Psychology and Scientific Thinking

Chapter 1: Psychology and Scientific Thinking

Common sense: useful in some cases, but extremely wrong in other

Founder of American Psychology: William James

Psychologists disagree on many things, but agree that PSYCH IS NOT EASY TO DEFINE

Psychology

= THE STUDY OF THE MIND, BRAIN, AND BEHAVIOR

• spans multiple levels of analysis

• lower levels are biological (brain)
• higher levels are social (mind)
• LOW molecular → neurochemical → neurological/physiological → mental → behavior → social HIGH

Why is human behavior so difficult to predict?

1. Actions are multiply determined

• produced my many factors
• skeptical of single-variable explanations

• ex.: explaining violence with poverty as a single factor (genes, bad upbringing, etc.)

1. psychological influences are rarely independent of each other, making it difficult to pin down causes is operating what

• so many interrelated factors makes pinpointing causes difficult
• ex.: anorexia nervosa

1. Individual differences

• people differ in their thinking and respond in different ways to the same situation
• makes it difficult to come up with explanations that apply universally

1. People influence each other

• reciprocal determinism (Albert Bandura: we mutually influence everyone’s behavior

1. Behavior is shaped by culture

• chinese vs. American/Europeans see different things in pictures (eye-tracking technology)
• Chinese focus on detail

Why Can’t We Always Trust Common Sense?

1. Naïve Realism

= belief that we see the world precisely as it is (seeing is believing)

• much of the time this is true, BUT appearances can be deceiving
• ex. Earth may seem flat, common sense assures us we are being objective, but people who don’t share our beliefs are biased

1. Look at many proverbs

• they oppose each other, common sense leads us to believe two opposites

*** Common sense is right to:

• snap judgments whether someone we have just watched on TV is trustworthy or not
• helpful guide to make hypotheses
• happy employees=more productive

PSYCHOLOGY IS A SCIENCE

Science is not a book knowledge; it is a systematic APPROACH to evidence

→ begins with empiricism: knowledge should be based on what is gained by observation

→ careful of naïve realism however because observations do fool

→ people think it isn’t because it is more intuitive/simpler; HOWEVER harder because it is more challenging to predict things like behavior

Scientific Theory:

Explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world; ties many findings together

→ generates novel predictions that researchers can test (HYPOTHESES)

• can never be proved
• consistent with much evidence
• theory is a GENERAL EXPLANATION; Hypothesis is a SPECIFIC PREDICITON

SOME MISCONCEPTIONS:

1. theory does not explain one specific event
2. a theory is not just an educated guess

• All general explanations about how the world works are theories

Scientists fall into many traps . . . (need to use scientific safeguards)

1. Confirmation bias

= tendency to seek out evidence that supports our beliefs and denies, dismisses, or distorts evidence that contradicts them

• causes us to focus on evidence that supports our beliefs and gives us tunnel vision
• ex. Wason Selection Task

• 2 cards to test hypothesis that all cards have a vowel on one side and an odd number on the other side
• most people pick E and 5 but the 5 can only confirm the hypothesis NOT disconfirm it
• must choose 4 to see if it has  vowel on the opposite side
• fools us very easily

1. Belief Perseverance

= tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them

Metaphysical Claims:

        Assertions about the world that we can’t test

                Ex. God’s existence, soul, afterlife

• must distinguish from scientific claims
• difference? Could never test using scientific methods
• untestable
• religion vs. science

• religion is untestable, moral
• science can be answered with data

GOOD SCIENTISTS

• aware they may be mistaken
• always open to provision
• prescription for humility

• scientists never claim to prove their theories and avoid committing to definitive conclusions unless the evidence supporting is overwhelming

• popular phrases: suggests, appears (allows room for adaptations)

Growth of psychology → Misinformation Explosion

• Pseudoscience

• Imposter of science, seemingly scientific but not; lacks safeguards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance that characterize SCIENCE
• Pseudoscience can be tested while metaphysical claims can’t be
• Ex. ESP: many Americans convinced even though weak evidence; however, good we are open-minded but bad we are so convinced

Warning Signs of Pseudoscience