Chapter One - Psychology and Scientific Thinking Flashcards
William James
Founder of experimental psychology.
Functionalism.
What is psychology?
Study of mind, brain, and behaviour.
What are the levels of analysis?
Analogy: describes psychology as a complex study with many levels to it
(Like a ladder).
The lower rungs = biological influences or the brain.
Higher rungs = social or the mind.
Adds together, does not compete.
Why is human behaviour difficult to predict?
Almost all actions are produced by many factors.
Single-variable explanations of behaviour are usually unreliable.
What is reciprocal determinism?
We mutually influence each others behaviour.
Term was coined by Albert Bandura.
What is the emic approach?
Studying behaviour of a culture from the perspective of someone who grew up in the culture.
(Insider approach)
What is the etic approach
Studying the behaviour of a culture from an outsiders perspective.
What is naive realism?
The belief that we see the world precisely as it is.
What is confirmation bias?
Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our belief even when evidence contradicts it.
What is belief perseverance?
Tendency to stick to our initial belief even when evidence contradicts them.
What are metaphysical claims?
Assertions about the world that aren’t testable.
What is pseudoscience?
A set of claims that seem scientific but aren’t.
What are the warning signs of pseudosciene?
-Exaggerated claims.
-Over reliance on anecdotes.
-Absence of connectivity to other research.
-Lack of review by other scholars.
-Lack of self correction when contrary evidence is published.
-Meaningless psychobabble.
-Talk of proof instead of evidence.
What is ad hoc immunizing hypothesis?
Loophole defenders of a theory use to protect it from falsification.
What is patternicity?
Tendency to detect random patterns in meaningless stimuli.
What is terror management theory?
Theory proposing that our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror.
What are logical fallacies?
Traps in thinking that can lead to mistaken conclusions.
What is the emotional reasoning fallacy?
Error of using emotions as guides for evaluating the validity of a claim.
What is the bandwagon fallacy?
Error of assuming a claim is correct just because many people believe it.
What is the not me fallacy?
Error of believing we’re immune from errors in thinking that afflict other people.
What is a bias blind spot?
Demonstrates that most people are unaware of their own biases but keenly aware of others.
What is scientific skepticism?
Approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them.
What are the six principles of scientific thinking?
-Ruling out rival hypothesis.
-Correlation isn’t causation.
-Falsifiability.
-Replicability.
-Occam’s razor.
-Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Ruling out rival hypothesis
Whenever evaluating a psychological claim, we should ask whether we’ve excluded other plausible explanations for it.
Correlation isn’t causation
We should remember that a correlation doesn’t demonstrate a connection.
Falsifiability
Whenever evaluating a psychological claim we should ask whether one could disprove it or whether it’s consistent with any conceivable body of evidence.
Replicabilty
Whenever evaluating a psychological claim, we should ask whether independent investigators have replicated the findings that support this claim; otherwise, the findings might be a one-time-only fluke.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
Whenever evaluating a psychological claim, we should ask whether this claim runs counter to many things we know already and, if it does, whether the evidence is as extraordinary as the claim.
Occam’s razor
Whenever evaluating a psychological claim, we should ask whether the explanation that offends is the simplest explanation that accounts for the data or whether simpler explanations can account for the data equally well.
Correlation vs. Causation Fallacy
Error of assuming because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other.
What is structualism?
EB TITCHENER
Uses introspection to identify basic elements or “structures” of experience.
What is functionalism?
WILLIAM JAMES
To understand the functions or adaptive purposes of our thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
What is behaviourism?
BF SKINNER & JOHN B WATSON
To uncover the general principles of learning that explain all behaviour focus is largely on observable behaviour.
What is cognitivism?
JEAN PIAGET
To examine the role of mental processes on behaviour.
Psychoanalysis
SIGMUND FREUD
Uncovering the role of the unconscious psychological processes and early life experiences in behaviour.
Explain the nature vs nurture debate
Are our behaviours attributable mostly to our genes (nature) or rearing environments (nurture)?
Explain the free-will determinism debate
To what extent are our behaviours freely selected rather than caused by factors outside of our control.
What is the difference between basic and applied research?
Basic research examines how the mind works.
Applied research examines how we can use the basic research to solve real-world problems.
EB Titchener
Structuralism.
BF Skinner
Behaviourism.
Jean Piaget
Cognitivism.
Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis
(More covered later).
Wihelm Wundt
First true lab of psychology in Germany.
Pioneered technique of introspection.
