PSYA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Dogma, Empiricism, Frequency Distribution
Empiricism: belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation
Dogmatism: tendency for people to cling to their assumptions
Scientific method: set of principles about the appropriate relationship between ideas
and evidence --> empiricism is the essential element for this; suggests that the best
method to learn truth is to develop theories, derive hypotheses, test them with evidence,
then use evidence to modify theories
Theory: hypothetical explanation of a natural phenomenon
Rule of parsimony: when scientists set out to develop theories they start off with the
simplest ones
Hypothesis: falsifiable prediction made by a theory; “falsifiable” important because
some theories cannot be falsified as they do not indicate what or what not to observe for
truth, e.g. “God created the universe” cannot be judged using scientific method
!Bat navigation-by-sound theory: bats might navigate by sound, we can try to
observe through deaf bats. Why can’t evidence prove a theory right? If you saw deaf
bats navigating normally, the theory would instantly be proven wrong. But if you saw
deaf bats navigating incorrectly then that does not prove that no one else hasn’t seen
them navigating properly.
!
Empirical Method: set of rules and techniques for observation
!Observations require methods.
!3 things that make people difficult to study: complexity (500 million
interconnected neurons in human brain and thoughts feelings and actions), variability
(no 2 people say, think or feel the same), reactivity (act different when being observed
compared to not being observed).
!2 things that measurement requires are having an operational definition that
specifies a measurable event and a device that measures the event
Operational definition: description of a property in concrete, measurable terms
!measure: device that can detect the condition to which operational definition
refers
!electromyograph (EMG): device that measures muscle contractions under skin
surface; we use the same steps when measuring psychological properties as physical
properties, e.g. to measure a person’s happiness, we would develop operational
definition of the property, such as how often the person smiles--measure using EMG
Good measures have 3 properties: validity (extent to which a measurement and
property are conceptually related), reliability (tendency for a measure to produce the
same measurement over and over again) and power (ability of a measure to detect
concrete conditions specified in operational definition)
Document Summary
Empiricism: belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation. Dogmatism: tendency for people to cling to their assumptions. Rule of parsimony: when scientists set out to develop theories they start off with the simplest ones. Hypothesis: falsi able prediction made by a theory; falsi able important because some theories cannot be falsi ed as they do not indicate what or what not to observe for truth, e. g. god created the universe cannot be judged using scienti c method. Bat navigation-by-sound theory: bats might navigate by sound, we can try to observe through deaf bats. If you saw deaf bats navigating normally, the theory would instantly be proven wrong. But if you saw deaf bats navigating incorrectly then that does not prove that no one else hasn"t seen them navigating properly. Empirical method: set of rules and techniques for observation.
