PSY100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Premature Ejaculation, Naturalistic Observation, Sub-Saharan Africa
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PSY100H1 Full Course Notes
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Authority (is the info coming from someone you trust) Science is not defined by what it studies but by how it is studied. Determinism: the universe is orderly all events have meaningful causes or reasons why they happen. Theories: statements about the causal relation between two or more variables. Variables: a condition that changes or has different values. Empiricism: the best way of figuring out principles is by collecting data or making observations. Parsimony: researchers should explain their observations in the simplest method. When there are two equally good theories, we should prefer the simpler one (aka. Falsifiability it should be possible to make an observation that would show the hypothesis or theory to be false. Operational definitions an observable event or condition that any other researcher should be able to independently measure/test. Sometimes variables are not well-defined and cannot be directly observed. Constructs: characteristics that cannot be directly observed but are useful for describing and explaining behaviour.
