​Study Like A Champ: The Psychology-Based Guide to ‘Grade A’ Study Habits
Author: Regan A.R. Gurung and John Dunlosky
ISBN: 978-1-4338-4017-3

​APA Style Citation
Gurung, R. A. R., & Dunlosky, J. (2023). Study like a champ: the psychology-based
guide to grade A study habits. American Psychological Association. 

Book Description
This book is a must-read for high school and college students and educators alike. Study Like a Champ opens with a research-based answer to the frequent student question, “What do I need to do to get an A?” Written by psychology professors and longtime advocates for high school psychology. Regan A.R. Gurung, Ph.D., a​nd John Dunlosky Ph.D. The book is packed with practical tips for studying smarter, not harder, and lays out a method for students to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning for optimal success. The book debunks many firmly held myths about how to study commonly held by students and illustrates effective and empirically based methods for improving study habits and academic results. The authors also address commonly held teacher myths, including the learning pyramid that proposes the amount of learning by students is correlated with the instructional strategy used. Lecture is depicted as having the worst outcomes for student learning retention. This myth causes teachers to avoid lectures out of concern for decreased student learning. Like many methods, lectures can be effective or ineffective depending on the quality and topics discussed. The authors discuss how active learning, such as teaching others or discussion, can sometimes be successful but also how many versions of active learning, such as group work and problem-solving out loud, can harm learning.

Throughout the text are numerous surveys that students can take to evaluate their practices and suggestions for how to utilize scaffolding to build better study habits. This is based on current research conducted by the authors. Each chapter ends with Key Training Tips to stick your landing and Go for the Gold recommendations highlighting advanced reading related to the topics presented.
Chapter one, titled, So You Think You Know How to Study? Let’s FoK About it, challenges students to evaluate their study habits to determine and compare them with evidence-based best practices. Fok, according to cognitive psychology, is a feeling of knowing that exists for any class, assignment, or topic and can be strong or weak. Unfortunately, cognitive science finds that FoKs are often inaccurate. Individuals can feel that they know something well and find out from an assessment that it was not the case or vice versa. This chapter has an excellent survey for students to evaluate their current study habits, Start Now: How Are Your Study Habits? The chapter then lays out in a compare/contrast style what helps learning based on research as opposed to what does not help learning based on research. The authors help students who use habits less supported by research improve those habits. Although highlighting and rereading (commonly used student study habits) do not support learning, even these habits can be improved. The authors suggest having students highlight strategically by indicating the areas they want to study more and following up on those areas using other methods. Rereading should not be a major strategy and works best if it is part of distributive study.
Subsequent chapters help students plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning and apply specific strategies to their classes and busy schedules. Important methods discussed in the book include self-assessments of metacognition, tools for utilizing class time, effective notetaking, spaced or distributive study, retrieval practice methods, interleaving, worked examples, and winning strategies for combining specific tactics. These practical methods are tied to supporting research, effective graphics, and student self-evaluations throughout each section.
The final chapter is an essential discussion of healthy behaviors and how to cope effectively with the rigorous course schedule and additional commitments modern students face. This book is an excellent tool for teachers that can be used to help students apply findings from psychological science to improve their learning.

Other Related Resources
 
Speaking of Psychology: American Psychological Association Podcast --
“How to Learn Better Using Psychology, with Regan Gurung, Ph.D., and John Dunlosky, Ph.D.”

Psych Sessions Podcast: Convos About Teaching N’ Stuff  Gurung and Dunlosky: Study Like a Champ

​Follow @studychamp22 on Instagram or TikTok — Practical science-based tips from the book to help students study more effectively. The feed includes many compelling graphics to use to highlight research on studying.https://www.instagram.com/studychamp22/https://www.tiktok.com/@studychamp22Inside the Mind of a

Master Procrastinator, TED Talk — Show students this engaging TED Talk by writer Tim Urban after they take the survey in the Open Your Class with This Today activity to get a sense of their current relationship to the topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU
 
Top 20 Principles for Pre-K to 12 Education ­­
This booklet, produced by the American Psychological Association, clearly outlines the most effective methods for teaching and learning.
The Top 20 are categorized into five areas of psychological functioning:
Thinking and learning: How do students think and learn?
Motivation: What motivates students?
Social-emotional learning: Why are social context, interpersonal relations, and emotional well-being important to student learning?
Classroom management: How can classroom behavior best be managed?
Assessment: How can teachers effectively assess student progress?
Link to Top 20

Psychological Figures and Concepts
Hermann Ebbinghaus
John Hattie
William James
Walter Mischel

Avoidant coping
Blocked practice
Burnout
Conceptual knowledge
Cornell method
Cued recall
Distributed/spaced practice
Encoding
Emotion-focused coping
Flashcard plus method
Feeling of knowing (FoK)
Homeostasis
Hypothalamus
Interleaving
Key-word mnemonics
Massed practice
Matrix method
Meditation
Mental health
Meta-analysis
Method of loci
Mindfulness
Mindset (growth v. fixed)
Motivation
Multitasking
Overconfidence
Pomodoro method
Problem-focused coping
Procrastination
Retrieval practice
Rumination
Test-enhanced learning
Transfer tests
 

Brain Bytes: Quick Answers to Quirky Questions About the Brain
Author:  Eric Chudler and Lise Johnson
ISBN-13:
9780393711448

APA Style Citation
Chudler, E. H., & Johnson, L. A. (2017). Brain bytes: Quick answers to quirky questions    
about the brain. W.W. Norton & Company.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Bytes-Answers-Quirky-Questions/dp/0393711447​

Book Description
 
If you cover neuroscience in your psychology course, you know it is a fascinating topic about which students have many questions. In Brain Bytes, Quick Answers to Quirky Questions, neuroscientists Eric Chudler, Ph.D., the Executive Director of the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering at the University of Washington, and Lise Johnson Ph.D. who is a  scientist in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington teamed up to provide you with some of the answers.  Chudler has an amazing website (see other related resources) called Neuroscience for Kids, which is a treasure of information, activities, and resources for students of all levels interested in learning more about the brain that is updated regularly.
The book provides answers to questions commonly asked by introductory psychology students and is organized into twelve key categories. The authors encourage students to keep asking questions and to verify the responses presented with other sources. The book also includes several key appendices that provide even more information. The twelve categories are listed below, along with a sample of the research questions that are presented for each topic area.
 
Ancient Neuroscience

• Did people always believe that the brain was important?
• Did people really believe that the bumps on a person’s head would say something about a person’s intelligence and personality?

 What’s Under the Hood?

• How did  parts of the brain get their strange names?
• How are the two halves of the brain connected?
• Do we get more neurons after we are born?
• Does the brain really use electricity to send messages?

 People

• What is the difference between a neuroscientist and a neurologist?
• Who was H.M.?
• Who was Tan?

 Intelligence

• Are there foods that make people smarter?
• Does listening to music make you smarter?
• Does watching television, playing video games, or surfing the Internet kill brain cells?

 Memory

• Is memory like a tape recorder, flash drive, or hard drive?
• Can memories be erased?
• What was so special about Albert Einstein’s brain?

 Sleep

• Why do we sleep?
• Why do we dream?
• Can you learn while you’re asleep?
• What is lucid dreaming?

Sensation and Perception

• Would I feel anything if my brain was touched?
• Do all people experience pain?
• What is phantom limb pain?
• What is synesthesia?
• What causes color blindness?
• Why can’t I tickle myself?

 Drugs, Venoms, and Addiction

• Does alcohol kill brain cells?
• How does coffee wake me up?
• Is marijuana addictive?
• Is ecstasy dangerous?
• What animals have venom that attacks the nervous system?

 Popular Culture

• How do you become a brain researcher?
• Does the brain work like a computer?
• Why do songs get stuck in my head?

 Technology

• Can a computer be used to control my brain?
• Are brain transplants possible?
• What is a cochlear implant?
• What is brain stimulation?

 Medicine

• What is schizophrenia?
• What is prion disease?
• Can marijuana be used to treat epilepsy?
• What is face-blindness?
• What is the most common mental health issue?
• What is electroshock therapy, and why is it used?

 Brain Health

• What can I do to keep my brain healthy?
• What happens to the brain as it ages?
• Why do my eyes hurt when I walk outside after being inside a movie theatre?

  
For even more information about brain facts and neuroscience trivia, consider subscribing to the authors monthly Neuroscience for Kids Newsletter. This monthly email will keep you updated on the latest information on the website and in the field of neuroscience.  The newsletter includes the latest updates to the website, a neuroscience website of the month, neuroscience in the news, information on contests and research programs, media alerts, and a section titled “Treasure Trove of Brain Trivia.”
  
