Chapter 1 Flashcards
Methods of Knowing
- Intuition
- Authority
- Rationalism
- Empiricism
- the Scientific Method
Intuition
: Gut instinct and emotions. Can be biased and wrong. May miss the whole picture since reason is not involved. However, sometimes our intuitions are correct and the best way to avoid analysis Paralysis.
Also, they can occasionally be more correct than logic. They are also very fast processing.
Authority
: Big powerful person says it’s true so we assume it’s true. Sometimes authoritative sources are right if they have credentials. Sometimes they are wrong because they abuse the trust.
Authorities can disagree, fool and be biased themselves. But if they authorative and have credentials for the right reasons then perhaps a smidge of trust can be applied
Rationalism
Logic and Reason. Syllogisms using existing ideas (called Premises) to develop new ideas. Usually a pretty good way of deduction.
Excludes emotions but the entire thought process can be wrong if the premise is wrong. Its less likely to be wrong then authority and intuition but if the logicv is flawed then mistakes can be made.
Empiricism
Observation and Experience. Usually pretty good to trust raw observation. But sometimes our senses may be fooled by illusions such as the world appearing flat. Plus prior experience can shape how we view things.
Our prior knowledge or experience could be wrong or maybe there is a part of the picture we don’t know about. However science relies on our good observations
Scientific Method
The process. It produces valid knowledge but it has problems. Like its not always feasible to address problems scientifically and some questions cannot be answered when tools and techniques are limited.
Three Fundamental Features of Science
- Systematic Empiricism
- Empirical Questions
- Public Knowledge
Systematic Empiricism
: Observation and Experience that is recorded, counted, measured and compared. Using reliable and valid tests and systemized procedures.
Empirical Questions
Questions about the way the material properties of the world is that can be answered by systematic empiricism. Like you cannot answer if God exists or not. KArl Popper even suggested that a claim must be falsifiable and not self-evident. Otherwise it enters other realms of knowing like philosophy
Public Knowledge
Publish to work and see how it stands up to the public eye. Some people are opting to publish in open-access journals. Two important features of this is it allows for the sharing of work to advance the knowledge and to be self-correcting. It is transmitted through journals and presentations. If an article stands up to peer review then it gets published. By an authoritative journal, who probably has biases of their own. Many journals have rejections rates of 75-85%. The results must also be able to be replicated.
Why is Psychology Still considered a science?
Psychology may be concerned with something less tangible than chemistry or physics. However it uses the same systemized approach to understanding a property of the world, human behavior.
What is a pseudoscience
Theories that appear to be scientific but are not. They lack one of the three fundamental features of science. Some like Karl Popper argue that the claim must be falsifiable and not self-evident.
Why does Pseudoscience Spread?
it is often appealing, we want to believe it. Plus it spreads easily on the internet
Three Goals of Science
- To describe: Description of things made by careful observations
- To predict: Once we have some regularity and recognition of patterns we have a relative ability to predict behavior. We can reasonably predict the outcome of two events.
- To explain: the cause of the phenomena or behavior
3 conditions to be satisfied before making a casual inference
- Covariation: When The Cause is present, the effect occurs. When the Cause is absent, the effect does not occur.
- Temporal Order: The Cause must precede the effect.
- Alternative Explanations: Other factors that could cause the phenomenon or behavior must be excluded. This is difficult because a lot of things could be the reason why a phenomenon occurs.
Basic Research
: Knowledge for knowledge’s sake. A more detailed understanding of human behavior.
EX. Do people with depression show less serotonin?
Applied research
Knowledge aimed at attacking some form of problem or practical application.
Ex. Can a brand of antidepressants curb depression?
Explain the limitations of common sense when it comes to achieving a detailed and accurate understanding of human behavior
Also called Folk Psychology. These are more intuitive and not based on science. Commonly held truths may have no basis or if they do have some truth maybe are due to something else.
Common heuristics are mental shortcuts meant to make processing easier which leads to folk psychology but can be wrong. Such as with conformation bias.
Give several examples of common sense or folk psychology that are incorrect.
“People use only 10% of their brain power.”
“Most people experience a midlife crisis in their 40’s or 50’s.”
“Students learn best when teaching styles are matched to their
learning styles.”
“Low self-esteem is a major cause of psychological problems.”
“Psychiatric admissions and crimes increase during full moons.”
Skepticism
A pause to search for evidence of the claim and not to accept it at face value. To ask if it was due to something else. To check for a source.
Tolerance for Uncertainty
An acceptance of what one does not know
Define the clinical practice of psychology and distinguish it from experimental psychology.
Experimental psychologists are typically researchers with Ph.D.s and specialize ina subfield of research with the help of their graduate students or they do work in the private sector. They also ARE NOT typically licensed clinicians
Clinical Psychology: Practicing counselors that apply scientific practices practically to help clients
Explain how science is relevant to clinical practice.
Behavioral problems are part of the natural world and thus possibly able to be scientifically studied. It can help get scientifically verified treatments for clients
Define the concept of an empirically supported treatment and give some examples.
Treatments that are scientifically verified to be useful in combating mental illness such as :
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). for depression, mixed anxiety disorders, psychosis, chronic pain, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Behavioral couples therapy. For alcohol use disorders.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). For many disorders including eating disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, etc.
Exposure therapy. For post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias.
Exposure therapy with response prevention. For obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Family-based treatment. For eating disorders.
