University:
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Course:
PSYC 1101 | General Psychology
Academic year:

2021
Views:

182

Pages:

1
Author:

rezancuk2j

Thinking Straight about Psychology Chapter 9: The Misguided Search for the Magic Bullet An important point to remember in psych studies is that behavior is multiply determined. Any particular behavior is caused not by a single variable but by a number of different ones. It is incorrect to assume that variable A is the only cause of behavior B. The concept of interaction: In statistics, we have main effects (where a single variable influences a behavior directly) and interactions (when the main effects combine to have a different effect than either main effect separately). Interacting variables means that the effect that one variable has may depend on the presence or absence of another variable. Examples: 1) Simmons, Burgeson, Carlton-Ford, & Blyth (1987) looked at self-esteem and GPA as a function of life changes (school transition, puberty, early dating behavior, moving to a different house, family disruption). They found that the combination of life changes was the critical factor in cases of bad outcomes. 2) Breitmeyer & Ramey (1986) studied 2 groups of infants (normal birth experience and “nonoptimal” birth status). Half of the members of each group were randomly assigned at birth to either a day care program designed to prevent mild mental retardation or to a control group that did not receive any special treatment. Measures of cognitive maturity at age 4 years showed no difference between at-risk and normal children when BOTH had been given the educational program, but “at risk” children who had not been given the educational program showed slower cognitive development when neither they nor the control group received special ed. (I wonder what the difference between normal kids who received the treatment vs control was…researchers did not address that.) This study showed an interaction between biology and environment on cognitive development. 13