Psych & Pseudoscience
Differences Study / Quiz
What is Psychology?
Naïve Realism:
The belief that we see the world precisely as it actually is in truth ("Seeing is Believing"). Works well in ordinary life, but consider: 1) The Earth is flat. 2) We seem to be standing still, yet the earth is moving around the sun at 18.5 M/S
Different level of analysis in Depression. (As a discipline, psych spans many levels of analysis)
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Social Level: Loss of important personal relationships, lack of social support.
Behavioral Level: Decrease in pleasurable activities, moving, and talking slowly, withdrawing from others.
Mental Level: Depressed thoughts (I'm a loser), sad feelings, ideas of suicide.
Neurological / Psychological Level: Differences among people in the size & functioning of brain structures related to mood.
Neurochemical Level: Differences in levels of the brain's chemical messengers that influence mood.
Molecular Level: Variation in people's genes that predispose to depression.
All FALSE
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People use only 10% of brain capacity.
Hypnosis enhances accuracy of memories.
People tend to be drawn romantically to opposites.
What makes Psych Distinctive & Fascinating? (all correct)
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Human behavior is difficult to predict; Actions are multiply determined.
Psychological influences are rarely independent of each other.
People display individual differences in thinking, emotion, and personality.
Reciprocal Determinism (People influence one another)
Emic Vs Etic Approaches (Behavior is shaped by culture)
Why Can't We Always Trust Our Common Sense? (All Examples) (Hint: Even though these ring true, they are actually opposites.)
Birds of a Feather flock together / Opposites Attract
Absence makes the heart grow fonder / Out of sight, Out of mind
Better safe than sorry / Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
Two heads are better than one / Too many cooks spoil the broth
Actions speak louder than words / The pen is mightier than the sword
When Our Common Sense is right (All correct)
Not all common sense is wrong
Common sense should serve as a generator for hypothesis, which can be tested.
Learning to think like a scientist means learning when-and when not- to trust our common sense.
Psychology as a Science (All Facts)
Science is NOT a body of knowledge (Ex: Chemistry or Physics)
Science is an approach to evidence (one designed to keep us from fooling ourselves)
Science begins w/ empiricism, but then tests those observations using rigorous methods
In Psych (or All Science), We must abandon relying on opinions.
Instead, We find which explanation best fits the evidence/data.
Theories & Hypothesis (All Facts)
A Scientific Theory is an explanation for a large # of finding in the natural world.
A Hypothesis is a specific prediction based on a theory, which can be tested.
Theories are general explanations; Hypothesis are specific predictions derived from them.
Theory Misconceptions: (All Facts) Why Are these wrong?
"A Theory explains one specific event"
"A Theory is just an educated guess"
Science as a Safeguard against Bias. (All Facts)
Confirmation Bias: Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypothesis & neglect or distort contradicting evidence.
Scientists need to design studies that may disprove their theories.
Belief Perseverance: Tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them.
The "Don't confuse me with the facts" bias
Metaphysical Claims: (All Facts)
Non-testable assertions that fall outside the realm of science. (The existence of God, The Soul, The Afterlife)
Non-Overlapping Realms: 1) Science (Testable w/ data) Nature / 2) Religion (Untestable w/ data) Moral Values
We Might be Wrong: (All Facts)
Good Scientist are aware they might be wrong.
Scientific knowledge is always tentative and open to revision.
Science forces us to question our findings & conclusions.
Psychological Pseudoscience : Imposters of Science
-Popular Psychology: About 3,500 self help books are published each year (Only 5% are tested) -The quality of the info can be good, misleading, or even harmful. -Many Websites may offer helpful advice, but others may contain erroneous info.
What is Pseudoscience?
-A set of claims that seem scientific, but ARE NOT. (Pseudoscience lacks the safeguards against confirmation bias & belief perseverance that characterized science) -Testable Beliefs that are NOT supported by the evidence.
Warning Signs of Pseudoscience:
Ad hoc immunizing hypotheses: -Escape hatches to protect against falsification, usually a loophole or exception for negative findings.
Lack of Self-Correction
Over-reliance on anecdotes:- Anecdotes are often not representative, but can't tell us about cause & effect and are often different to verify.
Why are we drawn to Pseudoscience?
Our brains are predisposed to make order out of disorder and make sense out of nonsense.
