PSY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Falsifiability, Analog Science Fiction And Fact, 6 Years
12 Dec 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Psy102: introduction to psychology (2) scientific methods and research methods in psychology. Parsimony, falsifiability and converging evidence, principles that apply to scientific methods in general. Science (1) observe some phenomenon. (2) construct a hypothesis regarding its cause. (3) use the hypothesis to make predictions. (4) test the predictions with further observations and (repeatable) experiments. The test must be potentially able to falsify your hypothesis. (5) modify your hypothesis to account of new facts. (6) repeat steps 3-5 until no discrepancies remain. A good theory builds on existing research and invokes as few new concepts as possible. Any theory that you can test runs the risk of being proven wrong. However, without the capacity to test a theory, you can never know if it is right or wrong! Infants fuss and cry until their urges are met. As children age, the ego develops to find ways to satisfy the id"s desires without relying on others.
