Chapter 1: Psychology and Scientific Thinking

Question 1

What is a concept?

Answer 1

The ideas and knowledge a person has about a set or group of objects, actions or characteristics

Question 2

What is Confirmation Bias and 1 Example?

Answer 2

The tendency to seek out or prioritize evidence that supports a personal hypothesis or beliefs while disregarding, distorting or dismissing contradictory evidence.
Ex: When a racist sees anecdotes proving their hypothesize while ignoring statistical evidence

Question 3

How can Conciousness be defined?

Answer 3

Our subjective experience of the world, our bodies and mental processes

Question 4

What is the Ad Hoc Immunizing Hypothesis?

Answer 4

A defence mechanism proponents of a theory use to escape accusation or contradictory evidence
Ex: Someone says the Earth is flat but backpedals and introduces new descriptions and hypothesizes when confronted with opposing opinions

Question 5

What is the Correlation-Causation Fallacy and an Example of it.

Answer 5

An error in assuming because one thing is connected to another that it is caused by the other
Ex: Superstitions people hold often stem from this, an anomaly happens when connected to something else but not necessarily caused by it

Question 6

What is Critical Thinking?

Answer 6

A set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and objective manner

Question 7

What is a Cult?

Answer 7

A group of individuals with an unquestioning stance and devotion to a single cause

Question 8

How can Emotion be defined?

Answer 8

A mental state or feeling associated with a similar evaluation of our experiences

Question 9

What is aggression?

Answer 9

Behaviour intended to harm another, physically or emotionally

Question 10

What are the 5 Psychological Frameworks Studied in Chapter 1?

Answer 10

Structuralism
Functionalism
Behaviouralism
Cognitivism
Psychoanalysis

Question 11

What is Evolutionary Psychology?

Answer 11

Studying animal and human behaviour under the lens of Darwin’s Theory of Natural selection to understand how traits and behaviours evolved into populations
Ex Why are some men attracted to younger women and some to older?

Question 12

What is an Experiment?

Answer 12

A study characterized by the random assignment of participants to carefully structured conditions to isolate for a manipulated variable

Question 13

What is Falsifiability and what is it important in science?

Answer 13

The ability for a theory or observation to be disproven. If something is untestable or unable to be disproven it has little scientific worth as it will not be able to explain

Question 14

What is Functionalism and what would a functionalist study?

Answer 14

A school of psychology aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological traits
Ex: Why do we grimace when something is gross? The functionalist says the facial expression limits ability to smell and particles to get in the mouth and eyes. It is a functional response to psychological stimuli

Question 15

What is a hypothesis and what is not a hypothesis?

Answer 15

Testable predictions made from scientific theories
Ex: Based on statistical data the efficiency of the catalase enzyme is linked to or caused diabetes
Ex wrong: I believe time travel is impossible (Does not base hypothesis off of anything, the actual statement is not testable and it contributes nothing to evidence building)

Question 16

What is the Id?

Answer 16

In Psychoanalysis, it is our primal reserve of built-up impulses, sex and aggression

Question 17

What is an illusion?

Answer 17

When our outward observations do not match up with an object or phenomenon physical reality

Question 18

What is Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Answer 18

A set of standardized tests aimed to assess intelligence in a systematic measurable manner

Question 19

What is Introspection?

Answer 19

A method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences

Question 20

What is language?

Answer 20

A largely arbitrary system of communication that combines symbols in a rule-based way to create meaning

Question 21

What is learning?

Answer 21

Change in an organism’s behaviour brought upon by experience

Question 22

What are the levels of analysis in psychology and explain an example?

Answer 22

Rungs on a metaphorical ladder in psychology with biological components and explanations being on the bottom and social constructs on the top
Ex: Why do we Seek out Women with bigger hips?
The bottom rung explanation is women with bigger hips are biologically better child-bearers
The top rung explanation is it has become socially recognized that bigger hips mean thicker women and that is defined as sexy or hot

Question 23

What is a metaphysical claim and why is it not scientific?

Answer 23

An assertion about the world that cannot be feasibly tested. If something is not testable then it cannot be proven so it cannot be accepted as factual
Ex God or the Supernatural cannot be disproven or scientifically confirmed so it is metaphysics and not scientific

Question 24

What is Naive Realism?

Answer 24

The assumption that all is exactly as it seems, we must be objective with the world and things must be proven before they should be trusted

Question 25

What is Pattericity?

Answer 25

The tendency to detect meaningful patterns in random information

Question 26

What is Personality?

Answer 26

A person’s typical way of thinking, feeling, and behaving

Question 27

What is Psychoanalysis and what do Psychoanalysts focus on or study?

Answer 27

The study of internal subconscious processes

Ex What happens when people suppress their Id and what are the consequences

Question 28

What is Pseudoscience and why can it be harmful?

Answer 28

A set of claims or beliefs that seem scientific but are not actually rooted in science.
Pseudoscience is often harmful because it can cause direct harm to people who believe in faulty science, indirect harm but robbing someone of an opportunity to get better, kill or endanger animals if they are involved in the often unethical process or just cloud people’s judgement and ability to think critically

Question 29

What is behaviourism and why is it often considered more scientific?

Answer 29

Behaviourism is the study not of thinking processes or how the brain comes up with a response but with the measurable outcome of said response. Behaviourists uncover psychological phenomena but observing and measuring responses to stimuli.
It is very rigorous and well defined Ie: How much food does it take to elicit a response? What is the outcome of x stimuli? Is it repeatable in a population?

Question 30

What is a Theory and why is the definition important?

Answer 30

A theory is a conclusion to all of the evidence an idea has for or against it. A theory is not a guess but the best answer to all the evidence present in a study. A theory is important to define because if it is not related to science it is an unfalsifiable guess at best

Question 31

What is scientific skepticism and why is it important for critical thinking?

Answer 31

Scientific skepticism is a way of viewing all claims in an objective way and not accepting everything at a first glance. Most science is not common sense and not everything works as it seems, we need to be skeptical about simple conclusions or theories and especially unfalsifiable ones.

Question 32

Explain why Psychology is more than just Common Sense

Answer 32

Psychology is the study of the human mind, brain and behaviour. With this definition, it is hard to concretely pinpoint what exactly any of these terms are and how they influence each other and individuals. The human world and mind are much more than our Naive Realism leads us to believe and our perceptions and memories are not always infallible or reliable sources of information. Like any science, it is often beyond the realm of common sense and it has to be thoroughly studied to understand its inner workings

Question 33

What is a sensation?

Answer 33

Detection of physical stimuli which the sensory organs then relay to the brain

Question 34

What is structuralism and what did it study?

Answer 34

A school of psychology in which researchers try to find “structures” in the mind of concepts and ideas.
Ex: What is colour and how is mapped in the brain, where does the concept of colour reside and how does it influence other structures?

Question 35

What is thinking?

Answer 35

Any mental activity involving the processing of information including; learning, remembering, perceiving, communicating, believing and deciding

Question 36

What is Cognitive Psychology?

Answer 36

A school of psychology that focuses on the study of thinking rather than behaving. They believe to uncover the mystery of behaviour we must first understand thinking and thought.

Question 37

What makes Psychology difficult to study?

Answer 37

Behaviour is difficult to understand and predict (The best way to predict future behaviour is to look at past behaviour)
Psychological influences are connected to each other and impact each other (Many often are correlated to each other and modifying one will most likely change some to some measurable extent)