PS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Time Series, Dependent And Independent Variables, Standard Deviation
Document Summary
Science as a way of knowing o introspection: science, feelings. Why is psychology a science: psychologyisthescientificstudyofthemind,brain,andbehavior, whydoweneedscientificmethodtostudypsychology, it"s a set of safeguard against two human tendencies: dismiss or distort evidence that doesn"t. = confirmation bias: to cling to our beliefs despite contrary evidence = belief of perseverance. Basic: examines how the mind works: wedetect/seelime-yellowobjecteasierinthedark, what are the attention span and impulse control of young children. Description of what we observe: usuallythefirststepinunderstandingbehaviorormentalprocesses o. Answerswhatquestion: observe, record, generate data, naturalistic observation & laboratory observation, case study. Explanation for explanation for example why do we eat: researchers try to understand the causes of the behavior/mental processes o. Naturalistic and laboratory observations o playground verses big brother. Case studies: specialsamples(e. g. ,genieinlinguisticisolation, http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=denky2iakis, locked in a closet from 20 months old; no exposure to language; discovered at age. 13 o at age 17, vocabulary level = 5 years old. Naturalistic observation: seeing behavior in natural setting, spontaneously produced o. Laboratory observation: as above, more controlled.
