PSYB01H3 Chapter 1: PSYB01 - chapter 1 textbook notes

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17 Feb 2011
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Politicians frequently take political positions based on research findings. It can also influence judicial decisions, as exemplified by the social science brief used as evidence in the case of brown v. board of education. Important when developing and assessing the effectiveness of programs designed to achieve certain goals. Many people, incorrectly, rely on intuition and authority instead of scientific research. The limitations of intuition and authority: when you rely on intuition you accept unquestioningly what your own personal judgment or a single story tells you about the world. Illusionary correlation occurs when we focus on two events that stand out and occur together. We are biased to conclude that there must be a causal connection because we are highly motivated to believe the causal relationship. The public can then try to replicate methods used and obtain the same data. Fabricating data is unethical and dealt with by strong sanctions.