Intro to Psychology Quiz One Study Guide 1 Chapter One Psychology and Scientific Thinking a What is Psychology Science vs Intuition i Psychology and Levels of Analysis 1 Psychology the scientific study of the mind brain and behavior a Spans multiple levels of analysis i Levels of analysis rungs on a ladder of analysis with lower levels tied most closely to biological influences and higher levels tied most closely to social influences ii Lower rungs the brain iii Higher rungs the mind ii What Makes Psychology Distinctive And Facinating 1 Almost all actions are multiply determined a Multiply determined caused by many factors 2 Should be skeptical of all single variable explanations of behavior 3 Psychological influences are rarely independent of each other in thinking emotion personality and behavior a Individual differences variations among people in their thinking emotion personality and behavior 4 People often influence each other a Reciprocal determinism the fact that we mutually influence each other s behavior 5 People s behavior often shaped by culture a Cultural differences place limits on generalizations iii Why We Can t Always Trust Our Common Sense 1 Proverbs contradict each other 2 Na ve Realism Is Seeing Believing a Na ve realism belief that we see the world precisely as it is b Appearances can sometimes be deceiving 3 When Our Common Sense is Right a Can be a helpful guide for generating a hypothesis iv Psychology as a Science 1 Science is a systematic approach to evidence 2 Empiricism the premise that knowledge should initially be acquired through observation 3 What is a Scientific Theory a Scientific theory explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world b Generate predictions regarding new data not yet observed c Hypothesis testable prediction derived from a scientific theory d Misconceptions about theories Intro to Psychology Quiz One Study Guide i A theory explains one specific event ii A theory is just an educated guess 4 Science as a Safeguard Against Bias Protecting Us From Ourselves a Confirmation bias tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypothesis and deny dismiss or distort evidence that contradicts them i Seek and you shall find b Belief perseverance tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them v Metaphysical Claims The Boundaries of Science 1 Metaphysical claim assertion that the world is not testable a Could never test them using scientific methods vi Recognizing That We Might Be Wrong 1 Scientific knowledge is always tentative and open to revision 2 Forces us to question our findings b Psychological Pseudoscience Imposters of Science i The Amazing Growth of Popular Psychology 1 Over 500 brands of psychotherapy ii What is Pseudoscience 1 Pseudoscience set of claims that seems scientific but is not 2 Lacks the safeguards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance that characterize science 3 Warning Signs of Pseudoscience a Overuse of ad hoc immunizing hypothesis b Ad hoc immunizing hypothesis escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification c Lack of self correction d Overreliance on anecdotes e Absence of connectivity to other research f Lack of review by other scholars or replication by independent labs i Peer review published g Lack of self correction when contrary evidence is h Meaningless psychobabble that uses fancy scientific sound terms that don t make sense i Talk of proof instead of evidence 4 Why Are We Drawn to Pseudoscience a Our brains are predisposed to make order out of disorder and find sense in nonsense b Patternicity the tendency to detect meaningful patterns in random stimuli 5 Finding Comfort in Our Beliefs a We believe in part because we want to believe Intro to Psychology Quiz One Study Guide b Terror management theory theory proposing that our awareness of death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror with which we cope by adopting reassuring cultural worldviews 6 Thinking Clearly An Antidote Against Pseudoscience a Logical fallacies traps in thinking that can lead to mistaken conclusions b Emotional reasoning fallacy error of using emotions as guides for evaluating the validity of a claim c Bandwagon fallacy error of assuming a claim is correct because many people believe it d Not Me fallacy error of believing we re immune from errors in thinking that effect other people e Either or fallacy error of framing a question as though it can only be answered in one of two extreme ways f Appeal to authority fallacy error of accepting a claim merely because an authority figure endorses it g Genetic fallacy error of confusing the correctness of a belief with its origins or genesis h Argument from antiquity fallacy error of assuming that a belief must be valid because it s been around for a long time i Argument from adverse consequences fallacy error of confusing the validity of an idea with its potential real world consequences j Naturalistic fallacy error of inferring a moral judgment from a scientific fact k Hasty generalization fallacy error of drawing a conclusion on the basis of insufficient evidence l Circular reasoning fallacy error of basing a claim on the same claim reworded in slightly different terms m Bias blind spot most people are unaware of their biases but keenly aware of them in others iii The Dangers of Pseudoscience Why Should We Care 1 Opportunity cost a What we give up 2 Direct harm 3 An inability to think scientifically as citizens c Scientific Thinking Distinguishing Fact From Fiction i Scientific Skepticism 1 Scientific skepticism approach of evaluation all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them 2 Must adopt two attitudes a Willingness to keep an open mind to all claims Intro to Psychology Quiz One Study Guide b Willingness to accept claims only after researchers have subjected them to careful scientific tests 3 A Basic Framework for Scientific Thinking a Critical thinking set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open minded and careful fashion b Scientific thinking principles i Ruling out rival hypotheses ii Correlation isn t causation iii Falsifiability iv Replicability 1 Correlation causation fallacy error of assuming because one thing is associated with another it must cause the other 1 Falsifiable capable of being disproved 1 Replicability when a study s findings are able to be duplicated ideally by independent investigators 2 Decline effect