Psychology 2800E Chapter Notes -Experimentum Crucis, Falsifiability, Science Advances

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2800E
• Professor: Patrick Brown

Document Summary

Stanovich ch 8: avoiding the einstein syndrome: the importance of. B/c headlines regularly come from the most irresponsible quarters of the media, most scientists recommend that they be approached w/ skepticism. The monumental nature of einstein"s achievement has made it the dominant model of scientific progress in the public"s mind. This dominance is perpetuated b/c it fits in nicely with the implicit script that the media use to report most news events. Conceptual change in science obeys a principal of connectivity that is absent or, at least, severely limited in the arts. A new theory in science must make contact with previously established empirical facts. To be considered an advance, it must not only explain new facts, but also account for old ones. The theory may explain old facts in quite a way diff from a previous theory, but it must explain them. This requirement ensures the cumulative progress in science. A consumer"s rule: beware of violations of connectivity.