PSY 181 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Falsifiability, Negentropy, Autopoiesis

• School: University of Rochester
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 181
• Professor: C H R I S T O P H E R N I E M I E C

Document Summary

Notes on meta-theory lecture (meta-theoretical considerations: theory and explanation in scientific psychology): A framework for explaining some phenomenon, a proposition. Is falsifiable and parsimonious (favoring the simplest possible explanation; using as few explanatory concepts as possible) Is modifiable (if/when new evidence contradicts theoretical postulate) Used to account for, synthesize, and reduce a set of theories to produce a simpler, more useful framework. Theories have different foci, assumptions, and rules of evidence. Concerns the nature and structure of psychological theories, and the relation of fact to theory. Grand (macro) theories of personality in psychology. Practical role as frameworks for understanding and intervention. Differ in the facts in which they take interest. Differ in the methods used to collect those facts. Differ in the level of analysis at which they operate. Differ in what they view as causes/explanations. Differ in prescriptions for how to intervene. Thomas kuhn: american intellectual who wrote about the philosophy and the history of science.