PSY 1001 1st Edition Lecture 2 Outline of Last Lecture I Foundations of Psychology a Philosophy b Physiology II Father of Psychology a Wilhelm Wundt 1832 1920 b Best known for i Establishment of the first psychology lab ii His influence on the school of thought known as structuralism iii Introspection III Other Important Millstones in the History of Psychology a James functionalism b Freud s influence the unconscious These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute c Behaviorism d The cognitive revolution e History of Women in Psychology Outline of Current Lecture I Hypothesis vs Theory II Six Principles of Scientific Thinking a Ruling out rival hypotheses b Correlation vs causation c Falsifiability d Replicability e Extraordinary claims f III Occam s Razor Typical Scientific Methods in Psychology a Correlational Designs b Experimental Designs Current Lecture I Hypothesis vs Theory A 5 factors make the study of psychology very difficult but very rewarding i Human behavior is difficult to predict 1 ii Psychological influences are rarely independent of each other iii People display individual differences in thinking emotion and personality 1 B Actions are multiple determined People influence one another ii Reciprocal determinism iii Behavior is shaped by culture Theories and Hypotheses i A scientific theory is an explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world ii Theories are general explanations hypotheses are specific predictions derived from them iii B A hypothesis is a specific prediction based on a theory which can then be tested Common sense i Not all common sense is wrong ii Common sense should serve as a generator for hypotheses which can be tested iii But learning to think like a scientist means learning when and when not to trust our common sense iv B Intuition vs analytical thinking Confirmation Bias i Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypothesis and neglect contradicting evidence ii B Scientists need to design studies that may disprove their theories Psychology as a Science i Science is an approach to evidence one designed to keep us from fooling ourselves ii Science begins with empiricism but then test those observation using rigorous methods II iii In Psychology and all science we must abandon relying on opinions iv Instead we find out which explanations best fit the evidence or data 6 Principles of Scientific Thinking A Ruling out rival hypotheses i B Correlation vs Causation i B Can we be sure the A causes B Falsifiability i B Have important alternative explanations for the findings been excluded Can the claim be disproved Replicability i Can the results be duplicated in other studies ii Decline effect the fact that the size of certain psychological findings appears to be shrinking over time B Extraordinary claims i B Is the evidence as strong as the claim Occam s Razor i Have we come up with the simplest explanation III Typical Scientific Methods in Psychology A Correlational Designs i B Illusory correlation 1 Superstition 2 Full Moon Experimental Designs i Variables 1 Independent the variable that is manipulated 2 Dependent the variable that is measured ii Control and experimental groups iii Random assignment iv Manipulation of events