Topic Outline for Exam 1 The Science Game The Cycle of Scientific Progress Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 8 29 9 3 lecture The Science Game The Cycle of Scientific Progress 3 non scientific modes of understanding their limits Experience What seems to have been true for me in the past its confounded because there are too many things happening at once its hard to isolate the true cause doesn t allow systematic comparison we can t test alternatives b c no access to a parallel universe Intuition What feels like the true answer we are prone to making a number of cognitive biases in judgment and reasoning 1 patternicity we re motivated to find meaningful patterns in meaningful and meaningless noise the availability heuristic we tend to think that more memorable phenomena are more likely or true 2 once our beliefs are formed they tend to be reinforced through confirmation biases because people seek out info that confirms their original positions interpret that info into a belief consistent way and people are more critical of evidence that disconfirms their beliefs Tradition Authority What does my culture believe to be true What do trusted and knowledgeable people claim to be true authorities may be just as prone to these biases normative beliefs have social consequences sometimes we are unaware at how extensively our culturally learned assumptions influence our worldview and its facts arranged marriage and co sleeping Empirical evidence empirical testing Empirical evidence an observation or measurement that contributes to either verifying or falsifying a claim about what s true independent of the observer object the evidence will be the same no matter who observes it Empirical testing any situation or procedure that creates empirical evidence which allows a claim on truth to be verified or falsified they must be replicable and verifiable Golden Rule Golden Assumption Golden Caveat Golden rule scientific claims answers must be subject to empirical tests that produce empirical evidence Golden assumption if an object of study exists in nature it is knowable it is possible to fully DESCRIBE and EXPLAIN even highly complex things such as brains beliefs time romantic relationships the object of study is lawful if we could perfectly control all of the input variables we could perfectly PREDICT and CONTROL the outcome Golden caveat the findings of our science are conditional and probabilistic we discover the conditions under which phenomena tend to occur for the majority of people there will always be exceptions to our findings because there are always conditions or variables we cannot control for The Cycle of Scientific Progress The role of If Then reasoning in them to more realistic scenarios Theory Testing Multiple levels of analysis Theory testing Theory Data cycles if then reasoning enables us to test and refine theories Basic Applied Cycle if then reasoning enables us to take basic findings and apply 1 Social learning theory differences in sexual behavior should change as norms change people who strongly endorse traditional gender norms will more strongly show the gendered pattern women s self reported sexual behavior should more closely match men s when hooked up to a lie detector 2 Parental Investment Theory women should be more selective and choosier in picking a mate Multiple levels of analysis we need more than just one level of analysis to explain human behavior we need to take into account biological factors socio cultural factors etc its both nature AND nurture External Validity generalizability most studies are done in the US an extremely western industrialized nation so most information is pulled from only 12 of the world s population it s disproportionately American W E I R D samples Weird Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic represent a historical anomaly and act like outliers in cross cultural research more often than expected Operationalizing Measures Ch 5 9 5 lecture Psychological construct vs operationalized definitions Psychological construct any explanatory variable that is not directly observable or tangible intelligence happiness addiction depression Operationalized definitions turning abstract constructs into specific measureable instances that are both reliable operationalized measure produces consistent scores when constructs are stable and captures changes when constructs change fluctuations in scores are produced by fluctuations in the construct and not simply by mistake and valid operationalized measure is actually capturing what is claims to be measuring the whole construct as best and completely and precisely as possible Multiple ways to operationalize psychological constructs Self Report pro s con s Verbal responses to interview or questionnaire items Pro s easy and low cost large anonymous samples can be quickly studied may be the most appropriate format Con s open to fabrication and social desirability biases memory distortions lazy or inattentive responding may not be useful for non conscious or non declarative constructs Observational pro s con s recording observable behaviors or physical traces of behavior happiness and number of smiles Pro s more shielded from respondent bias can be recorded with less interference less obvious sometimes most appropriate operationalization Con s can be more complicated to collect may be the experimenters see what they want to see interpretation issues ethics could be a problem Physiological pro s con s recording biological data believed to be associated with a construct dopamine and endorphin levels in the brain to measure happiness Pro s hard to consciously control or fake can be very precise perceived as more credible Con s can be expensive and time consuming may require technical expertise with machines and procedures may be more sensitive to uncontrollable sources of error ethics could be a problem Pragmatism vs Validity trade offs we have to decide which is more efficient and will give the best results according to what is more realistic but can also give us the most valid results Validity Content the operationalized measure must capture all parts of a defined construct measuring intelligence with SAT scores doesn t fully capture the construct The ability to reason plan think abstractly comprehend complex ideas learn quickly recognize patterns and retain info Predictive aka Criterion Validity this same new operationalization should predict future outcomes related to whatever you re measuring Reliability also reinforced in 5 30
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