Psychology 2800E Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Operational Definition, Nomothetic
5 Dec 2013
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Document Summary
The goals of science & the role of theories. Part 1: the goals of science: classification of goals: Basic (immediate) goals: types of basic goals, description (two levels): Idiographic level (describe unique attributes of things objects, people, behaviour); World becomes complicated if everything is described in terms of its unique idiographic attributes. Nomothetic level (describe what things have in common) Identifying concepts: names we use to classify things that have common attributes. Concepts are generalizations ( always more general than the specific things that hey describe, e. g. mammal ) Mammals describe all warm-blooded animals that give birth to live offspring; concept is more specific than things that it describes. Group can describe two people talking vs. two nations at war. Helping as a concept can be donating to charity vs. helping someone across the street. Scientific concepts are not always the same as concepts we use in everyday life (e. g. aggression )
