Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Scatter Plot, Normal Distribution, Central Tendency

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Laura Fazakas- De Hoog

Document Summary

Science: peer-reviewed, maintain rigorous standards for honesty and accuracy, reproducible results demanded, failures cannot be ignored, excused or hidden, over time, more is learned about processes under study, convinces by evidence or logical reasoning. Pseudoscience: not peer-reviewed, no rigorous standards for honesty and accuracy, results cannot be reproduced or verified, failures are ignored, excused, or hidden, not much more is learned over time through studying, convinces by faith or belief. Theories: a framework which allows us to explain certain events: explains how and why certain events are related to each other, theories are broad, whereas hypothesis are focused, ex. Hypothesis: testable explanation or prediction: easy to test, ex. To measure aggression you can measure number of punches thrown. How to identify a good theory: incorporates observations that are known to be true and facts, does this within a single framework, are testable, supported by new findings, are parsimonious (the simpler the better)