ALEX Classroom Resources

   View Standards     Standard(s): [SS2010] PSY (9-12) 2 :

2 ) Describe research strategies used by psychologists to explore mental processes and behavior.

•  Describing the type of methodology and strategies used by researchers in different psychological studies

Examples: surveys, naturalistic observations, case studies, longitudinal studies, cross-sectional studies

•  Contrasting independent, dependent, and confounding variables and control and experimental groups

•  Identifying systematic procedures necessary for conducting an experiment and improving the validity of results

•  Describing the use of statistics in evaluating research, including calculating the mean, median, and mode from a set of data; conducting a simple correlational analysis using either calculators or computer software; and explaining the meaning of statistical significance

Social psychologist Stanley Milgram conducts a series of radical experiments that test the willingness of individuals to obey authority. When the inflictor is interviewed as to why he continued to send electric shocks after each incorrect answer even when he was begged to stop, the inflictor implies that it wasn't that serious because it was the subject that made the request. This clip illustrates the conflict between personal conscience and obedience to authority. This clip can be used when teaching about types of methodology and strategies used by researchers in different psychological studies.