LO4 - Scientific And Experimental Methods Flashcards
Braitenberg Vehicles
These are robots with very simple internal structures but can be observed and studied as if they are live animals in a natural environment.
We are tempted to explain their behaviour in a psychological way. We ask about internal states and motivation or conversely, simply about mechanics.
Ockham’s Razor
We should never strive for complex explanations. If your have several explanations for a phenomenon you should expect the simplest.
There are easier to falsify and test than more complex outcomes.
Reductionism
You have a complex behaviour and you can reduce this down to the simplest explanation possible.
We can reach this by going deeper into the behaviour. Complete reductions are very rare.
Simple explanations can be useful because a complex set of behaviours can emerge from a small set of principles.
Limitations of reductionism
Unpredictable, emergent behaviours can often not be explained through reductionist explanations.
Later levels may not provide any additional understanding if a phenomenon is already understood.
Emergent behaviours can occur from dynamic systems. Reductionism could miss something like motivation.
It is sufficient for predicting and controlling behaviour but not for knowing the purpose of behaviour.
Rationalism
This means that reason and logic are used to form arguments on pure though, to answer questions of the mind.
Observation is misleading in understanding anything.
Most of psychology’s history has been rationalist.
Empiricism
Empiricism emerged and it states that if you want to understand something, you need to use observation.
Theories and hypotheses can be made and observation should be used to confirm these. Methods have been developed to do so.
Rationalism is misleading and there are two ways to conduct research within empiricism: inductivism and falsification.
Inductivism
This is the classical method and we do it intuitively: we make observations, generate a pattern of regularity and make conclusions based off this.
Hypotheses result in more observations which lead you to arrive at laws. Inductivism aims to confirm hypotheses.
Falsification
This was suggested as an alternative and superior method of empirical research.
Popper suggested proposing a hypothesis and then trying to falsify this. We do a test that is designed to try and refute the predictions rather than confirm the theory.
Theories allow for an infinite number of predictions, if one prediction is falsified then the theory is wrong. Falsification allows for strict testing.
The Scientific Method
The scientific process starts with an observation and ends either with a hypothesis being confirmed or not.
Observations are assumed to be unbiased in the scientific process. However, this is often not the case due to our existing understanding and prejudices; we often see what we are looking for.
Then we ask a question, construct a hypothesis, test your hypothesis and analyse your data and draw conclusions. The is determines your future actions.
Status of data
Data does not equal facts as it is produced by measurements and quantified somehow.
This data needs to be interpreted within a theory to attach meaning to them. We use the context. A fact is data+theory.
If you change a theory, the fact will change, even from the same data.
Status of theory
Theory is subjective as it reflects the values of science/culture at the moment. It is embedded in zeitgeist.
Science is not free of values. Theories reflect cultural background and are used to generate facts.
The social nature of science
Science is carried out by humans and we are part of what we observe. We engage in the behaviours we study.
Objectivity is difficult as science is a social activity that takes place in the context of culture.
Context is conventions, traditional and assumptions.
By taking out the observers as much as possible you approach objectivity but perhaps complete objectivity is not possible.
The scientific process according to Kuhn
He proposed a cycle of revolutions (constructivism). Science is cyclical process with no clear endpoint.
There is a pre-paradigm period with no agreed set of methods and it is characterised by random fact gathering.
Normal science is established at some point and there is one paradigm within which all science happens. It involves puzzle solving research.
When there is a finding that cannot be reconciled with what has been found before (anomaly) there is the option to solve the anomaly within the paradigm or ignore it and blame it on randomness.
Science enters crisis mode when anomalies repeatedly occur. There is insecurity and theories fight each other.
There are conservatives and revolutionaries (point to a new paradigm that can explain the anomalies). If the new paradigm produces good data, the old school dies out and the revolutionaries enter normal science.
Observer effects
This is how the action of observing changes matter/nature. It is observing that puts matter into existence.
The double slit experiment shows how when photons are being watched, an unexplainable wave pattern disappears but when detectors are removes, this pattern returns.
We change reality by simply looking at it. Relates to quantum physics - when we are trying to observe something, we will never see what it is as it changes every time we look at it.
Reality is an interaction of the observer and the observed. There is no objectivity.
Experimenter bias
Experimenters are not objective but hold prejudices and look for the behaviour that they expect. They might think they ‘see’ the desired results of the study.
Their behaviour can also directly influence the results of the study as experiments are not totally objective but are social situations due to the interaction between the observer and the observed.
