Prelim Flashcards
is a science of behavior.
Psychology
take a scientific approach to understanding
behavior.
Psychologists
• As scientists, we rely on ___________ when conducting psychological research.
scientific methods
• Scientific methods include:
- specifying the conditions under which we make our observations;
- observing in a systematic and orderly way; and
- accepting or rejecting alternative explanations of behaviors on the basis of what we observe
Science comes from the Latin word Scientia, which simply means _________.
knowledge
What are the two meanings of Science
content and process
- is what we know (facts we learn).
Content of Science
- activity that includes systematic ways (gathering data, noting relationships, and offering explanations).
Science as process
consists of scientific techniques used to collect and evaluate psychological data.
Methodology
the facts and figures gathered in scientific studies.
Data
is a nonscientific data gathering that shapes one’s expectations and beliefs and directs one’s behavior toward others.
For example:
• Do birds of the same feather flock together?
• Do opposite attract?
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder
• Out of sight, is out of mind
Commonsense psychology
- is the nonscientific use of information to explain or predict behavior.
- When we understand other people’s behavior, there is a string bias to overlook situational data in favor of data that substantiate trait explanations.
• Example: When we notice a woman is sporting another new designer outfit, we conclude that she is vain about her appearance and spends money frivolously.
Nonscientific Inference
In this fallacy, people are not very good at using data to estimate the true probabilities of an event.
When we see that a certain slot machine has not paid off in a long time, we tend to believe that it is overdue for the payoff
Gambler’s fallacy,
In this situation we believe we know something, we tend to overlook instances that might disconfirm our beliefs, and we seek, instead, confirmatory instances of behavior.
• Example: If you believe that the full moon brings out psychotic behavior (the word lunacy comes from the Latin word for “moon”), you will notice and remember instances when people acted abnormally while the moon was full, and you will ignore many instances in which no unusual behavior occurred.
confirmation bias
• In this we believe that our predictions, guesses, and explanations tend to feel much more correct than they actually are, the more data we have available (accurate or not), the more confidence we have in our judgments about behavior.
• These and many other inferential biases exist in human information processing and believed to be the brain’s way of coping with an immense volume of information.
• They are shortcuts, and most of the time, allow us to function well enough but they are not always accurate.
overconfidence bias
What are the Characteristics of Modern Science?
- The Scientific Mentality
- Determinism
is an assumption that behavior must follow a natural order; therefore, it can be predicted.
(Alfred North Whitehead, 1861-1947)
The Scientific Mentality
He postulated that, the faith in an organized universe is essential to science. If no inherent order existed, there would be no point in looking for one and no need to develop methods in doing so.
Whitehead
is the belief that there are specifiable (although not necessarily simple or obvious) causes for the way people behave and that these causes can be discovered through research.
Determinism
- data that are observable and experienced.
Empirical data
He advocate the systematic observation and careful classification of naturally occurring events.
He argued that heavy objects fall faster than light objects because their “natural” place is down.
Aristotle
• Another important characteristic of empirical data is that it can be ____________ through investigation.
verified or disproved
He concluded that if we set up the proper testing conditions (testing objects in a vacuum), light objects will fall just as fast as heavy ones.
Galileo
are principles that have the generality to apply to all situations.
• Example:Kepler’slaw,Newton’slaw
Laws
• is an interim explanation; a set of related statements used to explain and predict phenomena.
Theory
integrate diverse data, explain behavior, and predict new instances of behavior.
- Theoryofevolution
Theories
is central feature of the scientific method.
approach to the collection and interpretation of data should be systematic, objective, and rational.
• It includes being open to new ideas even when they contradict our prior beliefs or attitudes
Good thinking
also known as Occam’s razor, is a guiding principle in scientific reasoning that suggests preferring the simplest explanation that adequately explains the observed data or phenomenon.
• In other words, when faced with multiple competing hypotheses, scientists often favor the one that is the most straightforward and requires the fewest assumptions, entities, or complexities
• Example: Crandall’s Social Contagion Model of Bulimia (1988):
In this scenario, Crandall proposed a social contagion model to explain the occurrence of bulimia, and the example suggests that this model was deemed more parsimonious than alternative explanations.
The principle of parsimony
He proposed that science advances by revising theories based on the “weight of evidence.”
• The more evidence that accumulates to support a particular explanation or theory, the more confidence we have that the theory is correct.
Karl Popper
This principle allows us to disprove statements using a single, contrary observation.
• We can never prove a statement because a contradictory observation might be found later.
• particularly useful in the scientific method because it allows scientists to disprove hypotheses or theories based on observations that contradict the predictions made by those hypotheses
The principle of modus tollens
is an exact or systematic repetition of a study. Also increases our confidence in experimental results by adding to the weight of supporting evidence.
, where researchers attempt to reproduce findings of others, is the second line of defense.
• Findings that are obtainable by only one researcher have very limited scientific value.
Replication
What are the four main objective of science are:
• Description
• Prediction
• Explanation
• Control
is a systematic and unbiased account of observed characteristics of behaviors.
Description
is a capability of knowing in advance when certain behaviors should occur.
Prediction
• is knowledge of the conditions that reliably produce a behavior.
Explanation
• is the application of what has been learned about the behavior
Control
is a research that is designed to solve real-world problems (like helping patients to deal with grief or improving employee morale).
Applied research
is a research designed to test theories or to explain psychological phenomena in humans and animals
Basic research
The Scientific Methods: Tools of Psychological Science
Observation
Measurement
Experimentation
is the systematic noting and recording of events. Only events that are observable can be studied scientifically.
Observation
Observations must be _________ so that there can be strong agreement among raters
objective
