Expe Psych & Scientific Mind Flashcards
It is the research about the psychological processes underlying behavior.
Psychological Science
What is Psychological Science?
It is the research about the psychological processes underlying behavior.
What are the two meanings of the word science in today’s world?
content and process
the scientific technique used to collect and evaluate psychological data
Methodology
What is common sense psychology?
It is a non-scientific data gathering that shapes our expectations and beliefs and directs our behavior towards others.
2 very important factors that restrain common sense psych
- Sources of psychological info
- Inferential strategies
Where are common sense beliefs derived from?
Data from experiences and what we learn from others (vicarious learning)
Does common sense psychology help us know which one and how to predict behavior in any single instance? Why?
No, it does not because the inferential strategies we use to process data are too simple to be completely accurate.
What are some non-scientific sources of data ?
Sources that seem credible and trustworthy (eg. Friends, relatives, authority, people we admire, media, books we read)
What is confirmation bias ?
It is the tendency to overlook instances that might disconfirm our beliefs and, instead, seek confirmatory instances that support our beliefs on behavior.
All common sense psychologists are ___
Trait theorists
One of the first and most important kinds of data we collect about others.
TRAITS we assign to them
What are other types of problems from non-scientific inference?
- Stereotyping
- Probabilities (gambler’s fallacy)
- Confirmation bias
- overconfidence bias
What is overconfidence bias?
It is the tendency to feel that our predictions and guesses are correct more than they actually are, and the more data we have available, the more confidence we have in our judgement.
What is the scientific method?
It is the steps scientists take to
gather and verify information,
answer questions,
explain relationships, and
communicate the info to others.
What is the simple but important assumption of psychologists on behavior prediction?
Behavior must follow a natural order and therefore, can be predicted. (Scientific mentality)
Scientific mentality is based upon what philosophical school of thought?
Determinism
Or the belief that all events are determined completely by previous existing causes. (This is where our antecedent situations come in on experimental psychology.)
Data that is observable and experienced, and can be disproved or verified through investigation.
Empirical data
It is commonly called “theory”
Interim explanation
Testable prediction
Hypothesis
“Science progresses only through__
Progressively better theories. By Sir Karl Popper
What is good thinking?
A systemic, objective, rational collection and interpretation of data
Good thinking includes–
Open mindedness
What is the principle of parsimony (Occam’s Razor)
Simplicity, precision and clarity of thought.
In research, it is when two explanations are equally defensible, the simplest explanation is preferred until or unless ruled out by conflicting data.
Science and experience favors what approach?
Weight-of-evidence
Repeating procedures and studies of other researchers
Replication
What are the four major objectives of psychological science and research?
To
Describe
Predict
Explain
Control
Behavior
Define “description” in psychological science.
Description is an initial step to understanding a phenomenon. It is a systemic and unbiased account of the observed characteristics of behaviors.
Give examples of descriptive research designs
- Case studies (clinical, organizational, forensic psychology)
- Field studies (real life settings)
What is prediction?
It is the capacity to know in advance when certain behaviors would be expected to occur.
Give the 2 predictive research designs
- correlation (2 events)
- quasi-experimental (among groups)
This includes the knowledge of the conditions that reliably reproduce the occurrence of a behavior; where researchers use experimental research design to do this objective.
2rd major objective: Explanation
(Explanation also means specifying the antecedent conditions)
It is the application of what has been learned about behavior. In effect, change or improve behavior.
Control
What is the difference between applied and basic research?
Applied research is designed to solve real-world problems and requires experimental or true research studies.
While basic research is designed to test theories and explain phenomena in humans and animals.
3 main tools of
scientific method
- Observation (noting and recording)
- Measurement (assignment of numerical values to characteristics that describe behavior)
- Experimentation (tests the hypothesis by systematically manipulating the setting)
To do an experiment, our predictions must be testable.
What does this mean?
It means that
- There must be procedures for manipulating the setting,
- The predicted outcome must be observable, and
- Outcomes must be measurable
What are antecedent conditions?
Circumstances that come before the event or behavior that we want to explain.
Sets of antecedent conditions
Treatments
What is Psychology Experiment?
It is a controlled procedure in which at least 2 different treatments are applied to subjects.
Enumerate the 3 kinds of special techniques used to different treatment conditions.
- Random assignment of subjects (different subjects, different treatments)
- Between-subjects design (different subjects, same treatments)
- Within Subjects design (one subject, different treatments / each subject will be under all different kinds of treatment)
What treatment design is least used, and why?
within subjects design because the effect of one treatment might go over another to the next treatment (it might influence the behavior of the subject in the later treatment condition) and may create new problems.
Successful experimentation relies heavily on __
principle of control
Control for the:
1. Randomness of assignment
2. presentation of treatment conditions identical to all
3. keeping the:
Environment
Procedures
Measurement/ measuring instruments
constant for all subjects
(Which means for an experimentation to produce valid conclusions, all explanations except the ones being tested should be ruled out)
When can we achieve the greatest degree of control?
When the subjects are shielded from possible factors that might influence behaviors and lead to incorrect conclusions.
(Although, this might not be realistically plausible nor applicable in everyday life.)
Only a true experiment allows us to make causal statements. So, are cause-and-effect relationships certain?
No, because inferences about causal relationships are stated in a form of probabilities (called temporal relationships)
(Just because one event precedes another, it does not necessarily mean the first causes the second.)
Cause __ effect
precede/s
What are 2 other types of relationships (used in common sense) people use?
spatial and logical
What are necessary and sufficient conditions?
necessary conditions are basically the sum total of all conditions or cause that might affect a certain event
While, sufficient conditions could be one of the necessary but not entirely the one affecting the other. (It is just enough to give effect, but it can also be substituted by another)
Approach to causality should be__
Practical: relying on sufficient causes as explanations
What is mental philosophy?
It is the study of the consciousness and mental processes. (Basically, ancient psychology.)
What is phenomenology?
It is the reporting of our own thoughts and feelings.
What are some Pseudoscientific practices or pop psychology that were very common in the 1800s and 1900s?
(1800s)
1. Phrenology (using bumps on the skull)
2. Physiognomy (using facial features)
3. Mesmerism (cures by magnetic fluids)
4. Spiritualism (necromancy and seances or contact with ghosts)
(1900s)
1. Astrology
2. Palmistry
3. Fortune Telling
4. Numerology
