Psychology and the Scientific Method Flashcards
What is the Scientific Method?
- A way of learning about the world through collecting observations
- Developing theories to explain the observations
- Using the theories to make predictions about future events
What is a Hypothesis?
- A testable prediction about processes that can be observed and measured.
- Do NOT prove hypotheses
- Must be falsifiable
- Must be stated in precise and relevant terms
What is Theory?
- An explanation for a broad range of observations that also generates new hypotheses and integrates numerous findings into a coherent whole
- Built from hypotheses
- Must be falsifiable
- Can be updated with new information
Theories
- NOT the same as opinions
- All theories are NOT equally plausible
- Validity NOT determined by number of people who believe it to be true
What is Scientific Literacy?
- Critical thinking:
- Exercising curiosity and skepticism when evaluating the claims of others, and with our own assumptions and belief
- Increasingly important as we sort through the barrage of information in the digital age
What does Critical Thinking mean to Psychologists?
- Applying the scientific method
- Examining assumptions and biases, both of others and our own
- Considering alternative viewpoints
- Tolerating ambiguity when evidence is inconclusive
What is the Principle of Parsimony?
The simplest of all competing explanations of a phenomenon should be the one we accept
Explain the Paranormal?
- Abductions, ghost sightings, and other paranormal activity explained by:
- Alien movies
- Fantasies and false memories
- Sleep paralysis and hallucinations
What are the 2 fundamental Beliefs of Scientific?
- Empiricism
- Determinism
Empiricism
Philosophical tenet that knowledge comes through experience
Determinism
The belief that all events are governed by lawful, cause-and-effect relationships
Zeitgeist
Refers to a general set of beliefs of a particular culture at a specific time in history
- Delayed the science of psychology
- Materialism
Materialism
The belief that humans, and other living beings, are composed exclusively of physical matter
Influence from the Ancients
- Hippocrates (460–370 BCE)
- Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
Hippocrates (460–370 BCE)
Considered father of Western medicine
What are the 4 humours thoughts to contribute to our health and personality?
- Blood
- Yellow bile
- Black bile
- Phlegm
Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
- Tabula Rasa - Man begins life with a blank slate
- Para Psyche (‘about the mind’): First text in history of psychology
What is Psyche?
- “The mind” is the source of all human behaviour
- No differentiation between mind and soul
Ancient Greek
- Thought the brain cools the blood and plays no role in behaviour
- Memory stored in the heart
Philosophical Influences
- René Descartes (1596-1650)
- Solution suffered from the ‘Problem of interactionism’
- Tried to resolve ‘Problem of interactionism’ via the pineal gland
René Descartes (1596-1650)
- Proposed ‘ Cartesian dualism’ as solution to the mind-body problem
- Both a nonmaterial mind and a material body drive behaviour
Influences from Physics
- Gustav Fechner (1801-1887)
- ‘Psychophysics’
- The study of the relationship between the physical world and the mental representation of that world
- ‘Psychophysics’
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
Influences from Evolutionary Theory
- Theory of evolution by natural selection
- Variations of traits make some individuals more likely to survive and produce offspring
- Over time, surviving traits become more common
- Evolution can also select for behaviours
- Emotional expressions
Influences from Medicine
- Brain Localization:
- Certain parts of the brain control specific mental abilities
- Phrenology
- Brain Injury
- Certain parts of the brain control specific mental abilities
- Franz Mesmer (1734-1815)
- Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Phrenology
- Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) and Johann Spurzheim (1776-1832)
- Brain consisted of 27 ‘organs’, each associated with a personality trait
- Size of organ corresponded to development of trait
Brain Injury
- Paul Broca
- Identified brain region associated with speech production
- Carl Wernicke
- Identified brain region associated with speech comprehension
Franz Mesmer (1734-1815)
- Believed magnets could redirect the flow of metallic fluids in the body to cure diseases
- Directed fluids by ‘mesmerizing’ the patient with hand movements, inducing a trance
- Phenomenon of inducing trances later renamed hypnosis
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
- Psychoanalysis:
- A psychological approach that attempts to explain how behaviour and personality are influenced by unconscious processes
- Believed the unconscious mind guided our behaviours
- id: Instincts
- Super-ego: Morality and critical thinking
- Ego: Organized part that mediates between the desires of the Id and Super-ego
What are the Criticisms of Freud?
