Mr. Cantor's AP Psychology Blog: September 2013

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Blog Assignment #3 - The Shoe/Hair/Height correlation project. Due Sunday 9/22/13 by 11:59pm

Reading Scatter Plots and Understanding Correlations.

Due Sunday 9/22/13 by 11:59pm

In a comment to this post, please discuss each of the graphs below. Be sure to address the questions under each graph. Please don't copy the questions or number your answers, rather, you should write a paragraph or two in complete sentences so your reader knows what you are talking about. Be sure to sign in as "anonymous" but put your first name and last initial in the post so I know to whom to give the credit. If you have any questions please e-mail me. Review the "how to e-mail a teacher" post on my blog before you send your e-mail.(click on the graphs to enlarge)

I strongly suggest you write the comment in Word or another program and then copy and paste it into the comment section below. This way, if the comment doesn't go through or is accidentally deleted you'll have a record of your work. Please also remember that I have to approve all comments, so it may take a while for it to show up on the blog. You don't need to resubmit it over and over.

Click on graphs to enlarge.

Correlation Coefficient -0.07

What can we see from the above scatter plot of hair length vs. height? Is there a correlation? How strong is it? If so, is it positive or negative; strong or weak? What information about the students in our class does this graph give you? Are there a few "outliers" or extreme data points that seem unusual? If you throw them out of the data set what does the correlation look like? What other information would be helpful to interpret the data?

Correlation Coefficient +0.47

Above is the data we collected about our shoe sizes vs our heights. Can you see a relationship? Is there a correlation? If so, is it positive or negative? How strong is it? Does shoe size cause height to change? Does height cause shoe size to change?

Correlation Coefficient -0.34

Finally, the above graph shows the relationship between shoe size and hair length. Is there a correlation? If so, is it positive or negative? How strong is it? What third variable which is not shown on the graphs might be causing the relationship between shoe size and hair length? Does correlation imply causation? Why or why not?

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Unit 2 Reading Assignment

Unit 2: Research in Psychology

Reading assignment notes check (10 pts): Due Monday, Sept. 16^th

Flashcards (see below) (20 pts): Due Friday Sept 20th

Quiz on Unit 2 (with some questions from Unit 1) on Monday Sept. 23rd

Quiz will be multiple choice and have a writing component.

Objectives (think about these as you read) – If you know these you will do well:

1. What methods do psychologists use to learn about behavior and mental processes?

2. How is “Critical Thinking” important for psychological research?

3. What role do theories play in psychological research?

4. Describe and compare the following research methods: Naturalistic Observation, Case Studies, Surveys, Correlational Studies, Experiments.

5. Explain the ethical issues in using human and animal subjects for psych research.

6. What statistics do psych researchers use?

7. What are the ethical guidelines psych researchers must follow?

8. Describe aspects of an experiment including Independent and Dependent Variables, Control and Experimental Groups, Informed Consent and how Placebos are used.

Bernstein Text Chapter 2 Pp. 27 - 57

Read and take Cornell notes based on your reading instructions. Write down how long it takes you to complete the reading and notes so you can know what to expect in terms of studying for future chapters.

Flashcards

1. Make flashcards for all key terms highlighted in text.

2. Additional Flashcards: Family Studies, Twin Studies, Adoption Studies, Five important ethical guidelines for psych research,