Unit 2 PB1: The Purpose of Psychological Research

Alex O’Brien

Prof Schranck

Writ 2

18 August 2016

Unit 2 PB1: The Purpose of Psychological Research

How you were treated as a child, and the relationship that you had with either one or both of your parents, is likely to have had a significant impact on your growth and development as an individual, as well as how you conduct yourself in relationships with others. This issue lies in the broad and widely-varied field of psychology, specifically the socio-developmental discipline. Although it may seem that this claim cannot possibly be argued against, as it makes both theoretical and hypothetical sense, it is nonetheless falsifiable in the terms of a scientific statement. In science, hypotheses and even theories conveyed through mediums such as textbooks and, for the case of this post, journal articles, aren’t likely to be taken seriously if there is insufficient evidence for or against a scientific stance. Authors, researchers, scientists and experts must backup their claims with credible evidence for the sake of scientific progress in academia. The following and soon-to-be discussed scientific articles belong in the same academic genre, but follow different methods of rhetoric as a means to offer potentially new studies and information, as well as to inform an audience interested in the developmental psychological discipline.

The purpose of the two articles is first and foremost to inform, and both do so in a similar and different fashion. In article 1, the authors objectify through statistical analysis how parent-child relationships govern later relationships with opposite-sex significant others while article 2 strictly discusses how early-life stress (ELS) affects later cognitive function and changes in neurobiological pathways. A student who reads or even skims through both articles may find many commonalities between the two that make them both belong to the same academic genre. First, a strong scientific theory tends to have few assumptions of causation as many questions in most scientific fields such as psychology, tend to have few definitive answers to broad questions. Thus, it tends to be of utmost importance that the authors attempt to incorporate others’ plausible studies to reinforce their own, as the authors in article 2 state,

“…the structure of this review is guided by research developments in humans over the past two decades…” and “…considering the plethora of studies investigating ELS using a vast range of designs, it was our objective to merge findings to highlight primary pathways of early neurobiological disruptions affecting later well-being” (Pechtel/Pizzagali).

Most academic articles need to draw from the findings from previous researchers, as well as claims that possibly reinforce the current authors’ beliefs and findings. More importantly, their findings must have credibility, or ethos in the form of replicable experimental study, attempting to draw upon possible causation. Article 1 informs its audience through the use of empirical data, in this case, statistical analysis, which serves as a form of logos intended to back up the authors’ argument with numerical findings. It also contains complex charts with seemingly complicated values assigned as statistics computed for the sake of scientific causation. Article 2 meanwhile, summarizes other researchers’ experimental data and procedures to reinforce its own claim. Although both articles convey their evidence through different means, both must follow similar guidelines in order for their research to be published and considered.

Style and organization also plays an important role in the academic genre, as it allows the audience to reconstruct the whole of the argument in specific terms, and makes readers more likely to believe in and take the article more seriously. In both articles, the sentence length is rather long, as it takes many words to connect statements to the bigger idea of the subject-at-hand. Within the phrases lies the academic word choice: intelligent with many instances of complex vocabulary meant to aim for the specific in the academic argument. In a broader sense, the arguments typically begin with broad claims of presumably wide-spread and currently-held knowledge in the respective discipline. The author then unveils a new hypothesis, theory, claim, or even a topic already held with some degree of esteem, or generally, something that must be proven. Then to support this claim, the authors must present evidence, ideally in the form of an experiment with replicable results. Even then, for example in article 1, certain experimental conditions must be followed, such as random sampling in a longitudinal study.

“Respondents constituted a random sample of children born between 1955 and 1958 in Solna, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden. The sample is representative of Swedish children in urban areas and, on most parameters, of Swedish children in general…”

It is for this reason that new research is difficult to obtain, as many scientists and readers tend to be highly skeptical of evidence that may disprove, or even strengthen, current findings.

        As stated before, the main and implied purpose of an article in the academic genre is to present new knowledge to the scientific community and offer new insights for the sake of scientific progress. According to article 2, another reason for presentation of study occurs because “…relatively little attention has been devoted to integrating the breadth of findings concerning possible cognitive and emotional deficits associated with ELS,” or in broader terms, focus must be emphasized on areas that have not been thoroughly investigated (Pechtel/Pizzagali). Article 2 itself, outlines this purpose in its abstract. In the context of both academic journals, it may be safe to say that they serve as guidelines for presentation of research. More importantly, it must be noted that the articles are most likely to have been written by people who are already experts in their field of study, and believe that they have something to offer for the scientific community. Although it is difficult to accurately portray new information, especially towards a staunch audience reading a falsifiable article, they mainly mean to inform, especially students and researchers who require further evidence to reinforce their own beliefs and ideas.

         

Works Cited

Overbeek, Geertjan, Håkan Stattin, Ad Vermulst, Thao Ha, and Rutger C. M. E. Engels. "Parent-child Relationships, Partner Relationships, and Emotional Adjustment: A Birth-to-maturity Prospective Study."Developmental Psychology 43.2 (2007): 429-37. Web. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17352550>.

Pechtel, Pia, and Diego A. Pizzagalli. "Effects of Early Life Stress on Cognitive and Affective Function: An Integrated Review of Human Literature."Psychopharmacology 214.1 (2010): 55-70. Web. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20865251>.