Psychology chapter 1

psychology

scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior

overt behavior

observable by more than the person behaving (blinking, smiling, walking, talking)

covert behavior

except with specific techniques, only observable to the person behaving (thinking, dreaming, imagining, etc.)

levels of analysis

-molecular

-neurochemical

-neuroloical / physiological

-behavioral

-social

-we have to focus on multiple levels of analysis

-can't always trust our common sense (science vs. intuition)

naive realism

the belief that we see the world as it appears, not as it actually is

confirmation bias

tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypotheses (views) and deny, dismiss, or distort, evidence that contradicts them.

belief perseverance

tendency to stick to our beliefs even when evidence contradicts them.

-flat earth believers

-their is evidence but they say they don't care and still believe

features of science

empirical, deterministic, replication, peer review

empirical

what can be observed and/or measured careful observations and manipulation of variables

deterministic

natural phenomena governed and affected by other natural laws and preferences

-applies to behavior as well

replication

fundamental to science. if not replicable, other unreported variables in play. check and balance on other scientists

peer review

this differentiates academic journal articles from the web (ex. wikipedia)

scientific theory

an explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world, generates more predictions that can be tested

- hypothesis

- explains and new ideas

-not explaining just one thing and an educated guess

metaphysics claim

assertion about the world that is untestable

doesn't not true

its just not addressable by science

pseudoscience

set of claims that seem scientific but are not

- marketing

costs of pseudoscience

may prevent person from obtaining effective treatment, direct harm

- rebirthing process not backed up science

apophenia

tendency to perceive meaningful connections among unrelated phenomena.

pareidolia

seeing meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli

- face in non animate object

- in the clouds

-face on the moon

six scientific thinking principles

1. ruling out rival hypothesis

2. correlation vs causation

4. falsifiability

replicability

5. extraordinary claims/evidence

6. occam's razor

scientific skepticism

1. a willingness to keep an open mind to all claims

2. willingness to accept claims only after researches have subject them to careful scientific tests

science and religion

entirely different and non-overlapping realms of understand the

science: testable with data (data)

religion: untestable with data (moral values)

ruling out hypotheses

consider all the alternative explanations for the findings, Placebo effect, other variable that also changed but that we did not measure

-there are other reasons or events that happen that aren't what you want

correlation vs causation

one event amy cause the other or vice versa

or maybe caused by separate factor

correlated doesn't mean they cause each other

falsifiability

must have testable hypotheses open to being proven wrong

if not testable, we cannot address them scientifically

non falsifiable claim -\> cannot be proven wrong

replicability

conducting a study again and obtaining the same results

direct replication

exactly like the initial study

extension

like initial study but applied to a new population, slightly different methods

extra ordinary claims

require extraordinary evidence

-result that falls along path of previous reported results does not require extraordinary evidence.

Occam's razor: parsimony

when all else is equal, choose the hypothesis that makes the fewest assumptions

-start at simpliest explanation

did facilitated communication work

no

heuristics

mental shortcuts, rule of thumb, helpful for fast decisions , conserve mental energy, simplify incoming information.

cognitive bias

systematic error in thinking

-confirmation bias

-patternicity

-hindsight bias

overconfidence

hindsight bias

we overestimate how accurately we could have predicted something happening once we already know the outcome

overconfidence

tendency to overestimate our ability to make correct predictions

-ex 100% believed they were above average

heuristics and biases

-make sure we are right (even when we are not)

-can draw false conclusions and become convinced of them

-can be overcome with the scientific method

variable

anything that can vary within a study

-can be an environmental event

-behavior of a human or animal (operationally defined)

independent variable

manIpulated by the experimenter

-can be varied experimentally

-can be varied by careful choice of experimental subjects

dependent variable

measured by the experimenter

-we hypothesize that the dependent variable depends on the independent variable

-psych-\> a measure of behavior mouse video

IV and DV elephant video example

IV- the mouse being under the dung

DV- reaction of the elephant. stoping, walking away

vality

are you measuring what you intend to measure

external validity

do the results generalize to the real world

internal validity

can you draw cause and effect inferences

does the IV cause the DV

reliability

consistency of measurement

test-retest reliability

are the results consistent over time

interrater reliability

do different people who conduct an interview or make behavioral observations, agree on the characteristics they're measuring

types of research designs

naturalistic observations

case studies

correlational designs

experimental designs

naturalistic observations

advantage- high in external validity