Psychology 1000 Chapter Notes -Quackery, Wilhelm Wundt, Psych

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Nick Skinner

Document Summary

Empirical: relying on or derived from observation, experimentation or measurement. Psychology: the discipline concerned with behaviour and mental process and how they are affected by an organism"s physical/mental state, and external environment. Psychobabble: quackery of psychological and scientific-sounding language (pop culture of science)(pop- psych) Media has twisted serious, research evidence psychology into popular opinion/ pop-psych. Common sense= not reliable guides to human behaviour. Pyschobable confirms our existing beliefs and prejudices and psychology challenges them. Critical thinking: the ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective judgements on the basis of well-supported reasons and evidence, rather than emotion or anecdote. Using critical thinking you can determine the difference between psych. Critical-thinking guidelines: ask questions; be willing to wonder, define your terms, examine the evidence, analyze assumptions and biases, don"t oversimplify, avoid emotional reasoning, tolerate uncertainty consider other interpretations. Psychology"s past: from the armchair to the laboratory. Psych wasn"t a discipline until the 19th century.