Chapter 6: Correlation  +1 means the correlation is perfect and the

relationship is positive
RELATIONSHIPS: LINEAR RELATIONSHIPS
 –1 means the correlation is perfect and the
• relationship between variables can best be seen by relationship is negative
plotting a graph using the paired X and Y values for as
the points on the graph.  0 means the relationship is nonexistent
• Such a graph is called a scatter plot (a graph of paired X
and Y values)
• A linear relationship between two variables is one in
which the relationship can be most accurately
represented by a straight line.
Positive and Negative Relationships
• The slope of the line tells us whether the relationship is
positive or negative.

• A positive relationship
Correlation Coefficient Interpretation
• indicates a direct relationship between the
variables
• Positive slope
• as X increases, Y increases.
• A negative relationship
• indicates an inverse relationship between X
and Y
• Negative slope
Linear Correlation Coefficient Pearson r
• as X increases, Y decreases
• Pearson r is a measure of the extent to which paired
scores occupy the same or opposite positions within their
own distributions.
• Correlation must be independent of the units used in
measuring the two variables
• the most frequently encountered correlation coefficient
in behavioral science research

Calculating Pearson r
 A perfect relationship a positive or negative
relationship exists and all of the points fall on the line.
(image a)
 imperfect relationship a relationship exists, but all of
the points do not fall on the line. (image b, c, d)
CORRELATION
 focuses on the direction and degree of the
relationship
 direction of the relationship:
o positive or negative
 degree of relationship:
o refers to the magnitude or strength of the
relationship.
o can vary from nonexistent to perfect

Correlation Coefficient
 expresses quantitatively the magnitude and direction
of the relationship
 can vary from +1 to –1
 The sign of the coefficient tells us whether the
relationship is positive or negative
 The numerical part of the correlation coefficient
describes the magnitude of the correlation
 The higher the number, the greater is the correlation

Therefore, based on these students, there is a very strong
relationship between similarity and attractiveness.
Relationship of r2 and explained variability
• r2 is called the coefficient of determination
• r2: the proportion of the total variability of Y that is
accounted for or explained by X
• If one of the variables is causal, then r2 is a measure of
the size of its effect
Other Correlation Coefficients
 In deciding which correlation coefficient to calculate,
the shape of the relationship and the measuring scale
of the data are the two most important
considerations
• correlation coefficient η (eta)
o for curvilinear relationship (relationship
between motor skills and age)
• Spearman rank order correlation coefficient rho
(rs)
o Both ordinal scales
• biserial correlation coefficient (rb)
o One on the interval scale one dichotomous
variable
• phi (ø) coefficient
o Each of the variables is dichotomous
Curvilinear relationships
 Effect of Range on Correlation
• restricting the range of either of the variables
will have the effect of lowering the correlation
 Effect of Extreme Scores
• an extreme score can drastically alter
the magnitude of the correlation coefficient
 Correlation Does Not Imply Causation
• whenever two variables are correlated, there are
four possible explanations of the correlation:
(1) the correlation between X and Y is spurious,
(2) X is the cause of Y,
(3) Y is the cause of X,
(4) a third variable is the cause of the correlation
between X and Y.
Chapter 7: Regression
Regression
• Regression and correlation are closely related
o both involve the relationship between two
variables
o both utilize the same set of basic data: paired
scores taken from the same or matched
subjects
• Regression focuses on using the relationship for
prediction
• Regression is a topic that considers using the
relationship between two or more variables for
prediction.
• Regression line is a best fitting line used for
prediction.
Regression Line
• is called the regression line of Y on X, or simply the
regression of Y on X, because we are predicting Y given
X.
• The regression line represents our best estimate of the Y
scores, given their corresponding X values.
• The standard error of estimate gives us a measure of R2 or r2
the average deviation of the prediction
errors about the regression line. • coefficient of determination

Regression • the proportion of the variance in the dependent variable

that is predictable from the independent variable(s)

It is suspected that low levels of the brain

neurotransmitter serotonin may be causally related to
aggressive behavior. As a first step in investigating this
hunch, a correlative study involving nine rhesus monkeys
was conducted.

Homoscedasticity
• assumption of homoscedasticity: the variability of Y
remains constant as we go from one X score to the next
• The homoscedasticity assumption implies that if we
divided the X scores into columns, the variability of Y
would not change from column to column

Multiple Regression
• Multiple regression is an extension of simple
regression to situations that involve two or more
predictor variables.
• The general form of the multiple regression equation
for two predictor variables is