Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Pseudoscience, Operational Definition, Response Bias

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Laura Fazakas- Dehoog

Document Summary

Pseudoscience: not peer-viewed, no rigorous standards for honesty and accuracy, results cannot be reproduced or verified, failures are ignored, excused, or hidden, over time, nothing new is learned, convinces by faith or belief. I(cid:374)(cid:272)orporates e(cid:454)isti(cid:374)g fa(cid:272)ts/o(cid:271)ser(cid:448)atio(cid:374)s (cid:449)ithi(cid:374) a si(cid:374)gle fra(cid:373)e(cid:449)ork (cid:894)so(cid:373)ethi(cid:374)g that"s easily understandable: testable, supported by new research findings, are parsimonious (as simply as possible, theories are not necessarily true. Initial observation/question: form hypothesis, test hypothesis, conduct research, analyze data, do results support the hypothesis, do further research & build a theory, adjust theory on the basis of new findings. *essentially you formulate a theory, you derive predictions (hypothesis), you test predictions (cid:894)either (cid:455)ou ha(cid:448)e support for (cid:455)our theor(cid:455) or (cid:455)ou do(cid:374)"t, i(cid:374) (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h (cid:272)ase (cid:455)ou ha(cid:448)e to for(cid:373)ulate a theor(cid:455) agai(cid:374) (cid:895) Descriptive design: surveys - interviews and questionnaires, telephone, fast and efficient. Response rate: personal interview, flexibility, costly (interviewer and proper training) Naturalistic observation: careful observation and recording of behavior in real-life settings (ex.