Features Of Science Flashcards
Give an example of a paradigm shift in psychology?
Discovery of Brocca’s area
The behaviouralist approach
What is a theory?
A theory is a set of general laws or principles that have the ability to explain particular events or behaviours
How does theory construction occur?
Theory construction occurs thought gathering evidence via direct observations (the empirical method)
What is deduction?
Deduction - when we crearte a new hypothesis from existing theories
What did Popper say?
In 1934 he said that something is only scientific if it can be shown to be false
He added that even “proven research isn’t true it just haven’t been proven false
What does Poppers words support?
Null hypothesis’
Explain the concept of reliability?
Trusted findings should be repeatable across a number of contexts an circumstances
• validity and reliability
Explain the concepts of objectivity and empirical methods?
‘Critical distance’ - the researcher should be a safe ‘distance’ from the research so that they can’t impact the objectivity
Who thought that psychology is a science?
Milgriam, Zimbardo and Loftus etc …
What is the argument for psychology being a science?
Some key findings in psychology are counter intuitive and not predictable
Psychology gained credibility by adopting scientific methods of enquiry
Since there has been paradigms shifts psychology
What is the argument against psychology being a science?
Methods can be subjective, non standardised and unscientific
There is little universality in past scientific research
Freud’s theory is based on inference rather than objective measurement
