PSYC 200 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Deductive Reasoning, Parapsychology, Sampling Bias

• School: University of Calgary
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 200
• Professor: Peter Van Der Velde

Document Summary

Science is built on a foundation of core beliefs around the world, these two core beliefs are: the universe operates according to certain natural laws: The belief that things happen in an orderly fashion that can be described using laws or rules. Scientists look for laws that describe mental processes and behaviour. E. g. cause and effect: such laws are discoverable and testable. By observing what happens in the natural world, we can figure out the laws controlling those events and make predictions about what may happen and then experiment to see whether those predictions are true. The scientific method: this method uses: deductive reasoning: applying big, general ideas (broad principles) to specific situations. Inductive reasoning: using controlled, direct observations to generate broad conclusions in specific situations, these help produce non-biased truths about the laws of the universe. To build on the best of both deductive and inductive, scientists came up with a mix called hypothetico- deductive reasoning.