PSYC 2300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Dependent And Independent Variables, Pseudoscience, Deductive Reasoning
Document Summary
Tenacity- holding onto a belief because it has always been true (superstition supports it) Authority- someone in authority says it is true. Faith- unquestionable faith, trust in authority figure. Empiricism- based on sensory experience or direct observation. Approach to acquiring knowledge through specifically formulated questions and systematic attempts to answer questions. Science challenges and tests theories and reduces confirmation biases. Science is rational/logical, objective, empirical, and public. Pseudoscience may sound like real science, but it is not based on real research. Make testable predictions- based on hypotheses, typically using deductive reasoning. Both two represent two ends of the continuum of control. Provides basis for theories, principles that apply to various topics. Conduct planned and systematic observations to test or evaluate hypotheses and predictions. Use observations to make conclusions about original hypotheses. Based on outcome of test, hypothesis is modified and we are back to the beginning with a new hypothesis to test.