PSYC 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Institutional Review Board, Pelvic Pain, Research
27 Aug 2016
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Document Summary
Why take this course: foundation for understanding other psychology courses, which are based on research, become a critical consumer of scientific information, essential for graduate school. Careful not to base logical reasoning on false premises: direct experience. Empiricism: process of learning things through direct observation or experience. Careful to avoid relying just on direct experience. Interpretations of our experiences can be influenced by social cognition biases. Confirmation bias: finding information which supports beliefs while ignoring contradictory information. Availability heuristic: belief air travel is more dangerous than car as plane crashes are more memorable than automobile accidents. Pascal"s wager: weighing the pros and cons of believing in something. Science as a way of knowing: science assumes determinism and discoverability. Statistical or probabilistic determinism: science makes systematic observations. Less affected by bias than everyday thinking: science produces public knowledge. Goal is to minimize biases and standardize research to reduce impact of research bias.
