Psychology and Scientific Thinking Flashcards
Chapter 1
True or false - hypnosis enhances the accuracy of our memory?
False
True or false - opposite personalities tend to attract each other?
False
What is psychology?
The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour
What are the 3 Levels of Analysis?
- Social Culture Influences
- Psychological
- Biological
At the social or behavioural level of analysis, what is this involved with?
Relating to others and personal relationships
At the mental or neurological level of analysis, what is this involved with?
Thoughts, feelings, and emotions
At the molecular or neurochemical level of analysis, what is this involved with?
Molecules and brain structure
Why can’t we trust our own intuition or common sense?
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”
What is naive realism?
The belief that everything that can be seen is truth, “seeing is believing”
What are the 5 main challenges of Psychology?
- Human behaviour is difficult to predict (actions are determined by multiple factors)
- Psychological influences are rarely independent
- People have individual differences that make them unique
- People influence one another (reciprocal determinism)
- Behaviour is shaped by culture (think emic vs. etic approaches)
What is reciprocal determinism?
The term used to describe how people influence each other
What are emic and etic approaches?
Emic - evaluating behaviours from within a culture
Etic - evaluating behaviours from outside a culture
What is a scientific theory?
An explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world
What is a hypothesis?
A testable prediction derived from a preexisting theory
What are 2 misconceptions of what a theory is or does?
- A theory explains just one event
- A theory is merely an educated guess
What type of bias tends to seek evidence that supports one’s hypothesis, dismissing any contradicting evidence?
Confirmation bias
What is belief perserverance?
The tendency to stick to one’s initial beliefs even if contradictory evidence exists
What do we call assertions about the world that are unable to be tested?
Metaphysical claims
What is pseudoscience?
A set of claims that seem scientific but lack defences from bias
About what % of self-help books are based or tested on empirical evidence?
5%
What are 3 warning signs of pseudoscience?
- Over reliance on anecdotes
- Lack of self-correction
- Ad hoc hypothesis adjustments
What is apophenia?
The tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated phenomena
What is pareidolia?
The tendency to perceive meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli, e.g. Face on Mars
What is the emotional reasoning fallacy?
Using emotions as arguments rather than evidence
What does the bandwagon fallacy suggest?
If many people believe something, then it must be true.
What is the not me fallacy?
“Other people may have those biases, but not me!”
What are 3 main reasons why pseudoscience is dangerous?
- Opportunity cost
- Direct harm
- Inability to think scientifically
Scientific skepticism is a willingness to do what two things?
- Keep an open mind to all claims
- Insist on persuasive evidence before accepting claims
What is critical thinking?
Skills to evaluate claims with a careful open mind and to overcome biases
What are the 6 Principles of Scientific Thinking?
- Ruling out Rival Hypotheses
- Correlation is not Causation
- Falsifiability
- Replicability
- Extraordinary Claims
- Occam’s Razor/Principle of Parsimony/KISS
What is Occam’s Razor?
Suggests that if multiple plausible explanations are possible, the simpler explanation should be accepted
From what field did psychology derive from?
Philosophy
Who created the first psychology laboratory in 1879?
William Wundt
Who is considered to be the first North American psychologist?
William James
Name the 5 primary schools of thought that help us explain behaviour and have shaped modern psychology.
- Structuralism
- Functionalism
- Psychoanalysis
- Behaviourism
- Cognitivism
What was the goal of Structuralism?
Identifying the most fundamental elements of psychological experience, insisted on empiricism and systematic data collection
Which two psychologists founded Structuralism?
Wundt and Titchner
What was the aim of Functionalism?
Understanding the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics, using evolutionary theory
Heavily influenced by Darwin, who founded Functionalism?
William James
What was the goal of Psychoanalysis?
Uncovering internal/subconscious processes we are unaware of
Who were the two psychologists involved with Psychoanalysis?
Freud and Jung
What was the goal of Behaviourism?
Uncovering the general laws of learning by observing external elements, heavy importance on scientific rigour
Who were the two psychologists involved with Behaviourism?
Watson and Skinner
What was the goal of Cognitivism?
Understanding mental processes underlying thinking in a variety of contexts, focuses on our interpretation of events
Who founded Cognitivism?
Piaget and Neisser
About how many psychologists are there worldwide?
1,000,000
What do clinical psychologists focus on?
Mental disorders
What do biopsychologists focus on?
Physiological bases of behaviour
What are the 2 broad categories of research?
- Basic research
- Applied research
What is basic research?
The examination of how things work (e.g., mind, brain, memory, perception)
What is applied research?
The utilization of basic research in everyday life
What are the 2 Great Debates in modern psychology?
- Nature vs. Nurture - are our behaviours a result of our genetics or our environment?
- Free Will vs. Determinism - do we have free will or are our actions determined by environmental influence?
