Chapter 1 Flashcards
(41 cards)
What is Psychology?
The scientific study of the mind, brain and behaviour
What are the Levels of Analysis?
Social Culture Influences
Psychological
Biological
What are the 5 main challenges?
- Human behaviour is difficult to predict
- Psychological influences are rarely independent
- Individual differences among people
- People influence one another
- Behavior is shaped by culture
What is emic?
(within) member of culture when studying, makes biased
What is etic?
(external) non member of culture when studying, struggles for understanding
What is naive realism?
“seeing is believing” yet, appearances are deceiving
What is a scientific theory?
An explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world
What is a hypothesis?
A testable prediction
What are the misconceptions?
A theory explains just one event
A theory is just an educated guess
What is confirmation bias?
Seeking evidence that supports a hypothesis, while neglecting contradicting evidence
What is belief perseverance?
Sticking to our initial beliefs even when evidence is contradictory
What is the “don’t confuse me with the facts” bias?
Believing something even when proven wrong
What are metaphysical claims?
Assertions about the world that are not testable ex) Gods, ghosts, life after death
What is Pseudoscience?
Set of claims that seem scientific but lack defenses from bias
What are the warning signs for pseudoscience?
- Over reliance on anecdotes
- Lack of self-correction
- Ad hoc hypothesis adjustments
- Talk of “proof” instead of “evidence”
What are ad hoc hypothesis?
escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification
What is Patternicity?
Tendency to detect meaningful patterns in random stimuli
What is terror management theory?
Our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror we cope with.
Reminders of our death can lead us to adopt comforting world views
What is the antidote for pseudoscience?
Think scientifically, separate science from pseudoscience
What is emotional reasoning fallacy?
Using emotions rather than evidence
What is bandwagon fallacy?
Lots of people believe it so it must be true
What is not me fallacy?
Error of believing that we’re immune to bias
What are the dangers of pseudoscience?
- Opportunity cost
- Direct harm
- Blocks scientific thinking
What is scientific thinking?
willingness to keep an open mind to all claims and accept claims only after researchers have subjected them to careful scientific tests