Exam 1 Flashcards
Systemic empiricism
Structured observations that reveal something about the underlying nature of the world
Replication
Findings are presented in a way that can be attempted by others and obtain the same findings
Peer review
Procedure in which scientists, knowledgeable about the content of the research, critique the study
Problem
Answer is possible even if we don’t have one yet
Mystery
Can’t conceive what an answer might look like
Pseudoscience
A system of theories, assumptions, and methods erroneously regarded as scientific
Skepticism
A set of tools, honed by time and field-tested by science, into the best instruments we have for discovering the truth
(Someone who is skeptical = not easily convinced)
Folk wisdom
Body of knowledge rooted in beliefs/opinion of ordinary people
Hindsight bias
Known as the “I knew it all along effect”
The tendency to perceive outcomes as foreseeable once we know them. Once we learn of a psychological outcome, it appears self-evident.
Falsifiability criterion
The principle by which evaluating new evidence (relevant to a theory) must always include the possibility that the data will falsify the theory
Falsifiable
A claim that is falsifiable can be TRUE, in which case attempts to make an observation that falsifies the claim will come up empty
Falsified
A claim that has been falsified is known to be false (because there has been an observation that demonstrates that the claim must be false)
Unfalsifiable
An unfalsifiable claim may be true and may be false. There’s no possible observational evidence we could turn to in order to demonstrate that the claim is false
Falsifiable claims
Need only a single piece of evidence to be disproven.
A claim may be true but still falsifiable.
Operationalism
Philosophical viewpoint that scientific concepts should be defined in term of the operations used to measure them
Construct
Hypothetical attributes, characteristics, or mechanism that cannot be directly observed
Psychometrics
Science of measuring mental capacities and processes.
Researchers trying to make sure they’re actually measuring what they think they’re measuring
Pre-existing bias problem
Everyone has a personally held theory/belief about human behaviors and personality
Standardized terminology
Many psychological constructs use terms used in everyday language and they don’t always mean the same thing (essentially clearly defining the term in the case it is being used in)
Characteristics of scientific claims
Specific
Parsimonious
Clearly defined
Falsifiable
Characteristics of unscientific claims
Broad
Complicated
Ambiguous
Unfalsifiable
Two components of an operational definition
- It identifies a procedure for measuring an observable behavior
- It uses the resulting measurement as a definition of a hypothetical construct
