PSYC 1150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Opportunity Cost, Apophenia, Terror Management Theory
26 Jun 2018
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Department
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Week Three (Sept. 25 - 29, 2017)
Introduction to Psychology
Lecture 04: Science versus Pseudoscience
Naive Realism
- The belief that we see the world precisely as it is → seeing is believing.
- Works well in ordinary life, but consider:
- The earth seems flat.
- We seem to be standing still, yet the earth is moving around the sun 18.5
miles/second.
Common Sense
- Sometimes our common sense is right.
- Guides us to the truth and future research ideas.
Psychology as a Science
- Science is an approach the evidence, a toolbox of skills used to prevent us from fooling
ourselves.
- Communalism: willingness to share our findings with others.
- Disinterestedness: attempt to be objective when evaluating evidence.
Science as a Safeguard against “Bias”
- Confirmation Bias: Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypothesis and
neglect or distort contradicting evidence.
- Belief Perseverance: tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence
contradicts them.
Scientific Thinking and Everyday Life
- Stive to think scientifically; think in ways that minimize error.
- Become aware of your “biases” or perspectives.
- Be open about them from the start.
- Recognize you might be wrong.
- Practice humility.
- “Use the tools of the scientific method to try to overcome them”; or at least
become aware of them.
What is Scientific Theory?
- Explanation for a larger number of findings in the natural world.
- Not just an educated guess; some survive repeated efforts to refute them.
-Hypothesis: testable prediction; your research question derived from a theory.
Popular Psychology
- Self-Help
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Week Three (Sept. 25 - 29, 2017)
- About 3,500 self-help books are published each year. 5% tested.
- The quality of the information can be good, misleading, or even dangerous.
- The internet offers easy and quick information but quality is questionable.
- Quick Fixes and Miracle Cues
- Quick fixes and miracle cures - there are hundreds for increasing intelligence,
memory, depression, and even for enhancing our sex lives(—perhaps by the
books that we choose to read in public?).
- An important part of this course includes discussion of how to discern the quality
of information.
Psychological Pseudoscience
- Pseudoscience: set of claims that seems scientific but isn’t - lacks safeguards against
confirmation bias and belief perseverance.
- Ie. Astrology, out-of-body experiences, polygraph testing, recovered memories,
multiple personality disorder, and some forms of psychotherapy.
- Sometimes difficult to discern from bad science.
- Metaphysical Claim: are unjustifiable (ie. God, the soul, or the afterlife: not necessarily
wrong, but testable).
Prevalence of Pseudoscientific Beliefs Among Americans in 2015
- Extrasensory Perception: 41%
- Haunted Houses: 37%
- Ghosts: 32%
- Telepathy (mind-reading): 37%
- Astrology: 25%
- Visits to the earth by aliens: 24%
- Communication with the dead: 21%
- Witches: 21%
Seven Deadly Sins of Pseudoscience
1. Ad Hoc Immunizing Hypothesis: escape hatch that defenders of a theory use to protect
against falsification, usually a loophole or expectation for negative findings.
2. Lack of Self-Corrections
3. Exaggerated Claims
4. Overreliance on Anecdotes: Can’t tell us about the cause and effect. Anecdotes are
often not representative. Difficulty to verify.
5. Evasion of Peer Review: Doesn’t allow work to be screened by colleagues.
6. Absence of Connectivity: findings don’t build upon prior scientific findings.
7. Psychobabble: oodles of psychological or neurological language that sounds highly
scientific.
Why are we drawn to Pseudoscience
→ We are all prone to pseudoscientific beliefs
- Rational vs. Experiential Thinking.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The belief that we see the world precisely as it is seeing is believing. Works well in ordinary life, but consider: We seem to be standing still, yet the earth is moving around the sun 18. 5 miles/second. Guides us to the truth and future research ideas. Science is an approach the evidence, a toolbox of skills used to prevent us from fooling ourselves. Communalism: willingness to share our findings with others. Disinterestedness: attempt to be objective when evaluating evidence. Confirmation bias: tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypothesis and neglect or distort contradicting evidence. Belief perseverance: tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them. Stive to think scientifically; think in ways that minimize error. Become aware of your biases or perspectives. Be open about them from the start. Use the tools of the scientific method to try to overcome them ; or at least become aware of them.
