PSYA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Naturalistic Observation, Operational Definition, Falsifiability
Document Summary
[red writing is a summary statement for that subheading] 2 basic question of psychology: what do people do answered by observing and measuring, why do they do it answered by looking for relationships between the things they measure. Today"s definitions: dogmatism tendency for people to cling to their assumptions, empiricism belief that accurate knowledge can be acquired through observation. The rule of parsimony is credited to the 14th century logician william ockham, who wrote plurality should only be posited when necessary = keep it simple, stupid . Merely suggested that it makes sense to start with the simplest theory possible and then make the theory more complicated only if we must. Hypothesis a falsifiable prediction made by a theory. Why can"t evidence prove a theory right: when evidence is consistent with a theory it increases our confidence in it, but it never makes us completely certain, when evidence is against a theory, it is instantly proved wrong.
