PSYC 180 Chapter Notes -Gorilla Suit, Optical Illusion, Change Blindness
8 May 2012
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Document Summary
Science thrives on a skeptical approach, and scientists are typically conservative in what they consider a. Two errors: nonexistent phenomena may pass as real or generally accepted; real phenomena, which should be generally accepted, may pass as nonexistent. Experimental results that do not replicate, effects that are very small and tenuous, flaws of design and methodology, insufficient sample size, inadequate statistical analyses, and lack of a theoretical basis may all contribute to weak evidence. Statistical analysis is independent of the quality of the unprocessed information. Meta-analytical studies are retrospective, and confound exploratory with confirmatory investigation. Experimenter"s beliefs may introduce a substantive bias to the interpretation of data and sometimes even to more nuanced aspects. Psi effects are not amenable to standard scientific scrutiny because the alleged effects, when they do occur, typically disappear soon after the initial experiment, thereby preventing replication. Decline effect the tendency of psi phenomena to wane over time, sometimes reaching chance levels.