Other Related Resources
 
Neuroscience for Kids Website
https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html
 
Brain Bytes Eric Chudler and Lise Johnson Talks at Google
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdI0Qv0g3cU
  
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Paul Broca
Walter Freeman
Phineas Gage
Galen
Franz Joseph Gall
Patient H.M.
Oliver Sacks
William Beecher Scoville
Tan
Karl Wernicke
 
Addiction
Amnesia
Aphasia
Brain imaging
Brain regions
Catatonia
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Color vision
Dissociative identity disorder
Face blindness
Hallucinations
Hearing loss
Hypnosis
Hormones
Lucid dreaming
Medications 
Memory
Mental illness
Neurons, neurotransmitters, and neural transmission
Neurological diseases
Neurologist
Neuroscientist
Neurotoxins
Neurotransmitters
Pain
Perception
Psychoactive drugs
Rorschach test
Sleep
Split-brain
Stroke
Traumatic brain injury
Venom
 
 

​Author:  Carmine Gallo
ISBN: 978-1-250-04112-8

APA Style Citation
Gallo, Carmine (2014). Talk Like TED:  The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds.  New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Buy This Book
​​www.amazon.com/Talk-Like-TED-Public-Speaking-Secrets/dp/1250041120

Book Description
The TED Conference, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, has been around since 1984 but did not become well known until they began posting videos of their trademark 19-minute presentations online for free.  Author Carmine Gallo is a communications expert and the author of the bestselling book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.  Gallo examined over 500 TED presentations and added insights from research on persuasion and communication to generate a list of the critical aspects of highly engaging presentations. Talk Like TED offers nine key public-speaking tips utilized in some of the most well-known presentations.  The tips for giving great talks are organized into three broad categories:  Emotional (they touch the heart), Novel (they teach something new), and Memorable (they present ideas in a unique manner).  As teachers, we frequently deliver content to students in a presentation form, and this book can provide a variety of tools to use to increase student engagement and learning.  Each chapter describes a method used in the most successful TED talks including specific examples and insight from the speakers. One of the best aspects of this book was stopping periodically to watch the amazing TED talks discussed in the book!
 
EMOTIONAL
The first third of the book is devoted to the three tips in the category related to emotional factors that “touch the heart.”  In chapter one, “Unleash the Master Within,” the author discusses the importance of choosing topics to discuss in which you have personal passion and interest.  According to the author, “the first step to inspiring others is to make sure you are inspired yourself.”  An excellent example of a TED talk that exemplifies passion was given by University of Waterloo Economics professor Larry Smith titled, “Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career.”  Smith discusses that although college students are told to pursue their passion most will not because “You’re afraid to pursue your passion.  You’re afraid to look ridiculous.  You’re afraid to try.  You’re afraid you may fail.”
https://www.ted.com/talks/larry_smith_why_you_will_fail_to_have_a_great_career
 
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor gave one of the most watched TED talks of all time (about 20 million views).  The talk illustrates how having a strong emotional connection with the material leads to increased audience engagement.  Bolte Taylor’s talk is compelling because it involves a personal connection and exceptional storytelling.  TEDster Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor offers advice for teachers and other presenters, and that is to tell a story and demonstrate your passion for the topic. According to Bolte Taylor, “When I was at Harvard, I was the one winning the awards.  I wasn't winning the awards because my science was better than anyone else’s.  I was winning because I could tell a story that was interesting and fascinating and it was mine, down to the detail.”
http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight 
 
 
Chapter two discusses how to “Master the Art of Storytelling” by illustrating how effective speakers utilize narratives to make an emotional connection with the audience.  For example, TED speaker Brene Brown famously begins her topic by defending qualitative research she conducts with the statement that “Stories are data with a soul.”  Effective storytelling engages each listener individually and allows them to become emotionally attached and to the ideas being presented.  Some of the most effective TED storytellers are discussed in this chapter including Brian Stevenson’s talk, “We Need to Talk About an Injustice” which led to the longest standing ovation in TED history (see earlier Books for Psychology Class post on his book Just Mercy).  The 1,000 attendees at Stevenson’s talk collectively donated $1 million dollars to his nonprofit, the Equal Justice Institute.  Stevenson raised $55,000 for every minute he spoke that day.  This TED talk was given without the aid of a PowerPoint, visuals, or props of any kind – a testament to the power of story. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice
 
Another tip for an effective persuasive presentation according to the author, is to utilize Aristotle’s three components of effective persuasion ethos, logos, and pathos in the most effective ratio. Ethos refers to the credibility and credentials of the speaker, logos is the use of logic and data to make effective arguments, and pathos is the ability to appeal to the emotions of the audience.  When the author of the book analyzed the content of Brian Stevenson’s TED talk, he found it was 10 percent ethos, 25 percent logos, and 65 percent pathos or emotional appeal. Despite being 65 percent of pathos Stevenson’s talk has been rated as one of the most persuasive of all time. One of the ways the book recommends inserting pathos or emotional appeal is by including extreme moments. Dan Ariely, a psychologist and behavioral economist at Duke, introduces his talk on how research shows that people are predictably irrational with a dramatic personal story of his recovery from an injury that left him burned over 70 percent of his body.  Ariely’s talk is an excellent addition to the research unit for illustrating the need to test beliefs that are held intuitively through careful research methods. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_on_our_buggy_moral_code/transcript?language=en#t-102037
 
In chapter three, the author describes how effective TED presenters can use body language and verbal delivery to engage with the audience in a manner that feels authentic and conversational instead of an impersonal lecture to a large group.  The four elements of verbal delivery addressed in this section are rate, volume, pitch, and the effective use of pauses for emphasis.  One of the examples of effective nonverbal communications is a 2012 TED talk by a former Army general and U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell on the importance of providing children with structure early in life.  His speech is broken down to illustrate how particular gestures corresponded with the words he used during his speech. 
 
Another amazing TED talk that powerfully uses gestures to strengthen an argument was given by Ernesto Sirolli titled, “Want to help someone?  Shut up and listen!” is also broken down to highlight the expert use of gestures.  Sirolli’s talk discusses how his failure to listen led to failure for his NGO project designed to help increase food production in rural Zambia.  The project involved teaching people living in southern Zambia to grow Italian tomatoes and other vegetables.  Because the local population was uninterested, the NGO paid them to grow the vegetables.  Sirolli and his team were surprised that agriculture was not being used in this fertile region with excellent weather and soil.  According to Sirolli, instead of asking the people living there why they did not grow crops, they said, "Thank God we're here." Just in the nick of time to save the Zambian people from starvation." The result was that everything grew extremely well and we were telling the Zambians, "Look how easy agriculture is." When the tomatoes were nice and ripe and red, overnight, some 200 hippos came out from the river, and they ate everything. It was then that Sirolli asked the Zambians, “My God, the hippos!" and the Zambians said, "Yes, that's why we have no agriculture here." When Sirolli asked, “Why didn't you tell us?" the Zambians replied, "You never asked."
https://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen
 
NOVEL
The second section of the book explains three aspects that contribute to an effective presentation because it is new and unique.  Kevin Allocca, who studies YouTube trends, stated this perfectly when he pointed out that in an era when two days’ worth of video is uploaded every two minutes, it is only the truly unique and original ideas that capture the attention of the online audience. 
 
The topic of chapter four, “Teach Me Something New,” describes how the best TED talks find a way to introduce new ideas or perspectives.  The author suggests that the titles of some of the most frequently viewed TED talks promise to teach something new such as “Schools Kill Creativity” (Sir Ken Robinson), “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” (Simon Sinek), “The Surprising Science of Happiness” (Dan Gilbert), “The Power of Introverts” (Susan Cain), “8 Secrets of Success” (Richard St. John), and “How to Live Before You Die” (Steve Jobs).  Martha Burns, a professor at Northwestern, teaches how to use neuroscience to be a better educator and highlights the biology behind the “buzz” we experience when learning something in her powerful TEDx talk.  One of the best examples of teaching something novel is Hans Rosling's talk that makes statistics and correlations exciting and meaningful.  Rosling, an expert on global health, animates correlational data regarding health and wealth in a powerful demonstration.  You can view his entire talk at ted.com or view the abbreviated version titled:  200 countries, 200 years, 4minutes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo
 
Novel presentations, according to chapter five, “Deliver Jaw-Dropping Moments,” in which presenters capture the attention and imagination of their audiences by using dramatic demonstrations or surprises.  Some of the most dramatic moments or “hooks” at TED talks have included Bill Gates releasing mosquitos and Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor who opens her talk by holding a human brain that is still attached to the spinal cord.  “Wow” moments can also come from a single shocking statistic.

• “This country is very different today than it was 40 years ago. In 1972 there were 300,000 people in jails and prisons. Today there are 2.3 million.  The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.”

Bryan Stevenson
 

• “Why are we ignoring the oceans?  If you compare NASA’s annual budget to explore the heavens, that one-year budget would fund NOAA’s budget to explore the world's oceans for 1,600 years.” 

Robert Ballard
 

• “One in a hundred regular people is a psychopath.  So there are 1,500 people in this room. Fifteen of you are psychopaths.”

Jon Ronson
 
Successful TED talks also hook new viewers by creating memorable headlines, which turn into sound bites that are often spread across social media.  TED even has a Twitter handle devoted to the catchy, memorable quotes that are likely to generate public attention (@TEDQuote). 
 

• “There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.”

Susan Cain
 

• “Don’t fake it till you make it.  Fake it till you become it.”

Amy Cuddy
 

• “Numbers are the musical notes with which the symphony of the universe is written.”

Adam Spencer
 
Chapter six highlights how the ability to “Lighten Up” by using appropriate and genuine humor can increase audience engagement.  The book provides numerous tips for adding humor to presentations, including quotes, short video clips, and anecdotes.
 
