PSY1SFP_Philosophy_Lecture_2__1_PP_

Lecture Overview

• Topic: Scientific Foundations of Psychology

• Focus: Understanding how knowledge is constructed in psychology.

Key Concepts

Theory of Mind

• Definition: Ability to attribute mental states (beliefs, motivations, emotions) to oneself and others.

• Importance: Critical for predicting behaviors; developed between ages 3-5.

• Testing: False belief task shows young children struggle to distinguish mental representation from reality.

• Influential Theorists:

  • Dennett's 'intentional stance' for predicting behaviors.

  • Poe and Hume's insights on social understanding through emotional mirroring.

Reasoning and (Ir)Rationality

• Aristotle: Humans seen as rational beings due to reasoning.

• Psychological Evidence: Humans often make irrational choices (e.g., Wason task, Gambler’s Fallacy).

• Two notions of rationality (Evans & Over):

  1. Reliable thinking for achieving goals.

  2. Conforming to normative theories (less successful).

Progressing Knowledge in Psychology

• Methods:

  • Intuition: Personal instinct as a guide.

  • Authority: Acceptance of ideas based on credibility.

  • Rationalism: Logical reasoning for conclusions.

  • Empiricism: Knowledge from observation and experience.

  • Scientific Method: Systematic evidence collection and testing.

Validity of Knowledge

• Hypothesis Testing: Science involves forming hypotheses which are continually tested for validity.

• Limitations: Absolute certainty is unattainable in science; knowledge is provisional.

Testing Theories

• Psychological research supports/refutes theories. Good research should be:

  • Theory-driven.

  • Aimed to falsify hypotheses.

• Research Paradigm: Shapes what is considered rational for testing psychological theories.

Anomalies in Knowledge

• Acceptance of new theories when current knowledge is challenged (e.g., historical misconceptions about diseases).

• Examples include past misconceptions in psychology about conditions like autism and homosexuality.

Psychology's WEIRDness

• WEIRD: Participants in many studies are from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic societies.

• Implications: Data may not represent global human behavior.

• Research Limitations: 96% of studies rely on data from only 12% of the global population.

Kuhn and Paradigm Shifts

• Paradigm Concept: A shared framework of assumptions in scientific communities.

• Normal Science: Work within accepted paradigms until anomalies challenge existing beliefs.

• Revolutionary Science: Occurs when unresolved anomalies lead to the acceptance of new paradigms.

• Historical Example: Copernicus vs. Geocentrism, leading to paradigm shifts in astronomical understanding.

Summary

• Theory of mind is essential for social interaction but develops over the early years.

• Psychological reasoning often deviates from rationality.

• Science is a iterative process of hypothesis testing with no absolute truths.

• Dominant paradigms in psychology shift as anomalies arise, requiring new theoretical frameworks.