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Unit One Study Guide
Chapter One – What Is Psychology?
Psychology, Pseudoscience & Public Opinion
What is the difference between conclusions based on empirical psychological research and pseudoscience?
Empirical psychological research is backed by testable, empirical data. Empirical psychological research is peer-reviewed and heavily scrutinized. Pseudoscience takes the scientific data and draw conclusions that present their information as fact as if the “facts” provide a plausible explanation to their theory. Scientific research formulates a hypothesis based upon the data gathered while pseudoscience formulates a hypothesis to support the data gathered.
Thinking Critically & Creatively About Psychology
What is critical thinking?
Critical thinking is the ability and willingness to assess claims and make judgments on the basis of well- supported reasons and evidence rather than emotion or anecdote.
What are the 8 critical thinking guidelines described in the text?
- Ask questions; be willing to wonder.
- Define your terms.
- Examine the evidence.
- Analyze assumptions and biases.
- Avoid emotional reasoning.
- Don’t oversimplify.
- Consider other interpretations.
- Tolerate uncertainty.
What is an operational definition?
An operational definition is when a variable is defined in terms of the procedures used to measure or manipulate it.
By ‘childhood’ I mean ages 3 to 12; by ‘events’ I mean things that happened to me personally, like a trip to the zoo or a stay in the hospital; by ‘accurately’ I mean the event basically happened the way I think it did.
Are all opinions “created equally?”
No. If one person’s opinion ignores reality then that person forfeits the right for their opinion to be taken seriously. Opinions can differ and they’re not all created equal. Nobody can argue your personal preference for one automobile over another.
What is the difference between an assumption and a bias?
An assumption is a belief that is taken for granted. A bias is when an assumption or belief keeps a person from considering evidence fairly or causes them to ignore evidence completely.
What is argument by anecdote and why is it essential to avoid it?
Argument by anecdote is generalizing from a personal experience. Anecdotes are akin to stereotyping and this is not critical thinking because a sweeping conclusion is made with only one or two points of evidence.
What is Occam’s razor?
Occam’s razor is a principle that allows a critical thinker to choose one of several explanations of a phenomenon that accounts for the most evidence while making the fewest unverified assumptions.
Psychology’s Past: From The Armchair To The Laboratory
Who is William James and why is he important to the history of psychology?
William James was a philosopher, physician and psychologist who proposed and supported the idea of functionalism. Functionalism is the analysis of specific behaviors and mental processes that help a person or animal adapt to the environment. Functionalism didn’t last long but the foundation of emphasis on causes and consequences of behavior set the course for future psychological science.
Are Freud’s ideas accepted by psychologists today?
Most Freudian concepts are rejected by most empirically oriented psychologists. Freud said that conscious awareness is a small part of mentality. Beneath conscious awareness is an unconscious part that contains wishes, passions, secrets, yearnings – some of which are sexual or aggressive in nature.
LCSW (Licensed clinical social worker) treat common individual and family problems and occasionally addiction or abuse. Licensing requirements vary but generally require an MA in psychology or social work.
Chapter Nine – Thinking & Intelligence
Reasoning Rationally
What is the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning?
Deductive reasoning is a line of reasoning in which the conclusion necessarily follows from a set of observations or propositions. For example:
If the premises “All human beings are mortal” and “I am a human being” are true, then the conclusion “I am mortal” must also be true. If A and B then A+B=C
Inductive reasoning can be thought of as drawing general conclusions from specific observations (as generalizing from past experience.) The conclusion probably follows the premises but could conceivably be false. SCIENCE RELIES HEAVILY ON INDUCTIVE REASONING.
What are the differences between formal and informal reasoning problems?
A formal reasoning problem has clearly-defined methods and the information needed for drawing a conclusion or reaching a solution is specific clearly. There is a “right” answer.
An informal reasoning problem has no clearly correct solution. Many approaches, viewpoints or possible solutions may compete and the most reasonable should be decided upon.
What are the stages of the development of reflective judgment?
During the two early pre-reflective stages people assume that a correct answer always exists and that it can be obtained directly through the senses. They often do not distinguish between knowledge and belief or between belief and evidence and they see no reason to justify a belief.
During three quasi-reflective stages people recognize that some things cannot be known with absolutely certainty and they realize that judgments should be supported by reasons. The fault is that they only pay attention to evidence that fits what they already believe. Quasi-reflective thinkers defend a position by asserting that all opinions are created equal.
During the last two stages, a person becomes capable of reflective judgment. Some judgments are more valid than others because of their fit with available evidence – they realize that some things cannot be known with certainty. They are willing to consider a wide-variety of evidence from many sources and reason dialectically.
Barriers to Reasoning Rationally
What are the six barriers to rational reasoning described in the text?
Exaggerating The Improbable – The inclination to exaggerate the probability of rare events. People are strongly influenced by the affect heuristic; the tendency to consult emotions instead of judging probabilities objectively.