MEMORABLE
The final third of the book is dedicated to various ways to make your ideas and your presentation memorable.  Chapter seven, “Stick to the 18-Minute Rule,” explains why all TED talks are limited to 18 minutes.  This key rule was established because it allows enough time for thoughtful analysis, yet short it is enough to maintain audience engagement.  Research shows that information is remembered better if it is organized into related chunks, this has led TED to recommend that presentations be centered around three main areas or points that support one large overarching idea.  This concept can be applied to classroom presentations as well by limiting direct instruction to shorter chunks broken up with time for reflection and formative practice.  The 18-minute rule forces researchers to create a focused message that maintains attention levels, and that does not create what researchers call “cognitive backlog” or the problem in which too much information prevents the successful transfer of ideas.  There are also numerous other TED rules of three such as the Three A’s of Awesome:  Attitude, Awareness, and Authenticity which were shared by award-winning blogger and author of the Book of Awesome, Neil Pasricha in a TEDx talk.  https://www.ted.com/talks/neil_pasricha_the_3_a_s_of_awesome 
Kevin Allocca, a YouTube trends manager studies why some videos go viral, and others do not.  According to Allocca, 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, yet only a few will have millions of views.  In Allocca’s TED talk, he explains the three factors that contribute to the success of a video:  tastemakers, communities of participation, and unexpectedness.  Of course, there is also the three-minute TED talk titled “TED in 3 Minutes,” which has been given by individuals such as Arianna Huffington and New York Times tech columnist David Pogue.  The original three-minute talk was given by Terry Moore who showed the audience a better way to tie their shoes, which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.  The rule of three suggests

1. Creating a Twitter-friendly headline
2. Support the headline with three key messages
3. Reinforce the three messages with stories, statistics, and examples

 
Chapter eight describes how effective speakers can “Paint a Mental Picture with Multisensory Experiences” and engage as many of the senses of audience members as possible.   For example, the best TED talks use memorable images, not excessive text on slides.  One of the major tips is for creating better more effective PowerPoint presentations by avoiding too much text and instead relying more on memorable images and other visuals.  One of the worst ways to present is PowerPoint karaoke in which the speaker reads text aloud off of the screen. The chapter includes several examples of successful TED talks that show the words being used by the presenter alongside a description of the images being displayed to audience members.  A powerful example of how words are delivered alongside dramatic images is Lisa Kristine’s TED talk about the hardships of indigenous peoples and the reality of the 27 million individuals living in modern-day slavery. https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_kristine_glimpses_of_modern_day_slavery
 
The final tip for making your presentation memorable, “Stay in Your Lane,” is outlined in chapter nine. Staying in your lane means that your presentations need to be authentic and honest and speak from the heart.  One of the tips offered for “staying in your lane” is to practice by giving your presentation to a friend or family member first because when you have a close relationship with someone, you are more likely to show who you are. 
 
Talk Like TED is an excellent guide full of practical ideas for making your presentations, activities, and demos more engaging and effective.  The book is also an opportunity to learn about some amazing TED talks you may not have heard of before.  TED talks can be shown in class, assigned as homework to facilitate class discussions or offered as opportunities for students who want to expand their understanding of a particular area of psychology.  Another interesting way to use TED talks is to execute the demos or activities presented by a particular TED talk in class, and then after hooking students on the content, let your students know how to access the entire TED talk. Because many TED presenters are also authors, TED talks can be used to stimulate interest for students to read books related to their favorite TED talks or pursue research projects in areas related to what they watched. 
 
Other Related Resources
 
Author’s Website
Carmine Gallo’s website offers articles, videos, and links to other books.
http://gallocommunications.com/books/talk-like-ted-2/
 
The Top 20 TED Talks of All Time
http://www.ted.com/playlists/171/the_most_popular_talks_of_all?gclid=CjwKEAjwtNbABRCsqO7J0_uJxWYSJAAiVo5LuME8Z7o2-Ki6OahJAA2Liq3mJcpOAdNcrtYR4zRz0RoCKgPw_wcB
 
How to Sound Smart in Your TED Talk
Comedian Will Stephen’s take on how to give a TED talk and impress your audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Dan Ariely
Aristotle
Paul Bloom
Jill Bolte-Taylor
Lera Boroditsky
Susan Cain
James Flynn
Daniel Gilbert
Malcolm Gladwell
Sydney Jensen
George Miller
Daniel Pink
Hans Rosling
 
10,000 Hour Rule
Altruism
Amygdala
Analogies
Dopamine
Dual-Coding Theory
Flashbulb Memory
Flynn Effect
Genius
Hippocampus
Imagery
Introversion
Linguistic Determinism
Linguistic Relativity
Magic Number 7 Plus or Minus 2
Multitasking
Neuroplasticity
Nonverbal Communication
Persuasion
Positive Emotion
Self-Esteem
Statistics 

​Behind the Shock Machine:  The Untold Story of the Notorious Milgram Psychology Experiments
ISBN: 978-1921844553
 
APA Style Citation:
Perry, G. (2012). Behind the shock machine: The untold story of the notorious Milgram psychology experiments. Brunswick, Vic: Scribe Publications.

​Book Description
This book will change many notions you have regarding what happened in the now infamous Milgram shock experiment at Yale University in the 1960s. Australian writer Gina Perry ventures to Yale to examine the original transcripts from Milgram’s work. Much has been written regarding the debriefing and reuniting of the teacher and learner before the departure of the teacher from the lab. Perry argues that perhaps as many as two-thirds of participants left the lab, never knowing that they did not harm the learner. Some of the nearly 3,000 participants in the study may not have learned about the results until almost three years after their participation in the study, while other participants were tested. It seems that Milgram was worried about word of the study getting around the relatively small town of New Haven before he concluded his work. He believed the debriefing had the potential to confound the results of the research, and from his perspective was enough of a reason to deny debriefing directly after the experiment ended. Perry interviewed a number of the former participants, many of whom still have particularly bad feelings and recollections about the study. One past participant explains calling all of the local hospitals after participating, believing that he had harmed someone so severely that they must have checked into a nearby hospital. Another describes sitting in his car for an hour after he left the lab, pondering what he had just done and feeling terrible. The wife of one participant describes her despondent husband, who had trouble sleeping for an extended period after the study.  
These first-hand descriptions are a far cry from the description Milgram provided of participants stating they were glad they participated in the study. The experimenter (a high school science teacher) was provided with four prompts to encourage participants to continue with the shocks. If the participants still refused to continue after all four prompts were exhausted, he was instructed to stop the study and allow the participant to leave. As the experiments continued over multiple years, Perry cites instances in which the experimenter went through eight attempts to urge the participants to continue. This likely had the effect of creating higher participation rates, which Milgram then published.  
Milgram described defiant participants as “bad” and complying participants as “good” in his notes, which, according to Perry, demonstrates a strong confirmation bias. Perry argues that Milgram knew the result he wanted and expected far ahead of the “live” study. Milgram ran several “practice trials” before the experiment went live, which produced nearly the same result. Also, Perry addresses Milgram’s argument that the events surrounding WWII had inspired this work. In her research, she did not find any references to this until after the study’s conclusion when Milgram gained popularity for the study.  
While this is a harsh assessment of Milgram’s infamous study, it is a revealing snapshot of what occurred behind the scenes of the famous study, and the personal reflections of the participants alone make this a compelling read.
 
 
Other Related Resources
Podcast with Gina Perry
http://www.wnyc.org/story/313564-untold-story-notorious-milgram-psychology-experiments/
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Solomon Asch
Diana Baumrind
Stanley Milgram and obedience to authority
 
 
 

Author:  Richard E. Nisbett
ISBN-10: 0374112673
ISBN-13: 978-0374112677

APA Style Citation
Nisbett, R. E. (2015).  Mindware: Tools for smart thinking. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Mindware-Tools-Thinking-Richard-Nisbett/dp/0374112673/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&dpID=61YCTcmKbhL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=detail
​

​

​Book Description
 
Will what you learn in college affect how you think about everyday life? Yes. The book Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking addresses how scientific and philosophical thought can be taught to affect reasoning in everyday life. The key is how events are framed and coded. The concepts in the book are important, teachable, and central.
 
There are six main parts to the book. The first part is about thinking about the world. It explains how we think, the mistakes we make, how to fix those mistakes, and how to improve our thinking. In order to make fewer errors in judgment, we should be careful of inferences, be aware of schemas, recognize how incidental and irrelevant perceptions can affect our thinking, and recognize the power of heuristics.  In order to improve our thinking, we should pay more attention to context, recognize the power of the situation for ourselves as well as others, and know that people can change. In daily life we should not assume that we know why we think the way we do.
 
The second part is about choices. It focuses on economics and real-life examples for the reader.  The third part is about making categorizations of the world. It explains attributions and more specifically the fundamental attribution error. The fourth part is about causality. The focus is on experiments. The fifth part is about types of reasoning. The abstract and formal deductive reasoning are associated with Western thinking. While the dialectical reasoning is associated with Eastern thinking.  The sixth part is about what makes a good theory. For example, the principle KISS- Keep It Simple, Stupid- provides the basis for a good theory. The principles of reductionism, hypothesis testing, confirmation bias, and falsifiability are also addressed. Overall, this book points out how our beliefs can often be wrong, but we can also be more aware and compensate for this. The tools offered by Nisbett, with a little practice, can enhance your smart thinking.
 
