EXAM ONEThe science game- Scientific inquiry strives for an understanding of reality that is “true”, and the waythat you go about formulating this understanding is what makes your endeavor scientific or noto The primary goal of the scientific inquiry is to arrive at an understanding of reality that is trueo Make the endeavor scientific or not 3 non scientific modes of understanding and their limits- Consult our experience: What seems to have been true for me in the past?o Limits: experience is confounded Hard to isolate the true cause Too many things happening at once- Ex: you are paying more attention in class, it is because the energy drink or the amount of sleep you got?o Limits: it does not allow for systematic comparison We cant test alternatives.. no access to parallel universe There is no comparison group It is not falsifiable – does not have the chance to be proven wrong Make a matrix and figure out percentageso Limits: research is probabilistic Inferences are not expected to explain all cases at all times You shouldn’t overlook experience, but you shouldn’t overlook research as well- Consult our intuition: what feels like the true answer?o Present/present bias: you focus on what is there instead of what is noto Limits: prone to mistakes and biases in intuition Ex: patternicity: we are motivated to find meaningful patterns in meaningful and meaningless noise- Ex: rustle in the trees Ex: The availability heuristic: we tend to think that more memorable phenomena are more likely or true- Plane crashes vs car crashes- We remember events that are more vivid in our mindo Limits: Beliefs are reinforced through confirmation bias: People seek out information that confirmstheir original positions (cherry picking) People are more critical of evidence that disconfirms their beliefs Confirmation hypothesis testing : people ask questions that would confirm their hypothesis rather than open questions that are unbiased- Ex : prove introversion: “What makes it hard to open up to people” We become overconfident in what we think we know- Consult our tradition and authority: what does my culture believe to be true? What do trusted and knowledgeable people claim to be true?o Limits: authorities prone to same biases Normative beliefs (going against the group) have social consequences Sometimes we are unaware of how extensively our culturally-learned assumptions influence our worldview andits “facts”The “golden rule” of science: scientific claims must be subject to empirical tests that produce empirical evidence- Empirical Evidence:o An observation or measurement that contributes to either verifying orfalsifying a claim about what’s true Its is objective or independent of the observer The evidence will be the same no matter who observes it- Empirical testing:o Any situation or procedure that creates empirical evidence which allows a claim on truth to be verified or falsified Must be replicable and verifiable- Golden Assumption: If an object of study exists in nature, it is knowable; o it is possible to fully describe and explain even highly complex things o & the object of study is lawful (if we can control all of the input variables, we can predict and control outcome)The cycle of scientific progress- Observations theory research questions hypothesis datao The role of if/then reasoning in: (helps us answer the question WHY?) Theory-data cycles **most important in science**- Theories developed to help us answer why the data turned out the way that it dido If theory x is true, then we should expect to see y happeno Enables us to test and refine theories You ask a question, then test your theory. If that doesn’t work then you move on to your next theory Basic-applied cycle- Take basic findings and apply hem to more realistic scenarioso Basic research: enhance the general body of knowledgeo Translational research: the bridge from basic to applied researcho Theory testing and multiple levels of analysis Multiple levels of analysis: more than one theory can be right so we need multiple levels of analysis to explain human behavioro Generalizability: the extent to which we can extend these findings to other people Is it true or other people other than the ones in the sample THREATS: psychology is disproportionally american EXTERNAL VALIDITYo W.E.I.R.D *this is not necessarily the norm* Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic- Not Necessarily the norm- Psychology is disproportionally American- Not representative of the world’s people- May not have external validity is only testing WEIRD peopleo Represent a historic anomaly o Act like outliers in cross-cultural research more often than we might expecto Psychological constructs Any explanatory variable that is not directly observable or tangible- Ex: happiness, intelligence, addiction- Conceptual or Construct: the definition of the variable in questiono Operationalization: The process of turning a concept of interest (ABSTRACT CONSTRUCTS) into a measured or manipulated variable- Must be reliable and valid- Also always a compromise between pragmatically measuring your construct and collecting data that validly tests your hypothesiso Three ways to operationalize psychological construct Self-report measures : verbal responses tointerview or questionnaire items- EX : five item scale (strongly agree- strongly disagree)- Measuring stress: “how often have you felt nervous or stressed”o PROS Easy and low cost Large anonymous samples can be quickly studied May be the most appropriate formato CONS Open to fabrication and social desirability biases Memory distortions Lazy or inattentive responding May not be useful fornon-conscious or non-declarative constructs- BIASES:o SOCIAL DESIRABILITY: giving socially acceptable responses To stop this, ensure anonymity Include items that allow the participantto agree with either side of the issue Remind them that there are no wrong answers Try to keep your hypothesis unknowno Order and priming effects: early responses can bias later ones To stop- randomize ordero Response acquiescence (mental set): caused by similar responses to a few initial questions that establish a pattern of responding Reverse score 30-40% of the items Observational measures (behavioral measure)- Operationalizes
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