Avoiding Loss – People try to avoid or minimize risks and losses when they make decisions. When a choice is framed in terms of risk of losing something, they respond more cautiously when the same choice is framed in terms of gain.
The Fairness Bias – The sense of fairness often takes precedence over rational self-interest when people make economic choices.
The Hindsight Bias – Armed with the wisdom of hindsight, people see the outcome that actually occurred as inevitable and they overestimate their ability to have predicted what happened beforehand.
The Confirmation Bias – When people are thinking about an issue they already feel strongly about they succumb to confirmation bias paying attention to only the evidence that confirms their belief and finding fault with evidence or arguments that point in a different direction.
Mental Sets – The use of the same heuristics, strategies and rules that worked in the past on similar problems to solve new problems. Mental sets make human learning more productive but can be a barrier when new insights and methods are needed.
Chapter Two – How Psychologists Do Research
What Makes Psychological Research Scientific?
What characteristics define scientific thinking?
Precision. Theory Hypothesis Prediction Systematic Testing
Skepticism. Scientists do not accept ideas on faith or authority.
Reliance on empirical evidence. Scientific hypotheses are not judged on how pleasing or entertaining they are. They must be backed by empirical evidence.
Willingness to make “risky predictions.” Scientists must state an idea in such a way that it can be refuted or disproved by counterevidence. This is the Principle of Falsifiability
Openness. The free flow of ideas and full-disclosure on procedures used in a study. There are no secrets!
Naturalistic Observation – Allows description of behavior as it occurs. Allows little or no control of the situation. Observations may be biased. No firm conclusions about cause and effect.
Laboratory Observation – More control than naturalistic observation. Allows use of sophisticated equipment. Limited control of situation. Observations may be biased. No firm conclusions about cause and effect.
Test – Yields information on personality traits, emotional states, aptitudes and abilities. Hard to make tests that are reliable and valid.
Survey – Provides large amounts of information on large numbers of people. Sampling can be non- representative or biased – makes it impossible to generalize from the results. Responses may be inaccurate or untrue.
Correlational Study – Allows general predictions about whether two or more variables are related. Does not permit identification of cause and effect.
Experiment – Allows researcher control of situation. Allows researcher to identify cause and effect. Situation is artificial and results may not generalize well to the real world. Sometimes difficult to avoid experimenter effects.
Correlational Studies: Looking for Relationships
All correlational studies involve looking for relationships but not all studies involve looking for relationships are correlational. Explain.
A correlation does not establish cause and effect only that a relationship exists between two variables. Some studies looking for relationships may allow the explanation of a cause and effect relationship between two variables.
What is indicated by the correlation coefficient?
This is the magnitude of the relationship (either positive or negative) between either variable. A perfect positive correlation is +1.00 and a perfect negative correlation is -1.00.
What is the distinction between a positive (direct) and a negative (inverse) correlation?
A positive correlation indicates that there is a direct relationship between the two variables. As one goes up, the other goes up.
A negative correlation indicates that there is an inverse relationship between the two variables. As one goes up, the other goes down.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of correlational research?
Correlational research can establish relatedness but cannot establish a causal relationship between two or more variables. The relatedness can prompt further/other research.
Experiments: Hunting for Causes
What are the distinctions between descriptive (i.e., non-experimental) studies and the experimental method?
Descriptive studies allow for the observation and description of phenomena while experimental methods allow for the control/manipulation and measure of phenomena to draw conclusions about cause and effect.
Why are control groups/conditions important in experiments and in some non-experimental methods?
Control groups allow for the observation of “the norm.” This is to insure that the behavior/situation that the experimenter is interested in would not have occurred anyway. The control group is the same as the experimental group except they do not receive manipulation of the independent variable.
Why is random assignment important in experimental research?
Individual characteristics that could skew results will be balanced between the two groups – kind of negating itself.
How is the quasi-experiment similar to an experiment? How is it different?
A quasi-experiment is like an experiment in that they can yield data that can be used to make causal inferences. A quasi-experiment, however, has no random assignment and is limited to observable phenomena.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of experimental research?
Can gain insight and control over variables. Results can be used to establish a cause and effect relationship. Experimental research is subject to human-error, typically non-representative. The experimenter has influence in which questions are asked and what behaviors are recorded.
Evaluate the Findings
What is the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics?
Descriptive statistics organize and summarize research data. Inferential statistics draw inferences about how statistically meaningful a study’s results are.
Thinking about the course material will help me to understand the meaning of the material and apply my understanding to make it more memorable to me. Re-reading the material is maintenance rehearsal and is not very effective.
The text has some useful suggestions for improving learning. Describe them.
Pay attention. Encode information in more than one way. Add meaning. Take time out to sleep/rest. Overlearn. Monitor your learning.
The term overlearning is often perceived as having a negative connotation. Why is overlearning actually a good thing?
Overlearning imparts longevity to your memories far and away out of proportion to the degree to which you practice it.
