What are Physiological responses?
body’s reaction to various experiences/stimuli
➢ Autonomic nervous system activity (e.g., heart rate,
blood pressure)
➢ Hormone changes (e.g., cortisol, sex hormones)
➢ Immune system changes
➢ Brain activity
What are Challenges to collecting & interpreting fMRI data?
Confined / noisy
Interpreting data is complex (don’t see the brain light up over time, but we compare activation to experimental / control conditions)
Physiological responses what are the pros?
Pros
* Interesting in their own right (e.g., understanding link between relationships
and health)
* Outside participants’ control (not susceptible to social desirability bias, etc.
Physiological responses what are the cons?
Cons
* Very expensive → smaller sample size
* Ambiguity in interpretation
* Could be more invasive (depending on the measure
How can physiological responses be vague?
Ex. Oxytocin
Initially conceptualized as the “bonding hormone”
* For example, genetic propensity to secrete more oxytocin associated with
feelings of love and expressions of gratitude towards one’s romantic partner
HOWEVER
Oxytocin has also been associated with relational distress in response to relational difficulties
Correlational design:
Pros & cons
Pros
* Sometimes the only option available
➢ Some variables researchers cannot manipulate—gender, culture, age,
marriage status, chronic illness, having an affair, etc.
Cons
* Can’t draw conclusions about causation (conclusion about cause and effect)
Archival data
What are the cons?
Limited by type and quality of original data
Archival data
What are the pros?
Typically economical (Cheap)
* Can examine historical trend
What is Archival data?
publicly available documents & data
E.g., more positive facial expressions in
yearbook photos predict likelihood of being
happily married 30 years late
What is a Correlational design?
naturally occurring associations between variables (the things we are measuring)
➢ E.g., do people tend to be attracted to those more similar to themselves?
- Strength of association captured by the correlation coefficient (r), which can
range from -1 to +1
➢ Sign tells us direction
➢ Magnitude tells us strength of association
What are the three criteria for causation?
- Two variables must be correlated
- One variable must precede the
other - There must be no reasonable
alternative explanations for the
pattern of correlation
What is Cross-sectional data?
data collected at one single point in time
What is Longitudinal data?
data collected from the same participants on multiple occasions
➢ Allows us to examine change over time
What is a Daily diary study?
type of longitudinal approach where Ps provide data every day at about the same time
What is experience sampling?
type of longitudinal approach where data is
gathered throughout the day, thereby capturing behaviours, thoughts, &
feelings as they occur
What is Attrition bias?
the participants who drop
out may systematically differ from those
remaining in the study
Ex. study on relationship satisfaction
- Ppl with relationship conflict all drop out (makes this sample showing more satisfied ppl)
Longitudinal research:
Pros
Captures change over time
* Can examine processes that would be impossible/unethical to cause
➢ E.g., can’t “assign” people to get married, but can look at how marriage
affects them over time
* Daily diary & experience sampling: less subject to retrospective bias
➢ Capture real experiences as they happen
Longitudinal research:
Cons
- Expensive, time- and labour-intensive
- Attrition bias
- Getting 1 step closer towards making causal claims, but still not there
How to Statistically “control” for alternative
explanations?
You measure an alternative variable that might explain your effect, and you
include it in your analyses
What are confounds?
alternate explanations for relationship between two variables
What is Internal validity ?
can we rule out alternate explanations in the experiment?
➢ Relies on selection of appropriate control & random assignment
How can we have Longitudinal-experimental studies?
recruit couples to test effectives of couples’ therapy
➢ 50% assigned to weekly therapy, 50% control
➢ After 6 months, experimental more committed to their marriage than
control group—yay!
NOTE: Issue with attrition here (maybe: large number of couples dropped out from
experimental group - SO Couples who remain in therapy may have been more committed to begin with
What are the pros with Experiments?
Pros
- Allows us to make causal claims
- Caveat: as long as there are no threats to internal validity
What are the cons with Experiments?
- May have lower external validity = extent to which results obtained in a given
generalize to other contexts - Not always an option
-
Class 114
-
Class 261
-
Class 315
-
Class 433
-
Class 529
-
Class 619
-
Class 724
-
Class 823
-
Class 915
-
Class 1021
-
Class 1133
-
Class 1226
-
Class 1322
-
Class 14: Attachment 138
-
Class 1526
-
Class 1631
-
Class 17: Sexuality 138
-
Class 1842
-
Class 19: Conflict 153
-
Class 2041
-
Class 21: Gaslighting8
-
Class 22: Power, Influence, & Violence 132
-
Class 2316
-
Class 24: Relationship dissolution 17
-
Class 2543
-
Singlehood16
-
Couples Therapy8
