Bad Science

Question 1

Name 5 examples of why bad science matters

Answer 1

> Health
> Legal Matters
> Ethical
> Financial
> Progress

Question 2

Give an example of Health

Answer 2

Newspaper headlines led to parents NOT vaccinating their children against measles, mumps and rubella

Question 3

Give an example of Legal Matters

Answer 3

Paul Ingram case

Question 4

Explain Paul Ingram case

Answer 4

Was a policeman in DC, accused by his daughters of molesting them as children. During investigation he “recovered” memories of abuse and satanic rituals.
He served a prison sentence, but eventually tried to retract his confession, as he believed that his “recovered” memories were false.
The case was all based on the notion that Ingram repressed his memories and then recovered them.

Question 5

Give an example of Ethical

Answer 5

Employing frauds, selecting people based on “personality tests” which had no factual support.

Question 6

Give an example of Financial

Answer 6

Diverting funds to ineffective treatments

Question 7

Give an example of Progress

Answer 7

Advance in modern science slowed by “bogus” theories which have no true empirical backing

Question 8

Define Science

Answer 8

Science is the idea that knowledge of the external world can come only from objective investigation.

Question 9

Define Pseudoscience

Answer 9

Nonscience masquerading as genuine science… it possesses the same trappings around science, but does usually is based on false evidence, or no evidence at all

Question 10

Describe scientific methods

Answer 10

We can discover the causes of events through systematic observation/empirical observation. Empirical means that experience, not faith, is the source of knowledge.

Question 11

Discus correlation vs. causation

Answer 11

To support the idea that x causes y, requires a controlled empirical experimentation. Just because 2 variables correlate does NOT mean that one causes another. There may be a third variable (or many other variables) which may explain the relation.

Question 12

An example of correlation vs. causation

Answer 12

Breakfast and school performance

Question 13

What makes a good theory?

Answer 13

> Testability
Falsifiable
Simplicity

Question 14

Discuss Testability

Answer 14

A theory must be open to experimentation and must be falsifiable e.g. many people claim to be psychic refuse to be tested in labs, as they claim the “presence of a skeptic” disrupts their abilities. Thus their claims fail the condition of testability.

Question 15

What makes a good questionnaire?

Answer 15

> Reliability (same score on two separate occasions)

>Validity

Question 16

How does psychology enforce good scientific practice?

Answer 16

> Peer review - Vets 2 or 3 experts evaluate articles or journals before they are published
.> Replication - Other researchers will often attempt to replicate the findings of that publication

Question 17

Why is it difficult to replicate findings?

Answer 17

The replication crisis

Question 18

What is the replication crisis?

Answer 18

2015 Science published a study attempting to replicate 100 findings from top psychological studies. The authors successfully replicated only 38 of the 100 findings.

Question 19

How do unreliable findings get published in the first place?

Answer 19

> Individual differences
Failing to report all relevant detail
Poor statistical practices

Question 20

Why do researchers engage in these poor scientific practices

Answer 20

> Their belief may blind the researcher

> The pursuit of a scientific career may pressure the researcher to get certain results

Question 21

Name two examples of Bad Science

Answer 21

> Repression

> Myers-Brigg Type Indicator (MBTI)

Question 22

What is repression

Answer 22

It is the blocking out of memories of traumatic events. There is no evidence of this mechanism (McNally 2012)

Question 23

What did McNally 2003 argue

Answer 23

The notion that the mind protects istelf by repressing memories of trauma, rendering them inaccessible to awareness, is a piece of psychiatric folklore devoid of convincing empirical support

Question 24

Name a piece of evidence that backs the existence of repression

Answer 24

Williams (1994) interviewed 129 women who had been sexually abused 17 years earlier. Only 38% of those women reported their sexual abuse.

Question 25

Discuss alternative explanations of Williams’ findings

Answer 25

> Childhood amnesia (most cases occurred when the women were very young)
Maybe some women did not feel like mentioning it as it is a sensitive subject

Question 26

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Answer 26

MBTI was used to predict the career for which a person was “best suited”
It was based on Carl Jung’s 1921 Psychological Types book.
Each person’s personality fits into 1 of 16 types based on 4 features of personality

Question 27

Name the 4 features of personality in the MBTI

Answer 27

> Attitude
Perceiving
Judging
Lifestyle

Question 28

Name the main issue with the MBTI

Answer 28

Validity: does it predict career success? There is no existing data to support this query.