PSYC 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Consumer Behaviour, Cognitive Revolution, Informed Consent

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jens C Pruessner

Document Summary

Folk wisdom: used to try to understand events in world (answers everything explains nothing) Can provide an explanation for every conceivable event as well as its exact opposite. Law of parsimony: simple explanations of phenomena are preferred to complex explanations. Doyle had 2 explanations: girls actually saw fairies, girls did not see fairies -> he applied this law and accepted the first option; adopt the simplest explanation. Personal experience cannot fully support a claim (passed exam by sitting in seat) Only experimental method can support a cause-and-effect statement: what do statistics reveal? (recall: 3 types of averages) findings could occur by chance. Association between 2 variables = a correlation: correlation is not causation: can be due to a third variable. Ex: placebo effect: drug research, positive effects due to beliefs about the drug. Scientific method: system of investigation; careful observations of phenomenon, proposes theories to explain, hypotheses about future, and then tests them via research.