Dr. Tera Letzring

The Beauty of Statistics and Research Methods

Adults should exercise for 2 ½ hours per week. Research shows that humans have contributed to global warming. What do these kinds of statements really mean? Should you change what you do based on this information? Answering these kinds of questions is difficult. Understanding statistics and research methods can help you do this correctly. An important part of research methods is being a good critical thinker, which means being objective and looking for evidence for and against a statement. Fortunately, this is a skill that can be learned. Once you have collected this evidence, you have to figure out what it means, and this is where statistics come in. Statistics can help us summarize and make sense of a lot of information, and this will help us address important questions and make decisions that could affect our lives.

Personality Psychology: Why Do People Think What They Think, Feel What They Feel, and Do What They Do?

Personality is your relatively consistent pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Personality psychologists study personality and try to understand where it comes from, other factors it is related to, how it changes, and how it can predict future outcomes. This talk will cover some key findings of personality psychology that will help you to understand others better, or at least to understand that people are complicated and there is usually not an easy answer to these questions.