lecture 1 - what is psych Flashcards
naive realism
we believe that we see the world exactly as is
4 goals of psychology
- describe: what is happening?
- why: why do people act a certain way?
- predict: can we anticipate how people will behave?
- limit: stop harmful behaviors or thoughts
levels of analysis
- biological: molecular
- psychological: mental events, feelings
- social/cultural: how people interact
scientific method
- observe
- hypothesize
- predict
- test
- modify
- repeat
challenges to psychology
- multiple determinism
- individual difference
- social/cultural differences
multiple determinism
many reasons why someone could be acting a certain way
individual difference
everyone has different experiences and histories so everyone will be different
social/cultural differences
in some cultures its more acceptable for kids to be more violent so we should account for things like that
- some can be accustomed to things that others are not
reasons for scientific method
- confirmation bias
- belief perseverance
- also maybe naive realism
confirmation bias
we seek evidence that supports what we already know or believe
- we dont want to be wrong so we ignore info that can disprove
belief perseverance
we stick to our beliefs even whe evidence contradicts them
pseudoscience
a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regardeed as being based on scientific methods
signs of pseudoscience
- exagerated claims
- over reliance on anecdotes
- lack of external peer review
- proof instead of evidence
- psychobabble
exagerated claims
statements that seem too good to be true
- big claims need big evidence
over reliance on anecdotes
- relying on what people feel and their stories instead of actual data
lack of external peer review
need verification from outside sources
proof rather than evidence
- countless studies but no sata shown
psychobabble
using fancy terms but they really mean nothing
dangers of pseudoscience
- opportunity cost
- erosion of trust
- harm
opportunity cost
what you give up in order to get something
-ex: buying a vitamin instead of working out
erosion of trust
people stop believing science and start belive pseusdoscience
harm
- can hurt people
- candace newmaker died from an experiment that was pseudoscience
why people believe in pseudoscience
- sunk cost
- confirmation bias
- dunning-kruger effect
sunk cost
“i already invested this much in it, i might as well keep going”
dunning kruger effect
the less you know, the more you think you know and vice versa
safeguards against psuedoscience
- rival hypothesis
- correlation and causation
- falsifiability
- replicability
- extraordinary claims
- parsimony/ocams razor
structuralism
looked at the building blocks of experience and behaviours
- basic elements of consciousness
- complexe experiences are broken down
- doesnt answer the 4 qs of psych
- willhelm wundt (1879)
- used introspection
introspection
Wundt’s technique where he would ask about basic feelings to get objective answers
- ex: asked how it feels to drink water and wanted to know how it felt, tasted, looked without getting any info from previus experiences
- doesnt really work because of subjectivity (individual differences) and imagless thoughts (have past memories that do effect)
functionalism
why we have the xperiences that we do and what their utility?
- william james
- ex: why do we pull back when we touch something hot, why do we feel pain?
psychoanalysis
how we study the unconscious
- freud
- outward behaviour is influenced by unconscious hidden impulses and memories
- mind is like an iceberg
- sexuality and aggression
dream analysis
focused on studying dreams
- unconscious wish fufilment
- dream can reveal things about the unconscious mind
- limitation: confirmation bias
freudian slip
when you say one thing but mean something else
- leak of unconscious into conscious mind
- this is hard to falsify
behaviorism
study at the mind by looking only at observable behaviour
- watson
- ex: baby with the rat that cries. were just looking at his reaction and not why he is crying
cognitivism
thinking is important to study and affect behaviours
- see whats actually hapening in the brain
- neisser
- see the brain like a computer
- brain scanning
current psych