Other Related Resources
Author website
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nisbett/
 
The Psychology of Thinking Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKm4VoExc0Q
Q and A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Ci4ro75fM
 
The Guardian Article
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/09/world-in-context-mindware-tools-for-sharp-thinking
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts 
Alfred Binet
Aristotle
B.F. Skinner
Charles Darwin
Edward Thorndike
Ivan Pavlov
Jean Piaget
John Darley and Bibb Latané
Martin Seligman
Norman Triplett
Plato
Robert Zajonc
Rorschach
Sigmund Freud
William James
 
Actor-observer bias
Animal models
Availability heuristic
Bystander intervention
Chi square
Cocktail party phenomenon
Cognitive dissonance theory
Concrete operations
Confirmation bias
Conformity
Conservation
Context-dependent
Correlation
Cost-benefit analysis
Culture
Death instinct
Deductive reasoning
Dialectical reasoning
Dispersion
Dispositional attribution
Double-blind
Evolutionary theory
Extrasensory perception
Formal operation
Framing
Fundamental attribution error
Halo effect
Heuristics
Hypothesis
Illusory correlations
Implicit Association Test
Inductive reasoning
Inference
Insight
Interview illusion
Introspection
IQ tests
Law of large numbers
Learning
Mental illness
Mere exposure
Modeling
Multiple regression analysis (MRA)
Natural experiments
Normal distribution
Oedipus complex
Overjustification effect
Pearson correlation coefficient
Percentile rank
Phobia
Population
Postformal operations
Problem-solving
Pseudoscience
Psychoanalytic theory
Psychosexual stages
Random assignment
Range
Reference group effect
Regression
Regression to the mean
Reinforcement learning theory
Reliability
Representative heuristic
Sample
Sample bias
Scatterplots
Schemas
Scientific method
Self-enhancement bias
Self-selection
Set point
Situational attribution
Social desirability bias
Social facilitation effect
Social influence
Social psychology
Spreading activation
Standard deviation
Statistically significant
Statistics
Stereotypes
Subliminal perception and persuasion
Surveys
Syllogisms
Theory
Tragedy of the commons
Transference
Trauma
Unconscious mind
Validity
Ventromedial hypothesis
Vicarious reinforcement theory
Within design

​Factfulness:  Ten Reasons We`re Wrong About the World-and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Author:  Hans Rosling
ISBN:  978-147-363-7467
 
APA Style Citation  
Rosling, H. (2018).  Factfulness: ten reasons we`re wrong about the world-and why things are better than you think.  Flatiron books.
 
Buy This Book  
https://www.amazon.com/Factfulness-Reasons-Wrong-Things-Better/dp/1473637465. 

​Book Description  
Factfulnessis Hans Rosling’s last effort to dissolve misconceptions about the current state of the world using data to demonstrate how confirmation bias, expectations, media, and ethnocentrism can blind us to the realities of the world in which we live. Before you continue reading, move to the activity for Factfulness and take the 12-question quiz.  Once you are done and have checked your results, come back and read more about the results of others who took the quiz and how Rosling uses data to demonstrate how conditions around the world continue to improve and how we often fool ourselves into thinking that things are worse than they actually are.
 
In 2017, Rosling asked nearly 12,000 people in 14 countries to answer the questions in the quiz.  He also asked chimps to answer the questions, and the chimps chose correctly 1/3rd of the time earning an average of 4 correct which is what we would expect from blind guessing.  College-educated adult humans from all over the globe faired far worse.  People on average scored 2 of the 12 questions correct. Not a single person got all of the questions correct, one person in Sweden earned 11 of the 12 correct, and 15% of respondents did not get a single question correct.  The educational level, age career, or political affiliation of the audience did not seem to matter.  Even the experts at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland did worse than the chimps.  
 
The reality is that the world has been steadily improving and while this improvement still needs to continue, we are inundated with images of poverty, disease and other sensationalist stories which often focus on the negative.  Much of this recent change for the better has been happening in Asia and Africa.  Those in Europe and the United States often do not see those changes and make negative assumptions about other parts of the world about which they have little data.  Rosling wants to help people understand these changes to better understand the current state of the world.  Students of psychology are often hesitant to learn about research and statistics, however, one of the most important lessons students of science can learn is that they should let the data lead them to a conclusion, not their intuition. Researchers should look for reasons to reject what they believe, rather than looking for support for preexisting presumptions.  Rosling describes data as therapy, which can confirm or in many cases disconfirm what we think we know.  When we have the facts, we can adjust our thinking to align with reality.
 
Rosling demonstrates how much the world has changed in his lifetime, and he describes how his grandmother spent many days doing laundry on a washboard.  His mother got a machine washer, and instead of doing laundry in the afternoon, she took Hans to the library.  Hans credits the washing machine to his interest and ability to spend time reading and pursuing academics.  These changes are not limited to wealthy countries which Rosling describes as level 4 countries(wealthy and healthy countries).  As an example, in Saudi Arabia in 1960, 242 babies out of every 1,000 died before their fifth birthday.  Today, that number is 35.  In Malaysia, the number was 93 in 1960 and is 14 today.  Europeans and Americans tend to look at the world using what Rosling refers to as the gap instinct, in their mind, they split the world into two groups of countries, rich or poor and assume that there are massive differences in the way people live in these countries.  
 
The reality is that most people today live in middle-income countries and have lives that have improved dramatically in the past few decades. Some of these changes include significantly increasing access to electricity, refrigeration, and mechanisms for cooking or heating food.  Rosling also explains the problem with using the terms “developing” and “developed” to describe countries around the world.  Eighty five percent of people living on the planet would fall into the bucket for the “developed” world.  Only 13 countries would fall in the “developing” world (representing 6% of the population), and all others would be in-between.  In the past 20 years, 29% of the world population lived in extreme poverty, today that number is 9%.  Billions of people have moved from levels 1 to levels 2 and 3, but often the media focuses on the worst stories distorting the reality of this improving situation. Rosling provides data for other phenomena that are improving, but from listening to the news, it would be difficult to identify this positive trend.  The death penalty, battle deaths, oil spills, legal slavery, child labor, smallpox and deaths from disasters have all been dramatically decreasing over the past 30 years. Rosling acknowledges that even one hungry child is a problem that needs to be addressed but we also need to understand that as a whole things are getting better.
 
Rosling describes an instance as a young doctor when he believed a Russian pilot with an expensive jumpsuit had just come into the emergency room and was bleeding profusely.  He was about to cut off the jumpsuit when the head nurse came in, and she explained that this was a Swedish pilot in shock which was why he could not speak properly and Rosling was standing on the ink cartridge from the life jacket he was wearing, making the entire floor red.  The jumpsuit Rosling was about the cut unnecessarily cut off, cost tens of thousands of dollars.  Rosling uses this story to explain how the fear instinct can make us jump to erroneous conclusions.  Critical thinking is almost always difficult, but it becomes even more so when we are afraid. The media feeds on this fear instinct by reporting on stories that will catch our attention even if these reports do not represent the trends in behavior.  Psychologists know this as the availability heuristic.  In 2016, 40 million commercial passenger flights landed safely at their destinations, we heard about the ten that did not.
 
Terrorism is a concern for those all over the world, despite media coverage, acts of terrorism are on the decline.  For those in level 4, from 2007-2016 a total of 1,439 people were killed by terrorists, during the ten years before that 4,358 people were killed. This includes the 9-11 attacks that killed 2,996 people.  In the past 20 years in the United States, an average of 159 people were killed by terrorists each year.  Alcohol, on the other hand, killed 69,000 people per year during the same time period. The chances that someone in the United States will be killed by a drunk driver is 50 times higher than being killed by a terrorist.  Frightening and dangerous are not necessarily the same.  
 
Rosling talks about the time he spent in a rural African district with an extraordinarily high childhood death rate.  He explained that as the only doctor in the district he could not spend hours saving the life of a child who came to the hospital because he could save far more lives by vaccinating hundreds of children in the same amount of time decrease the likelihood that they got sick.  While this may seem cruel, in reality, it is far more humane.  We hear about shark attacks and bear attacks that happened once in a rare while, but rarely hear about cases of domestic abuse which are far more fatal, in Sweden this occurs once every 30 days.  Rosling likens relying on the media to form your worldview to looking at a picture of his foot to get an idea of what he looks like.  It gives you part of the story, but it is certainly not complete.
 
While Hans uses data to bring people`s thinking in line with reality, he also emphasizes the human factor to his work.  His hypothesis and questions come from talking to others and in his openness for data to be interpreted differently.  At a conference on climate change, a European leader discussed the rapid growth in the use of fuels by India and China and indicated that they were going to have to find a way to slow down this use.  When he had finished speaking, the representative from India indicated that it was not only India and China that would need to change.  He argued that they were using more fuels because there were far more people living there and that usage should be considered on a per capita basis not country by country.  Those is the West had been using massive amounts of fuels for decades and are often unwilling to change any of their own behaviors.  These individuals had the same data but a very different interpretation of what that data meant and how to move forward. Rosling indicates that the world cannot be understood without numbers, but we cannot understand the world through numbers alone.  Rosling nearly finished Factfulnessbefore his death (his daughter and son-in-law also contributed much to the book and completed the project after Rosling`s death).  Rosling leaves a legacy of service to public health and the desire to improve the lives of people all over the world while simultaneously informing us about those factors that are improving and those that needed direct attention, for this we should be eternally thankful.
 
Other Related Resources
https://www.gapminder.org/tools/#$chart-type=bubbles
All data in the book (as well as much more) can be found on this website.  The data can be manipulated by country and is quite interactive.  There are handouts, posters, complete lesson plans and great information related to health, lifespan, disease prevention and much more.
 
