:

-Consumers are mostly interested in product availability at low prices, and the implicit marketing objectives are cheap, efficient production and intensive distribution.
-This concept was popular when demand was higher than supply, so consumers were content to get a product and not focused on product variation.

2. Product Concept:

-Assumes that consumers will buy the product that offers the highest quality, best performance and most features.
-A company that drives marketing through a product concept strives for continuous quality improvement, and adds new features if feasible, even if customers may not want them.

*The focus on the product, rather than the needs of the market is known as Marketing Myopia.

3. Selling Concept:

-Creates a focus on selling the products that the marketer has decided to produce. The selling concept assumes that consumers are unlikely to buy products unless they are aggressively persuaded to do so - and the approach does not consider customer satisfaction and customer retention.

#Marketing Concept Requirements:

*Consumer Research; process of tools used to study Consumer Behavior.
*Market Segmentation; dividing market into subset of consumers.
*Marketing Targeting; selecting the segment of prospective consumers.
*Market Positioning; creating a distinctive image or identity for products and services.

#The Marketing Mix (4 P's):

1. Product or Service: the features, design, brands, and packaging offered.
2. Price: the list price including discounts and payment methods.
3. Place: the distribution of the product or service through stores and outlets.
4. Promotion: the advertising, public relations and sales efforts designed to build awareness of, and demand for, the product or service.

*Companies must continually conduct research to understand the needs and priorities of the market segment.

-Consumer needs are shaped by the environment, culture, education and life experiences.

*Marketers perform segmentation by looking for groups with common characteristics, based on things like Demographics, Geography, Lifestyle, etc.

-When a marketer chooses a segment that they will pursue, they will chosen a target market. Critical to the success since the marketer assumes that this group chosen has a need for the product or service, that they have.

#Socially Responsible Marketing:

-The societal marketing concept requires marketers to fulfill the needs of the target audience in ways that improve, preserve and enhance society's well being, while simultaneously meeting their business objectives.

#To Understand how the Internet, and related technologies improve marketing transaction by adding value that benefits both marketers and customers.​

-Marketers provide value to consumers in the form of information, including opportunities to customize products easily and entertainment content.
-Consumer provide value to marketers by "revealing" themselves while online, which enables companies to market their products more efficiently and precisely.
-Consumers pay for the internet's seemingly free content, by providing virtually unlimited information about themselves to marketers, who gather, analyze and use it, to target buyers.

#Behavior Information and Targeting:

-Specialized "information exchanges" track who is interested in what, through "cookies" (which are invisible bits of code stored on web pages).
-Cookie using exchanges like eXelate and BlueKai sell the cookies to interested marketers, who want to target consumers based on their searches for more precise targeting.
-Consumers have access to better information and can compare products based on attributes in side-by-side comparisons.

#To Understand the interrelationships among customer value, satisfaction and retention:​

-The goal of all marketers is to build and maintain successful relationships with their consumers, this occurs by offering a product which has benefits that the consumer values.
-In addition, they see the value of those benefits as exceeding the cost of the product - the cost in terms of money, time and opportunity costs.

-If a product delivers value, that company is likely to have high level of customer satisfaction. They will tell others about product, and speak highly of it online or when asked.
-A company with strong customer relationships will be able to achieve a high level of customer retention - customers will not defect to competitors or stop using their products.

#Customer Value:

-Defined as the ratio between the customers' perceived benefits and the resources used to obtain these benefits.

eg: The consumers' perception of what they gained, vs what they gave up to purchase a product or service.

-Perceived value is relative and subjective.
-If the value propositions are clear and applicable to the consumer, they will understand the strength of the product benefits.

#Customer Satisfaction:

-The individual's perception of the performance of the product or service, in relation to their expectations.
-When customers are highly satisfied, they become Loyalists, who continue to purchase. Or Apostles, who provide positive word-of-mouth.
-When customers are disappointed, they become Defectors, and move to competition. Or Terrorists, who spread negative word-of-mouth.
-Some dissatisfied customers become Hostages and stay with company even if unhappy. Or become Mercenaries, satisfied but not considered loyal, and will move from company to company.

#Customer Retention:

-The objective of providing value is to retain highly satisfied customers. Loyal customers are key;

1. Loyal customers buy more products.
2. Long-term customers who are familiar with the company's product, are an important asset when new products and services are developed and tested.
3. Loyal customers are less price sensitive, and pay less attention to competitors' advertising.
4. Servicing existing customers, who are familiar with the firms' offerings and processes is cheaper. Expensive to "train" new customers.
5. Loyal customers spread positive word of mouth, and refer customers.
6. Marketing efforts aimed at attracting new customers are expensive, difficult to find customers in saturated markets.
7. Increased customer retention and loyalty make employees' jobs easier and more satisfying and in turn, happy employees feed back into higher customer satisfaction by providing good service and customer support systems.

#Customer Profitability-Focused Marketing:

-Track costs and revenues of individual consumers.
-Categorizes them into tiers based on consumption behavior.
-A customer pyramid groups customers into 4 tiers, for example, platinum, gold, iron and lead.
-Profitability also used as segment.

#Determinants of Customer Satisfaction:

*Emotional bonds represents a customer's high level of personal commitment and attachment, to the company.
*Transactional bonds are the mechanics and structures that facilitate exchanges between consumers and sellers.

-The eleven determinants are;

1. Adaptation: products are tailor made, personalized advertisements and promotions.
2. Interactivity: have tools to compare products easily, easily locate products.
3. Nurturing: cultivate relationship with customer, receiving reminders of purchases.
4. Commitment: delivering goods on time, customer friendly return policies.
5. Network: customers sharing their experience about their product purchase on the merchant's website.
6. Assortment: site satisfies shopping needs.
7. Transaction Ease: site is user friendly and enables quick transaction.
8. Engagement: the site's design is attractive, enjoyable to shop at site.
9. Loyalty: seldom consider switching to another merchant.
10. Inertia: changing to a new merchant is not worth the bother, finds it difficult to stop shopping at store.
11. Trust: trust site's performance, feeling that merchant is reliable and honest.

#Internal Marketing: consists of marketing the organization to its personnel.

-Behavioral and Motivational Experts agree that employees will "go the extra mile" to try and retain customers only if they are treated like valued internal customers by the employer.

#To Understand Consumer Behavior as an inter-disciplinary area and Consumer-Decision Making:​

-Consumer Behavior stems from 4 disciplines; Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology and Communication.

Consumer Decision Making:

1. The Input Stage:

-Includes two influencing factors:

i) The firm's marketing efforts (the product, the price, where its sold).

ii) The sociocultural influences (family, friends, neighbors, social class, cultural and sub-cultural entities).

2. The Process Stage:

-Focuses on how consumers make decisions.
-The Psychological Factors (motivation, perception, learning, personality and attitudes) affect how external inputs from the input stage influence the consumers' recognition of a need, pre-purchase search for information and evaluation of alternatives.
-The experience gained through evaluation of alternatives, in turn, affects the consumers' existing psychological attributes.

3. The Output Stage:

-Consists of two post-decision activities:

i) Purchase Behavior
ii) Post-Purchase Evaluation

 

[Detective L]

Re: Detective L - Bio Stuff z,z

Chapter 2: Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning​

#To Understand the interrelationship among market segmentation, targeting and positioning, and how to select the best markets:​

#Market Segmentation:

-The process of dividing a market into subsets of consumers, with common needs or characteristics, that are different that those shared by other groups.

#Targeting:

-Consists of selecting the segments that the company views as prospective customers, and pursuing them.

#Positioning:

-Is the process by which a company creates a distinct image and identity for its products, services and brands in consumers' minds.
-The image differentiates the company's offering from competition, by communicating to the target audience that the product, service or brand, fulfills their needs better than that of the competition.

#To be an Effective Target:

A market segment must be;

1. Identifiable: Marketers divide consumers into different segments on the basis of common characteristics. Some segments factors, like demographics, are easier to identify than others, like Lifestyle.

2. Sizable: To be a viable market, there must be enough consumers in the segment to make it profitable to target segment.

3. Stable and Growing: Ideal segments should be stable, in terms of consumption patterns and likely to grow larger in the future.

4. Reachable: Or accessible, marketers must be able to communicate with consumers in the segment effectively and economically.

5. Congruent with Objectives and Resources of Marketer: Companies must be interested in, and have the means to reach the segment they select.

#To Understand the bases used to segment consumers, including demographics, psychographics, product benefits sought and product usage related factors:

#Two Types of Shared Characteristics:

1. Behavioral Data; is evidenced based; it can be determined from direct questioning or observation, categorized using objective and measurable criteria like Demographics and consists of:

i) Consumer Intrinsic Factors; like a person's age, gender, marital status, income and education.
ii) Consumption based Factors; like the quantity of products purchased, frequency of leisure activities and frequency of buying a given product.

2. Cognitive Factors; are abstracts that "reside" in consumers' mind, can be determined only through psychological and attitudinal questioning and generally have no single, universal definition. It consists of;

i) Consumer Intrinsic Factors, like personality traits, cultural values and attitudes towards politics and social issues.
ii) Consumption specific attitudes and preferences; like the benefits sought in products and attitudes regarding shopping.

#Demographic Segmentation:

-Are the core of almost all segmentation because they are easy and logical. They are also cost-effective ways to reach segments and demographic shifts are easier to identify that other types of shifts.
-Income, Education and Occupation tend to tie together and lead to Segmentation based on Social Class.

#Geodemographic Segmentation:

-Suggests that birds of a feather flock together, like that where a person lives helps determine their consumption behavior.

#Personality Traits:

-Many Psychographic factors overlap with personality characteristics or traits.
-Through Personality Tests - which consists of statements or questions presented to respondents - researchers can study consumers' personality characteristics and apply them in segmenting markets.

#Psychographic Segmentation:

-There are no standardized definitions of Psychographic dimensions, as there for other consumer groupings like active lifestyle or consumer type like impulse buyer.
-This is because almost all Psychographic terms are defined in the scope of specific studies.
-However, because they are so versatile (adoptable, multipurpose) Psychographics are widely used and together with Demographics, are included in almost all Segmentation frameworks.

#VALS (Values and Lifestyles):

-Is the most popular segmentation system combining values and lifestyle.
-There are 3 primary motivations:

1. Ideals Motivated: These consumer segment are guided by knowledge and principles.

2. Achievement Motivated: These consumer segments are looking products and services that demonstrate success to their peers.

3. Self-Expression Motivated: These consumer segments desire Social or Physical activity, variety and risk.

-Furthermore, each of these three major self-motivations, represents distinct attitudes, lifestyles and decision-making styles.

#Benefit Segmentation:

-Is based on the benefits that consumers seek from products and services.
-The benefits consumers look for represent unfulfilled needs, whereas buyers' perceptions that a given brand delivers a unique and prominent benefit, results in loyalty to that brand.

*Marketers of personal care products like shampoo, soap and toothpaste, create different offerings to deliver specific benefits.

#Usage Occasion Segmentation:

-Recognizes that consumers purchase some products for specific occasions.

#To Understand behavioral targeting, and its key role in today's marketing:​

#Behavioral Targeting:

-Consists of sending consumers personalized and prompt offers, and promotional messages designed to reach the right consumers and deliver to them, highly relevant messages at the right time and more accurately than when using conventional segmentation methods.
-This method is enabled through tracking on-line navigation, current geographic location and purchase behavior.

1. Tracking On-Line Navigation:

i) Recording the websites the consumers visit.
ii)Measure their level of engagement with the site (pages they look at, length of their visit and how often they return).
iii) Recording the visitors' lifestyles ad personalities (derived from content of consumers' blogs, tweets and FB profiles).
iv) Keeping track of consumers' purchases, almost purchases (abandoned shopping cart) and return or exchanges.

2. Geographic Location, and Mobile Targeting:

-Smartphones and GPS devices have created highly effective targeting opportunities (like being able to sell tickets via smartphone or tracking a car via GPS).
-However, mobile devices brought problems to some retailers (in the form of Showrooming) which occurs when consumers use smartphones to scan barcodes of products displayed in physical stores and check them online, for lower prices.
-To combat this, shops started Geofencing (which consists of sending promotional alerts to the smartphones of customs who opted into this service, when near or when entering the shop).

3. Purchase Behavior:

-Predictive Analytics, concern measures that predict consumers' future purchases on the basis of past buying information, and other data. Also evaluates the impact of personalized promotions stemming from the predictions.
-Collecting and analyzing the right data are the foundations of effective behavioral targeting. Marketers strive to anticipate occurrences and events in consumers' lives that affect the consumers' shopping.
-Also eager to discover information about people's interests and the social networks with which they connect on-line.
-On-line marketers customize ads to users based on the users' past activities, which are tracked and collected via "cookies" which are bits of code stored within web-pages, which keep track of consumers' activities.

#To Understand how to position, differentiate, and reposition products:​

-Marketers have to persuade their target audience to choose their product, vs competitive products.

