Statistics In A Nutshell

What is statistics?

Statistics is an area of mathematics, a collection of tools for analyzing data, and a way of thinking. As a subset of mathematics, statistics can be the study of multidimensional space, models of chance, or representational structure and change. For most people, statistics is more practical. [Read more]

Social Learning In A Nutshell

What is social learning theory?

Social learning theories are an extension of behaviorism. They use an empirical approach but emphasize social influence and environmental adaptation. Think of them as behaviorism with a context. [Read more]

Making Friends

Surprisingly, until recently, psychology didn’t study happiness. The focus was on what made people miserable, and how to help them become less miserable. This misery could be depression, anxiety, phobias, addictions or bad relationships. But the goal was to change people, and make them feel better.

Positive Psychology is the brain child of Martin Seligman. This version of psychology is still founded on systematic observation, empirical research, and replication. It is not so much a new psychology as a change of focus. Using the same tools as always, psychology is aiming at something different: feeling good. Going from feeling bad to feeling not so bad is not the same as feeling good. Being less miserable might lead you to believe that the goal is to feel nothing (“I no longer feel bad”). But Seligman maintains that there should be something beyond not feeling bad.

We know this makes sense from our personal experience. We don’t get together with our friends simply to feel less bad. We get together to create and share our happiness. We don’t want to limit ourselves to lowering our defenses. We also want to experience contentment, happiness and hope.

So when you think of psychology, broaden your view beyond the diagnosing of disorders, or even the neutral emotion of exploring brain chemistry and neural pathways. Psychology is also about improving our creativity, self-knowledge, understanding, parenting and teamwork.

For more on happiness and friends, check out our free course on Personality. Everything you need to learn about personality is there. We give no college credit because we don’t charge anything.

Psychology Of Voting

There are a lot of jokes that start: “There are  two kinds of people…” I suppose that when it comes to politics, there are those who vote and those don’t.

Psychology is the study of all kinds of people. It’s about what we do, and why we do it. In our most recent election, some people voted but others who could have did not. Why people choose to do one behavior and not do another is part of what psychology studies.

But psychology isn’t limited to just one perspective. Voting could be explained by decision theory. Some researchers might choose to examine personality traits of the voters, the candidates or both. Other research might look at the media clips, or analyze the influence of positive or negative ads. Still others might use mathematical models to predict voting patterns.

What all approaches in psychology share is an emphasis on systematic observation. Regardless of the research technique, we rely on observations to identify patterns of behavior. We’re not all that interested in a single instance of behavior. Psychology looks for general principles that explain, and hopefully predict, human behavior. One election is interesting but having patterns of behavior is our ultimate goal. We want to know why people do the things they do.

For more on why people are the way they are, check out our free course on Personality. Everything you need to learn about personality is there. We give no college credit because we don’t charge anything.

Tour of Statistics

If you are taking statistics, or want an overview or review of its principles, I’ve created a 10-Day Guided Tour just for you. This tour covers everything you need to know to master a university-level course in introductory statistics.

There are audio files, videos, simulations and lost of practice problems. And there is a step by step tour of all of the principles of statistics, and how to apply them to your research. 

 GO TO STATISTICS

Tour of Personality

 Personality is the study of who we are. It’s composed of many theories about how and why we behave as we do. Before we create our own theory of personality, it’s wise to see what others have said on the subject.

The theories are presented in semi-chronological order. But you’ll soon discover that ideas are not limited to one period of time. They pop up, are popular for a while, subside and vanish. But these same ideas will pop up again years, decades or centuries later.

After you’ve read about other views of personality, consider writing your own. It is really helpful to put your thinking into words. And quite challenging. Since I wouldn’t ask you to do something I wouldn’t do myself, I’ve included my theory of personality. Use it as a model of what to include but not necessarily what to believe.

 GO TO PERSONALITY

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