PSYCH253 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Kurt Lewin, Complement Factor B, Dependent And Independent Variables
Document Summary
Wanted to have a scientific study of how people relate to and come to understand one another. Gestalt psychologists interested in perception: (cid:498)the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts(cid:499) Wanted to know how people perceive each other. Behaviour is a function of the person and the situation: power of the situation, perceiver shapes reality, interaction of the person and the situation. There is nothing quite so practical as a good theory. Science recognizes that our ideas can often be wrong. Good science often sets out to demonstrate that their ideas are wrong. When we cannot prove them wrong, we accept them for now. Some ideas get accepted quicker than others. What is accepted is shaped by what is popular and by political forces. Scientific experiments set up to infer causation. Must first demonstrate that the cause is correlated with the result when one variable. Must also eliminate all other possible causes.