#Positioning:

-Is the process by which a company creates a distinct images and identity for its products, services or brands, in the consumers' minds.
-The position exists only in the consumers' minds, and represents how marketers wants consumers to perceive their products, services and brands.

#Positioning Process:

1. Defining the market in which the product, brand or service competes, who the relevant buyers are, and the offerings' competition.

2. Identifying the products' key attributes and researching consumers' perception regarding each of the relevant attributes.

3. Researching how consumers perceive the competing offerings on the relevant attributes.

4. Determining the target market's preferred combination of attributes.

5. Developing a distinctive, differentiating and value-based positioning concept that communicates the applicable attributes as benefits.

6. Creating a positioning statement focused on the benefits and values that the product provides and using it to communicate with the target audiences.

*Positioning is especially difficult among commodities where the physical characteristics of all brands are the same, like Water. Nevertheless, marketers offer many brands of mineral water that range in price and are positioned differently.

#Umbrella Positioning:

-Is a statement or slogan that describes the universal benefit of the company's offering. At times, this statement does not refer to specific products.

#Premier Positioning:

-Focuses on the brand's exclusivety.

#Positioning against the competition:

-Acknowledges competing brands.

#Key Attribute Positioning:

-Based on the brand's superiority on relevant attributes.

#Un-Owned Positioning:

-Is when a position is not associated with a product from the category.

#Repositioning:

-Process by which a company strategically changes the distinct image and identity that its product or brand occupies in the consumers' minds.
-Marketers do so when consumers get used to the original positioning and it no longer stands out in their mind.
-Similarly, when consumers begin to view the old positioning as dull, marketers must freshen up their brands' identities.

#Perceptual Mapping:

-Is constructing a map-like diagram representing consumers' perceptions of competing brands, along with relevant product attributes.

​

 

[Detective L]

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Basic Information​

Name: Azula
Nickname: The Prodigy
Gender: Female
Age: 15
Clan:

Looks

Azula is fairly built, lean yet strong. She carries herself quite well, and walks with confidence, and arrogance. Her clothes, always clean and neat, and she varies in terms of clothing, from elegance to precision. She wears casual armor, loose clothing or a skirt coupled with a bright red shirt. She has auburn eyes, and a sharp, well pronounced jawline. Her jet black hair compliments her face, and her hair, tidily done, augments her sharp piercing look. Azula has full lips, and her nose is well defined. Azula keeps her nails long and sharp, and often uses them, in close combat. Despite her age, Azula looks quite mature, and can be mistaken for being older than she actually is.



Personality​

Born a princess and hailed as a prodigy, Azula grew up to be narcissistic and confident. She relentlessly drilled herself toward perfection and settled for nothing less from herself or those who served her. She believed that power and domination were the defining traits of strength, and as such would only help others if she thought there was some personal gain at stake. She had absolute confidence in her "divine right to rule", with which she believed she was born. She harbored neither pity nor mercy for those she marked as treasonous or inferior. As one who wanted nothing less than absolute control, she likewise had remarkable control of herself, seemingly able to react to any situation at a moment's notice without losing her composure. Azula was known to have a cruel personality, showing little to no concern for others. From a very young age, Azula demonstrated sadistic aggression and a near total lack of remorse to friends, servants, family, and animals. She carried these traits since being young, and continues to exercise them. Even when outclassed, Azula is not the type to back down, especially when she is fighting for her own gain. Azula is a master manipulator, and lies without even blinking or stuttering. She has mastered the art of being cunning, which often, comes in handy.

Village Information​

Village of Birth: Sunagakure
Village of Alliance: Sunagakure

Rank & Chakra Information
​

Ninja Rank: S-Jounin
Specialty: N/A
Elements:

Lightning
Fire
Scorch
Wind


Ninjutsu
Taijutsu
Kenjutsu

Background Information​

Azula was born from within the royal family of Sunagakure. Not only did this make her upbringing easy, but it also allowed her to get the best training that one could, in the Land of Wind. From a young age, her teachers saw that she was not only good, but a prodigy. She had mastered the basics of Fire, up to what she could learn for her age, within a few weeks, while it took the average Shinobi a year per stage. Her manipulative personality, coupled with her ability to handle Fire, made her an excellent shinobi from a young age.

Her power only grew, as her father insisted that she learn another element, something reserved mostly for Jounin, or even those above. Learning a second element, required patience. Something Azula did not cherish. She hated waiting, and practiced, and honed her skills. However, her mother, had different ideals. She was a kind loving woman, who couldn't help but see the evil within Azula. Even at that age. Her disdain for her own child only grew with time. Within a few months, Azula was not only a Fire user of great expertise, but also of Lightning. She had coupled the two, to enhance her close and Long range combat. Azula lived a happy life, grueling her poor test subjects who, in the form of servants, had only to please her or suffer at her hands. She didn't need anyone's help, alone, she could conquer the world if left to her vices.

Of course, Sunagakure underwent some odd changes, and although Azula's father was no more, she remained royalty, treated with utter respect, or perhaps, it was fear. Due to Azula's odd relationship with her mother, she grew to despise the woman, even going as far as to banish her from Sunagakure with the influence she had over the successor of her father. She left, never to be seen again.

This was not the end of Azula's ascension. No, she would gain more and more skills, as the years passed, her rage and intimate hatred fueling the very flames she so utilized. One day, however, an odd occurrence transpired. Through intense training, Azula had manipulated her Fire to the extent, that she had become one with it. She knew there was still much to learn, but she pushed and pushed. Only to gain more ferocity, yet no real increase in power. Angry at her own plateau she had reached, Azula trained even harder. Only to discover, that she was able to manipulate her Fire differently than that of her peers. Of course, she received far better training, and worked harder than anyone, but, was this fire? Massive orbs of Fire danced around her, after training in honing their shape. A bright orange manifested, almost like she had the power of the sun, in the palm of her hands. Manipulating it to slam into a nearby tree, it's bark withered as the intense heat radiated through it, causing it to petrify and break apart. What had she just discovered?

To be continued...

Other​

Azula carries a pouch with some basic Ninja based equipment (kunai, flash bombs, explosive tagged kunai, shuriken, etc), as well as a sword strapped to her waist on her left side, having no special abilities.

Theme Song & Background Music

​

Battles​

Won: All
Lost: None

 

[Detective L]

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Basic Information​

Name: Edward Elric
Nickname: Fullmetal
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Clan: n/a​

Looks

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Edward is small for his age, standing at only 149 cm (4'11"), despite his attempts to appear taller. He wears his golden-blond hair long - usually tied in a braid that hangs down to his shoulders, but sometimes forgoing the braid for a simpler ponytail. He parts his bangs in the middle so that they frame his face on either side as they fall and, in the center of the parting, he leaves a single strand of hair sticking up like an antenna. Wearing a long red coat with a black vest overlapping a simple black shirt he pairs this perfectly with pure white gloves for elegance. His lower arrangements consist of straight legged dark green leather pants ending with black boots usually with red trim to match his coat.

In most serious situations he forgoes the majority of his clothing; substituting them for a simple black tank top, black leather jeans, and regular black boots without the trim; sometimes keeping the coat for dramatic effect. In his earliest years of life he was forced to replace his left leg from just above the knee downward with automail and right arm is also automail reaching all the way up to his shoulder; both are designed so that their outer shells resemble modernized plate mail.​

Personality

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On the surface, Edward displays an immature sort of personality. He is decidedly stubborn and strong-willed, frequently letting his pettiness and vindictiveness get the better of him. He is somewhat selfish and self-absorbed, generally acting more out of self-interest than any sort of philanthropy as well as taking several opportunities to stroke his own ego; he is largely hostile towards figures of authority and feels little incentive to follow orders with which he disagrees, earning him the distinction of being a loose cannon of sorts. Edward is also rather quick-tempered, resorting more often to steel-fisted violence than calm negotiation to settle disputes. He has a reputation for being foul-mouthed and is an incurably sarcastic cynic, only too happy to bluntly and harshly relieve others of their comfortable delusions regarding god, reality, or their own self-importance. Edward has also displayed a propensity towards impatience and an inability to sit still for long, which perhaps contributes to his love of travel.​

Village Information​

Village of Birth: Iwagakure
Village of Alliance: Rogue​

Rank and Chakra Information​

Ninja Rank: S-Jounin
Chakra: 700
Health: 700
Specialty: n/a
Elements:
Earth
Fire
Wind
Ninjutsu
Kenjutsu
Taijutsu

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Background Information​

In the outskirts of Iwa thrives a bustling town, merchants come from all over to trade as the streets fill with happy customers and residence of the area. Today was bright, the sun shined like almost everyday as the tall towering houses cast shadows upon the merchandising street, the most popular of the areas in the town. Two individuals meet, locking eyes for the first time.. and the rest... not really important because that's not what this story is about. This story actually begins many years after, as the two individuals mentioned in the beginning prologue parented twin boys of equal appearance, now near the ages of five or eight. One night in their small bedroom they attempted to use a forbidden fuinjutsu technique, a scroll that the younger brother named ''Alphonse'' found in the main city of Iwam; sneaking into the main vaults of the hokage mansion to steal it and bring it back home that night. When they attempted the technique they opened the scroll and suddenly because the technique was performed wrong a sudden gust of wind erupted from the scroll, lightning busted and sparked around the wind as it swirled around the room surrounding the twin boys. The youngest, Alphonse, stood up attempting to run away but slipped instantly letting his body be carried away from the wind and at the same time getting shocked alive by the otherwise S technique lightning that surrounded the room due to the scroll making Edward, the oldest brother believe he was dead even before his youngest twin warped and twisted inside the scroll seemingly forever... leaving behind nothing of his existence having the illusion that he died... Edward, believing solely in that his brother died used his steel release to make a golem like machine made of pure steel in his memory that would keep him company even till this very day. Now, Edward uses his time to travel, seeing the world as it is and experience every value of it in his brother's memory, using his permanent golem friend as a replacement of sorts for his brother that was not able to experience much during his life, essentially having the golem carry out what would be a legacy.​

Theme Song and Background Music

Battles​

Won: None
Lost: None​

 

[Detective L]

Re-purpose this one.

 

[Detective L]

No use.

 

[Detective L]

Research Proposal: Here we go again ;-;. Just need a place to set notes and shit that I find.

Operational vocabulary:

-Emotional Intelligence
-Ethnic Groups
-Stress
-Teachers
-College Students

Possible titles:

How Emotional Intelligence varies among Ethnic Groups
The Correlation between how teachers handle stress and Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence and Stress: How EI helps in coping strategies
Emotional Intelligence as a predictor for Stress in High School teachers in Namibia*
The importance of Emotional Intelligence in relation to coping strategies
The Impact of the level of Emotional Intelligence on Stress and Leadership in High School teachers in Namibia

Comparison of stress levels in teachers between High School and Primary School teachers in selected schools*

Useful links:

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Off topic, but some

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1. Notable authors:​

Emotional Intelligence:

Goleman (1990)
Mayer
Solovey​

Stress:

Teachers:

2. Notable readings on it:​

1.

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2.

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3.

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4.

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5.

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3. A Timeline for better organization:​

Goleman (1990)

Website for Stress Scale

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Research Proposal Format:

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.1 General background for the study
1.2 Statement of the problem, and sub-problems
1.3 Rationale for the research

• 1.3.1 Research Objectives
• 1.3.2 Research Questions

1.4 Hypotheses (if any)
1.5 Delimitations and Limitations
1.6 Assumptions of the study
1.7 Importance/Significance of the study
1.8 Definition of terms
1.9 Summary, including restatement of the problem​

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

2.1 Introduction
2.2 Importance of the question being asked
2.3 Current status of the topic
2.4 Relationship between the literature and the problem statement

• 2.4.1 Relationship to theory
• 2.4.2 Relationship to practice

2.5 Summary, including a restatement of the relationships between the important variables under consideration and how these relationships are important to the hypothesis proposed in the introduction​

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Participants (including, a description and selection procedures; data needed and the means for obtaining the data; selection and description of the site and participants)
3.2 Research design (type of design and assumptions that underlie it)
3.3 Data collection plans

• 3.3.1 Operational definitions of all variables
• 3.3.2 Reliability and Validity of instruments (methods of achieving reliability and validity)
• 3.3.3 Results of pilot studies (if any)

3.4 Specific treatment of the data for each sub-problem

• 3.4.1 Sub-problem (The sub-problem presented in Chapter 1 is restated here)
• a) The data needed to address the sub-problem
• b) The treatment of the data

3.4.2 Sub-problem 2 (The same format for Sub-Problem 1 is followed here)
3.4.3 Additional Sub-Problems are discussed in the same manner
3.5 Proposed analysis of the data (data analysis strategies)
3.6 Qualifications of the research and any assistants (role of the researcher including qualifications and assumptions)
3.7 Results of the data
3.8 An outline of the proposed study (steps to be taken, management plan, timeline, feasibility, etc).​

REFERENCES

APPENDICES:

• Copies of instruments that will be used (must be attached to proposal)
• Result of pilot studies (actual data)
• IRB (institutional Review Board) application and letter of approval (will be given one by Mr. Beukes
• Participant permission form (consent form, basically)
• Time line
• Actual data collected

​

 

[Detective L]

Lecture Unit 6
Conducting an Experiment

1. Choosing a Methodology: The Practicalities of Research:

-The word "experiment" refers to a research design where the investigator or researcher will control and manipulate variables.
-In an experiment, the researcher creates the "treatment group", that will be compared to the untreated, or "control group". If the two groups starts equal, but end up different, we presume that the treatment made a difference.
-We choose experiment when we want to discover causation; thus it lets us determine what causes behavior, leading to the ultimate scientific goal of "control".
-An experiment is a methodology in which a researcher controls variables systematically.
-As researchers alter the level, intensity, frequency, or duration of a variable, they examine any resulting changes in behavior in the person or animal being examined or studied.
-As such, research is experimental only when the investigator has control over the variable that might affect a behavior.
-By controlling and manipulating variables systematically, we can determine which variables influences behaviors that we are studying.
-The choice of research strategies depends on the practicalities of the project.
-Sometimes, experiments are possible and feasible, sometimes they are possible but not realistic, and sometimes they are simply impossible.
-Researchers have to use good judgement and creativity in deciding what will work best for their research.​

2. Determining the causes of behavior:

-Understand exactly why people act as they do and controlling behavior is relatively, difficult, especially because our ideas of causation may be affected by our favored theory, our cultural perspective, etc.

