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PSYC 1011 > Psychology and Scientific Thinking > Flashcards

Psychology and Scientific Thinking Flashcards

Chapter 1

1
Q

True or false - hypnosis enhances the accuracy of our memory?

A

False

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2
Q

True or false - opposite personalities tend to attract each other?

A

False

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3
Q

What is psychology?

A

The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour

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4
Q

What are the 3 Levels of Analysis?

A
  1. Social Culture Influences
  2. Psychological
  3. Biological
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5
Q

At the social or behavioural level of analysis, what is this involved with?

A

Relating to others and personal relationships

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6
Q

At the mental or neurological level of analysis, what is this involved with?

A

Thoughts, feelings, and emotions

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7
Q

At the molecular or neurochemical level of analysis, what is this involved with?

A

Molecules and brain structure

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8
Q

Why can’t we trust our own intuition or common sense?

A

It can lead us to contradictions in logic, much like proverbs or idioms like “birds of a feather flock together” or “better safe than sorry”

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9
Q

What is naive realism?

A

The belief that everything that can be seen is truth, “seeing is believing”

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10
Q

What are the 5 main challenges of Psychology?

A
  1. Human behaviour is difficult to predict (actions are determined by multiple factors)
  2. Psychological influences are rarely independent
  3. People have individual differences that make them unique
  4. People influence one another (reciprocal determinism)
  5. Behaviour is shaped by culture (think emic vs. etic approaches)
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11
Q

What is reciprocal determinism?

A

The term used to describe how people influence each other

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12
Q

What are emic and etic approaches?

A

Emic - evaluating behaviours from within a culture
Etic - evaluating behaviours from outside a culture

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13
Q

What is a scientific theory?

A

An explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world

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14
Q

What is a hypothesis?

A

A testable prediction derived from a preexisting theory

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15
Q

What are 2 misconceptions of what a theory is or does?

A
  1. A theory explains just one event
  2. A theory is merely an educated guess
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16
Q

What type of bias tends to seek evidence that supports one’s hypothesis, dismissing any contradicting evidence?

A

Confirmation bias

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17
Q

What is belief perserverance?

A

The tendency to stick to one’s initial beliefs even if contradictory evidence exists

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18
Q

What do we call assertions about the world that are unable to be tested?

A

Metaphysical claims

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19
Q

What is pseudoscience?

A

A set of claims that seem scientific but lack defences from bias

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20
Q

About what % of self-help books are based or tested on empirical evidence?

A

5%

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21
Q

What are 3 warning signs of pseudoscience?

A
  1. Over reliance on anecdotes
  2. Lack of self-correction
  3. Ad hoc hypothesis adjustments
22
Q

What is apophenia?

A

The tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated phenomena

23
Q

What is pareidolia?

A

The tendency to perceive meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli, e.g. Face on Mars

24
Q

What is the emotional reasoning fallacy?

A

Using emotions as arguments rather than evidence

25
Q

What does the bandwagon fallacy suggest?

A

If many people believe something, then it must be true.

26
Q

What is the not me fallacy?

A

“Other people may have those biases, but not me!”

27
Q

What are 3 main reasons why pseudoscience is dangerous?

A
  1. Opportunity cost
  2. Direct harm
  3. Inability to think scientifically
28
Q

Scientific skepticism is a willingness to do what two things?

A
  1. Keep an open mind to all claims
  2. Insist on persuasive evidence before accepting claims
29
Q

What is critical thinking?

A

Skills to evaluate claims with a careful open mind and to overcome biases

30
Q

What are the 6 Principles of Scientific Thinking?

A
  1. Ruling out Rival Hypotheses
  2. Correlation is not Causation
  3. Falsifiability
  4. Replicability
  5. Extraordinary Claims
  6. Occam’s Razor/Principle of Parsimony/KISS
31
Q

What is Occam’s Razor?

A

Suggests that if multiple plausible explanations are possible, the simpler explanation should be accepted

32
Q

From what field did psychology derive from?

A

Philosophy

33
Q

Who created the first psychology laboratory in 1879?

A

William Wundt

34
Q

Who is considered to be the first North American psychologist?

A

William James

35
Q

Name the 5 primary schools of thought that help us explain behaviour and have shaped modern psychology.

A
  1. Structuralism
  2. Functionalism
  3. Psychoanalysis
  4. Behaviourism
  5. Cognitivism
36
Q

What was the goal of Structuralism?

A

Identifying the most fundamental elements of psychological experience, insisted on empiricism and systematic data collection

37
Q

Which two psychologists founded Structuralism?

A

Wundt and Titchner

38
Q

What was the aim of Functionalism?

A

Understanding the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics, using evolutionary theory

39
Q

Heavily influenced by Darwin, who founded Functionalism?

A

William James

40
Q

What was the goal of Psychoanalysis?

A

Uncovering internal/subconscious processes we are unaware of

41
Q

Who were the two psychologists involved with Psychoanalysis?

A

Freud and Jung

42
Q

What was the goal of Behaviourism?

A

Uncovering the general laws of learning by observing external elements, heavy importance on scientific rigour

43
Q

Who were the two psychologists involved with Behaviourism?

A

Watson and Skinner

44
Q

What was the goal of Cognitivism?

A

Understanding mental processes underlying thinking in a variety of contexts, focuses on our interpretation of events

45
Q

Who founded Cognitivism?

A

Piaget and Neisser

46
Q

About how many psychologists are there worldwide?

A

1,000,000

47
Q

What do clinical psychologists focus on?

A

Mental disorders

48
Q

What do biopsychologists focus on?

A

Physiological bases of behaviour

49
Q

What are the 2 broad categories of research?

A
  1. Basic research
  2. Applied research
50
Q

What is basic research?

A

The examination of how things work (e.g., mind, brain, memory, perception)

51
Q

What is applied research?

A

The utilization of basic research in everyday life

52
Q

What are the 2 Great Debates in modern psychology?

A
  1. Nature vs. Nurture - are our behaviours a result of our genetics or our environment?
  2. Free Will vs. Determinism - do we have free will or are our actions determined by environmental influence?

PSYC 1011 (9 decks)

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