Chapter 1 - Psychology and Scientific Thinking Flashcards
What is psychology?
The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour.
What are five challenges of psychology?
CRIMM: Multiply determined Multicollinearity Individual differences Reciprocal determinism Cultural differences
Challenge: multiply-determined
Most things studied in psychology are not the result of just one cause.
Challenge: multicollinearity
Multiple factors are themselves related to each other.
Challenge: individual differences
Make it hard to find universal explanations.
Challenge: reciprocal determinism
“Feedback”
We influence each other’s behaviour.
Challenge: cultural differences
Another limit on broad generalizations that can be made about human nature.
Earliest origins if psychology?
Ancient Greece:
Plato and Aristotle
Rene Descartes
Enlightenment philosopher
Cogito ergo sum
Mind-body (“Cartesian”) dualism
Argued that the mind and body interact at the pineal gland, the “seat of the soul”.
John Locke
Enlightenment philosopher
Emphasized nurture rather than nature
Saw the mind as a “Tabula rasa” (blank slate)
Philosophers vs psychologists
Philosophers rely on logic and reason
Psychologists rely on the method of inquiry
Wilhelm Wundt
Structuralism
Developed first real psych lab
Used reaction time equipment
Introspection
Functionalism
- William James and influenced by Charles Darwin
- Aimed to understand adaptive purposed to psy characteristics
- Absorbed into mainstream; still influences today
Structuralism
- Edward Titchener (student of Wundt)
- Aimed to identify and map basic structures/elements of the mind
- Introspection and systematic observation
- Psychologists became too fascinated with psychics, so psychology moved away from spiritualism
- Instead started asking how people can fool themselves
What are the dominant theoretical frameworks in the 20th century?
San Francisco + BC = Pacific:
- Structuralism
- Functionalism
- Behaviourism
- Cognitivism
- Psychoanalysis
Behaviourism
- John Watson and B.F. Skinner
- “Black box psychology”
- Looking at observable behaviours to uncover the general laws of learning
- Thought this would help psy become hard science
Cognitivism
- Piaget; Neisser
- Proposes that thinking is central to understanding behaviour
- Interpretation of rewards and punishments is important, not just behaviour
Psychoanalysis
- Freud; Jung
- Focuses on internal processes of which we’re unaware
- Emphasis on childhood experiences
- Decoding symbolic meanings of dreams
Cognitive neuroscience
- Branch of cognitivism
- Relationship between brain functioning and thought
Clinical psychologist
- Research OR Therapy
- Don’t need Ph.D
Counselling Psychologist
- Work with typical people experiencing everyday problems
- Marital, career, family problems
School Psychologist
- Work with students, parents, teachers
- NOT educational psychology
Developmental Psychologist
- Study how and why people change over time
- Mostly study children, but sometimes adults and elderly
- Spend most time in lab
Experimental Psychologists
- Typically refers to researchers interested in cognition
- Use research methods to study memory, language, thinking, social behaviour
Biopsychologists
-Research biological basis of behaviour
Forensic psychologist
- Work in prisons, jails, to diagnose and treat inmates
- Conduct research on police techniques and courtroom issues
- FBI “profiler” is a small and controversial sub specialty
Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychologists
- Work with companies to help select and evaluate employees
- Design safe and efficient equipment
Five components of a Scientific approach:
CHORE:
Communalism-Sharing findings with peers
Hypothesis testing-Testing whether predictions happen
Objectivity/Disinterestedness-Don’t apply personal subjectivity
Replicability-Other scientists repeat results
Empirical evidence-Knowledge initially acquired through observation
Biases
NBC (ie. news=biased?):
Naive realism- “seeing is believing”
Belief perseverance- hanging on to beliefs in face of contrary evidence
Confirmation bias- only seeking out information that supports our beliefs
Six Principles of Critical Thinking:
R/C FREO (radio controlling something amorphous):
Replicability Correlation is not Causation Falsifiability (Popper) Rival Hypotheses (rule out) Extraordinary Claims (Hume) Occam’s Razor
Pseudoscience
- Claims that seem scientific and take advantage of that fact, but aren’t
- Lacks safeguards against bias
Why should we care about pseudoscience?
O, SAD!
- Opportunity cost
- Direct harm
- Slippery slope
- Animal deaths
Driving factors of Pseudoscientific belief
- Scientific illiteracy and anti-intellectualism
- Emotional Factors (fallacies):
- Motivational factors (feels good to believe)
- Cognitive Factors (Make order out of disorder; pareidolia; apophenia)
Pareidolia
P for Picture
Tendency to perceive specific/meaningful images (Pictures) in random or ambiguous patterns
Apophenia
A for Abstract
Tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated phenomena
