PSYC 201W Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Empirical Evidence, Causal Inference, Empiricism
10 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Philosopher and scientist charles pierce described four methods by which people come to hold beliefs about the world: tenacity, authority, reason, and empiricism. Tenacity involves believing something simply because it is what we have longed believed. Authority involves relying on other people as our source of knowledge and beliefs. Reason rests on the use of logic and rational argument to reach a conclusion on how things. Empiricism is the process of acquiring knowledge directly through observation and experience. Our experiences may not be representative of other people"s experiences. Even if experiences are representative, they may be interpreted or remembered in a biased manner. Con rmation bias (also called congeniality bias) refers to our tendency to selectively seek information that supports our views and avoid discon rming information. Science is a process of systematically gathering and evaluating empirical evidence to answer questions and test ideas.