- Used subjective rather than scientific method
- Dismissed claims of sexual abuse as mere constructions of our unconscious mind
- Theory suggested a lack of free will
What are the Contributions of Freud?
- Introduced the potential for unconscious mental processes
- Medical model:
- Use of medical ideas to treat psychological disorders
- Incorporated evolutionary thinking by acknowledging physiological needs and urges
- Emphasized that experiences during development influence adult behaviour
Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)
Influence of Social Sciences
- Influenced by economics, sociology, and anthropology
- Investigated nature and nurture relationships
- The inquiry into how hereditary (nature) and environment (nurture) influence behaviour and mental processes
- Believed heredity explained psychological differences
Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)
Influence of Social Sciences (Part 2)
- Eminence: Combination of ability, morality, and achievement resulting from good genes
- Beliefs led him to coin the term ‘eugenics’ and justify its use
What are the Primary Contributions of Galton?
- Initiated debate about nature and nurture
- Promoted use of statistical methods to quantify psychological traits
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
Beginning of Psychology
- Setup first laboratory dedicated to studying human behaviour
- Used introspection:
- A process of ‘looking within’ to describe psychological sensations
What is Structuralism?
Analyzing conscious experiences by breaking it down into basic elements and to understand how these elements work together
Study of Thought
- Reaction time methods: participants asked to react to the sound of metal balls hitting one another
- Participants reacted after ~1/8 of a second
- Metal activity not instantaneous
Edward Titchener (1867-1927)
Beginning of Psychology (Structuralism)
- Adopted Wundt’s method of introspection, though criticism of approach was growing
- Described mental experiences as composed of ‘elements’ much like the elements of the periodic table used in the physical sciences
- Different combinations of elements responsible for more complex experiences
William James (1842-1910)
Beginning of Psychology (Functionalism)
- Wrote first modern textbook in psychology, The Principles of Psychology
- Influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary principles
What is the Proposed Functionalism?
The study of the purpose and function of behaviour and conscious experience
Discovery of Conditioning?
- Edwin Twitmyer (1873-1943)
- Discovered conditioned reflexes
- Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
- Trained dogs to salivate in response to a metronome
- Won Nobel Prize for discovering Classical Conditioning
- A learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired
Who was involved in the Rise of Behaviourism
- Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
- John B. Watson (1878-1958)
- B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
- Study of conditioning soon became the focus of:
- Behaviourism: The study of observable behaviour, with little or no reference to mental events or instincts as possible influences on behaviour
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
- Rise of behaviourism in North America
- Only observable changes in behaviour and the environment should be studied scientifically
John B. Watson (1878-1958) (PART 2)
- Revolutionized the principles of marketing
- Developed ads that formed associations between a product and a desired feeling
- Methods still used by advertisers
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
- Believed in fundamental rules of learning shared among all animals
- Operant conditioning: strengthening or weakening a behaviour by rewards and punishment
- Theory left little room for free will
What is Humanistic Psychology?
Focuses on the unique aspects of each individual human, each person’s freedom to act, his or her rational thought, and the belief that humans are fundamentally different from animals.
What is humanistic Psychology focused on?
- Positive aspects of psychology
- The meaning of experience
- Self-actualization
Karl Lashley (1890-1958)
Brain and Behaviour
Tried to locate the ‘engram’
Non-Localization
Brain and Behaviour
Exact location of damage not important
Principle of Mass Action
Brain and Behaviour
Size of damage corresponds with impairment
Donald Hebb (1904-1985)
Brain and Behaviour
- Hebb’s Law:
- “Cells that fire together, wire together”
Wilder Penfield (1891-1976)
Brain and Behaviour
- Electrically stimulated brains of patients under local anesthetic
- Mapped sensory and motor cortices
Cognitive Revolution?
- Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
- Forgetting curves
- Frederick Bartlett (1886-1969)
- Memory is an interpretive process
Gestalt Psychology
- Emphasized the need to focus on the whole of perception and experience, rather than its parts
- “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
Cognitive Psychology
Modern perspective that focuses on mental processes, such as memory, thinking, and language
Social and Personal Psychology
- Mingling of cognitive psychologists with behaviorists and sociologists after WW2 led to the emergence of Social and Personality Psychology
- Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)
Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)
- Founder of modern social psychology
- Behaviour is a function of individual and environment
