PSYC 1010 Lecture 34: PSYC 1010 Lecture 34 Notes

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PSYC 1010 Lecture 34 Notes
Introduction
The Case Study
Jean Piaget taught us about children’s thinking after carefully observing and questioning
only a few children.
Studies of only a few chimpanzees have revealed their capacity for understanding and
language.
Intensive case studies are sometimes very revealing.
They show us what can happen, and they often suggest directions for further study. But
atypical individual cases may mislead us.
Unrepresentative information can lead to mistaken judgments and false conclusions.
Indeed, anytime a researcher mentions a finding
Smokers die younger: 95 percent of men over 85 are nonsmokers) someone is sure to
offer a contradictory anecdote
Well, I have an uncle who smoked two packs a day and lived to be 89
Dramatic stories and personal experiences (even psychological case examples)
command our attention and are easily remembered.
Journalists understand that, and often begin their articles with personal stories.
Stories move us.
But stories can mislead. Which of the following do you find more memorable?
“In one study of 1300 dream reports concerning a kidnapped child, only 5 percent
correctly envisioned the child as dead” (Murray & Wheeler, 1937).
“I know a man who dreamed his sister was in a car accident, and two days later she died
in a head-on collision!”
Numbers can be numbing, but the plural of anecdote is not evidence.
As psychologist Gordon Allport (1954, p. 9) said, “Given a thimbleful of [dramatic] facts
we rush to make generalizations as large as a tub.”
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