PSYCH 325 1st Edition Lecture 3Chapter One: How Do We Know? (Part Two)• Illusory Correlation: we often assume things are related when really they are not; incorrect assumption based on certain resultso Homeless people are lazyo A bad illness is the product of cold weathero Stereotypeso Superstitions • Superstitious Conditioning : connect neutral, irrelevant things to specific outcomeso Superstitious behavior in pigeons has included quivering wings or other odd behaviors before pecking a disk for reinforcement (food). The pigeon may have quivered its wings prior to pecking for food when it was reinforced.• That wing-quivering behavior is considered superstitious since it has nothing to do with getting reinforcement, however it has increased in occurrence even so.o Makes behavior easier to understand• Canon #2: Empiricismo We can understand orderly causes through observationo This is the only way to truly understand the worldo LEAST CONTROVERSIAL CANONo Problem: can we empirically study every aspect of behavior?• Love?• Wisdom?• Religion?• May take the fun out of things…• Canon #3: Parsimonyo Best theory is simplest theory• Avoid unnecessary concepts• Occam's razor: do not make more assumptions than you haveo Why?• Theory more likely to be correct• Less redundancy or inconsistency• Keeps theories understandableo Goal of theories is to simplify• Summarize large number of findings• Important to simplify as much as possible• KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid• Canon #4: Testability--falsification-> good operational definitionso Need to be able to determine if a theory is correct or notThese 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.o Falsifiability• Can support a theory by failing to prove that the theory is wrongo Operational definitions• Define terms of a theory in a way that can be observed and tested• Operational Definitiono i.e.
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