1) Attempting to determine causation in research:

-researchers who want to know what factors lead to a certain behavior, follow a logical plan in the experiments they devise.
-in the simplest situation we identify a factor, that when present, affects the way a person acts but when absent, results in the person acting differently.

2) Requirements for Cause and Effect Relationships:

-in simple terms, if three particular conditions are met, we conclude that a variable has a causal effect.
-the first (1st) effect involves the co-variance rule.

-that is, two variables need to be correlated (co-vary) so you can predict the level of one variable given the level of the other.
-however, knowing that two variables are correlated does not establish causation. It does not equal causation, but needs correlation for there to be causation.
-in order to determine causation we need to satisfy two other conditions.

-the second (2nd) condition, is the temporal precedence rule. The cause has to precede the effect. Effect only occurs after something causes it to occur.

-the third (3rd) condition is that we have to rule other causal variables out, satisfying the internal validity rule.
-establishing internal validity is extremely difficult cause our behaviors are influenced by multiple factors.
-in conclusion, it needs to mention that unless these 3 conditions are met, we are in a state of causal ambiguity.

*Causal Ambiguity: refers to a situation of uncertainty that results when a researcher cannot identify a single logical and plausible variable as being the cause of some behavior.

3) Internal and External Validity:

*Internal Validity:

-when research shows internal validity, it means research design is well structured.
-e.g: you started your project with groups that were comparable with respect to the behavior you are measuring, eliminated nuisance variables, manipulated a variable effectively, held everything but the experimental treatments constant across your groups, and measured your participants' behaviors accurately on another variable.

-In establishing internal validity, the chief means that scientists use to create comparable groups in an experiment, is to use random assignment to groups.
-Random assignment refers to the process of assigning participants in an experiments to groups in an random basis in order to maximize the likelihood of creating comparable groups.
-That means, any single individual can end up in any group in the experiment and that the individual is placed in the group on the basis of some objective and unbiased strategy.

*You can randomly assign participants to groups by using a random number table.

-Random assignment helps us from introductory systematic bias into the process of creating groups.
-Consequently, we can have the confidence that any group differences after a treatment, are due to the treatment, not to pre-existing differences.
-This produces a greater level of internal validity.
-Also, in the long run, random grouping of participants will lead to the most valid results.

*External Validity:

-In order to have external validity, your experiment has to be meaningful in a context outside the lab with people (or animals) other than the ones who took part in the study.
-In other words, findings need to be able to be replicated in another setting with different participants and at a different time.

*In addition to random assignment, there is another randomization process called "random selection".

-When used, it means everybody in the population has a specified probability of being included in the research.
-The goal of random selection is to increase the representativeness of the sample. Which gives confidence that results will be similar to the larger population.

*When you can generalize beyond your sample, your results show external validity.
*Random assignment = Internal Validity
*Random selection - External Validity.

*In experimental research, its typical to have random assignment of participants to groups, but not to have random selection because most experiments use convenience sampling (usually students)​

3. The Logic of Experimental Manipulation:

-The basic idea of experimental manipulation is that you start with two groups that are the same.
-You then do something to one group, that you don't do to the other group.
-The group that experiences the manipulation is the experimental group, and the one that doesn't, is the control group.
-If the two groups behave differently afterwards, whatever you did to the experimental group must have caused the change.
-Experimental design usually involve multiple groups that receive different experimental manipulations, most of the time, there is no control groups.
-Rather, each groups receives a different treatment.​

4. Experimental Control:

-When researchers create a solid experiment, they minimize the presence of factors other than the treatment variable that affects participants' behavior and are able to measure a meaningful outcome.
-Small differences among participants may affect behavior.
-Further, researchers may treat people differently, leading to changes in behavior.
-Mistakes can be made when we measure the outcome and record data wrong.
-When we analyze the data, we may use a statistical approach that is not the best one available or interpret it wrongly.
-However, certain steps can be taken to maximize the likelihood that research results will be meaningful and accurate.

1) Threats to Internal Validity.

-The internal validity of a research project is critical to the level of confidence that you have in your conclusions.
-The greater the internal validity, the more you can have faith that you know what factors caused an individual to act in a certain way.
-These threats need to be taken seriously, especially when a research design uses repeated measures and non-equivalent groups. Non-laboratory settings are more prone to these threats because they have less control over research settings.

Threats associated with participants:

• 1. Selection:
  
  -Whenever we design a study, that does not involve random assignment and selection of participants to groups, the selection threat may be a problem.
  -This threat reflects that fact that if we compare two groups with predetermined characteristics, they may not start out the same.
  -Differences other than the independent variable may cause differences in the dependent variable.
  
  
• 2. Maturation:
  
  -People change the way they act for many reasons. If you study individuals over a long period of time, they may not be the same in the end as they were in the beginning.
  -Maturation means any physical or psychological changes, including fatigue, boredom, etc.
  
  
• 3. Attrition (subject mortality):
  
  -If you test people over time, some may not return for later tests.
  
  
• 4. History:
  
  -Events during the course of the study may affect one group and not another, even if you started with randomly assigned groups.
  
  Threats associated with Measurement.
  
  
• 5. Instrumentation:
  
  -This means that there is a problem in the way you measure your dependent variable over time.
  -If you asked different questions to a group at the initial and final research sessions, data would not be comparable.
  -Also, if two different people collected data at beginning and end of research.
  -Threat comes into play if behaviors are measured with mechanical instruments. Sometimes, these instruments require calibration and re-adjustment, if not done, measurements that should be the same, could be different.
  
  
• 6. Testing:
  
  -Sometimes, initial testing of participants can sensitize them to the reasons of your research.
  -As a result, they may act differently because they know too much about the nature of your research question and it biases their responses.
  
  
• 7. Statistical Regression:
  
  -When people exhibit extreme scores on an initial test, one of the many reasons for the extreme score may be random error.
  -On a subsequent test, that random component of the score is no longer so prominent and the person's score regresses, that is, moves back toward the average of the group.
  -When researchers attempt to match participants in non-equivalent groups, there is a high likelihood of statistical regression.

2) Lack of Control in Experimental Research:

• 1. Extraneous Variables:
  
  -When you think of all the factors that can influence people's behaviors, you can appreciate how hard it can be to control all variables that might influence the behavior you want to observe and measure.
  -Factors other than your intended treatment that affect the outcome, are called extraneous variables.
  -They are the variables that make unambiguous interpretation of your results impossible.
  -You don't know if your results are due to the effect of an independent variable or due to an extraneous variable.
  
• 2. Confounds:
  
  -One type of extraneous variable is called a confound, not controlled by the experimenter.
  -It systematically affects participants in one group differently than it affects those in other groups.
  -As a result, when groups differ at the end of a study, it may be because of a confounding variable.
  -Confounding occurs when the independent variable of interest systematically co-varies with a second, unintended, independent variable.

5. Experiment Effects:

-One source of difficulty in research involves experimenter bias - the tendency of the researcher to influence a participants' behavior in a certain direction.
-If the experimenter thinks that one group will perform better than the other, may lead participants to act in a certain way.​

6. Participant Effects:

-When participants in a study, try to figure out what the experimenter wants, it becomes a problem because they have to act naturally.
-How to keep them from picking up clues?!

-One, is to use automated operations, where participants read instructions then carry out tasks on computer (less interference).
-Second way, use a convincing cover story that either conveys actual purpose or hides its true nature.
-Third way, use a blind study where participants do not know to what groups they have been assigned, making it difficult for them for them to know what treatment they receive.

*When neither the investigator nor the participant knows which group the participants has been to, it's called a double-blind study.

1) The Hawthorne Effect:

-When people change their behavior because they know they are being observed in a scientific study, the results lack validity.
-Referred to as the Hawthorne Effect, a tendency of participants to act differently from normal in a research study because they know they are being observed.
-In addition to HE, there is demand characteristics.
-In the latter case, participants actively try to figure out the purpose of the study and act in ways they think it's helpful.
-Another source of bias, evaluation apprehension.
-The bias arises because people think others are going to evaluate their behaviors, hence participants are on their best behaviors.​

7. Interaction Effects between Experimenters and Participants:

1)Biosocial and Psychological Effects:

-Research projects are social affairs, and people have social interactions when they get together.
-Research results may be affected not only by experimenter and participant bias, but by interactions between experimenter and participant.
-If participant responds to some "natural" characteristic of the researcher, we may have distortion of experimental results due to biosocial effect.
-There are also psychosocial effects, which involves psychological characteristics like personality or mood.​

8. Realism in Research:

-When we use simple lab situations for our research, the result is often a reduction in mundane realism.
-When a situation has mundane realism, it resembles the normal environment you live on an everybody basis.
-Participants in lab study might pick up that the environment was different from what you encounter normally.
-The low level of mundane realism sometimes makes researchers wonder if their experimental results are applicable to normal human interaction.
-The simple version of reality in a lab, can give us useful information about human behavior if the tasks of the participants have experimental realism.
-This type of realism relates to whether participants engage in their tasks, seriously.
-When researchers shows good experimental realism, the research results may pertain to the real world behavior the researcher is investigating.

*The critical element regarding realism is that we want our research participants to be in the psychological state of interest to us.
-The nature of the setting, lab or not, may not be relevant.
-We are more interested in whether the person the person is engaged in the task in the way, that will provide insights into behaviors and emotions we are studying.
​

 

[Detective L]

Positive Psychology

● Positive Coping:

-Defined as a response aimed at diminishing the physical, emotional and psychological burden that is linked to stressful life events and daily hassles.
-Effective coping reduces the burdens of challenges from short term stress, and contributes to the relief of longer term stress by building resources that inhibit or buffer future challenges.

Resources can be:

-Physiological, like better health care.
-Psychological, like better subjective well being
-Social, like more intimate social support networks

-more effective coping programs take a multi-dimensional approach and impact many core areas that can be used for resource building.

*Daily hassles are more detrimental to a person due to how frequent they occur, and how it is more difficult to deal with them, compared to stressful life events, which have ways to deal with them (like funerals for deaths).

Dimensions of Positive Coping:

1. Emotional-Focused Coping:

-Focus primarily on the emotional reactions, to a stressor.

1. Emotional Processing: Try to understand the reaction to the stressor, acknowledge the feeling and understand it.
2. Emotional Expression: Express emotions, related to the stressor. Articulate, and even sometimes, just cry.​

2. Problem-Focused Coping:

-Focus primarily on the situation, or cognition linked to a stressor.

1. Behavioral: Take action to fix a real-world problem, change a situation or the context, in which the stressor occurs.
2. Cognitive: Change the perspective of the problem, or alter perceptions to see stressor in another way.​

3. Emotional-Avoidance Coping:

-Avoid, ignore or deny the reality of either the stressor, or the emotional consequences, or both.
-Done through defensive reappraisals, consists of attempts to draw attention away from more painful elements of a situation by reinterpreting it, using positive thinking to block out negative emotions or by the use of selective attention.

● Buffering Hypothesis:

-Is a theory holding that the presence of a social support system helps buffer or shield an individual from the negative impact of stressful events.
-It has show that there is a strong correlation between a strong social support system and the ability to fight disease.
-A strong social support system can be a buffer against depression, anxiety, PTSD and other mental illnesses.
-Those that DO NOT have a strong social support system, will have negative reactions to highly stressful events.

