Psychology as a science Flashcards
What is a paradigm?
PARADIGM = A shared set of beliefs about the world
- Major problem for psychology
- This is because there are different sections of psychology (Biological, learning theories, social and cognitive) that had a different view of behaviour, so they DON’T have a shared set of beliefs.
- In each section they don’t all have the same views. For example in biological there are people who believe in genes, hormones, neurotransmitters etc.
- NOT ONE approach to research e.g. case studies, self-report, experiments etc.
- This is a reason as to why psychology might NOT be a science
What is falsifiable?
FALSIFIABLE = Trying to prove ourselves wrong
- If we cannot prove ourselves wrong, then we will infer that we are right
- We do this be designing research around the null hypothesis
What is objectivity?
OBJECTIVE = Removing personal bias
- We do this by using quantitative data
What is credibility?
CREDIBILITY = This is whether something is believable and the reliability of a theory or a researcher
- We do this by ensuring that there is supporting research and consistent findings
- The researcher will be credible is they are an expert
What is empirical?
EMPIRICAL = This is whether a theory is based on evidence
- We do this by getting our evidence from research
- For psychology being scientific, this is a major strength because theories are backed up by evidence
What is a theory?
Theory = This is an explanation for behaviour
- This is why the behaviour occurs
What is a hypothesis?
This is the prediction about an outcome of a study
What is the Hypothetica - deductive method?
- It is the research cycle that is done in psychology
- A theory is derived
- A hypothesis is derived
- The hypothesis is tested using an empirical method
- More knowledge is added to the theory due to the findings
- More testing, amending and agreeing or the rejection of the theory
- Then the process starts again as a CYCLE
PARADIGM
Is there paradigm in social?
There is NO paradigm in social psychology:
Obedience is explained through agency theory impact theory and social impact theory
In learning we have operant conditioning which shows that we are rewarded for being obedient, so we repeat the behaviour
Is there paradigm in cognitive?
There is NO paradigm in cognitive psychology:
There are different models of memory such as reconstructive memory and the working memory model
In biological the brain structure and different structures in the brain have different roles of memory
Is there paradigm in biological?
There is NO paradigm in biological psychology:
There are different explanations for aggression such as hormones and brain structure
In learning we have social learning theory where we copy our role models’ behaviour so we might copy aggressive behaviour
Is there paradigm in learning?
There is NO paradigm in learning theories psychology:
There are different learning theories such as role models in SLT and reflex conditioning through classical conditioning
Some behaviours might not be learnt at all they might be innate and evolved in biological
Is there any elements of paradigm across all of them?
The only element that is a paradigm is that the way that most theories are developed is through the hypothetica – deductive method
EMPIRICAL
Is social empirical?
YES
An example of a study in social is Milgram (1963) where 65% of participants went to 450V
Is cognitive empirical?
YES
An example of a study in cognitive is Bartlett and his ‘war of the ghost’ story