Hans Rosling TED Talk:  How not to be ignorant about the world
https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_and_ola_rosling_how_not_to_be_ignorant_about_the_world
 
Hans Rosling TED Talk:  The best stats you`ve ever seen
https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen?language=en
 
Hans Rosling Obituary
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/feb/07/hans-rosling-obituary
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Availability heuristic
Descriptive statistics
Hypothesis testing
Inferential statistics
Muller-Lyer Illusion
Multi-factorial causation
 

​The Worth Expert Guide to Scientific Literacy: Thinking Like a Psychological Scientist
Authors: Kenneth Keith and Bernard Beins
ISBN-13: 978-1319021429
ISBN-10: 1319021425

APA Style Citation
Keith, K. D., & Beins, B. C. (2017). The worth expert guide to scientific literacy: Thinking like a psychological scientist. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.macmillanlearning.com/Catalog/product/worthexpertguidetoscientificliteracythinkinglikeapsychologicalscientist-firstedition-keith
​

​Book Description
What comes to mind when you think of science? Are you picturing a large textbook and scientists lecturing facts or are you picturing beakers, microscopes, and lab coats? Do you think of science as a body of knowledge, as a process, or both? According to the authors of The Worth Expert Guide to Scientific Literacy: Thinking Like a Psychological Scientist, “For scientific literacy is not just about what we know; it is about how we know it, and how we conduct our lives.” Kenneth D. Keith, Ph.D. is professor emeritus of psychological sciences at the University of San Diego, and Bernard C. Beins Ph.D. is a professor of psychology at Ithaca College. Both authors are well-published and focus on the teaching of psychology. In addition, both have held leadership roles for the AP Psychology Reading.  The focus of this text is on why scientific literacy is important and how to increase it through psychology.  Teachers in psychology have the ability to enhance their students’ critical thinking and help their students go beyond what they know and start to question how they know it is true.
 
It is said that over a quarter of the American population could be considered scientifically literate. While this dismal statistic is alarming, at least it has been on the rise in the past few decades. Where does the discipline of psychology stand in the world of scientific literacy? Some believe the recent Reproducibility Project has challenged psychology`s standing as a science. The project began in 2011 and was led by the Center for Open Science’s co-founder Brian Nosek, who set out to replicate the findings of original studies published in 2008. Of the 100 published studies that were repeated by independent researchers, 39 had the same outcome, 24 had moderately similar results, and a little over one third had patterns noticeably discrepant from the original. However, this replication crisis is not confined to the field of psychology. The replication crisis is across all sciences but is most commonly discussed in psychology, especially social psychology, and medicine.
 
The authors argue that psychology helps to develop scientific literacy. Our discipline focuses on empirical questions and devotes more space to scientific literacy than the natural sciences. Psychology also has more complex explanations that require we control extraneous factors and utilize random samples. We are considered one of the seven hub sciences, along with chemistry and medicine, and it has been demonstrated that psychology students become more scientifically literate as they take more classes in the discipline. Introduction to psychology books devote much attention to the scientific process and overall the discipline helps prepare individuals to think about questions related to psychology in complex ways.
 
What are the characteristics of scientific literacy? A small quiz is provided to check the reader’s scientific literacy. In addition, the authors help break down the types of reasoning and the knowledge of facts. It is important to note that psychology has a rather short half-life of facts, only seven years. After that time, half the facts would be considered wrong or irrelevant. In physics, the half-life of facts is 13 years and in some areas of medicine, it is up to 45 years. Knowing this, it is important to check facts to see if they are valid and credible.  As teachers of science, we should encourage our students to think like scientists and continue to question the content as our discipline and other scientific disciplines progress. While the base of knowledge is continuously growing, we should not be scared to question what we learn and look for new evidence to either refute or support earlier findings.  As the authors explain the questions necessary for scientific literacy, they provide multiple examples and offer readers an antidote to fix their thinking. Psychology is ripe with examples and is useful in helping to increase scientific literacy. 
 
A large portion of the text is dedicated to evaluating evidence and interpreting numbers. Once again lots of examples and antidotes are provided to guide the reader as they question what they believe to be true.  Readers learn to decide what appropriate evidence is and how knowing about probability helps make better decisions.  As we look at the evidence we must learn to call into question what is involved, such as personal experiences, authority, and anecdotes. While interpreting statistics we need to understand the numbers and check for deception. Numbers are a tool to help us make the best conclusion possible, but statistics are not infallible. Problems arise when people don’t understand or misinterpret statistics. We need to learn to understand numbers and recognize appropriate evidence and relevant facts, all while learning to avoid potential traps.  Not necessarily an easy task, but psychology students are ready!
 
The authors return to myths and misconceptions. This time they take the approach of why we believe them. They explore culture, self-deception, intuition, authority, faith, personal experience, sources, and evidence. The fallacies underlying common misconceptions are identified and strategies to recognize and overcome these myths are provided.
 
Another large portion of the text is assigned to scientific literacy within specific fields of psychology. Many terms within the introduction to psychology course are addressed. First, the authors look at psychological beliefs and values. A variety of examples in the fields of sensation and perception and cognition are explored. Second, the authors look at social behavior. Specific attributional errors are addressed. Third, they focus on explanatory style and health-related behaviors. These three chapters are filled to the brim with connections to the psychology classroom.
 
Finally, psychological science is discussed in the frame of everyday life beyond the lab and classroom.  Pioneers in science have not always been received fondly, but we utilize the fruits of the field on a regular basis as we search the Internet, use a cellphone, watch TV, or take a medication. According to the authors, the need for scientific literacy is important as we tackle important topics, such as the anti-vaccine movement, recovered memory therapy, and global climate control. Each of these topics can have dire consequences if the truth is not addressed. Some may question the field of psychology as a science. They use arguments, such as research having to be politically correct, intuition and common sense encompassing an individual’s truths, the pervasiveness of pseudoscientific claims, and the belief that everyday life equals training in psychology. Furthermore, our discipline is faced with the common belief that theories are mere speculation when really they constitute an explanatory framework. Thinking like a scientist can help us overcome misconceptions and make us better problem solvers, decision makers, and partners in relationships. We can better understand motives and avoid being misled with self-deception and selective use of data. Science has a significant role in our everyday lives. On a final note from the authors, “Psychology offers a strong foundation in scientific literacy and it is not just for psychologists.”  
 
Other Related Resources
NOBA Thinking Like a Psychological Scientist
http://nobaproject.com/modules/thinking-like-a-psychological-scientist
 
Lumen Introduction to Psychology
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ivytech-psychology1/chapter/the-replication-crisis-in-psychology/
 
Retraction Watch
https://retractionwatch.com/
 
Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science
https://osf.io/jtcu9/
 
Articles
What psychology’s crisis means for the future of science- Vox article
https://www.vox.com/2016/3/14/11219446/psychology-replication-crisis
 
Stanford Prison Experiment: Why famous psychology experiments- Vox article
The Stanford Prison Experiment was massively influential. We just learned it was a fraud.
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/13/17449118/stanford-prison-experiment-fraud-psychology-replication
 
Philip Zimbardo’s response to recent criticisms on Stanford Prison Experiment
http://www.prisonexp.org/response/
 
The “marshmallow test” said patience was a key to success. A new replication tells us s’more. - Vox article
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/6/6/17413000/marshmallow-test-replication-mischel-psychology
 
Cancer scientists are having trouble replicating groundbreaking research- Vox article
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/1/23/14324326/replication-science-is-hard
 
The 7 biggest problems facing science, according to 270 scientists
https://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12016710/science-challeges-research-funding-peer-review-process
 
What a nerdy debate about p-values shows about science — and how to fix it- Vox article
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/7/31/16021654/p-values-statistical-significance-redefine-0005
 
Science is often flawed. It's time we embraced that- Vox article
https://www.vox.com/2015/5/13/8591837/how-science-is-broken
 
The replication crisis in science
https://thewire.in/science/replication-crisis-science
 
Students are the answer to psychology’s replication crisis
http://theconversation.com/why-students-are-the-answer-to-psychologys-replication-crisis-90286
 
Why is the replication crisis focused on social psychology?
http://andrewgelman.com/2018/05/07/replication-crisis-centered-social-psychology/
 
Neuroscientist explains psychology’s replication crisis
https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2018/mar/19/a-neuroscientist-explains-psychologys-replication-crisis-podcast
 
What Do Talking Apes Really Tell Us? Koko, Kanzi, and ape language
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/08/koko_kanzi_and_ape_language_research_criticism_of_working_conditions_and.html
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
B.F. Skinner
Daryl Bem
Franz Anton Mesmer
Fritz Heider
George Miller
Henry H. Goddard
Jean Piaget
John B. Watson
Kitty Genovese
Martin Seligman
Sigmund Freud
Sir Cyril Burt- educational psychology
 
ABC cognitive approach
Aggression
Algorithm
Analytic thought
Anecdotes
Attraction
Attribution theory
Authority
Availability heuristic
Base rate
Belief perseverance
Binocular disparity
Black swan hypothesis
Change blindness
Cognitive dissonance
Confirmation bias
Control group
Correlations
Culture
Cyberbullying
Deductive reasoning
Descriptive statistics
Disposition attribution
Double-blind
Effect sizes
Empirical approach
Ethnocentric
Experimental control
Explanatory style
External validity
Extraneous variables
Extrasensory perception (ESP)
Eyewitness identification
Face validity
False consensus effect
File drawer problem
First instinct fallacy
Formal operations
Framing effect
Fundamental attribution error
Gambler’s fallacy
Happiness
Hedonic adaptation
Heuristic
Hindsight bias
Homeopathic medicine
Hyperactivity
Hypnosis
Hypothesis
Illusory correlation
Immunotherapy
Inattentional blindness
Inductive reasoning
Inferential statistics
In-group
Intuition
Law of small numbers
Marijuana
Mean (arithmetic mean)
Median
Mesmerism
Meta-analysis
Modeling
Moon-illusion
Myside bias
Narcolepsy
Near-death experience
Operational definitions
Optimistic
Outgroup homogeneity bias
Outliers
Oxytocin
Pessimistic
Placebo effects
Pollyanna Principle
Priming
Probability
Pseudoscience
Psychokinesis
Random assignment
Reaction time
Recency effect
Regression to the mean
Replication
Representative heuristic
Repression
Reproducibility Project
Sample size
Science literacy
Scientific literacy
Self-deception
Self-effacement
Self-justification
Self-serving bias
Short-term memory capacity
Situational attribution
Standard deviation
Statistically significant
Statistics
Subjective well-being
Subliminal messages
Theory
Thermal grill illusion
Type I error
Type II error
Unrealistic optimism
Validity
Warrior gene