● Direct-Effect Hypothesis:

-Refers to a theory that coping resources, like social support system, have beneficial psychological and health effects under conditions of BOTH high stress, and low stress.
-Social support systems provides better health and wellness benefits all the time, regardless of whether the person being supported is currently experiencing stress.

● Critical Positivity Ratio:

-Barbara Fredrickson examined how much positive emotion might be optimal for well-being.
-Since it is unreasonable to expect a person will experience only positive emotions, she speculated whether there may be an optimal balance between positive and negative emotions.

*They found that the mean ratio of positive to negative emotions was AT or ABOVE 2.9, then people tended to flourish in life.

-On average, those who had well-being and were flouring, experienced at least 2.9 times more positive emotions than negative emotions.

*They found that the positivity ratio of about 11.6 seems to be an upper-limit, beyond which flourishing begins to disintegrate.
*Too much positivity is not advantageous to well-being. Feeling happy may also make people feel overly secure, a situation that can result in carelessness, selfishness and a lesser variation of trust.

● Flow and Optimal Experience:

-Flow denotes the holistic sensation present when we act with total involvement.
-It is a state in which action follows action, according to an internal logic, which seems to need no conscious intervention on our part.
-We experience it as a unified flowing from one moment to another, in which we feel in control of our actions, and which there is little distinction between the self and the environment, stimuli and response, and the past, present and future.

*Being in the "zone".

#Characteristics of the Flow:

1. A Merging of Action and Awareness:

-People who experience flow are involved in an activity, to the point where they feel they are "inside" the activity.
-You don't think about what you do, while you do it.

2. Complete Concentration On the Task at Hand:

-The merging of action and awareness is made possible by complete concentration and a centering of attention on the activity of the moment.

3. Lack of worry about losing control, which paradoxically results in a sense of control:

-A lack of worry apparently allows people to maintain concentration and focus on the task at hand.

4. A Loss of Self-Consciousness:

-This criterion appears to reinforce the merging of awareness and action, as well as the focused concentration.
-We don't think before we act, we just act.

5. Time No Longer seems to pass in Ordinary Ways:

-Times seems to pass more quickly than usual, or it may appear to be vastly slowed down.
-It can be very dramatic.

6. Autotelic Nature of the Experience:

-Refers to the fact that the experience is done for its own sake rather than as a means to another goal.

7. Flow accompanies a challenging activity that requires skill:

-When the personal challenge of an activity pushes one's skill level so that intense focused concentration is required, then conditions are right for flow.

8. An Activity has Clear Goals and Immediate Feedback:

-An activity during flow must have clear goals and immediate feedback, so they don't wonder how they are performing.​

#Contexts and Situations of Flow:

*People report flow when in activities like;

-Religious rituals
-Using Computers
-Teaching in the Classroom
-Interacting with One's Family
-Dancers​

*Microflow; refers to moments when we are leisurely involved in a relatively simple, almost automatic activity like Doodling.

-It is innate.
-It is found in all cultures.

#Unique Qualities of Flow:

-It is one of the psychological perspectives that associates higher well-being with an alternate state of consciousness.
-Evidence that the experience of flow has a physiological counterpart = less activity in the left hemisphere, while right hemisphere has more activity.

*Attentional Switching; the ability to voluntarily switch attention among various stimuli.

#4 Stages from Microflow, to Flow:

1. Paying Attention: simply focusing attention on physiological processes.
2. Interested Attention: maintain focus on activity while continually bring attention back to present.
3. Absorbed Attention: so absorbed in activity that it is almost impossible for attention to wander, or to be distracted by extraneous stimuli.
4. Merging: in which a person is no longer aware of a separation between self and activity. A transcendent experience, like being in the zone, defines this stage.​

● Savoring:

-Involves an awareness of pleasure along with quite deliberate attempts to focus attention on the sensation at hand, and delight in it.
-In a sense, savoring seeks to extract every nuance and association contained in the complexity of a pleasurable experience.

#Four types of Savoring:

1. Basking; or receiving praise and congratulation.
2. Marveling; or getting lost in the wonder of the moment.
3. Luxuriating; or indulging in a sensation.
4. Thanksgiving, or expressing gratitude.​

#Five Types of ways to Enhance Savoring:

1. Absorption; or allowing oneself to be immersed in an experience.
2. Sharpening of Senses; fixate on one sensation while blocking out others.
3. Memory-Building; do or buy something to help recall moments of joy.
4. Sharing with Others; seek out others with whom to share your positive experiences.
5. Self-Congratulation; allow yourself to feel good about having had an experience of savoring, allow yourself some healthy pride.​

● Resilience:

#The Resilient Family:

*Resilience: refers to an ability to cope effectively with severe stress or emotional loss.

*Resilient Family: healthy families, which adjust well and flourish during and after such challenges.

*The most frequently mentioned traits found in psychological, healthy families include:

1. a secure and loving marital relationship;
2. a commitment of family members to one
another;
3. respectful patterns of communication among
all members;
4. clear household rules and boundaries between
children and parents;
5. a preference for discussion and negotiation in
the decision-making process;
6. an authoritative rather than authoritarian or
permissive parenting style;
7. encouragement of individual autonomy and
responsibility;
8. a religious orientation;
9. shared leisure and recreational activities;
10. effective strategies for dealing with stress;
11. emotional intimacy among members; and
12. the presence of humor and laughter​

*Resilience id the familial descriptor for a "broad array of abilities for constructively and positively adapting to risk, adversity and some monumental negative event".
*A pattern of positive adaptation in the face of significant adversity and risk.

*Resilience found when a person responds favorably to a significant event that would otherwise produce a major decrease in well-being.
*Resilient people "bounce back" from difficult situations.
*Provides a buffer against future challenges.

#Resilience in Children:

-Resilience started with observations of children.
-Studies shows children thrive despite poor family environment, children emerge quite well adjusted.
-Some children learn to adjust to difficult environment and less negatively affected than others.

*New perspectives on resilient children.

-Focus on personality traits, personality of children mature over time.
-Family and school environment can have impact on how well they adjust to difficulties, stress and trauma. Supportive communities, as well.

*Social more focused on, than personality.

#Protective Factors of Resilience in Children and Youth:

1. In the Family and Close Relationships:

-Positive attachment relationships
-Authoritative parenting
-Organized home environment
-Socioeconomic advantage

2. In the Community:

-Effective schools
-Neighborhoods with high self-efficacy
-High levels of public safety
-Good public health

3. In the Child:

-Good problem-solving skills
-Positive self-perceptions
-Positive outlook on life
-Faith and sense of meaning in life​

*Fixed mindset; when children are fixed on getting praise for a skill, and if they do bad, they will lose it. It makes it difficult to handle challenges in the future.

* Growth mindset; this process help children believe that their talents and abilities can be developed through dedication, persistence, and passionate commitment.

#Resilience in Adulthood:

-Some changes in life is needed for healthy development.
-Researchers found higher levels of resilience among those with a history of handling moderate adversity. Lower levels of those who don't.

#Cultivating Resilience:

-positive emotionality
-task and problem-focused coping
-commitment to goals
-humor
-patience

*needs a balance between too much and too little emotional control.

1. make connections with family, friends, or community
2. avoid seeing crises as insurmountable problems
3. accept that change is part of living
4. move towards your goals
5. take decisive action, use problem and task-focused coping
6. look for opportunities for self-discovery
7. nurture a positive view of yourself
8. keep events in perspective
9. maintain a helpful outlook
10. take care of yourself, attend to your needs and feelings​

● Ann Masten - Work on Resilience:

-Masten's research focuses on factors that enhance resilience in adolescents and families. They emphasize behavioral, psychosocial and neurobiological characteristics of resilience, and how combining the two, allows for better understand of resilience.
-Argues that resilience and competence are present in all children, and that all children need basic encouragement and opportunities, throughout development, in order to succeed.

*Resilience research shows that it is an ordinary phenomena, that it occurs from operation of basic human adaptational systems.

-Her projects aim to inform policy makers on how to create effective environments to foster children's positive development and success.

*Resilience associated with processes of self-regulation and with secure attachment relationships.

● Material Sources and Happiness:

-There is a significant relationship between income and subjective well-being.
-Higher income is associated with greater self-reported happiness.

*Possessing disposable income can provide a buffer against stress, offer access to better health care and lessen chronic worry.

*Livability theory; suggests that access to the social and economic benefits found in wealthier countries might account for differences in well-being among countries.

-Being happier can also facilitate obtaining higher income partially because the personality factors associated with high subjective well-being are certainly assets in the workplace.
-In general = more money = more subjective well-being

*However, money matters more if you have very little of it, but money matters less if you have more of it.
*While "environmental friendly" lifestyle people, often achieve a high level of subjective well-being despite their low income.
-They found that people have enhanced happiness only if the increased income enhance their social standing.

*However, some studies suggest that money may be hazardous to well-being;

-Rising income usually materialistic aspirations;

*Hedonistic Treadmill; means that a person keeps setting ever higher materialist goals in hopes of finally becoming happy with their income.

-When people work toward goals involving wealth, fame of beauty their well-being actually decreased.

#How money can increase subjective well-being:

-Depends on how money is spent.
-Spending money on experential purchases (experiences shared with friends and family) is more associated with personal happiness than was material purchases (material goods).

*Money is associated with happiness if we use it to foster relationships with family and friends, enhance our competence in a skill or hobby and gain autonomy.
*If spent on personal growth or provide new learning experiences.

● Difference between Hedonic and Eudaimonic Conceptions of Happiness:

1. Hedonic/Hedonism:

-The perspective of Hedonism focuses on pleasure as the basic competent of the good life.
-In its most basic form, is the pursuit of well-being is fundamentally a pursuit of individual sensual pleasure.
-One of the oldest approaches, seen as self-defeating and unworkable by most societies. Most realize that sensual pleasures are short-lived, that they require a constant struggle to sustain them, and when focused on, exclusively produce no lasting changes and no personal growth.

*The Hedonic Approach however, does NOT have to mean simple self-indulgence or a "me-first" attitude toward life.

-A socially responsible form of Hedonism, although considers pleasure a motivating factor/force behind most human behavior, yet affirms that certain pleasures require positive social relationships with those close to us, and with society at large.

*Eg: Some variations of a Hedonic approach view "family life" or "civic involvement" as ways to maximize pleasure and contentment for persons involved.

-Thus, the main goal of a Hedonic perspective is to increase happiness in a variety of ways.

2. Eudaimonic Perspective:

-A Eudaimonic approach to well-being generally focuses on fulfilling one's potential or developing to the fullest extent one's skills, talents, or personality.
-It's associated with fulfilling one's "true nature" and finding one's "true self"

*For the Ancient Greeks and Aristotle, Eudaimonia was associated with living one's life in accord with those values and virtues that are most desirable and most indicative of the highest good.

-Defines as life lived good, a sense of inner peace, a deep appreciation of life and a greater perspective.​

*A study that compared Hedonic and Eudaimonic measures of well-being found that both were associated with left pre-frontal activity and positive emotionality.
*Furthermore, Eudaimonic well-being was associated with a unique pattern of brain activation, not found in Hedonic well-being.

*Hedonic Well-being fades with time, while Eudaimonic well-being does not.

-However, Hedonic and Eudaimonic approaches so closely linked to each other, that clear distinctions between them are tricky.

● Daimon:

-Or Daemon, refers to the word "spirit" while the "eu" in Eudaimonia, refers to "good".
-It also means one's "true nature"
-It refers to the potentianalities of each person, realization of which leads to the greatest fulfillment.
-Efforts to live in accordance with one's Daimon, the congruence with this and people's life activities lead to the experience of Eudaimonia.
-Described as the "soul" or the "self".

● Subjective Well-Being:

1. Happiness; focus on the emotional state.
2. Satisfaction with life; the "rightness" of their life.
3. Low Neuroticism.​

-High subjective well-being is found when people report they are feeling very happy, are very satisfied with life, and are experiencing low neuroticism.

● Independence of Positive and Negative Emotions:

-People assume that positive and negative emotions exist in a dependent relationship such as, if negative emotions go down, then positive emotions must go up.
-However, they have been found to be independent.
-They have distinct causes and can even occur together at the same time.
-Even when you are happy, does not mean that there is an absence of negative emotions. And when you are experiencing negative emotions, getting rid of them, does not automatically make you happy.

● Peak-and-End Rule:

-It states that we select a few moments from memories in determining how we will feel about the entire past events.

*Specifically, we select the most intense emotion from our memories as well as the last emotion.
-Therefore, intensity of emotion seems more crucial for happiness. As well as frequency.

● Experience Sampling Methods:

-If you ask people to list their positive and negative emotions throughout the day.
-Give them a beeper to alert them when they should stop and record their feelings, behavior and feelings.
-After that, in a few weeks, record all the emotions and review how many positive and negative emotions the person felt on average per day.

