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PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What role does the scientific method play in contemporary psychology? What are the limitations of
the scientific method, and are there any better alternatives available? Students are often skeptical of
the scientific method and are eager to point out its flaws, such as the slow incremental progress it
generates, its reliance on measurable phenomena, its susceptibility to experimenter biases, and its
sterile methodology. Students often fail to realize, however, that, although it may be flawed, the
scientific method is the best tool we have to generate valid, reliable knowledge and that it has
provided us with a wealth of discoveries.
2. What psychological principles have become part of the larger culture, have penetrated our thinking
and language? Psychological principles permeate advertising, marketing, television, movies, sales,
self-help books, fashion, politics, and folk wisdom, to name a few, but students are often unaware of
this influence. Pointing out this influence is a good way to keep your students’ interest. For
example, the concept of “psychological stress,” so prevalent in our cultural landscape, was rarely
mentioned 50 years ago.
3. Ask your students how many of them believe in determinism. Then ask them many of them believe
in free will. Insist that they cannot have it both ways. You will be surprised to find that many, if not
most, students believe in free will. This is a terrific discussion starter, because it conflicts with one
of the fundamental assumptions of science and psychology–determinism. You might ask your
students what science can hope to reveal if the world is not determined. You might also suggest
that what feels like free will to us may be thinly disguised determinism. This simple discussion is
often enough to change the manner in which students view themselves and the manner in which
they view those around them.
SUPPLEMENTAL LECTURE MATERIAL
The Ethics of Animal Research
The use of animals in research is a controversial topic, and one certain to generate animated class
discussion. One reason that it is controversial is that it touches on fundamental values, attitudes, and
ethical and moral issues. Psychologists are interested in these issues from both a scientific and a human
perspective. As scientists, psychologists may ask why others are so emotionally captivated by the issue,
why some individuals seem more concerned with protecting animals than with protecting humans, why a
secure life in a cage is worse than an uncertain life in the wild, and what scientific justification there is to
preclude research on animals. As humans, psychologists may be moved by compassion for caged animals,
feel empathy at the animals lack of understanding of what is happening to them, and be morally convinced
that researchers have no more right to force an animal to participate in research than they do in forcing
humans to participate.
Of course, there are no easy answers to these questions, but there is an interesting way to view animal
research that many people have not considered. Animal research benefits humans to the extent that
findings from research with them are generalizable to humans. Because of this problem of transfer of results
from animals to humans, the most beneficial research is often done on animals that are most closely related
to humans, such as chimpanzees. For example, much research on FHV and ADDS is done on monkeys,
because their immune systems function much like humans and because they are susceptible to a virus, SIV,
that is closely related to FHV. These monkeys, however, share 99 percent of their genetic material with
humans. If the reason that we do not use humans in some types of research is because it is unethical, it
would seem that the more closely an animal was related to humans, the less ethical it would be to use them
in similar research. An argument can be made that the more closely an animal is related to humans, the
more like a human it should be treated. According to this reasoning, chimpanzees should be treated like
human participants. Thus, there is a quandary between how generalizable animal research is to humans
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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY
and how much like humans animals should be treated. What do your students think about this line of
reasoning?