PSYC 2300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Falsifiability

• School: University of Windsor
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2300
• Professor: Maggio

Document Summary

An hypothesis is a statement about something that may be true. Hypothesis can be stated as both informal and formal questions. Example of informal: do female undergraduates eat different amounts of food when sitting in mixed sex groups versus female-only groups? . Example of formal: female"s calorie consumption differs depending on sex composition of their eating companies . Hypothesis"s translate to predictions a statement about an uncertain event . Difference is that predictions are wild guess and hypothesis are scientific guesses. An important characteristic of all scientific hypotheses is falsifiability the ability of data to show that a hypothesis is false . A theory consists of a system of logical ideas proposed to explain a particular phenomenon and its relationship to other phenomena. Theories serve two important functions: first, theories organize and explain a variety of specific facts or descriptions of behaviour. Second theories generate knowledge by focusing our thinking so that we notice new aspects of behaviour.