● Pleasant life, engaged life and meaningful life:

*Authentic Happiness involves three domains:

1. Pleasant Life
2. Engaged Life
3. Meaningful Life

1. Pleasant Life:

-Focused on positive emotions. These can be physical pleasures such as having a good meal or more sophisticated pleasures like enjoying a complex work of art.
-The latter are "higher pleasures" which are complex combinations of emotions that produce feelings like joy or rapture.

2. Engaged Life:

-The good life is found primarily through engagement in activities that are absorbing and promote full participation in life.

*Signature Strengths: Positive personality characteristics that are representative of each person's identity and that add to the uniqueness.

-When people engage in their signature strengths, they tend to feel invigorated and enthusiastic as well as having the sense that their "real me" is being expressed.

3. Meaningful Life:

-Uses signature strengths in the service of something larger and more significant than one's individual self.
-Involves going beyond individual concerns to take a wider perspective in life.
-People seem to live with a sense of fulfillment when they believe they matter as individuals and that their lives have some significance.​

● Ten Universal Values; Schwarz

*Values are used to characterize cultural groups, societies and individuals to trace change over time and to explain the motivational bases of attitudes and behavior.

*Individuals and groups have different value "priorities" or "hierarchies".
*Ten Values recognized, applicable through all cultures.

#The Nature of Values:

1. Values are beliefs; linked inextricably to affect. When values are activated, they become infused with feeling.

2. Values are desirable goals, that motivate action.

3. Values transcend specific actions and situations

4. Values serve as standards or criteria; guide the selection or evaluation of people and situations.

5. Values are ordered by importance; relative to one another.

6. The relative importance of multiple values guide action.​

*The above are all features of all values.
*What distinguishes one from the other, is the type of goal or motivation it expresses.

*The Values Theory defines 10 broad values according to the motivation that underlies them.

*Values are the socially desirable concepts used to represent their goals mentally and the vocabulary used to express them in social interaction.

*The Ten Values are as follows;

1. Self-Direction:

*Defining Goal; independent thought and action - choosing, creating and exploring.
-self-direction derives from orgasmic needs for control and mastery, and interactional requirements of autonomy and independence.

-(Creativity, freedom, choosing own goals, curious, independent).

2. Stimulation:

*Defining Goal; excitement, novelty and challenge in life.
-Stimulation values derive from the orgasmic need for variety and stimulation in order to maintain an optimal, positive, rather than threatening, level of activation.
-This need probably relates to the needs underlying self-direction values.

(-a varied life, an exciting life, daring).

3. Hedonism:

*Defining Goal; pleasure or sensuous gratification of oneself.
-Hedonism values derive from orgasmic need, and the pleasure associated with satisfying them.

(-Pleasure, enjoying life, self-indulgent).

4. Achievement:

*Defining Goal; personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards.
-Competent performance that generate resources is necessary for individuals to survive and for groups and institutions to reach their objectives.
-As defined here, achievement values emphasize demonstrating competence in terms of prevailing cultural standards, thereby obtaining social approval.

-(Ambitious, successful, capable, influential)

5. Power:

*Defining Goal; social status and prestige, control and dominance over people and resources.
-The functioning of social institutions apparently requires some degree of status differentiation.
-A dominance/submission dimension emerges in most empirical analyses of interpersonal relations both within and across cultures.
-To justify this fact of social life and to motivate group members to accept it, groups mus treat power as a value.

-Power values may also be transformations of individual needs for dominance and control.
-(authority, wealth, social power).

*Both power and achievement vales focus on social esteem. However, achievement values (ambition for example), emphasize the active demonstration of successful performance in concrete interaction, while power values (like authority and wealth) emphasize the attainment or preservation of a dominant position within the more general social system.

6. Security:

*Defining Goal; safety, harmony and stability of society, of relationships and of self.
-Security values derive from basic individuals and group requirements.
-Some security values serve primarily individual interests, others wider interests (like national security).
-Even the latter, expresses to a significant degree, the goal of security of the self, and those with whom one identifies.
-(Social order, family security, national security, reciprocation of favors).

7. Conformity:

*Defining Goal; restraint of actions, inclinations and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms.
-Conformity values derive from the requirement that individuals inhibit inclination that might disrupt and undermine smooth interaction and group functioning.
-They emphasize self-restraint in every day interaction, usually with close others.

-(obedient, self-discipline, politeness, honoring parents and elders).

8. Tradition:

*Defining Goal; respect, commitment and acceptance of the customs and ideas that one's culture or religion provides.

-Groups everywhere develop practices, symbols, ideas and beliefs that represent their shared experience and fate.
-These become sanctioned as valued group customs and tradition. They symbolize the groups' solidarity, express its unique worth and contribute to its survival.
-Often take the form of religious rites, beliefs and norms of behavior.
-(Respect for tradition, humble, devout, accepting my portion in life).

*Tradition and conformity values are especially close motivationally, they share the goal of subordinating the self to socially imposed expectations.
*They differ primarily in the objects to which one subordinates the self;

-Conformity entails subordination to persons with whom one frequently interacts - parents, teachers and bosses.
-Tradition entails subordination to more abstract objects - religious and cultural customs and ideas.

*Conformity values exhort responsiveness to current, possibly changing expectations.
*Tradition values demand responsiveness to immutable expectations from the past.

9. Benevolence:

*Defining Goal; preserving and enhancing the welfare of those with whom one is in frequent personal contact (the in-group).
-Benevolence values derive from the basic requirement for smooth group functioning and from the orgasmic need for affiliation.
-Most critical are relations within the family and other primary groups.
-Benevolence values emphasize voluntary concern for others' welfare (helpful, forgiving, responsible, loyal, mature love).

*Benevolence and Conformity values both promote cooperative and supportive social relations.

-However, benevolence values provide an internalized motivational based for such behavior.
-In contrast, Conformity values promote cooperation in order to avoid negative outcomes for self.

*Both values may motivate the same helpful act, separately or together.

10. Universalism:

*Defining Goal; understanding, appreciation, tolerance and protection for the welfare of all people and for nature.
-This contrasts with the in-group focus of benevolence values.
-Universalism values derive from survival needs of individuals and groups. But people do not recognize these needs until they encounter others beyond the extended primary group and until they become aware of the scarcity of natural resources.
-People may then realize that failure to accept others who are different and treat them justly will lead to life-threatening strife.
-They may also realize that failure to protect the natural environment will lead to destruction of the resources on which life depends.

*Universalism combines two sub-types of concern:

1. For the welfare of those in larger society
2. And for world and nature.

-(broadminded, social justice, equality, world at peace, world of beauty and wisdom).​

 

[Detective L]

First 4 lecture units for research methods and statistics

Lecture Unit 10 - Marks Allocated (14)

In general, we can divide the purpose of survey questions into three domains: measures of memory and behavior, measures of attitude and opinion, and demographics. Pinpoint the seven major problems associated with survey questions about attitudes.

1. The wording of a question can lead a respondent in a particular direction, especially with emotionally sensitive topics.

2. Previous questions have an effect on what kind of information people have in mind when they respond to a later item.

3. The respondents' beliefs about what the interview is supposed to be about will lead them to tailor their responses so as to be more helpful to the surveyor.

4. The sensitivity of an issue is critical to whether, and how, people respond.

5. The characteristics of the person doing the interview can be important, respondents are more forthcoming with people are similar to them.

6. It is hard to distinguish between respondents that have an attitude held, from those that the respondent just made up.

7. It is hard to differentiate between attitudes that are deeply, and shallowly held.​

Lecture Unit 7 - Marks Allocated (16)

One can differentiate between an independent samples and a repeated measures design. Spell out the advantages associated with a repeated measures design (16)

• They are frequently used because they are efficient and the advantages usually outweigh disadvantage.
  -In many cases, they are helpful, but there may be cases/situations where they will be inappropriate.
  
• You might be able to increase the amount of data that you are able to collect without a marked increase in time and effort (eg: you could test the same 50 people, in each of the three conditions, instead of 150 people).
• You may gain a great deal of extra information with Repeated Measures Design (eg: you could add conditions and keep participants a little bit longer for the benefit for more information).
• It can be more efficient for the participants, especially if the groups you want to test is rare (eg: like airline pilots).
• On the other hand, if you testing session requires a lot of time and effort, it might be better to NOT used Repeated Measures Design because participants might become bored or fatigued after one condition.
• You may have greater confidence in the validity of your data cause sometimes participants in different groups approach the same task different (eg: their behavior may look as if the Independent Variable made a difference, when participants' varied perspectives are causing the changes).
• Your groups are equivalent at the outset because they are the same people in each group (eg: the differences between participants may not be a problem because you are comparing a single person in one condition, to their performance in another).

One can differentiate between an independent samples and a repeated measures design. Reveal limitations associated with repeated measures designs (16)

• Some research projects do not lend themselves to Repeated Measures Design, and some variables make it impossible (eg: comparing the study habits of high achieving and low achieving students).
• If you test participants over time, you have a big investment in each participant (eg: if the participant fails to return, you have committed time and effort that will not be repaid).
• Using Repeated Measures Design will simply be impractical (eg: suppose you want to see whether young adults or old adults could complete a learning task with equal speed).
• You generally can't use Repeated Measures when you examine pre-existing characteristics like gender, political affiliation, religious affiliation, because people are what they are).
• The more exposure of the participant to multiple conditions may result in complications, generally considered to be carry-over effects.
• If a particular treatment affects performance, in subsequent conditions, this would involve sequence effects.
• Order (progressive) effects of testing when individuals is tested repeatedly are problematic in a Repeated Measures Design (eg: a fatigue that sets in).
• When sequence or order effects are likely, researchers often use counterbalancing to avoid mistaking these effects for actual treatment effects (eg: if someone created a project with two conditions, A and B, you would want to test some participants in the AB order, and other participants, in the BA order, etc).

Lecture Unit 4 - Marks Allocated (18)

-Most research does not involve probability sampling. Debate on only two of the four sampling approaches researchers generally use for non-probability sampling. (18-24)
-Probability sampling is the gold standard of sampling. Debate on only two of the four strategies researchers generally use for probability sampling. (8-20)

There are various approaches to conducting research. Expound on the major methodologies that researchers use to study behaviour. (18)
There are various approaches to conducting research. Deliberate on the advantages and disadvantages of the major methodologies used by researchers to study behaviour. (18)

• 1. Experiments: variables are actively manipulated and the environment is controlled as much as possible.
  
  Advantages: you can eliminate many extraneous factors that might influence behavior, so you can study those of interest. Consequently, you can draw conclusions about causes of behavior.
  
  Disadvantages: you may create an artificial environment, so people act in ways that differ from typical ways, and sometimes, there are ethical issues when it comes to manipulating variables.
  
  
• 2. Quasi-Experiments: the design of the study resembles an experiment, but the variables are not manipulated. Instead, the researcher creates categories based on pre-existing characteristics of participants.
  
  Advantages: you can eliminate some extraneous factors that might influence behavior. Can also spot predictable relationships, even if you do not know the cause of behaviors.
  
  Disadvantages: because you don't control potentially important, variables, you cannot affirm cause and effect relationships.
  
  
• 3. Correlational Studies: you measure variables, as they already exist, without controlling them.
  
  Advantages: you can spot predictable behavior patterns, in addition, you do not strip away complicating variables so you can see how behavior emerges in a natural environment.
  
  Disadvantages: you can not assess what variables predictably cause behaviors to occur.
  
  
• 4. Surveys, tests and questionnaires: you ask for self-reported attitudes, knowledge and statements of behaviors from respondents.
  
  Advantages: you can collect a diverse amount of information easily. In some cases, you can compare you data with established response patterns from other groups, who have been studies.
  
  Disadvantages: you do not know how truthful or accurate your respondents report their behavior and attitudes, you cannot spot cause-and-effect relationships.
  
  
• 5. Case Studies: you study a single person, or a few people in great depth, so you know a lot about them.
  
  Advantages: you can study people in their complexity, and take their specific characteristics into account in trying to understand behavior.
  
  Disadvantages: you may not be able to generalize beyond the person, or small group. They may not be representative of people in general.
  
  
• 6. Observational Research: you study behaviors in their natural settings without intervening (in most cases).
  
  Advantages: you can study life and behavior in its complexity.
  
  Disadvantages: there are so many factors that influence behavior in the natural world, that you cannot be sure why people act as they do.
  
  
• 7. Longitudinal Research: you study people's behaviors over long period of time.
  
  Advantages: you can see how behaviors change over time, particularly as an individual develops and matures.
  
  Disadvantages: this research may take weeks, months and years to complete. In addition, people may change cause society changes, not only because of their personal maturation.
  
  
• 8. Archival Research: you use existing records and information to help you answer your research question, even though that information was gathered for other reasons.
  
  Advantages: you can trace information historically and use multiple sources to address your research question.
  
  Disadvantages: the information was gathered for a completely different purpose, so the focus may be different. Also don't know how accurate the records are, or what is missing.
  
