Here’s a hypothetical situation to consider. You are working on some important homework which is due the next day, and you hear or feel your phone vibrate in your pocket - you have a message! Do you stop what you’re doing and check the message, or do you think to yourself, ‘Ah, I had better get this done - I’ll check later?’ Your answer to this question may say a lot about your self-control. This hypothetical situation is what many people consider to be a modern marshmallow test. What was the original Marshmallow Test?

In the late 1960’s, a psychologist named Walter Mischel conducted a very famous experiment - The Marshmallow Test. Mischel’s experiment was created to study the significance or importance of a concept called delayed gratification(definition:the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward and wait for a reward that will come later). Young children (pre-schoolers) were the subjects (population) in this experiment. They were put in a room and given one marshmallow, but they were told by the researchers that they would be given a second marshmallow if they could wait 20 minutes before eating the first one.

This video describes Mischel’s Marshmallow Test, and his findings:

Remember the key term reliability(definition:performing consistently the same)? Let’s apply it here. Do you think Mischel’s test is reliable? How can you tell? The Marshmallow Test has been re-created or replicated all over the world, with many different children. And the results? Exactly the same! This has allowed researchers to conclude that The Marshmallow Test is a reliable measure of self-control and delayed gratification. 

So what? Why does it matter? Remember that social scientists conduct research to benefit others and to help make the world a better place. The results of this marshmallow test can be used by many people (e.g., parents, caregivers, and teachers) to help others realize the importance of delaying gratification and developing self-regulation(definition:to persevere and make an effort when responding to challenges) and resiliency(definition:to be able to recover quickly from adversity or challenges) skills. As you heard in the video, the results of these experiments can be applied to us all - at any age.

At this point in the course, you can likely remember some basic knowledge and understanding of the three social sciences that we are studying. Now, it’s time to push your thinking, and deepen your comprehension of each of the disciplines - starting with psychology.

Psychology And Three Main Levels Of Analysis: The Biopsychosocial Approach

What factors contribute to the way you act?

• Do your genetics (e.g., family history, chemicals in the body, hormones) determine your behaviour?
• The way you think on your own - your mood, personality, or behaviour?
• Does your culture or society’s expectations influence the way you act - family, friends, socio-economic factors?

Or, maybe it is a combination of all three of these elements?

The idea that your biology, your own thinking, and past experiences (and how you process information), and social or cultural expectations collectively (all together) contribute to explain your behaviour is known as the biopsychosocial model.

Here is a visual that shows the three levels of analysis:

We are made up of these three levels of analysis. No one level can explain our behaviour on its own. They are all interconnected and they all complement each other. An interesting thing to note, however, is that a change in one of the levels will have an impact on the way a person acts. Here's an example.  Stop and think: have you ever had a bad experience with a spider? Did it change your thinking the next time you saw one? (Ack!) That is an example of how your psychology (or individual thinking) can influence your behaviour, or the way you act. We all have different past experiences, so it makes sense that we all may act slightly differently in the same situation.

This video applies the biopsychosocial approach to example mental health:

Sometimes our personal experiences or environment (what happens around us individually) can alter or permanently change our DNA or genetic make-up. Our biology can change in response to our environment, which then affects the way we act. This is called epigenetics.

Perspectives or Schools Of Thought

You can likely recall that all psychologists study individual behaviour and mental processes. But the term ‘psychology’ is an umbrella term - a big or overarching term - under which are sheltered many different approaches.

This interactive learning activity will introduce you to psychology's current perspectives. You will learn a lot more about specific perspectives as you work through this unit. Click on the different perspectives to learn about the focus of psychologists from each perspective, and some sample questions that they may have.

Perspectives_Schools_of_Thought

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Let’s apply your new knowledge by looking at a specific behaviour - anger.

Drag and drop the ‘right’ question to the psychologist by matching the proper perspective with the question being asked.

neuroscience_drag_and_drop

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Research Methods In Psychology

In the last unit, you had the opportunity to learn about the different research methods that are used by social scientists. We can further categorize psychology’s research methods into descriptive methods (methods that aim to describe human behaviour and mental processes) such as the case study, the survey, and natural observation, and experimental methods (that aim to explain human behaviour and research methods) through an experiment.

So, what is the main difference between describing human behaviour and mental processes and explaining it? Investigating two key concepts in psychology - correlation and causation - will give us the answer.

Correlation Versus Causation

Correlation

A correlation describes a relationship between two factors or variables. Here are a few examples of variables that correlate.

• The more you brush your teeth, the less plaque you will have. (There is a relationship between teeth brushing and plaque).
• Putting sunscreen on reduces sunburns. (There is a relationship between sunscreen and sunburns.)
• Getting a good night’s sleep helps you focus the next day. (There is a relationship between more sleep and improved focus.)

Using descriptive methods, such as surveys, observations, and case studies gives psychologists opportunities to collect data, so that they can analyse it (recall the Social Science Inquiry Method!) and describe relationships, or correlations that they find between variables. Incidentally, the strength of a correlation is displayed as a correlation coefficient (e.g., r=+0.37). The closer the correlation coefficient is to (+ or -) 1, the stronger the relationship.

Here is the catch! Correlations are nice because they describe behaviour and they allow us to predict behaviour. For example, many people believe there is a correlation between time spent studying and grades. If you know that Joe studied for 10 hours and Jazz studied for 2 hours, you might predict that Joe will perform better on a test. But, what if Jazz out-scored Joe? A third variable or factor may explain the result (e.g., Joe was not feeling well on the day of the test). So, you see, correlations cannot - with 100% certainty - explain behaviour. They allow us to predict and describe human behaviour, but not necessarily explain it. To do that, we need to perform an experiment.

Experiments

The goal of an experiment is to go beyond being able to describe relationships, to being able to explain them. Psychologists who use the experimental  approach want to be able to say that Variable A causes Variable B.

To conduct an experiment, researchers need to be able to control factors.  This means that they need to be able to hold some variables constant (not changing) so that they can eliminate the chance that a particular variable caused the end or resulting behaviour.

Sometimes researchers may control for (or hold constant) age, height, weight, political views, religious affiliation, etc. so that they can say those variables did not influence the results of the study.

The variable that does not change is called the independent variable, whereas the variable that does change is the dependent variable.

Think back to René Spitz and the children in his experiment. If you don’t remember that experiment, go back to Unit 1 to jog your memory.

The variable that was held constant, or the independent variable, was the amount of social interaction the child received (either a lot - the children in the nursery in the prison, or a little bit - the children in the orphanage).

Spitz could say with certainty that depriving(definition:denying) someone of social interaction does cause damage to that individual’s healthy development.

Understanding that correlation does not prove causation will also help you improve your critical thinking skills. The next time you read or hear a headline that makes a claim, such as ‘Teenagers are more likely to eat poutine,’ stop and ask yourself whether this is a correlation or a causation - and why?