The Lost Boys:  Inside Muzafer Sherif`s Robbers Cave Experiment
Author: Gina Perry
ISBN:  e-book 9781925548303; hard copy book in the U.S.is not yet available
 
APA Style Citation
Perry, G. (2018). The Lost Boys:  Inside Muzafer Sherif`s Robbers Cave Experiment.  Scribe Publications, London.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Boys-Muzafer-Sherifs-experiment-ebook/dp/B07BL7DZ3M

​Book Description
The validity of many social psychology studies hasrecentlybeen questioned.  The highly staged and deceptive practices of Milgram and the personal involvement, as well as the potential emotional harm, of Zimbardo’s prison studyhave garnered much attention and called into question the degree of manipulation in these studies.  Thus far, Muzafer Sherif`s study at Robbers Cave, which investigated superordinate goals to overcome out-group bias and stereotypes, has avoided the spotlight for unethical and questionable practices. Gina Perry`s new book will likely change this.  Fresh off of her book Behind the Shock Machine,which exposed some of the misperceptions and deception involved in the Milgram studies, Perry delves into the archives of Psychology in Akron, Ohio to examine Muzafer Sherif`s personal history and his infamous study of in-group and out-groups at Robbers Cave in Oklahoma.
 
Perry devotes the first third of the book to a study that was conducted in 1953 in Middle Grove, New York one year prior tothe Robbers Cave study.  This nameless study seemed to be one Sherif wanted to disappear, as he did not publish or write about the results despite receiving a large grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.  In a similar circumstance to the Robbers Cave study, 24 underprivileged boys were gathered to study group dynamics and the development of in-group and out-groups.  The letter provided to parents to gain consent included not outright deception,but was interesting for what it did not say.  The letter indicated that the 10 and 11-year-old boys would be participating in a study of child relations and social organization among children. A condition of this agreement was that parents not visit as it might “distract” the boys.  As we now know from Milgram`s infamous study, the affiliation with Yale University would have provided a sense of legitimacy for the study and parents may have wanted their sons associated with a study from a highly esteemed university without asking too many questions.  
In this Middle Grove study, the boys initially made friends with one another; and when divided into groups, they expressed a desire to be with their friends who were purposely placed in the opposing group (Panthers and Pythons). Sherif would remedy this in the Robbers Cave study by not allowing the two groups to get to know one another before the division into groups occurred.  The camp counselors were part of Sherif`s research team, andSherif himself acted as the camp custodian.  The researchers were told not to interfere with the boys and provided little guidance even when the boys clearlyneeded some direction from an adult.  When the boys did not act according to what Sherif expected, he broke his own rules by ordering the counselors to raid one group`s tent to make it look like the other team had done this, even going so far as to break a young man`s ukulele.  The boys did not take the bait, they suspected the camp staff rather than the other boys, andinstead of becoming divided, they encouraged the other team when they lost and wanted to share their winnings (pocket knives).  When they believed they were treated unfairly in a competition, they looked to the counselors to sort things out; and when they did not intervene, the boys took that as a betrayal from the adults who they believed should reconcile the situation, this made them align with the other boys in camp against the counselors. As the study unraveled, Sherif began drinking excessively and threatened one of his research assistants. By the end of the three-week study, the boys were essentially lefton their own.  When they destroyed the camp piano, there were no repercussions andthe boys seemed to sense that ahead of time. It is clear from Perry`s research that this study was not discussedbecause the outcome Sherif believed he would find never surfaced.  The Robbers Cave study would be his opportunity to make certain he created the right dynamics to create divisions between the groups.  
 
The second portion of the book is devoted to Sherif`s interesting background as a Turkish psychologist who was essentially bannedfrom returning to Turkey because of his liberal beliefs.  Perry addresses the discrimination Sherif faced upon his arrival in America, as people seemed bewildered that a Turk could be a prominent academic.  Perry argues that Sherif`s experience during the Turkish Revolution may be reflectedin the Robbers Cave study.  When Sherif was a student, people aligned themselves either with the Nationalistic Ataturk or the Greeks and Armenians. Former friends became bitter enemies and long-time neighbors no longer trusted one another.  Sherif would have seen first-hand the deep divisions that group affiliations can create.
 
Sherif often bristled that he was not given much attention for his Robbers Cave study, which he considered to be groundbreaking research in the field of social psychology.  He often felt overshadowed by Solomon Asch. Sherif believed he was responsible for convincing Asch to pursue social psychology while the two studied together at Columbia University.  Because Milgram then studied under Asch, Sherif saw himself as a "defacto" father of social psychology who was not given the credit he deserved, as he was relegatedto the outpost of Oklahoma rather than one of the eliteIvy League East Coast universities.  Much correspondence at the time refers to Sherif`s incredible intellect, but also to his challenging temperament.  His wife Carolyn, also a social psychologist, seemed to be able to reign in some of his difficult personality, but he was often a challenge to work with or to have on staff.  Sherif was eventually diagnosedwith bipolar disorder, andafter moving to Penn State, Carolyn`s career accelerated while Muzafer`s faded.  
 
Finally, the last portion of the book is devoted to the most famous work Sherif conducted, which examined in-group and out-group bias between the Rattlers and Eagles at Robbers Cave State Park in Oklahoma.  The 22 boys in this study were 10 and 11 years-old, from lower-middle class and working-class families in the area. The two groups of boys were located about a mile away from one another, andSherif`s team was careful to facilitate the creation of strong group alliances from the start by allowing the boys to create team identities (Rattlers and Eagles).  The groups were kept separate for three days tohelp facilitate the creation of strong group affiliations. Some of the aggressive behaviors the boys exhibited may have been due to a single individual who became the leader of the Rattlers early in the study.  Red was bigger than most of the boys and swore, berated, and mocked even the boys on his ownteam.   He created an aggressive dynamic within the Rattlers and this inevitably transferred to the behavior between the groups as well.  He would later be castinto the woods for stealing from his ownteam until he improved his behavior.  
 
Sixteen events were scheduled over four days to pit the teams against one another. 
Perry was able to track down a few of the men who had participated in the study, none of whom knew that the camp had been a testing ground for research on group dynamics.  The men were interested although tentative regarding what the researchers could have been studying but remembered some events from the camp vividly.  As in the earlier study, the researchers did little to intervene in the boy’s treatment of one another even when they began swearing and making fun of the boys in the camp.  While interference from the researchers was not strictly forbidden as it was in the first study, the suggestion to get revenge on the other team may have been more the camp counselors’ (researchers’) idea thanthe boys.  At first,the losses were blamedon other group members, rather than the opposing team.  Afterwinninga baseball game, the Eagles made three cheers for the Rattlers, which differs greatly from what has originally been reported. After raids on each other’s cabins and the theft of knives used as a reward for winning the tournament, some of the boys started to break down, andSherif worried he mayhave gone too far.  
 
During the final stage of the study, the boys were toldthat there was a water shortage and they had to work together to find the problem (this event was purposely orchestrated). Sherif believed this would begin to heal the rift between the groups. During the last event, the boys went to Arkansas for a trip to a nearby town, when one of the trucks broke down. The boys piled into one truck and seemed to overcome theirprior disdainfor one another.  Thismight have been as much due to the Rattlers banning Red from the group until he behaved, as it did with the superordinate goals on which Sherif focused.  
 
Perry argues that one cannot examine the Robbers Cave study without taking into consideration the extraordinary role of the researchers disguised as counselors.  This seemingly naturalistic study was more highly manipulatedthan ever reported and the results may be due to confirmation bias, rather than a legitimate difference between groups.  Sherif failed to take into account his own experiences in Turkey and how that may have impacted his perspective of the harshness that can exist between groups.  Sherif did not seem to take into consideration the potential emotional suffering the boys experienced, either during or after the conclusion of the study.  Sadly, Perry`s book is another hit to the credibility ofsocial psychology studies, but perhaps knowing the truth about what actuallyoccurred helps us understand human nature after all.
 
Resources
The British Psychological Society:  The Unknown Muzafer Sherif
https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-27/edition-11/unknown-muzafer-sherif
 
Simply Psychology:  Robbers Cave, Realistic Conflict Theory
https://www.simplypsychology.org/robbers-cave.html
 
The Guardian:  A Real-Life Lord of the Flies: The troubling legacy of the Robbers Cave experiment.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/apr/16/a-real-life-lord-of-the-flies-the-troubling-legacy-of-the-robbers-cave-experiment
 
The Guardian: “Come out and Fight!” an extract from The Lost Boysby Gina Perry
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/apr/16/come-on-out-and-fight-an-extract-from-the-lost-boys-by-gina-perry
 
Author Gina Perry’s Website
http://www.gina-perry.com/the-lost-boys/
 
New York Times Obituary for social psychologist Muzafer Sherif
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/27/obituaries/muzafer-sherif-82-psychologist-who-studied-hostility-of-groups.html
 
Video
You Tube:  Robber`s Cave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PRuxMprSDQ
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Allport, Gordon
Asch, Solomon
Clark, Kenneth,andMamie 
Dewey, John
Hall, G. Stanley
James, William 
Lewin, Kurt
Mead, Margaret 
Milgram, Stanley
Sherif, Muzafer
Watson, John
 
Confirmation bias
Conflict
Cooperation
Debriefing
Deception
Discrimination
Group dynamics
Group norm
In-Group bias
Intragroup relations
Little Albert
Out-Group bias
Persuasion
Prejudice
 

​Statistics Without Tears:  A Primer for Non-Mathematicians
Author:  Derek Rowntree
ISBN:  0-02-404090-8
 
APA Style Citation
Rowntree, D.  (1981).  Statistics Without Tears  A Primer for Non-Mathematicians.  Allyn and Bacon, New York.
 
Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Statistics-Without-Tears-Non-Mathematicians-Classics/dp/0205395090

​ 
Book Description
Many Introductory psychology instructors and students consider themselves social scientists rather than mathematicians and can be frightened by the statistical analysis that is inevitably a part of deriving meaning from data.  Derek Rowntree attempts to make this analysis accessible for all regardless of one’s training or prior experience in mathematics.  He achieves this by providing many examples and applications to real-world situations in straightforward language.  Rowntree explains that gamblers use statistics all of the time when placing bets to attempt to determine their chances of winning, the same methods are employed in the analysis of all other types of data.
 
Rowntree begins with a description of statistics and how the term is used.  Statistics may refer to the subject or discipline of statistics, the process of collecting data, the methods used to collect that data or the figures that characterize that data (mean, mode and median).  Rowntree emphasizes that he sees statistics as a set of inquiry that can help decipher the importance (or lack thereof) of a data set.  Descriptive statistics are those that describe observations, which have already occurred while inferential statistics are used to make predictions and observations about a situation that has not yet been observed.  Inferential statistics can also potentially be used to predict the behavior or cognition of the entire population from which a sample has been selected. In order to make this generalization, the sample must be randomly selected from the population defined by the researcher.
 
Rowntree describes different types of data researcher come across.  Nominal data represents different categories such as gender or age, this is categorical data and may be represented by a number but is not quantifiable, it is used solely for identification (males 1, females 2).  Ordinal data can be placed in rank order but does not necessarily have equal spacing between the data points.  If one had 20 used bicycles, they could place them in order from the best to worst condition, but this does not mean that the 1st and 2nd ranked bikes have the same differences as the bikes ranked 7th and 8th.  Nominal and ordinal data are both considered categorical data for which one does not use mathematical computations.  Quantifiable data does use mathematical calculations as can be discrete (number of children one has) or continuous (age).  Rowntree goes on to discuss the types of tables that are appropriate for each type of data sets.
 
Once the data has been collected, descriptive data analysis can begin by examining the mean, mode, and median.  Rowntree acknowledges the frequent use of the mean but notes that the median is preferable in distributions in which there are extreme scores, because these outliers may distort the mean while the median is less susceptible to these extreme scores.  The range is dependent only on two values (the highest and lowest) and therefore does not tell us much about the sample in general.  The inter-quartile breakdown can be quite helpful, and students may relate to this idea as they find out their results on standardized exams, which often report the student’s percentile rank to indicate their performance relative to others who took the same exam.  Standard deviation is also a useful descriptive tool because it describes the average distance from the mean for a set of scores.  The standard deviation can be used to show students where they score compared to others on a certain measure and is less subject to large fluctuations due to extreme scores as is the mean (on pages 54-55 Rowntree also walk through a very simple step-by-step procedure to mathematically find the standard deviation for a set of scores). 
 
Skewed distributions are described as well as normal distributions with many pictures and examples along with a description of what happens to the measures of central tendency in each of these respective distributions.  For those who might be new to teaching introductory Psychology, reading the roughly ten pages on the normal distribution will go a long way toward understanding the information one needs to work with data in a normal distribution and how to compute percentile rank for scores in a normal distribution, this is time well spent. 
 
Rowntree explains that the larger the sample (if it is random), the more it should reflect the population from which it is drawn, and while there is always the possibility of sampling error or bias, this can generally is reduced as the sample size increases.  Researchers can never report with one hundred percent certainty the results of the findings because there is always the potential for sampling error or design flaws.  Even studies that have been replicated often can only at best approach levels of significance (p-scores) that are close to zero.  P-scores of equal to or less than .05 are considered statistically significant in the field of psychology and which point the researchers can be assured that the results of their study are unlikely due to chance.  Later chapters explore a comparison between sampling, which would be helpful to review prior to the testing and individual differences unit as one could compare the results of Intelligence scores in 2 different populations and compare the results.  There are also many examples that could be used in a classroom setting to allow students to work with real data sets.  The chapter on significance testing would be helpful for those who are taking students through analysis of a data set, and Rowntree makes clear connections back to a discussion of the null hypothesis, which students should understand, from their research unit.  
 
Nonparametric tests such as the Mann Whitney test are used when there is no assumption that the data has been distributed normally.  One-tailed p tests are those in which data can move only one way as in measurements of weights (it can only go up from zero) or two-tailed in which data can move either up or down (blood pressure).  These are discussed in terms of the parameters one must reach in order to reject the null hypothesis.  Regardless of one’s level of knowledge with statistics, this book makes statistics accessible and connects concepts to realistic data.  Statistics without Fear is a book to keep on the shelf and refer to year after year to make sure that as social scientists we are still getting our data analysis right.
 
 
Other Related Resources
 
BBC Documentary The Joy of Stats
Hans Rosling’s hour-long BBC documentary on statistical methods
http://www.gapminder.org/videos/the-joy-of-stats/
 
Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes 
Short clip from Hans Rosling’s BBC documentary, The Joy of Stats that powerfully demonstrates correlational data
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo
 
Not Awful and Boring Ideas for Teaching Statistics
Blog with current examples from real life to enliven the teaching of statistical methods that is updated weekly. 
http://notawfulandboring.blogspot.mx/
 
Against All Odds:  Inside Statistics
Annenberg Learning website with numerous helpful videos on statistical concepts
https://www.learner.org/resources/series65.html
     
Stats is Fun Blog
A blog offering current examples and activities related to teaching statistics created by Jessica Hartnett, Ph.D.  She is an associate professor in Gannon University’s Department of Psychology and Counseling.
http://notawfulandboring.blogspot.ch
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Bar chart
Biased sampling
Confidence interval
Descriptive statistic
Frequency distribution
Histogram
Inferential statistic
Mann-Whitney test
Measures of central tendency
Nominal data
Normal distribution
Null hypothesis
Ordinal data
p-score
Percentile rank
Pie chart
Population
Probability of error
Random sample
Sampling variation
Significance testing
Skewed distribution (positive and negative)
Standard deviation
Stratified sampling
Type 1 error
Type 2 error
Z-score
 

​Lab Girl
Author:  Hope Jahren
ISBN:  978-1-101-87372-4
 
APA Style Citation
Jahren, H. (2016).  Lab Girl.  New York: Random House.
 
Buy this Book
https://www.amazon.com/Lab-Girl-Hope-Jahren/dp/1101874937

​Book Description
Think researching moss, trees, and leaves is boring and mundane?  Think again.  Reading Hope Jahren’s engaging and humorous recap of her career thus far as a paleobiological researcher demonstrates just how interesting science can be when you really love what you study and have others who share your passion.  Jahren describes her initial interest in scientific research as a child who often accompanied her father (a community college science instructor in Minnesota) to his lab.  At the lab, there were few rules, and she could explore the wonders found in the drawers and cupboards of the lab.  As she moved onto college at Berkeley, she grew distant from her family but found a research soul mate in her lab assistant Bill with whom she still works and on whom many of the stories in Lab Girl are based.  Lab Girl ingeniously connects chapters about plant life and human life, alternating between and connecting the importance of shared commonalities such as the importance of roots, reproduction and the interdependence of other organisms for the sustenance of life.
 
Jahren’s first experience with lab work was in a hospital where she put together prescriptions for patients as a part-time job during college.  This experience taught her the importance of precision and a sterile workspace to eliminate any contamination to the medicine the patients received.  Since this time, her work has led her to research at four different universities (she currently works at the University of Oslo) and to many areas around the world.   She describes her trips to Norway, the Nunavut territory of Artic in Canada, Colorado, and Ireland in the book.   She travels to explore the different plant life in these areas and the unique flora and fauna of vastly different environments.  In some cases, she is traveling to explore a particular problem or question about a specific plant or tree, while other times she is simply exploring plant life that does not exist elsewhere and the question will arise from what she finds.
 
Jahren met her lab assistant Bill as a graduate student at Berkeley.  She took a group of undergraduates on a field trip to dig holes in order to examine the different types of soil in the layers of the hole.  Bill was a student on the trip who identified the soil quite easily because as he describes, “I used to live in a hole”.  We find out later that this was really an underground bunker in his parent’s backyard when he was a teenager.  Jahren describes the invaluable contributions that Bill has made to their findings over the years, from helping graduate students manage their bills to watching plants grow hour to hour; he makes the lab runs day-to-day.  This allows Jahren to spend her time teaching, writing grants, writing academic papers, preparing presentations and later spending a bit of time with her family.
 
Jahren makes it clear that even if one loves their field of research, the life of a scientific researcher is not glamorous nor does one become rich and famous for their work.  Jahren has to apply for grant money to run her lab and even while this money may seem like a substantial sum, it goes to buying lab equipment, paying a portion to the University, paying Bill (her lab assistant, not the paper) and then having roughly 10-15% of the initial grant money left to conduct the actual research.  Once the money runs out, the cycle begins again, and even with some support from the University, Jahren has had to resort to making her own lab equipment, driving across the country in a U-Haul to collect the equipment from a retired professor’s lab and stealing equipment from other departments labs. 
 
