Psychology and Scientific Thinking Reading assignment Textbook Chapter 1 pp 4 10 26 33 Objectives What is the definition of psychology both definitions given in class What is the goal of psychology The scientific study of the mind brain and behavior The study of an individual s thoughts feelings ad behavior What are four reasons discussed in class why psychology can be a complex and challenging subject to study Be able to define and discuss those four reasons in detail Find the fundamental truth of why humans behavior how they do Use methods to systematically observe understand and predict the human experience 1 Psychological phenomena are multiply determined Caused by many factors Ex Heat causes aggression 2 Influences are both internal and external Parents peers neighborhood cultural influences etc Ex Social distance 3 Influences are interrelated Nature and nurture Influences create a feedback loop Ex Ppl who are more physically attractive are more social and approach them 4 We are not objective observers of ourselves others Our own psychology leads us to engage in or even environment biases errors What is the definition of individual differences Be able to give at least one example What does the environment consist of Be able to given an example of an environmental influence Individual Differences variations among people in their thinking emotion personality and behavior Ex People who are more extraversion while others are more introversion cultural influences etc another cultural influence Environment includes parents peers neighborhood Ex Family traditions Distance between you and What are four biases errors discussed in class that can prevent us from being objective observers Be able to define each bias error and give an example each Naive Realism Belief that we see the world precisely as it is Confirmation Bias Tendency to seek out information that supports our beliefs ignore evidence that contradicts them ex guys are aggressive sees one bar fight ignores all the guys that are not fighting Illusory Correlation Perception of relationship between two variables when none exists ex Patterns brain is programmed to notice patterns Often happens when notable events occur together superstition Friday the 13th or full moons belief to stick to that belief even when evidence Belief Perseverance Tendency that once we form a contradicts it ex firefighter study risk takers vs cautious What is science as discussed in class Science is an approach to evidence used to understand psychological phenomenon 1 Relies on empiricism 2 Tests ideas that are falsifiable 3 Uses scientific method 4 Is self correcting peer review replication repeating experiment to see if you get same result What is empiricism For science to be able to study some phenomenon what has to be true of that phenomenon Empiricism knowledge derived from evidence or consequences observable by the senses To scientifically research some phenomenon phenomenon has to be observable OR consequences of phenomenon have to be observable What does it mean to say something is falsifiable Be able to give examples of questions that are aren t falsifiable Falsifiable idea must be set up in a way that it could be proven false Ex All swans are white What are the five steps to the scientific method Step 1 Form a research question Step 2 Create a testable hypothesis Step 3 Devise a method to test hypothesis and collect data Step 4 Analyze data Step 5 Report results these things help science self correct What are two ways in which science is self correcting How do Peer Review Replication repeating the experiment to see if you get the same result What is the difference between theory and hypothesis How do they relate to each other What is the difference between nonscientific and scientific theory Theories Broad construct composed of an organized set of hypotheses and observations Provide an overall framework for understanding Ex Social Learning Theory when people will some phenomenon behave certain ways theories help shape new hypotheses Hypotheses Specific predictions that can be tested through various research methods Ex Children rewarded for using good manners who will use good manners more often than children are not rewarded Hypotheses help support theories What is scientific skepticism What are the six principles of scientific thinking Be able to define and explain each Skepticism Approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence accepting any claim before 1 Ruling out rival hypotheses 2 Correlation vs causation 3 Falsifiability 4 Replicability 5 Extraordinary claims 6 Occams s razor he make to the field of psychology Who was Wilhelm Wundt What significant contributions did Father of experimental psychology Proposed metal processes could be examined using methods Reaction time Introspection What was Structuralism and what was its focus What were two problems that Structuralists ran into when using introspection to map consciousness Structualism focused on the structural elements of the Using introspection tried to map elements of human mind consciousness Two problems 1 Disagreement of subjective reports 2 Imageless thought What was Functionalism and its focus In what major way did Functionalism differ from Structuralism School of science created by William James Functionalism whats the purpose Structuralism about what functionalism about Influenced by natural selection What is natural selection What did William James propose were the two adaptive purposes of consciousness why Contemplating past Planning in the future What was Psychoanalysis and what was its focus What did Freud tend to study with psychoanalysis and what method did he popularize in psychology Focused on internal psychological processes were unaware of i e the unconscious Extensively studied psychopathology Used case studies to build theories Freud s unconscious differs from current work on unconscious processes What was Behaviorism and its main focus How did Behaviorism differ from previous schools of thoughts What did Behaviorists think you could not study Believed we can only study observable behavior Can t study the black box Focused on External influences general laws of learning e g reward punishment What is Cognitivism What did proponents of Cognitivism think was missing from Behaviorism Be able to define cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience Cognitivism thinking Felt behaviorism neglected cognition Cognitive psychology
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