PSYC 2250 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Psychology, Time, Internal Validity
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSYC 2250
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
PSYC 2250 Introduction to Psychological Research
Chapter1: Scientific Understanding of Behavior
Research method important
1. Understanding human behavior
2. Becoming an informed 知情 consumer ( be critical when reading product’s research report)
3. Gaining a competitive edge in many careers
4. Preparation for a career in psychology
5. Participate in public policy debates
6. Evaluating community programs
(non-scientific) Methods of acquiring knowledge
1. Tenacity (culture belief)
- Stubbornness of belief
- Ideas accepted as true through cultural repetition
- E.g. “don’t swim after eating”
- Tenacious idea are often a part of cultural “folk wisdom”
2. Intuition and personal experience
- knowledge without conscious effect or sensory processing (E.g. “hunches”)
- Personal Experience: belief based on direct (often “one-time”) experience
Problem
a) Motivational and cognitive biases”
Seeing what we want to see ; Believing what we want to believe
b) Illusory Correlation:
A type of “cause-effect” error made by connecting two ( or more) rare but causally
unrelated events together
E.g. September causes goose fly out
It happen as we do not notice when we do not think
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
3. Authority
- Acceptance of idea because experts say it is so (e.g. news media, governments…)
4. A prior? method
- Knowledge from pure thought and logical principles
- E.g. philosophical arguments for the existence of God
Skepticism, Science and the Empirical Approach
Rationalism was the historical precursor of science
Scientific skepticism
- Ideas evaluated on the basis of logic and scientific investigation
Scientists through empirical scientific method to develop knowledge.
Empiricism
- Philosophy that knowledge is based on structured, systematic and investigation
4 characteristics of scientific approach:
1. Observation that others can replicate(copy)
- check whether they obtain the same result
- ensure that effects are not just a false positive or random fluke
- to detect alternative explanations such as confounding variables
2. Willingness to make accurate discoveries to revise belief to become real
3. Research/ discuss only falsifiable ideas
- It can be either supported or refuted using empirical data
4. Peer reviews by others before publishing
Integrating Scientific Skepticism, Intuition, and Authority
Science includes skepticism intuition and authority. But in balance.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Tenacious idea are often a part of cultural folk wisdom . Intuition and personal experience knowledge without conscious effect or sensory processing (e. g. Personal experience: belief based on direct (often one-time ) experience. Seeing what we want to see ; believing what we want to believe b) A type of cause-effect error made by connecting two ( or more) rare but causally unrelated events together. It happen as we do not notice when we do not think: authority. Acceptance of idea because experts say it is so (e. g. news media, governments : a prior? method. E. g. philosophical arguments for the existence of god. Ideas evaluated on the basis of logic and scientific investigation. Scientists through empirical scientific method to develop knowledge. Philosophy that knowledge is based on structured, systematic and investigation. It can be either supported or refuted using empirical data: peer reviews by others before publishing. Ok to have opinions if they are presented as such.