Frozen McDonalds hamburgers and lots of coffee were cheap ways to eat while trying to sustain themselves through all night lab sessions.  Bill lived for a while in his van, and later in the lab itself because his meager salary was not enough to pay for a respectable apartment near campus.  Even under these restrictive conditions, Jahren and Bill have a great time and find deep enjoyment in each discovery in the lab.  
 
However, Jahren is also careful to point out that the funding for science research in the United States continues to decline and there is not enough money for researchers to conduct follow up studies to verify their research or to investigate new questions that they want to explore.  Most of the money for the type of science research Jahren conducts currently comes from the National Science Foundation.  Jahren also describes the in-group bias that exists within a field of research and how difficult the field of paleobiology is to break into.  She drives across the country to speak at conferences and to get her name out there as a credible source in the field, and existing misconceptions and receives much push back to those who do not want to look at new evidence.  She also faces discrimination as a female in a field dominated by men, some of whom believe that as a woman she has nothing significant to contribute to the discipline of paleobiology.  To overcome these obstacles and make sure that she publishes work that warrants further funding, Jahren and Bill spend many nights in the lab and even after Jahren has a son, she will have dinner with her family, put her son to bed and head back to the lab until the following morning.
 
Despite Jahren’s successful research career, she describes many failed experiments including those where someone forgot to water plants at regular intervals after which all of the plants had to be discarded, exploding glass beakers which had been overfilled with CO2, and a strange encounter with airport security in Ireland because it is illegal to bring plant material out of the country without special permission.
 
You may be surprised at what you learn about plants such as the roots of a tree are generally far larger in terms of surface area than what we see above ground, bark protects trees during the winter but is often shed in the warmer months and a new bark in built for the following winter.  Trees that live in cold climates anticipate and store reserves not based on weather (which can be unpredictable) but on the cycles of the sun, which will be the same each year.  Jahren describes how leaves grow and how two trees with the same DNA can be found growing miles away from one another.  She describes why certain trees are found in different climates and how they sustain life slightly differently as a result of their environment. 
 
Despite the hardships that are clearly a part of the life of a scientific researcher, Jahren captures the joy of a discovery that no one else knows and the fun in the exploration of a discipline one loves. 
 
Other Related Resources
Introduction to Lab Girl Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yht9LrYRxqg
 
The Jahren Laboratory website
https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/FACULTY/jahren/
 
The Secret Life of Plants: PBS News Hour Interview with Hope Jahren
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yht9LrYRxqg
 
How Two Determined Scientists Built a World-Class Lab out of Radio Shack Parts
https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/05/how-two-determined-scientists-built-a-world-class-lab-out-of-radio-shack-parts/
 
The Chronicle of Higher Education
If America Wants to Kill Science, it’s on its Way
http://www.chronicle.com/article/If-America-Wants-to-Kill/236011
 
Time Health
Hope Jahren on Plants, Mud Manicures and Science’s Woman Problem
http://www.chronicle.com/article/If-America-Wants-to-Kill/236011
 
Washington Post
A Scientist’s Uncommon Bond with her Odd lab-partner-for-life
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-scientists-uncommon-bond-with-her-odd-lab-partner-for-life/2016/04/15/12850ff2-f29b-11e5-a61f-e9c95c06edca_story.html?utm_term=.53b9a186296d
 
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
DNA
Embryo
Electroconvulsive therapy
In-Group Bias
Mania
National Science Foundation
Postpartum depression
Scientific methodology
Statistical significance

​Jessica Flitter
West Bend East High School, West Bend, WI
jflitter@wbsd-schools.org

Research Methods and Statistics
Author: Ian Walker
ISBN:  978-0-230-24988-2
 
APA Style Citation
Walker, I. (2010). Research Methods and Statistics. Palgrave Macmillan.

​Buy This Book
https://www.amazon.com/Research-Statistics-Palgrave-Insights-Psychology/dp/023024988

​Book Description
Do you struggle to teach research and statistics? Are you fearful of too much technical jargon and lack of student interest? For many high school teachers, the research chapter proves difficult. Decisions must be made on what to cover, what to leave out, how much depth to provide, etc. Author Ian Walker provides a summary of important material pertaining to research methods and statistics to support your research chapter. His language makes an introduction to research accessible, and the organization and examples make for easy reference.  To understand the significance of the topic at hand, Walker uses an analogy with research and building a house. A builder is interested in the final product of the house, but he will not complete the house if he does not know how to use the hammer.  Research and statistics are psychology’s necessary tools. Knowledge of research techniques provides students with a good set of tools to help promote the understanding of human behavior- the goal of all psychology students. 
 
The first section of the text focuses on research methods.  The author points out the importance of the choices made when conducting research.  Walker reviews major research methods and concepts such as population vs. sample, validity vs. reliability, observation studies, correlations, and the experimental method to name a few.  He notes how the experimental method has a large amount of specialized vocabulary and goes further to provide simple definitions and examples to support one’s understanding of these methods.  There is also a focus on clearly differentiating quantitative and qualitative methods.  Finally, he addresses research ethics, which is an important topic for introductory students to understand before embarking on any data collection of their own.     
 
The second section focuses on statistics.  Descriptive statistics are stripped down and explained for the layperson. The author acknowledges the confusion surrounding statistics and tries to build understanding through clear definitions and examples of basic terminology. Tables and graphs used to display data are differentiated based on the type of research they display, such as bar graphs, histograms, and line graphs.  Walker pays particular attention to clarifying the null hypothesis and reinforces this with examples throughout the text. After descriptive statistics, inferential statistics are examined. Walker describes p-value in a way that statisticians may take issue with but that allows for clear understanding for readers or those new to statistics?  Less commonly discussed topics in class are also addressed, such as type 1 and 2 errors, chi-square tests, levels of measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio), one vs. two-tailed hypotheses, parametric vs. non-parametric tests, and the powerful Student’s t-test vs. the less powerful Mann-Whitney U test. While this may sound like a lot of new vocabulary beyond your students’ understanding, the book helps provide a big picture when explaining more simplistic terms or answering student questions.  In addition, Walker takes special care when explaining correlations. He uses the analogy that correlations are like being handed a chainsaw. They are useful tools when used properly, but users must be careful. First, correlation must not imply causation! Next, he addresses how only straight lines are visible when conducting correlations. Also, if a correlation is interesting a larger sample should be tested, the p-value should be looked at, and the finding should be sensible.  Not every set of numbers should be studied just because they have been collected. The final topic addressed is qualitative data, which is used to explore new ideas but which may eventually be developed into correlational or experimental research. The author discusses how to code data when reading transcripts of interviews to find themes.
 
The final section focuses on reports that comprise the final write up for a research study and the author’s concluding thoughts.  The main sections of the research report are summarized, and an example is provided in each section. The author also offers a few short warnings about statistics, such as floor and ceiling effects, regression to the mean, and the use of outright lies.  He points out that research and statistics are everywhere in our lives. The understanding of these tools is essential to practice in the field of psychology.  I encourage you rather than fearing the chapter, become familiarized with the terminology and start looking at all of the potential studies that can answer questions in the world around you.
 
 
Other Related Resources
 
Insight Book Series
Research Methods and Statistics is part of a large series of specialty books related to psychology published by Palgrave and available through Macmillan publishing.  There are specific books related to a variety of topics in psychology including developmental psychology, social psychology, forensic psychology, psychology and the media, issues and debates in psychology, gender, adolescence and adulthood, biological rhythms and sleep, intelligence and learning, health, sport, schizophrenia, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder and more.
https://he.palgrave.com/series/palgrave-insights-in-psychology-series/14688/
 
Author Ian Walker’s Websites
The author of Research Methods and Statistics, Ian Walker, is a professor of psychology at the University of Bath in Great Britain who studies the roles of identity, social norms, and habit in environmental behaviors - particularly travel behaviors - and in road safety settings.  The websites provide information about the author's background, research, and teaching.
http://drianwalker.com/work.html
http://staff.bath.ac.uk/pssiw/
 
 
Guess the Correlation
Guess the Correlation is a website that provides a series of scatterplots about which you can estimate the strength of the correlation.  Students can play individually or against an opponent.
http://guessthecorrelation.com/
 
Psychological Figures and Concepts
Alpha level
Alternative hypothesis
Bar graph
Categorical question
Categorical variable
Ceiling effect
Central tendency
Chi-square
Coefficient of determination
Confounding variable
Continuous variable
Control group
Correlation
Correlation coefficient
Counterbalance
Criterion validity
Debrief
Degrees of freedom
Experimental method
Experimenter effect
Extraneous variable
Fatigue effect
Field experiment
Floor effect
Histogram
Hypothesis
Independent samples design
Informed consent
Internal reliability
Interrater reliability
Interval
IV, DV
Lab experiment
Levels of measurement
Likert Scales
Line graphs
Mann-Whitney U test
Matched-pairs design
Mean
Measures of dispersion
Median
Mode
Naturalistic experiment
Negative correlation
Nominal
Non-parametric test
Normal distribution
Null hypothesis
Observational study
One-tailed hypothesis
Operationalize
Opportunity sampling
Order effect
Ordinal
Parametric test
Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient
Pie chart
Placebo effect
Population
Positive correlation
Practice effect
P-value
Qualitative research
Quantitative research
Quasi-experiment
Random sample
Range
Ratio
Regression to the mean
Repeated measures design
Repeated-measures t-test
Replication
Sampling error or bias
Scatterplot
Skewed distribution
Standard deviation
Standard error of the mean
Stratified sample
Third variable problem or lurking variable
Two-tailed hypothesis
Type 1 Error
Type 2 Error
Validity
Variance
Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test