PSYC 1010 Lecture 31: PSYC 1010 Lecture 31 Notes
17 May 2018
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PSYC 1010 Lecture 31 Notes
Introduction
The Scientific Method
• In science, a theory explains behaviors or events by offering ideas that organize what we
have observed.
• By organizing isolated facts, a theory simplifies.
• By linking facts with deeper principles, a theory offers a useful summary.
• As we connect the observed dots, a coherent picture emerges.
• A theory about the effects of sleep on memory
• For example, helps us organize countless sleep-related observations into a short list of
principles.
• Imagine that we observe over and over that people with good sleep habits tend to
answer questions correctly in class, and they do well at test time.
• We might therefore theorize that sleep improves memory.
• So far so good: Our principle neatly summarizes a list of facts about the effects of a good
ight’s sleep o eory.
• Yet no matter how reasonable a theory may sound—and it does seem reasonable to
suggest that sleep could improve memory—we must put it to the test.
• A good theory produces testable predictions, called hypotheses.
• Such predictions specify what results (what behaviors or events) would support the
theory and what results would disconfirm it.
• To test our theory about the effects of sleep on memory, our hypothesis might be that
when sleep deprived, people will remember less from the day before.
• To test that hypothesis, we might assess how well people remember course materials
they studied efore a good ight’s sleep, or efore a shorteed ight’s sleep
• The results will either confirm our theory or lead us to revise or reject it.
• Our theories can bias our observations.
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