PS 101 Final: Psychology Final Study Guide
10 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
What is psychology: psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior. A hypothesis is a specific prediction based on a theory, which can then be tested. Confirmation bias: tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypothesis and neglect or distort contradicting evidence. Pseudoscience: a set of claims that seem scientific, but aren"t: lacks the safe guard that characterize science, testable beliefs that are not supported by science. Six principles of critical thinking: ruling out rival hypotheses, correlation isn"t causation, falsifiability, replicability, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, occam"s razor, parsimony: logical simplicity. Aimed to identify the most basic elements of psychological experience. Encouraged systematic data collection and empiricism: functionalism. Hoped to understand the adaptive purposes of thought and behavior. Influenced evolutionary perspectives in modern psychology: behaviorism. Focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking outside the organism. Helped to understand how we learn and improved psychology"s scientific rigor: cognitivism.