  
• 9. Qualitative Research: you study people in their natural environment, and try and understand them holistically. There is reliance on descriptive rather than quantitative information.
  
  Advantages: you gain useful insights into the complexity of people's behaviors. Very often the focus is on the meaning, of text or conversation rather than its sub-components.
  
  Disadvantages: this research often takes considerably longer than quantitative research and can involve painstaking analysis of the qualitative data. Some researchers do not like the fact that numerical analysis is not critical to this approach.

Lecture Unit 3 - Marks Allocated (22)

The use of the internet is one approach in today’s world in terms of conducting research. Pronounce yourself generally on utilising Internet-based research. (20/40)

• With the introduction of the internet, the concept of the laboratory is undergoing adjustment. We no longer need the physical presence of participants who wish to participate.
• Research in the developed world shows that college students were more responsive to Internet surveys while other groups (like consumers) were more responsive to mailed surveys.
• Furthermore, follow-up reminders in this case, were more useful in generating responses to mailed surveys than to Internet surveys.
• Also, low-income people are less likely to have access to the Internet away from home or work, than are higher income people, who are likely to have access to the Internet and computers both at home, and at work.
• Teen use the Internet much more than older adults, for social networking and entertainment.
• Adults use e-mail and do research at comparable or higher level than teens.
• This data has implications for one's research, as differences may have significant impact on the nature of research samples, and perhaps, research results.
• If you want to conduct a study on line, you want to maximize the return on the work, and reach the people you want to participate.
• Persistence, and a personal approach to research provide the best results as researchers contact potential respondents through telephone calls, the Internet, mail or interactive voice response.
• For those who don't respond, researcher uses different means to get a hold of respondents a second time (through telephone call or email).
• Research shows that the additional contact improved response rates by over 30% in some cases, reflecting the importance of persistence, in reaching your sample.
  
• An advantage with email technique technique is that the responses arrive very quickly, much more so than with mail approaches.
• Further, the quality of data seems comparable, regardless of the means of notifying respondents.
• Online surveys have some practical advantages.
• Their use might increase once researchers become familiar with the characteristics of successful internet surveys.
• It doesn't help a researcher if a respondent receives, but ignores the information.
  
• For instance, in the developed world, the response rate for surveys in general has decreased and email surveys have lower response rates than mail and telephone surveys.
• One can motivate people to respond by using incentives like money-in-mail surveys.
• However, motivating factors that work in mail-surveys may not necessarily translate to the computer, or to telephone surveys.

Advantages to Internet-based Research:

• 1. could involve significantly less time per person than a laboratory-based project.
• 2. researcher does not need to be available when a participant is interested in engaging in the task.
• 3. data collection is automatic and accurate.
• 4. we can generate participation from any interested person of any age, from any part of the world.

Potential Problems with Internet-based Research:

• 1. we lose the advantage of having a person who help a participant, who is uncertain on how to proceed, might misunderstand directions or might have questions.
• 2. the gain in accuracy, in data collection, can be offset if remote participants provide poor data.
• 3. there may be differences between computer users and the population as a whole. eg: conclusions can be inaccurate because of the nature of people who have computer access and the inclination to participate in online surveys.
• 4. when a person is at a remote location, it may not be easy to guarantee ethical safeguards.
• 5. a survey on the small screen of a cellphone, combined with potentially slow access, might make a survey difficult to complete, leading to either non-response or acceptance.

The Future of Internet in Psychology:

• 1. internet studies are almost certain to increase in size and scope.
• 2. research results we obtain via the Internet, will only be as good as the methodology we develop.

 

[Detective L]

Advanced Research Methods and Statistics:
Unit 1: Understanding Research:

1. Why are Research Methods important tools for life?

• There can be a big difference between what we think we know about behavior, and what is actually true.
• We need to create knowledge where it does not already exist.
• You end up with information that did not previously exist.
• When you complete a study, you know something that nobody else in the world knows.
  
  1. Creating Knowledge:
  
  
• Research requires imagination, creativity and ingenuity in developing knowledge.
• As a Psychologist, one needs to understand the research process, so one can read scientific journals, articles, and make sense of current research reports and keep abreast of current ideas. Many jobs require knowledge of statistics and research.
• To help one think critically about others' conclusions, whether their research is sound, etc.
  
  2. Answering important scientific questions:
  
  
• There are many important scientific questions.

2. Why do we do research:

• Goals of scientific research (people are curious social beings, curiosity and enjoyment in finding out about behavior, underlie the reason why researchers do their job, they think its fun).
• As curious scientists, we generally work toward 4 difficult goals based on observations.
  
  1. Description:
  
  
• When you describe events around you, then you have taken the first steps in scientific discovery.
• Description involves a systematic and objective approach to observing behavior.
• Researchers develop a systematic plan so we generate complete and accurate descriptions.
  
  2. Explanation:
  
  
• When we understand behavior, we can explain them.
• Explanation puts relevant information into a theory.
• We generate hypothesis and test them with research to support and refute theory.
• We examine hypotheses by making them objective and testable (eg: we define them clearly).
• We assess hypotheses through the element of falsifiability (test them to see if we can prove them wrong).
• Each time we fail to falsify the theory, we have greater confidence in it.
  
  3. Prediction:
  
  
• Scientists generally specify in great detail about factors lead to a specific outcome.
• Scientists find it helpful to predict behaviors to know in advance, what will happen (sense of control).
  
  4. Control:
  
  
• Once we are confident of our predictions, we can ultimately control behavior.
• A goal of science is to manipulate variables in order to produce specific behaviors.

3. What constitutes scientific knowledge:

• There are several types of knowledge:
  
  1. Tenacity:
  
  
• The obvious/intuition-knowing something because everyone knows it, involving an individuals belief in what is true based on your view of the world and your assumptions.
• Relying on what you know and refusing to change your mind is characteristic of knowledge, by tenacity.
  
  2. Authority:
  
  
• (Reliance on an expert authority figure) involving believing what authorities say is true.
• This approach to knowledge involves reliance on authority, which can lead us astray when authorities are wrong.
  
  3. Priori Method or Logic:
  
  
• (Use of deductive logic, or logical proof) is the mode of accepting knowledge based on consensus (a premise that people have agreed upon) followed by a reasoned argument.
• Eg: people will not knowingly ingest poison, because they know it is dangerous.
  
  
  4. Scientific Approach:
  
  
• (Reliance on empirical methods that are objective, empirical, public and replicable) is the mode of accepting knowledge based on empirically derived data.
• Using strict logic to predict human behavior is not very useful. The most reliable source of knowledge is through the scientific approach.
• Scientific knowledge relies on observations that are objective, data driven, public and potentially replicable and verfiable (which are the main characteristics of scientific research).
  
  a) Objective
  
  
• means to define concepts in clear, understandable, systematic and consistent ways (measurement not affected by personal bias).
  
  b) Data Driven:
  
  
• means that our conclusions must follow logically from our data (empirical refers to a method of discovery that relies on systematic observation and data, for drawing conclusions).
  
  c) Public:
  
  
• means making research public through presentations at conferences or through publishing research work in articles or journals, and books, eg: it must undergo a peer review.
  
  
  d) Replicable:
  
  
• means others should have the opportunity to repeat a research to see if similar results occur (recreate a previous research study).
  
  
  e) Verifiable:
  
  
• means when scientists reproduce or replicate a previous research study and generate the same results (others must verify the results).

4. Why is it important to be scientifically literate and how can you develop scientific literacy?

• It is important to be scientific literate, even if you don't engage in research yourself.
• In order to understand news on the internet, television and newspapers about scientific research.
• Scientific literacy is a specialized form of critical thinking which one can develop.
• One way to foster such literacy is to learn about and conduct research.
• Scientific research prepares a person for the kind of thinking associated with scientific literacy and critical thinking.
  
  1. Science and Pseudoscience:
  
  
• Pseudoscience - a discipline is pseudoscientific when it claims that its knowledge derives from scientific research but fails to follow the basic principles of research.
• Pseudosciences are characterized by a reliance on questionable or flimsy evidence and resistance to change or further development of a theory.
  
  
  2. Warning signs of bogus science:
  
  
• When an investigator publicizes claims in the popular press instead of in a scientific journal.
• When someone claims that the scientific establishment is trying to surpress research findings.
• When a researchers' findings are difficult to detect, thus difficult to verify by an independent judge.
• When the only data for a discovery involve anecdotes or stories, that other researchers cannot investigate more fully.
• When an investigator claims that a phenomenon is real because people have known about it for centuries.
• When an investigator worked alone and discovered an important phenomenon that no one else has discovered before.
• When a researcher makes a bold claim of an entirely novel finding.
  
  
  3. Junk Science:
  
  
• Is a term related to making arguments to support one's beliefs.
• A person using junk science is more interested in winning the argument than in presenting sound, valid scientific information.
  

 

[Detective L]

Unit 2: Ethical Issues in Research

1. Unethical Research Practices:

• The question in an ethical consideration is whether the research poses physical or psychological risks to the participant.
  
  1. Ethical Problems in the early years of the 20th Century:
  
  
• Investigations of Nazi during WW2, eg: Carl Clauberg researched techniques for sterilizing women, he injected a substance consisting of formaldehyde and methanol, into the women's cervix. The substance was poisonous to the extent that they reported excruciating pain.
• Between 1930 and 1972, researchers at the Tuskegee Institute (USA) studied the progress of Syphillis by withholding treatment from black patients. The lack of treatment in that it could cause blindness and death. The research continued after treatment with Pencilin was standard practice until Dr. Peter Buxin revealed this to the Washington Post in 1972.
• Researchers at the University of Cincinatti, together with the US Military, subjected uninformed terminally ill cancer patients to whole-body radiation.
• A participant in a NASA-sponsored study, underwent testing in chamber designed to stimulate the pressure that you would feel at 30 000 feet, above sea level. The man began to lose sensation in his limbs, and subsequently become semi-conscious.
  
  2. Ethics and Plagiarism:
  
  
• Plagiarism is unethical, eg: using somebody else's words without attributing them to that person, is unethical.
• Ideas from somebody else's writing or speaking, you must attribute them to that person.
• If you cite a well-known fact, you don't need to provide a citation (like, children are born with the ability to speak).
• If you are citing information that is not widely known, you should cite a trustworthy source (self-actualization is Maslow's).
• Professionals recommend citing a source if it is likely that readers will not be familiar with the topic.
• Researchers are not supposed to engage in self-plagiarism (use of your own work multiple times).
  
  
  3. Current examples of Unethical Behavior:
  
  
• Involvement in falsfying or fabricating data.
• Causes or reasons for unethical behavior (why people engage in it);
  
  a) Intense pressure to publish research and obtain grants.
  b) Inadequate mentoring.
  c) Some sort of mental disorder.

2. Ethical Guidelines created by the American Psychological Association:

• 
  I. Aspirational Goals (General Ethical Principles):
  
  
• Concerns a general set of ethical principles that guide us (psychologists and others) in research and other professional activities.
  
  a) Beneficence (generosity, kindness) and Non-Maleficence (do not harm, caring for patients) - relates to maximizing the positive outcomes of your work and minimizing the chances of harm.
  
  b) Fidelity (trustworthiness) and Responsibility - eg: Psychologists should not engage in dual relationships with patients.
  
  c) Intergrity - psychologists should not falsify data or misinterpret research results.
  
  d) Justice - psychologists should not use and administer tests for which they are not trained.
  
  e) Respect for People's Rights and Dignity - psychologists should not violate the confidentiality of their research participants.
  
  II. Enforceable Ethical Standards:
  
  
  a) Resolving Ethical Issues - psychologists should recognize ethical issues and work toward resolving them by seeking formal remedies (defer to legal authorities).
  
  b) Boundaries of Competence - researchers may only conduct research within boundaries of their competence.
  
  c) Human Relations - psychologists should strive to minimize discrimination and harassment of people with whom they have a professional relationship (including exploitation of another by use of power and authority).
  
  d) Privacy and Confidentiality - researchers should not discuss the behavior or responses of research participants or clients with others outside the research project or treatment setting.
  
  e) Advertising and Other Public Statements - psychologists should not make fraudulent or misleading statements when presenting their work to the public.
  
  f) Record Keeping and Fees - psychologists must document their research and maintain.
  
  g) Teaching, Training Supervision, Research and Publication - psychologists are responsible for competent education and training of students.
  
  h) Research and Publication - research must be approved by an institutional review board or committee and participant must give informed consent, and be debriefed.
  
  i) Assessment and Therapy - psychologists must use contemporary and therapeutic techniques and be adequately trained to use them.
  
  *Ethical Standards as they affect you:
  
  I. Informed Consent:
  
  
• Make sure your participants know what they will be doing and understand the nature of the research.
• Provide debriefing in which you inform participants of any deception involved in the research, called de-hoaxing.
• Make sure you eliminate any potential sources of negative feelings by the participants, called de-sensitization.
• If there are likely to be long-term effects, one needs to engage in compensatory follow-up.
  
