PSY 418

In this lab you will gain familiarity with PsychINFO and the psychological literature. You will also get some practice with psychological concepts, constructs, and operational definitions. These skills will serve you well in your first paper. Record all of your answers in Word or some other word processor.

Select three psychological concepts or constructs from different areas of psychology. One might be from the area of abnormal psychology, e.g., depression, mania, schizophrenia; one might be a personality characteristic, e.g., anxiety, introversion; and one might be a cognitive function or ability, e.g., memory, imagery, attention.

Use PsychINFO to access the psychological literature. You can access PsychInfo at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Indexes/p.html.

1.Find the number of references for each of the three concepts or constructs you selected above. Use the limit (e.g., look at only human participants) or combine functions of PsychINFO to refine your search a subtopic of the main topic. Record your search and the number of references you found. View some of the abstracts and record one (copy and paste or print it out) that interests you. Try to pick one that allows you to answer the questions below. You only need to answer the questions below for the one abstract you picked (not one from each of three areas).

2.Can you find the article in at UT library? What library contains the journal and what are its call numbers? Use UTCAT (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/utcat.html).

3.How did the authors operationally define the relevant concepts or constructs? This might not be specified and you may have to make an educated guess from the information presented in the abstract.

4.What is the reported finding?

5.Describe one alternative operational definition for each of your concepts or constructs.

6.How might one of your operational definitions provide a better measure of the construct? If not a better measure, in what way do you think your operational definition might provide different information?