module 2 - thinking critically with psychological science

Question 1

what can intuition do to us?

Answer 1

lead us astray (wrong direction)

Question 2

why are our notions of common sense similar to intuition?

Answer 2

common sense can err (be mistaken or incorrect)

Question 3

describe:

hindsight bias

Answer 3

aka. the I-Knew-It-All-Along phenomenon

the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that we would have foreseen it

Question 4

how can hindsight bias make research findings seem like common sense?

Answer 4

learning the outcome of a study can make it seem like common sense because it makes us believe that we already knew it

Question 5

who named the hindsight bias phenomenon?

Answer 5

Paul Slovic and Baruch Fischhoff in 1977

Question 6

describe:

overconfidence

Answer 6

we tend to think we know more than we do

Question 7

how does overconfidence contaminate our everyday judgements??

Answer 7

both, hindsight bias and overconfidence, often lead us to overestimate our intuition

Question 8

how does science overcome overconfidence?

Answer 8

restrains errors by taking us beyond our intuitions and common sense

Question 9

fill in the blank:

science sift _______ from fantasy/illusions which requires a __________ ________

Answer 9

reality

scientific attitude

Question 10

what do psychologists approach a scientific inquiry with?

Answer 10

curious skepticism AND humility

they ask two questions: what do you mean and how do you know?

Question 11

definition:

humility

Answer 11

humbleness

- being able to reject your own ideas

Question 12

what can skeptical testing reveal?

Answer 12

which ones best match the facts in an area of competing ideas

Question 13

what are the ideals that unify psychologists with scientists?

Answer 13

curious
skeptical
humble scrutiny of competing ideas

Question 14

what does scientific attitude prepare us for?

Answer 14

smart thinking aka. critical thinking

Question 15

what do you do with critical thinking?

Answer 15

1. examine assumptions
2. discerns hidden values
3. evaluates evidence
4. assesses conclusions

Question 16

fill in the blank:

psychologists arm their scientific attitude with the __________ ______

Answer 16

scientific method

Question 17

define:

scientific method

Answer 17

self correcting process for asking questions and observing nature’s answer

Question 18

what are the parts of the scientific method?

Answer 18

1. make observations
2. form theories
3. form hypotheses
4. refine theories in the light of new observations

Question 19

define:

hypotheses

Answer 19

testable predictions, often implied by a theory

Question 20

define:

scientific theory

Answer 20

explains through an integrated set of principles that organizes and predicts behaviors or events

theory links with observations and simplifies everything so we do not have to memorize all the facts

Question 21

how do psychologists check on their biases?

Answer 21

psychologists report their research with precise operational definitions of concepts which allows anyone to replicate their observations

when one replicates the study, they should get similar results which then allows our confidence in the finding’s reliability to grow

Question 22

what are the two criteria of a good and useful theory?

Answer 22

1. effectively organizes a range of self-repots and observations
   (i. e. organizes and links observed facts)
2. implies clear predictions that anyone can use/recreate to check the theory or to derive practical applications
   (i. e. implies that the hypotheses offer testable predictions and practical applications)

Question 23

what type of environment do researchers test theoretical principles in?

Answer 23

a controlled and simplified environment

Question 24

what does a controlled and simplified environment do?

Answer 24

allows the researchers to focus on the study of one or two specific behaviors

Question 25

what do the resulting principles from an experiment explain?

Answer 25

helps explain everyday behaviors

Question 26

complete the sentence: | psychologists are less concerned about particular behaviors, but more about?

Answer 26

the general principles that help explain many behaviors

Question 27

can psychological research be generalized across culture?

Answer 27

yes | - even when specific attitudes and behaviors vary across cultures, the underlying processes are pretty much the same

Question 28

can psychological research be generalized across gender?

Answer 28

yes?? - biology determines our sex, then culture further bends the gender by creating expectations for each. - gender matters!! BUT women and men are very similar biologically and psychologically

Question 29

why do psychologists study animals?

Answer 29

they. .. - find them fascinating - want to understand how different species learn, think, and behave - study animals to learn about people

Question 30

is it ethical to experiment on animals?

Answer 30

yes? - under ethical and legal guidelines, animals rarely experience pain in psychological experiments - BUT, animal rights group still has an important issue: if it leads to helping humans in the long run, is an animal's temporary suffering justified? - thing is: animals benefit from animal research

Question 31

is it ethical to experiment on animals?

Answer 31

yes, but there is a guideline to follow that are enforced by university ethics committees and developed by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the British Psychological Society

Question 32

what are the ethical principles hen experimenting on people?

Answer 32

investigators should... 1. obtain the informed consent of potential participants 2. protect the participants from harm and discomfort 3. treat info about individual participants confidentially 4. fully explain the research afterwards

Question 33

when should be the only time when researchers temporarily stress or deceive people?

Answer 33

ONLY when it is absolutely essential typically with people, blinking lights, flashing words, and pleasant social interactions are more common

Question 34

is psychology value free?

Answer 34

no

Question 35

how can value affect psychology/psychologists?

Answer 35

value affects... - what we study - how we study it - how we interpret results - the words we use to describe a phenomenon value can color "the facts" popular applications of psychology contain hidden values

Question 36

can psychology be dangerous?

Answer 36

psychology has the power to deceive, but its main purpose is to enlighten and so far it has been used that way

Question 37

what does psychology speak about?

Answer 37

1. many of our world's greatest problems - war, overpopulation, crime, etc. - all which involve attitudes and behaviors 2. our deepest longings - for nourishment, love, happiness, etc.

Question 38

what two phenomena illustrate why we cannot rely solely on intuition and common sense?

Answer 38

hindsight bias and judgmental overconfidence

Question 39

define: | operational defintion

Answer 39

a statement of the procedures (operations) used to define research variables ex. human intelligence may be operationally defined as what an intelligence test measures