  II. Anonymity and Confidentiality:
  
  
• Protect the anonymity and confidentiality of your research participants.
• Data is anonymous.
• Data is kept confidential in cases where nobody outside the research project, should have access to research information.
  
  III. Coercion:
  
  
• If you solicit participation from your friends, and classmates who do not want to participate.
• They feel social pressure and don't really want to participate (involuntary).
  
  IV. Plagiarism:
  
  
• Claiming credit of work, that belongs to others. Must be avoided.

3. Legal Requirements and Ethics in Research:

• After WW1, the international community recognized the need for laws concerning research with people.
• This Nuremberg Code, is such a law and has 10 points:
  
  1. Research on humans require informed consent.
  2. The experiment must contribute to our body of knowledge.
  3. Researchers should be informed about the topic they investigate.
  4. The experiment should avoid unnecessary physical and mental suffering.
  5. No experiment should be conducted if there is good reason to believe it will lead to death and serious injury.
  6. The degree of risk must be less than the potential gain from the research.
  7. Researchers must make provisions for emergencies that they can reasonably foresee.
  8. The researcher must have appropriate training to conduct the research.
  9. Research participants must be free to terminate their involvement at any time.
  10. The researcher should terminate a research project if they believe it will lead to injury or death.

4. Importance of Social Context in Deciding on Ethics in Research:

• 
  
  1. An IRB can decide whether any given research project would subject people to undue risk relative to possible benefits from the research.
  2. Thus, the IRB is supposed to weigh the risks (physical and psychological harm) against the benefits (increased knowledge and applications) of the research.
  3. If the risks are greater than the benefits, the research should not be done.
  4. If the benefits exceed the risks, the research can be defended on ethical grounds.
  5. This type of assessment is known as a cost-benefit analysis.
  6. In cases where both the risk and benefits are high, a decision will not be easily reached and different people may arrive at different but legitimate conclusions.

5. What you need to do if your research involved deception:

• 
  
  1. Some research requires deception:
  
• Deception has to do with recreating a cover story that keeps participants from acting in a self-conscious manner, during the study.
• If deception is to be used, keep two things in mind;
  
  a) Minimize the amount of deception involved; withholding too much information may mean person can't give appropriate informed consent about participation because they can't assess the risks.
  
  b) Debrief participants adequately after the session ends, either through de-hoaxing (tell them what you did, how you deceived them and why it was necessary) or through desensitization (eliminate potential sources of negative feelings from participants).
  
  2. The effects of debriefing on Research:
  
  a) Easiest approach, debriefing directly after testing session concludes.
  b) One drawback to immediate debriefing, is that participants might discuss the research with others, who might later take part in the study.
  c) A potential solution is to ask participants to refrain from discussion the study.
  d) Can e-mail them.

6. Ethical Issues in special circumstances:

• 
  
  1. Researchers should appreciate individual differences associated with age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, disability, language and socio-economic status.
  
  2. Internet research holds the following advantages:
  
  a) Respondents feel a sense of anonymity that leads them to be more likely to respond to sensitive questions.
  b) Respondents do not feel pressure to continue their participation if they become uncomfortable for some reason.
  
  3. If a person's own moral principles imply that it is unethical to use animals in research, that person has that right, and others must recognize it.
  
  4. Those who accept animal research also have the right to their opinion, as long as investigations might be beneficial to human welfare, and do not expose animals to unreasonable stress.​

 

[Detective L]

Unit 3: Research Planning

• 
  
  1. Where Research ideas begin?
  
  
• Research questions come from a variety of sources and motivations, most of them arising from researchers' curiosity.
• Also, our ideas develop within a social context.
• Sometimes investigators notice an event that captures their interest, and they decide to study it.
• At other times, they have a specific question to address or a problem to solve.
• In some cases, they develop research ideas to test theories.
• In addition, researchers should be aware of the work of other scientists.
• This allows researchers to advance knowledge and avoid repeating what has been done before.
• Such knowledge will help generate new knowledge.
• Sources of information include, scientific publications and presentations and research conferences.
• As your exposure expands, so does searching for relevant work.
• If we read a journal, we get an idea of what led them to researching the topic.
• Any time we encounter behavior we do not understand, there is potential for research.
• Or from something we observe daily.
• Or when Psychologists want to solve practical questions.
• A third approach involves researchers who evaluate the work of others, or have completed research projects.
• The most formal approach to developing a research idea is from a well-defined theory.
  
• A theory predicts behaviors, so the Psychologist would like to see whether certain theoretical predictors result in certain behaviors.
  
• Most research develops from old ideas that can lead to new ideas, and that we can test empirically.
• However, research ideas often arise from personal interests.
  
• In addition, due to ethical concerns associated with animal research, people tend to be interested in research topics not involving animals.
• People are moving away from animal research due to the contemporary cognitive orientation of Psychologists, as opposed to the dominant paradigm of behaviorism in the past.
• In conclusion, there are advantages to conducting research in an area that has not received a lot of attention from Psychologists, because of that, much less background reading is required.

2. How can you develop research ideas?

• The first step is to acquire as much knowledge as you can about as many different areas, as you can.
• The greater your scope of knowledge, the more likely you will be able to bring different ideas into a unique project.
• McGuire suggested that you introspect your own experiences and use your thoughts to generate research questions.
• He proposed that you can look at research in a particular area and try to adapt some of those ideas, to a new one.
• Further suggested to develop commonsense ideas, to see when they hold true, and when they don't.
• Moreover, he indicated that you could also combine previously unrelated topics, like generate some interesting research projects by connecting. Eg: research on sports and physical disabilities that usually don't fall together.

4. Role of Replication in Research:

• 
  
  1. Researchers replicate their research, which means to repeat the investigations to see if the same results emerge.
  
  2. Replication can take 3 different forms:
  
  
• 1. Exact Replication - it is an exact replication of an investigation.
• 2. Replication with extension - the experimenter asks the same question but adds something new.
• 3. Conceptual replication - researcher attacks the same basic question, but does it from a different approach.
  
  
  3. Replication serves several important functions:
  
  
• 1. It can check on the reliability of research results and helps us avoid seeing things that are not there (Type I error) and failing to see things that are there (Type II error).
• 2. Can provide additional support for theories.
• 3. We can increase construct validity in that we make diverse measurements of the same concept.
• 4. It helps protect against fraud.
  
  
  4. Reasons for advocating replication but not doing it:
  
  
• 1. Journals are reluctant to publish replications.
• 2. Researchers may be reluctant to submit replications in the first place.
• 3. Original research is encouraged because it generates new knowledge for which rewards are greater.
• 4. Funding for research replication may be limited.
• 5. Researchers may not provide enough detail for others who want to replicate it.

5. Literature Review:

• 
  
  1. What is a literature review?:
  
• The "term" literature refers to the body of work that is considered high enough quality to appear in technical journals.
• When researchers prepare a literature review for journal article or conference presentation, they usually discuss relevant previous studies.
  
  
  2. The effect of Peer Review on the Research Literature:
  
  
• Articles that appear in peer-reviewed journals have been taken seriously by experts.
• Peer-review journals publish articles that have undergone careful scrutiny and has been revised by authors several times.
• Amongst the best Psychology journals, the edition accept only 30% or fewer of the articles that are submitted.
• Reviewers and editors frequently request an author to do additional work to take care of uncertainties and ambiguities.
  
  
  3. How to conduct a Literature Review:
  
  
• The easiest way is to use an electronic database that lists research.
• The most useful database for Psychologists is PsychINFO, published by the APA.
  
• 1. Electronic Database:
  
  -PsychINFO is the successor to Psychological Abstracts (PA), discontinued in 2006.
  -The basic strategy is to select a term of interest to you, and tell PsychINFO to search for published articles related to the term.
  
• 2. Starting your search:
  
  -It would be impossible to search every single citation/source.
  -Limit the search by listing citations that include your selected term as keywords and descriptors.
  -Reduce number of irrelevant citations.
  -An asterisk (*) can be used to expand your search.
  -The database theseraus can tell you what terms to use when searching for a given concept.
  
• 3. Different sources of information:
  
  -When you read reports that the researchers themselves have written, they are referred to a primary sources.
  -If an article appears in a peer-reviewed research journal, you can have confidence that there is merit to the information in the article.
  -Reports are from a secondary source when a writer, refers to the research by another Psychologists describing the methods, results and interpretations.
  -There may be need to refer to a secondary source at times, but its preferable to use primary sources when possible.
  -Also, there are descriptors of research based on somebody else's description of yet somebody else's original research that are referred to as tertiary sources.
  -The farther you get from original research, the more distortion you may find in the presentation of the information.
  -Some sources are intended for a professional audience like research journals, but others sources are meant for the general public.
  -As a rule, information in popular sources may be less useful for scientific purposes, although it may serve as a starting point for a review of the scientific literature.
  -One such source is Wikipedia.
  
  4. How to read a journal article:
  
  
• For Psychology courses, research articles are written in a format called the APA style.
• This means the authors have followed the guidelines set forth in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA).
  
• A research article written in the APA style is divided into six sections as a rule.
• These sections are represented by an;
  
  1. Abstract
  2. Introduction
  3. Method
  4. Procedure
  5. Results
  6. Discussion
  
  
• 1. Abstract:
  
  
  This section is fairly short, between 150 - 250 words, where authors give an overview of the entire paper. It is kept short so that the reader can get a quick glimpse into the nature of the research. It presents a preview of the research questions, and hypotheses, the methodology, the results and the discussion.
  
  
• 2. Introduction:
  
  It provides background information so you can understand the purpose of the research and how relevant ideas developed in previous research. This section gives specific tests of hypotheses and a general preview of how researchers have conducted the project.
  The first ideas relate to a more general depiction of the field of interest to the researcher. As the introduction progresses, the researcher will discuss in more detail the research that relates closely to their own project, and subsequently, present own ideas (clarifying confusions from earlier research, correct problems, and test hypotheses). In short, this section presents the logic that led from the ideas of previous researchers to those of the author.
  
  
• 3. Method:
  
  
  Writers subdivide this part into sections, representing participants, materials, apparatus, and procedure. It provides detail about the nature of the participants, what you would need to carry out the study, and what occurs during the data collection session.
  
  
• 4. Results:
  
  
  This section details the quantitative and qualitative results of an investigation, including results of statistical analysis.
  
  
• 5. Discussion:
  
  
  This section provides an interpretation of the results, going beyond a simple description of the results and statistical tests (figuring out what it all means).
  
  
• 6. References:
  
  
  This section contains complete reference information on work that was, or not, published or presented.

 

[Detective L]

Unit 4: Practical Issues in Research Planning:

1. Practical Questions in Planning Research:

• Researchers have to make a lot of decisions about their study.
• We study concepts that are very complex and abstract.
• We also have to take abstract ideas and generate concrete ways to measure them.
• In Psychology, we use tools that may be easy to develop, but the concepts are complex.
• Once you decide on a research question, you have to contemplate how you will carry out your research project.

2. Different ways of studying behavior:

• If your research is to be data-driven you have to measure something, but complex ideas may not be easy to measure, or may have multiple measures.
• If you designed a study of creativity, you would need to decide how you would define and measure the concept in different ways.
• It might make sense to use an approach that others have used, but you might want to develop one of your own.
  
  1. Measuring Complex Concepts:
  
• You need to translate your general ideas into concrete terms.
• For instance, you have to create an operational definition or complex or abstract idea in which you are interested.
• An operational definition is a way that we characterize and measure a variable.
  
• Operational definitions are important in Psychology because we deal with concepts that are hard to define in concrete terms.
• Also, it is a hypothetical construct because we are hypothesizing that it is psychologically real.
  
• In psychology we deal with hypothetical constructs for which we need adequate measurements and operational definitions.
  
  2. Importance of Culture and Context in defining Variables:
  
• Not everyone reacts the same to a given change.
• There is no perfect way to define your concept; there are multiple ways that have their strengths and weaknesses.
• One could use an existing scale, or select one that works for you.
  
• When researchers create experiments, one type of variable they define in the independent variable.
• This is the variable they manipulate in order to see if changes in this variable, will affect behavior.
  
  
  3. Important Purposes of carrying out a Literature Search:
  
• You find the vast ranges of approaches that previous researchers have already used. With this, you can begin to identify the approach that might be most useful to you in answering your own question, including idea for operational definitions.
• By learning about what other researchers have discovered, you can avoid repeating what they have done, more exciting to create new knowledge.
• You can see what approach was used and how they defined their variables, which helps you see what worked for them.

3.Conducting your study:

• An important choice in creating a research project has to do with whether you intend to manipulate and control the situation, or whether you will simply observe what occurs naturally.
• In other research, we may not be able to manipulate variables for ethical or practical reasons.
  
