Chapter 1: Psychology and Scientific Thinking

Question 1

The 6 Principles of Scientific Thinking

Answer 1

1. Ruling out rival hypotheses
2. Correlation isn’t causation
3. Falsifiability
4. Replicability
5. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
6. Occam’s Razor

Question 2

Psychology

Answer 2

The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour.

Question 3

Levels of Analysis

Answer 3

Rungs on a ladder of analysis, with lower levels tied most closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences.

Question 4

Multiply Determined

Answer 4

Caused by many factors.

Question 5

Individual Differences

Answer 5

Variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behaviour.

Question 6

Naive Realism

Answer 6

Belief that we see the world precisely as it is.

Question 7

Scientific Theory

Answer 7

An explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world.

Question 8

Confirmation Bias

Answer 8

A tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypotheses and deny, distort, or dismiss evidence that contradicts them.

Question 9

Belief Perseverance

Answer 9

A tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them.

Question 10

Metaphysical Claims

Answer 10

Assertions about the world that are not testable.

Ex. The existence of God, souls and the afterlife

Question 11

Pseudoscience

Answer 11

A set of claims that seem scientific but isn’t.

Question 12

Ad hoc Immunizing Hypothesis

Answer 12

An escape hatch or loop hole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification.

Question 13

Patternicity

Answer 13

The tendency to detect meaningful patterns in random stimuli.

Question 14

Terror Management Theory

Answer 14

A theory proposing that our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror we cope with by adopting reassuring cultural world views.

Question 15

Mortality Salience

Answer 15

The extent to which thoughts of death are foremost in our minds.

Question 16

Bias Blind Spot

Answer 16

A phenomenon that demonstrates that most people are unaware of their own biases but keenly aware of them in others.

Question 17

Scientific Skepticism

Answer 17

An approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them.

Question 18

Critical Thinking

Answer 18

A set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and careful fashion.

Question 19

Correlation-Causation Fallacy

Answer 19

The error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other.

Question 20

Variable

Answer 20

A factor that is liable to vary or change.

Question 21

Falsifiable

Answer 21

Capable of being disproved.

Question 22

Risky Prediction

Answer 22

A forecast (or hypothesis) that stands a good chance of being wrong.

Question 23

Replicability

Answer 23

When a study’s findings are able to be duplicated, ideally by independent investigators.

Question 24

ESP

Answer 24

Extrasensory Perception.

Question 25

Parsimony

Answer 25

Logical simplicity.

Question 26

Introspection

Answer 26

An experimental method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences.

Question 27

Functionalism

Answer 27

A school of psychology that aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics.

Question 28

Structuralism

Answer 28

A school of psychology that aimed to identify the basic elements of psychological experience.

Question 29

Natural Selection

Answer 29

The principle that organisms that possess adaptations survive and reproduce at a higher rate than other organisms.

Question 30

Behaviourism

Answer 30

A school of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking at observable behaviour.

Question 31

The 5 Theoretical Frameworks of Psychology

Answer 31

1. Structuralism
2. Functionalism
3. Behaviouralism
4. Cognitivism
5. Psychoanalysis

Question 32

Cognitive Neuroscience

Answer 32

A relatively new field of psychology that examines the relation between brain functioning and thinking.

Question 33

Psychoanalysis

Answer 33

A school of psychology, founded by Sigmund Freud, that focuses on internal psychological process of which we’re unaware.

Question 34

Evolutionary Psychology

Answer 34

A discipline that applies Darwin’s theory of natural selection to human and animal behaviour.

Question 35

Basic Research

Answer 35

Research examining how the mind works.

Question 36

Applied Research

Answer 36

Research examining how we can use basic research to solve real-world problems.

Question 37

Cognitive Psychology

Answer 37

A school of psychology that proposes that thinking is central to understanding behaviour.