Scientific Status of Psychology Flashcards
What is a hypothesis
Specific testable statement or a prediction about the outcome of a test
Hypothesis and falsification method and Karl Popper
Hypothetic-deductive method = important to test hypothesis to see if supported or not by evidence
Karl Popper proposed only way to prove a theory was to look for disproof rather than proof (falsification) -> many white swans but 1 black swan can falsify hypothesis
What is falsifiability
Must be possible to prove that a hypothesis is wrong, not that it’s false but we can find out if it is false
Objectivity and control (how you should collect results and test people)
Data gathered from experimentation => object and measurable and uninfluenced by views of researcher
Time place under controlled conditions
Some say you cannot measure human behaviour unobectively (demand characteristics)
Empirical testing
Testing something against experience, via the sense through observation and experimentation
Empiricism (John Locke)
John Locke - view that all knowledge is based on experiences
Scientific research should be based on directly observable phenomena
Main method of scientific enquiry
Experimentation
What does experimentation need
Standardised Procedures
Replicability meaning
Consistency of findings
Replicability
Necessary to make wider claims that apply to population
Science is nomothetic approach
Validity meaning
To be true
Validity
Construct validity
Results due to manipulation of IV to see effect on DV = scientific
Can create environment in which is engineered = study has internal validity
EV = other settings
Reductionism
Empirical testing an area of examination must be small enough to study
Might have to be reduced to small constituent parts in order to be studied without establishing interconnections between areas
Possible to artgue many learning theories alone and have failed to consider emotional and cognitive elements
Study organism rather than sum of its parts