  
  1. Determining the research setting:
  
• There is need to establish the location in which the study will be carried out.
• If research involves a highly specialized equipment or highly controlled environment, then it requires a formal laboratory setting.
• This approach is typical in theoretical research, in which nuisance variables have large effects that can obscure small effects of an interesting variable.
• On the other hand, if the research question involves an application relating to a particular environment like a business, it needs to be conducted in a business setting.
• Another decision involves whether to test people, one by one, or in groups.
• People might perform differently when tested in groups rather than individually.
• Social Psychologists have found that people perform different when they think they are being observed by others.
• Applied research takes place in a natural environment where people are acting as they normally do (research that attempts address practical questions rather than theoretical questions).
• Basic theoretical research is more to likely to occur in a laboratory or other controlled setting ( research that tests or expands on theory, with no direct application intended).
  
  
  3. Selecting Research materials and procedures:
  
  
• The details of your research include the materials and apparatus that you use to carry out your research project.
  
  
  4. Why Methodology is important:
  
  
• How do you decide to test your participants is critical.
• It is important to the development of your ideas.

4. Choosing your participants or subjects:

• The group that we are interested in understanding constitutes our population (the entire set of people or data that are of interest to a researcher).
• Since we seldom have access to the entire population and would be too costly to observe the entire group we use a subset of the population; a sample (which is a subset of the population that is studied in a research project).
  
• When the characteristics of the sample are similar to those of a population, we say we have a representative sample.
  
  
  1. The Nature of your participants:
  
  
• The typical research participants turns out to be students in the US, because it is convenient and because it may be more time consuming and difficult to locate a more diverse group, who might not even want to participate.
• Some researchers, especially those in applied areas, rely on diverse samples.
  
  
  2. Deciding on how many participants to include:
  
  
• The greater the sample size, the more time and effort it will take to complete.
• If we test a small sample, we miss the chance to find statistically significant results and decrease the relative size or error in generalizing results to the population.
  
• The larger the sample, the more likely you are to spot differences that are real (even if small).
  
• With smaller samples, detect large different but miss small ones.
• The greater the amount of variability among participants, the harder it will be to spot changes in behavior, due to different treatments.
• Test as many people as practical, so even small effects show up.

5. Probability Sampling:

• Probability samplings means everybody in your population has an equal chance of participating in your study.
  
  1. Simple Random Sampling (SRS - sampling):
  
  
• Involves identifying your population precisely, then identifying some probability that each member has an equal chance to appear in your sample.
• Likely to representative, (the more people, the more representative).
  
  
  2. Systematic Sampling:
  
  
• Concerns the list of the entire population from which you might decide to sample every tenth, twentieth, hundredth, name after seeking a random position to start.
  -Systematic sampling easier than SRS.
  
  
  3. Stratified Random Sampling:
  
  
• Identify the proportion of your total sample, that will have the characteristics that you want. Stratification can be appropriate for variables like age, gender, socio-economic status, height, weight, etc.
  
  
  4. Cluster Sampling:
  
  
• Involves a process of sampling in which a number of groups (clusters) are identified in a population, the some clusters are randomly selected.

6. Non-Probability Sampling:

• Most psychological research does not involve probability sampling.
• Among the greatest problems with non-probability sample is a non-sampling error.
• This problem occurs when people who should be included in the sample are not.
• It results in a non-probability sample may not be representative of the population as a whole.
• The end result is that a researcher doesn't know to whom the survey results apply.
  
  
  1. Convenience Sampling:
  
  
• Has to do with when researchers rely on a population like a student, because it is easy or available.
• Unfortunately in may cases, we don't really know how well our research findings generalize from our samples.
  
  
  2. Quota Sampling:
  
  
• Has to do with a non-random (non-probability) sampling technique in which subgroups, usually convenience samples, are identified and a specified number of individuals from each group are included in the research.
• Quota sampling is analogous to stratified sampling in that the researcher attempts to achieve a certain proportion of people of certain types in the final sample.
  
  
  3. Purposive (Judgemental) Sampling:
  
  
• Involves a sampling technique in which participants are selected for a study because of some desirable characteristics, like expertise in some area.
• The investigator may try to find as many such people as possible and study them.
  
  
  4. Chain-Referral Sampling:
  
  
• This non-random (non-probability) sampling technique in which a research participant is selected who then identifies further participants who she or he knows.
• Sometimes it is difficult to make contact with some populations because they might not want to be found (drug users).

 

[Detective L]

Unit 5: Organizing Data with Descriptive Statistics:

1. Using Statistics to describe results:

• Researchers describe who participated and what happened in a study, using statistics.
• A "statistic" provides a quantitative measure for a sample, or a subset of a population.
• A "parameter" refers to some value in the population.
• We use statistics cause we conduct research with samples of people.
• We quantify information, using one of two types of statistics:
  
  1. Descriptive
  2. Inferential
  
• Inferential statistics depend on probabilities and we use them to test hypothesis.
• Descriptive statistics allow us to summarize information so that readers can understand the outcome of the study.
• When we describe demographic characteristics, behaviors, and outcomes of a study, then it's descriptive statistics.

2. Descriptive Statistics:

• We need to organize data using common scientific language about the research method and a description of quantifiable information.
• Generally, we use descriptive statistics to communicate the outcome of our research in 2 ways:
  
  a) We describe information about the people who participated in the study (characteristics, gender, age).
  b) Used to convey quantifiable data that reflect participants' thoughts about a topic or variable of interest (eg: in case of survey research).
  
• Also used to convey the outcomes of a study or the quantifiable data from the dependent variable (eg: in case of experimental research).
  
  1. Scales of Measurement:
  
  
• The psychologist, S.S. Stevens (1951) argued that the numerical information provided by the data we collect, depends on the type of measurements we make.
• As such, he reasoned that some data are appropriate for a given psychological test, but other data not.
• Selection of an appropriate descriptive statistic requires an understanding of the mathematical properties off the information that is being reported.
  
• Eg: The nature of demographic information about age or gender is fundamentally different because these variables are derived from two different scales of measurement.
• Let's look at the most basic scales of measurement, categorizing people into groups.
  
  a) Nominal Scales:
  
  
• Involves information that is categorical.
• In other words, are category cannot be placed higher than the other.
• Eg: Male and Female.
• There is not an inherent ranking of these categories.
• Nominal scales impose limits on the types of descriptive measures that are used, and are useful and appropriate for reporting categorical data.
• Nominal data are qualitative and we compute the frequencies involved.
  
• So although we can tally the number of men and women in each category, it would not make sense to compute an average for the categories.
• In summary, we can state that nominal scales allow for clarification or categorization of data and use labels, rather than numbers.
  
  b) Ordinal Scales:
  
  
• In this case, dealing with data more quantitatively not just categorically.
• Data or Ordinal Scale, suggest a hierarchy or a ranking information that provides a greater level of mathematical sophistication, than data on a Nominal Scale.
• It allows us to indicate that a person's score is higher than another.
• However, an Ordinal Scale does not allow to examine the actual amount of difference between people.
• As such, we cannot conduct some of the basic mathematical operations, limiting the descriptive statistics that we use with the data.
• In summary, we can state that Ordinal Scales allow for information to be placed in a hierarchy, but does not assume equal distances between values.
  
  c) Interval Scales:
  
  
• In this case, we can go beyond ranking and indicate an amount of difference between two measurements.
• When we use such measurement, and when the measurement does not have an absolute zero (the zero point is arbitrary and allows for negative numbers), we have an interval scale.
• When data inherently possess equal intervals across numerical values, the data falls at least on an interval scale of measurement.
  
• Equal intervals mean that the distance between 10 and 20 is equivalent to the distance between 40 and 50.
• In summary, we can state that interval scales contain mathematical properties that suggest equal intervals between values.
  
  
  d) Ratio Scales:
  
  
• The ratio level scales includes the properties of equal intervals between numerical values with an additional inclusion of an absolute zero.
• An absolute zero means that if a zero is used in calculation of a statistic, then there is an absence of that particular variable.
• A ratio scale allows a researcher to describe data as a proportion.
• It provides the widest range of flexibility in terms of reporting descriptive statistics.
• In summary, we can state that data on ratio scales possess equal intervals between values and an absolute zero.
  
  2. Measures of Central Tendency (MCT):
  
  
• Scientists have suggested that physical and psychological characteristics fall with a normal distribution.
• MCT allows us to know where in the distribution typical values fall, relative to the larger group.
• Psychologists generally use the Mode, the Median and the Mean, to identify what they consider typical scores in a distribution.
• Intention, to bring out the underlying meanings of central tendency through illustrating the mathematical calculations of the above statistics though easily derived from statistical software, like SPSS.
  
• Measures of Central Tendency and variability form the basis for more complex statistics like Inferential Statistics.
  
• Researchers regard all measures of central tendency as averages.
• In summary, one can state that measures of central tendency (mode, median and mean) provides a mathematical index of how scores are grouped around the middle of the distribution.
  
  
  a) Mode:
  
  
• Refers to the most frequently occurring score in a distribution.
• Helpful in describing peaks in distribution.
• Possible to obtain more than one mode.
• Two modes = Bimodial
  Several modes = Multimodial
• Typically requires no mathematical calculation, conveys the least sophisticated measure of central tendency.
• Finally, the mode can be reported regardless of the scale of measurement (eg: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scale).
  
  
  b) Median:
  
  
• The median (Mdn) is the halfway point in the distribution.
• One must organize each of the values in increasing order of magnitude before calculating the median.
• When the distribution contains an odd number of scores, the Mdn is simply the middle value in the list scores.
• With an even number scores, it is necessary to calculate a Median value or Midpoint between two scores (add two middle scores together and divide by 2)
• Mdn may reflect a fractional value.
• Important to note, that three conditions suggest use of Median as preferred measure of central tendency:
  
  1. If a distribution contains at least one outlier/extreme score.
  2. If the scores are ordinal in nature.
  3. If distribution is skewed.
  
  
  c) Mean:
  
  
• Used frequently, when researchers report demographic characteristics of participants and measures of the dependent variable.
• In simple terms, its the average, add up the values and divide by the number of values.
  
  
  3. Distribution of Scores:
  
  
• Quite often MCT are considered within the context of a normal distribution.
• Most of the data in a normal distribution are grouped near the center of the Bell-Shaped Curve, and very few data points located near the ends or tails of the distribution.
• This normal distribution is based on a probability model which suggests that a large percentage of individuals are "normal" or that most data falls within the central range of scores, and very few people fall at the extreme ends of the distribution.
  
• The normal distribution possesses specific characteristics:
  
  a) The shape of the distribution is always symmetrical
  b) The mean, the median and the mode are located at the exact midpoint of the distribution
  c) We can use the normal distribution to convey information about relative placement of a score.
  
• The normal distribution also provides a mechanism for locating scores at specific locations within the distribution - called percentile placements.
• Also important as a basis for more complex statistical analyses.
  
• NOT ALL DISTRIBUTIONS ARE NORMAL.
  
• When the three measures of central tendency DO NOT match up in the center of the distribution, we have a skewed distribution.
• Distributions can be skewed in one of the two directions (in the tails) labeled either positive or negative.
  
• Positively skewed distribution suggests that most scores are grouped at the lower end of the distribution and the tail points in a positive direction.
• Negatively skewed distribution includes scores that are concentrated at the high end of the distribution and the tail is pointed in the negative direction.
• Skewed distributions changes the placement of measures of central tendency.
• The mean is located closest to the tail and ceases to be useful as a measure of typical score.
• The median more useful.
  
• In addition, one must consider the spread or relative location of scores, as indexed by measures of variability.
  
  
  4. Measures of Variability:
  
  
• A description of data fall relative to typical scores (mean, median and mode) in a distribution provides a necessary but incomplete understanding of the larger picture.
• To illustrate the complete picture, it would be necessary to report an index or some value that reflects the difference in the distribution of scores.
• When you are evaluating your data, you should take into consideration both your measures of central tendency and the spread of scores (measures of validity - including the range, variance and standard deviation).
  
  a) The Range:
  
  
  
• The range is the distance between the lowest and highest scores.
• This single value can be calculated by subtracting the smallest score from the largest score.
  
  
  b) The Standard Deviation:
  
  
  
• The SD is the most common index of variability.
• Its an index of variability that reflects a fixed distance from the mean of the distribution, the distance a typical score falls from the mean.
• Its a single value that reflects how closely to the mean, the scores in the distribution tend to be.
  
• Our calculated SD provides an easily interpretable index or average amount of distance from the center of the distribution of scores.
• The larger the value of SD indicates that the scores contained in this distribution are further apart (more spread out) than is the case, with the smaller SD score.
  
• Standard Deviation units are associated with particular points on a normal distribution.
• Each standard deviation point is linked to a particular percentile within the normal distribution.
  
• When a distribution is normally distributed, the curve would be described as mesokurtotic; if the SD is small, the distribution will leptokurtotic; and when the SD is large, the distribution would be platykurtotic.