Wk 1 Pseudoscience

Question 1

What method do psychologists use

Answer 1

The Scientist Practitioner Method

Question 2

What is the Scientist Practitioner Method

Answer 2

evidence-based practice (EBP)

Question 3

Define psychology

Answer 3

The scientific study of the mind, brain and behaviour

Question 4

What are the multiple levels of analysis

Answer 4

lower rungs=biological influences (brain)

higher rungs=social influences (mind)

Question 5

5 challenges to Psych

Answer 5

1. Human behaviour is difficult to predict
2. Psych influences are rarely independent
3. People differ
4. People influence each other
5. Behaviour is shaped by culture

Question 6

Multiply determined meaning

Answer 6

produced by many factors

Question 7

Almost all human actions are multiply determined which means

Answer 7

we need to be skeptical of single-variable explanations

Question 8

Which one is true?:
a) Science is a body of knowledge
b) Science is an approach to evidence

Answer 8

b

Question 9

What is empiricism?

Answer 9

attitude that knowledge about the world should be acquired through observation of the things in the world

Question 10

What is a scientific theory?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 11

a testable prediction

Question 12

What are theories?

Answer 12

general explanations

Question 13

Why is the Big Bang theory like all scientific theories?

Answer 13

it can never be ‘proved’ because it is always conceivable that a better explanation might come along one day

Question 14

Confirmation bias meaning

Answer 14

tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and to deny, dismiss or distort evidence that contradicts them

Question 15

Belief perseverance meaning

Answer 15

‘it is my story and I am sticking to it’
‘do not confuse me with the facts’

Question 16

What is pseudoscience?

Answer 16

set of claims that seems scientific but is not

Question 17

Why is pseudoscience not scientific?

Answer 17

it lacks the safeguards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance that characterise science

Question 18

What are the 8 warning signs of pseudoscience?

Answer 18

1. overuse of ad hoc immunising hypotheses
2. exaggerated claims
3. over-reliance on anecdotes
4. absence of connectivity to other research
5. Lack of review by other scholars
6. lack of self-correction
7. meaningless ‘psychobabble’
8. talk of ‘proof’ instead of ‘evidence’

Question 19

Why are we drawn to pseudoscience?

Answer 19

our brains are predisposed to make order out of disorder and find sense in nonsense

Question 20

Three major reasons we should be concerned about pseudoscience

Answer 20

1. Opportunity costs (e.g. lead people to forgo effective treatments)
2. Direct Harm
3. Inability to think critically as citizens

Question 21

What is scientific sceptism?

Answer 21

approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind, but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them

Question 22

What are the 6 principles of scientific thinking?

Answer 22

1. Extraordinary claims (is the evidence as strong as the claim?)
2. Testing predictions
3. Occam’s Razor
4. Replicability
5. Ruling out rival hypotheses
   6.Correlation vs Causation

Question 23

5 theoretical frameworks of psychology

Answer 23

1. Structuralism
2. Functionalism
3. Behaviorism
   4.Cognitivism
4. Psychoanalysis

Question 24

What is structuralism and who is the leading figure

Answer 24

-aimed to identify basic elements of psychological experience
-E.B Titchener

Question 25

What is functionalism and who is the leading figure

Answer 25

-aimed to understand the adaptive purposes of psychological characteristics
-William James (influenced by Charles Darwin)

Question 26

What is behaviorism and who is the leading figures

Answer 26

-uncovering the general laws of learning by looking outside the organism
-Pavlov, John B Watson, B.F Skinner

Question 27

What is cognitivism and who is the leading figure

Answer 27

-role of mental processes on behaviour
-Jean Piaget, Ulric Neisser

Question 28

What is psychoanalysis and who is the leading figure

Answer 28

-internal drives and conflicts that shape the relationship between conscious and unconscious mental processes
-Sigmund Freud

Question 29

What are the two great debates that have shaped the field of psych

Answer 29

-nature vs nurture
-free-will - determinism

Question 30

What is the scientist-practitioner gap

Answer 30

the people who do scientific research in psychology may not always communicate their findings effectively to the people who work as therapists, counselors, or in other mental health roles.