PSYC 2015 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Dependent And Independent Variables, Tobacco Smoking, Statistical Inference
PSYC 2015
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture 2
How did we gain knowledge?
From experiences
Watching others around you
Learning from mistakes
Education (schooling)
Non-scientific Explanations for Behavior
1. Authority
a. Someone who is creditable
b. Examples
i. Teachers
ii. Parents
iii. Etc.
c. Aristotle: Ma is ature a soial aial
d. Problem
i. Not always tested (make sure there is evidence)
2. Common Sense
a. Everyone Knows, Obvious
b. Examples
i. You need food to survive
c. If a car it at a stop sign it will yield and let the pedestrian at the cross walk cross
the street.
d. Problem
i. Common sense is based on culture
ii. What is common sense to one person might not be common sense to
another
3. Personal Experiences/Intuition
a. To accept unquestlyingly our ow judgeet or oe stor aout soeoe’s
experience tell you about the work
b. It’s eas to do well i io psh with professor Wu
i. What Is easy for one student might not be easy for another student
ii. Based on personal experiences
c. Problem
i. Oe’s eperiee might not be the reality of the situation.
Scientific Approach (it can come from three aspects)
1. Authority
2. Common Sense
3. Intuition
Skepticism is ideas that need to be evaluated very carefully to make sure their logic and results
are scientific.
Empiricism: To gain knowledge based on observation (this can only be based on observation)
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Scientific Approach
1. Characteristics of Scientific Inquiry
a. Data plays a very large role
b. Scientists are not the only ones interested in this topic
c. Falsifiability- does not matter if the data/evidence supports the research being
done
d. Findings need to be peered reviewed
Pseudoscience- when scientific terms are used to support evidence where there is no basis of
scientific research that was done.
1. Examples of pseudoscience
a. When a hypothesis is not testable
b. Questionable data
c. Claims ignore evidence that already exists
d. Claims are not detailed or clearly stated
e. Claims do not change over time
Psychology as a Science
1. Psychology- the study of human behavior
2. Empirical test (observation or experiments must be used)
a. Need to either be supported or not supported
b. The experiment/research conducted needs to be done in a way that can be
observed, evaluated and then that can be copied by others.
3. Basic Science
a. The concepts behind the behaviors
4. Applied Science
a. Is gaining practical knowledge that will solve problems in the real world
Goals of Science
1. Describing behavior
2. Prediction behavior
3. Determining the cause of behavior
4. Explaining behavior
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Scientific approach (it can come from three aspects: authority, common sense, intuition. Skepticism is ideas that need to be evaluated very carefully to make sure their logic and results are scientific. Empiricism: to gain knowledge based on observation (this can only be based on observation) Goals of science: describing behavior, prediction behavior, determining the cause of behavior, explaining behavior. Hypothesis & tentative ideas prediction & deliberate guess. Respondents (survey studies) the one we use. A statement of general principles thought which we can understand the world a little better. Organize and explain a variety of specific facts or description of behavior. If we know the principles of electricity, we can better understand light bulbs and lighting and toasters and much more. We use knowledge and generate new knowledge by guiding our observations. If the fuse is (cid:271)low(cid:374), the(cid:374) the la(cid:373)p wo(cid:374)"t tur(cid:374) o(cid:374) Structure of the skull describes personality traits and alibies.
