writtenresponse Essay

Georgie Lara

Stephanie Gilbert

PSYCH 150

13 January 2019

Ch. 1 Written Responses

The value a researcher gains by calculating a correlation coefficient rather than describing the relationship as a simple positive or negative correlation is because it gives the researcher a better picture between the variables. Rather than calculating whether it is a positive or a negative, the correlation coefficient shows the relationship between those. “Correlation allows the researcher to investigate naturally occurring variables that may be unethical or impractical to test experimentally. For example, it would be unethical to conduct an experiment on whether smoking causes lung cancer.

” (McLeod, 2018). With that being said, the researcher doesn’t have to go “out of bounds” to get the information he/she needs to make some sort of sense on the subject.

It’s important for psychologists to study the human brain because they can give humans the answers we search for when we wonder why we are the way we are, or why we react to certain things.

So doctors can see who thinks more with their right, or left brain. If the brain is even in a healthy state or not. The types of strategies psychologists use in studying the brain can include an MRI, or CT scan. Other types can include brain lesioning, which are artificial brain damages so the psychologist can see which parts of the brain are altered by the damage and if it is affected by behavior. Brain staining, which is a way for psychologists to see which parts of the brain are affected by one another. There are many other ways psychologists use to study the brain, and with evolving science, humans can only get more intrigued with different new ways to study the brain.

There will always be pros and cons when studying the brain, or in any kind of study. However, I believe there will be more strengths in case studies than weaknesses. For one, it provides more insight to the person or situation. Some people can be pretty good liars is a weakness but there are many other people out there that can see through those lies. It’ll give us more reasons to understand the person and why they act the way they do. “They are an important way of illustrating theories and can help show how different aspects of a person’s life are related to each other” (McLeod, 2018). Weaknesses can include the researcher leaning towards their own thinking process of the person or situation that they’re not seeing any bigger picture. Or not able to see if those conclusions gathered by the researcher only apply to a single person and not an entire group of people. When I was younger, the social services had came to my home and kept a close eye on my siblings and I. We even had to come to their offices a few times for our own “case study”. They wanted to see how our background, or environment affected us and if kids just like us, were affected in the same way. To their surprise, most kids in our situation ended up in gangs, jails, or pregnant at a very young age but that wasn’t us. It’s easy to give into what you know and learn but anyone can change it if they want to. Needless to say, that case study was easily closed once all my siblings shown we weren’t part of that group. I’ve always wondered why we weren’t part of that group either. I would’ve loved to be part of a study where my brain was studied how I reacted to certain pictures, or situations. In all, Psychologists have come a long way in trying to figure out the human brain.

Works Cited

McLeod, S. A. (2018). Correlation. Retrieved from

“How Do Psychologists Study About the Brain?” General Psychology, general-psychology.weebly.com/how-do-psychologists-study-about-the-brain.html.

McLeod, S. A. (2014, Feb 05). Case study method. Retrieved from

Myers, David G. Psychology, Tenth Edition. New York: Worth Publishers, 2013.