PSY 2012

Psychology

the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior

Levels of analysis

• Spectrum from social levels of analysis (higher levels) to biochemical analysis of the brain (lower levels)

  • Must consider multiple levels of analysis in psychology

5 reasons why human behavior is difficult to predict

1. Almost all actions are multiply determined: produced by many factors Be skeptical of single-variable explanations of behavior

• Undermines single-cause behavioral explanations

2. Psychological differences are largely interdependent (ex. someone who is anxious is more likely to compulsively exercise)

• Makes it hard to pinpoint causal factor(s) that explain behavior

3. Individual differences: variations among people in their thinking, emotion, personality, and behavior, explains why different people respond in different ways to the same situation

4. Reciprocal determinism: fact that we mutually influence each other’s behavior

5. Behavior is shaped by culture

Naive realism

• belief that we see the world precisely as it is

  • Trusting intuitive perceptions of the world, but these perceptions can sometimes be deceiving

  • Our expectations inform our perceptions

Science

systematic approach to evidence

Scientific theory

• explanation for large number of findings in the natural world

  • Begins with a why?

  • Generates specific predictions (hypotheses) regarding new data that has not been observed

Hypothesis

 testable prediction derived from a scientific theory

Metaphysical claim

assertion about the world that is not testable (ex. God, afterlife)

Important types of bias (2)

• Confirmation bias: the tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and deny, dismiss, or distort evidence that contradicts them

  • “Mother of all biases”

• Belief perseverance: tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them

Conclusions drawn from scientific papers may be inaccurate, so we always use _____ language such as ________

non-committal language in papers such as “suggests,” “appears,” and “raises the possibility that”

Pseudoscience

• set of claims that seems scientific but isn’t

  • Lacks safeguards to protect against confirmation bias and belief perseverance

Warning signs of pseudoscience

• Overuse of ad hoc immunizing hypotheses: escape hatch/loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect it from being disproved

• Exaggerated claims

• Lack of self correction: belief perseverance 

• Over-reliance on anecdotes: believing something just because it happened to a couple of people

• Lack of connection: same results are not found in identical/similar studies

  • Different from pioneering study (first in a specific area)

• Lack of peer review

• Psychobabble: very complicated language used to make something sound scientific

• Claims of “proof”

Why are we vulnerable to pseudoscience?

1. Patternicity: tendency to see patterns in meaningless data or visual stimuli

• Our brains want to make order from chaos

2. Finding comfort in our beliefs: we believe what we want to believe, allows us a sense of control over the unpredictable world

• Terror management theory: theory proposing that our awareness of death creates and underlying sense of terror that makes us adopt cultural worldviews to give life meaning

Logical fallacy definition

traps in thinking that lead to mistaken conclusions

Emotional reasoning fallacy

1. using emotions to evaluate the validity of a claim

• Refusing to believe something because it makes us uncomfortable

Bandwagon fallacy

assuming a claim is correct because many people believe it

Either-or fallacy

1.  framing a question as if it has only one of two extreme answers

Not-me fallacy + bias blind spot

1. believing that we are immune to error thats affect other people

• Bias blind spot: most people are unaware of their biases but can observe biases in others

Concerns of pseudoscience (3)

1. Opportunity costs: people give up effective mental health treatments for pseudoscientific treatments which causes harm

2. Direct harm: pseudoscientific treatments can cause direct harm to subjects

3. An inability to think scientifically as citizens

Scientific skepticism

approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them (using critical thinking)

Critical thinking definition

set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and careful fashion

6 methods of critical thinking

1. Ruling out rival hypotheses: have alternative explanations for the findings been excluded?

2. Correlation vs. causation: can we be sure that A causes B?

• Correlation-causation fallacy: correlation does not indicate causation

• Variable: anything that can vary

3. Falsifiability: can the claim be disproven?

• Falsifiability: for a claim to be meaningful, it must be capable of being disproved

  • Theories can be supported or disproven

4. Replicability: can the results be duplicated consistently in other studies by independent investigators?

• Failing to replicate finding raises questions about its legitimacy

• File drawer effect: studies that do not support findings are hit away in a “file drawer” → less evidence available to disprove theories

  • Impacts media coverage, because media doesn’t correct their statements

5. Generalizability: do these findings and conclusions reflect the diversity of the human experience? Does it hold true in different contexts?

• How well does the sample represent the population of interest? (Age, sex, gender, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, etc)

• WEIRD: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic

  • Most study samples have these characteristics, making up a large percentage of published research

  • Continual need for cross-cultural research

6. Extraordinary claims: is the evidence as strong as the claim?

• More contradiction with preexisting knowledge → higher burden of proof

Wilhelm Wundt

• “Father of Psychology”

  • developed first full fledged psychological laboratory in 1879

  • 1879 = birth year of scientific psychology

  • Introspection: method by which trained observers carefully reflect and report on their mental experiences

  • Strongly influenced by spiritualism

5 theoretical perspectives of psychology

1. Structuralism

2. Functionalism

3. Behaviorism

4. Cognitivism

5. Psychoanalysis

Structuralism

•  to identity the basic elements (structures) of psychological experience

  • Leading figure: E. B. Titchener

  • Desired end goal: map out sensations, images, and feelings

  • Emphasized the importance of systematic observation

  • Framework ultimately did not survive because:

1. Disagreements among introspectionists: reported different mental activity

2. Imageless thought: certain mental activities occurred subconsciously

Functionalism

• to understand the adaptive purposes of thoughts, feelings, and behavior

  • Leading figures: William James (influenced by Charles Darwin), James Angell

  • Natural selection: principle that organisms with beneficial adaptations will survive and reproduce at a higher rate

  • “Why do we remember some things and forget others?” (What is the function)

  • Framework was eventually absorbed by different fields

Behaviorism

• to uncover the general principles of learning that explain all behaviors, focus is largely on observable behavior

  • Even more objective than the previous perspectives

  • Leading figures: Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, Edward Thorndike, B.F. Skinner

  • Disregarded mental processes (thinking)

Cognitivism

• to observe the role of mental processes (thinking) on behavior

  • aka: how do our thoughts influence our behavior?

  • Argued that thinking strongly affects behavior

    • Interpretation of reward/punishment influences actions (behavior)

  • “Peeking inside the black box”

  • Leading figure: Jean Piaget, Ulric Neisser, George Miller

  • Cognitive neuroscience: examines the relation between brain functioning and thinking

Psychoanalysis

• the uncover the role of unconscious internal processes and early life experiences in behavior (focuses on impulses, thoughts, and memory)

  • Leading figure: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler

  • Freudian slips: finding meaning in our slips of tongue, dreams, and psychological symptoms (strong belief in symbolism present in everyday life)

  • Emphasis on childhood experiences as root of deep-seated psychological conflict

Great debates of psychology (2)

• Nature-nurture debate: are behaviors due to genetics or environments?

  • Behavior geneticists: use sophisticated designs such as twin and adoption studies to show that many psychological traits are influenced heavily by genes

  • Evolutionary psychology: applies Darwin’s theory of natural selection to human and animal behavior (memory, emotion, and personality exist to help humans reproduce)

  • Nearly universal agreement that is it both factors

• Free-will determinism debate: to what extent are behaviors freely selected rather than caused by factors outside of our control?

  • Depends who you ask

Basic research

how the mind works

Applied research

• how we can use basic research to solve real-world problems