Lecture 9&10, Chapter 8&9 Flashcards
What was Wittgenstein’s most important contribution
He wrote two books, the first of which was on the meaning of language and this book inspired the logical positivism movement
What did the logical positivism movement entail
They said that meaningful claims are either empirical or logical in nature, logical claims are verifiable by looking at their form (e.g. logic and maths) and help represent the world, empirical claims are about the world and can be verified by observation, claims that are not verifiable are meaningless
What is sense data
data (experiences) that are gained through sensory perception; they are always neutral so that they can serve as a foundation for science
What are 4 problems with logical positivism and explain them
- Separation of theory and observation: many concepts are open concepts (= concepts of which the meaning can change over time) and many observations are already theory-laden —> we couldn’t make sense of them otherwise
- Underdetermination of theory by data: it is assumed that one observation can only lead to one theory, but in practice this is usually not at all the case. To chose between theories scientists use other criteria, which are theoretical themselves
- Induction: causality and general statements are excluded because neither are verifiable
- Unobservable entities: there are many entities that we cannot observe (e.g. bc they are very small) but we know of their existence. Does that mean they are not part of science? And what if we create better instruments so that we can see them, do they then become part of science? —> inconsistency
What was the Wiener Kreis
Scientists that started the logical positivism movement
What is the world according to the tractatus (Wittgenstein’s book)
The world is the totality of facts, and a fact is a state of affairs
What is logical atomism
Elementary facts are indivisible and independent of each other
What is constituents
Complex facts that are a combination of elementary facts
Picture theory of truth
If the state of affairs “depicted” by the thought does occur, then the thought is true
What is the sayable
The sayable is everything that is meaningful (= statements or thoughts that are about a state of affairs), truth of the statement is independent of this
Does logical positivism build on the traditions of empiricism of rationalism
Empiricism
How did Adler influence Popper
Adler had a theory about inferiority and would change his theory to fit basically every observation, this was not right according to popper
What was the school of thought associated with Popper
Falsificationism
What was Popper’s solution to the induction problem
Deduction - he said that theories can be used to derive predictions about observations
How are theories constructed according to Popper and what happens to them
Theories emerge from the mind in a creative act (it doesn’t matter how they arise) and then predictions are derived from it, these are tested on the basis of observation and if the observation proves the theory wrong, the theory is refuted
Explain the hypothetico-deductive model
Start with a theory, deduce predictions from theory, test predictions, if predictions don’t come true; falsify the theory —> if they do come true; corroboration (not verification)
What is the context of discovery (popper)
The fact that there is no logic for theory development
what is the context of justification (popper)
Strict rules for the logic of testing; modus tollens
What is popper’s view called and why (choose from rationalism, empiricism, idealism etc)
Critical rationalism, because he does consider ratio to be fallible
What did Popper propose as the demarcation criterion for whether something is science or not
The falsification criterion
What two things influence a theories’ degree of falsifiability
Precision and generality
What are 5 problems with Popper and falsification
- There is no distinction between better supported and less supported theories, theories are at best ‘not yet refuted’
- No knowledge on how to build theories
- Hard falsification is difficult (Duhem-Quine Problem): if a prediction doesn’t come true it could be because of the theory but it could also be because something else is wrong - theory is never tested in isolation so can not be rejected in isolation)
- Very counterintuitive for scientists to want to falsify their own theories, goes against confirmation bias
- Popper said he had a normative theory, but it does not describe examples of what we consider scientific success if we look at history
What are the 5 stages of science according to Kuhn and explain them
- Pre-science: no consensus within field, little progress, lack of specialized community
- Normal science: no novelties, not very experimental, expand current paradigm
- Anomalies and crisis: new findings make current paradigm unfit
- Revolution: shift from degenerative to progressive research model
- Normal science 2: new stage of normal science after a paradigm shift
What was feyerabend’s most important contribution
Its essential for scientific progress that anything is permitted, denied the existence of methodological guidelines
What are the 4 ways of gathering knowledge according to Pierce
- Method of tenacity - assumptions and beliefs people hold because they have been around for a long time
- Method of authority - opinions formed on the basis of consulting experts
- A priori method - using personal reason and logic to reach conclusions; deductive reasoning but also intuitive knowledge
- Scientific method
What were the 3 criteria for a good counselor (Rogers)
- Unconditional positive regard
- Empathetic understanding
- Congruence
What are 3 major developments after WW-2
- Antipsychiatry and the antipsychiatric movement
- Input from science
- Availability of medicines for mental disorders
What 3 types of situations were tests most used for
- authenticity tests
- qualifying tests
- diagnostic tests
What were 2 criteria to distinguish good tests from bad tests
Reliability and validity
What were the 3 movements in work and organizational psychology
Industrial psychology, human relations movement and human resource management
Clinical psychology
branch of psychology applying psychological knowledge to the assessment and treatment of mental disorders
Shell shock
anxiety response on battlefield that prevents soldiers from functioning properly; was one of the first topics addressed by applied psychology