Apophenia : The tendency to find connections among unrelated or random phenomena.
Pareidolia : Seeing meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli.
We believe what we want to believe.
Many pseudoscientific beliefs offer control over an uncontrollable world.
Terror management theory & mortality salience : Pseudoscientific beliefs help counter our fear of death.
Thinking Clearly (Learning to think Scientifically can help us avoid falling prey to pseudoscience)
Emotionally Reasoning Fallacy : using emotions rather than evidence as the guide.
Bandwagon Fallacy : Lots of people believe it ; so it must be true.
"Not Me" Fallacy : Other people may have those biases, but not me.
Why Should I care?
Because pseudoscience can be very dangerous.
3 Major Reasons to be concerned : Opportunity Cost, Direct Harm, Inability to think scientifically.
Although not foolproof, scientific thinking is our best safeguard against human error.
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Scientific Thinking : Distinguishing Fact from Fiction
Scientific Skepticism
Being scientifically skeptical doesn't mean being close-minded.
Evaluate claims with an open mind, but insist on persuasive evidence before accepting them.
Skeptics are willing to change their minds, but must have good evidence before doing so.
A Basic Framework for Scientific Thinking
A set of skills for evaluating all claims in a open minded & careful fashion. This allows us to overcome our own biases (especially the confirmation biases). Below will be a list of 6 sci thinking principles.
Scientific Thinking Principles
Rule out rival hypotheses (Have important alternate explanations for finding being considered.)
Correlation isn't causation (Can we be sure A causes B?)
Falsifiability (Can the claim be disproven)
Replicability (Can the results be duplicated in other studies?)
Extraordinary Claims require extraordinary evidence (Is the evidence as convincing as the claims?)
Occam's Razor (Does a simpler explanation fit the data just as well?)(Parsimony : Logical Simplicity)
Psychology's Past & Present
Psychology's Early History:
For many centuries, psych was indistinguishable from philosophy.
In 1879, William Wundt developed the first psychology lab in Germany.
Psychology had to break away from another influence as well - spiritualism.
From Seance to Science: In the early 1800's, Americans were obsessed w/ spiritualism & mediums.
The public saw psychology & spiritualism as inextricably linked.
Psychology ultimately distanced itself from Spiritualism.
Great Theoretical Frameworks:
-What unifying theoretical perspective best explains behavior? -5 Primary Schools of thought have snaped modern psychology responses to this question. (Structuralism, Functionalism, Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Psychoanalysis)
Structuralism:
Major figures were Wundt & E.B. Titchener.
Aimed to identify the most basic elements of psychological experience.
Encouraged Systematic Data Collection & Empiricism.
Picture of E.B. Titchener
Functionalism:
Its major figure was William James, heavily influenced by Charles Darwin.
Hoped to understand the adaptive purposes of thought & behavior.
Influenced evolutionary perspectives in modern psychology.
Photo of William James
Behaviorism:
Major figures were Watson & Skinner
Focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking outside the organism.
Helped to understand how we learn & improved psychology's scientific rigor.
Photo of John Watson
Cognitivism:
Major figures were Piaget & Neisser
Focuses on the mental process involved in different aspects of thinking
Highlighted the role of thought & our interpretation of events in behavior.
Photo of Jean Piaget
Psychoanalysis:
Major figures were Freud & Jung
Focuses on internal psychological process of which we are unaware.
May have actually retarded scientific advance of psychology, but theories of mental processing outside of conscious awareness are holding up.
Photo of Sigmund Freud
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The Multifaceted World of Modern Psychology
Very Diverse, as reflected in the 500,000 psychologists worldwide. Many types of psychologist work in many settings.
Approximate Distribution of Psychologists in Different
35% - Universities & 4 year Colleges
21% - Self-employed
18% - Private Companies
9% - Private not-for-profit organization
7% - Schools
6% - State / Local Gov't
4% - Gov't
Different Types of Psychologist
Clinical, Counseling, School, Developmental, Experimental, Bio-psychologist, Forensic.
Clinical:
Work with people who have mental disorders.
Therapists may have different degrees (Psy. D., M.S.W., Ph.D.)
Counseling:
Work with people experiencing temporary or self-contained problems.(Marital or Occupational Problems)
School:
Assess & develop intervention programs.
Differs from educational psychology.
Developmental:
Study why & How people change over time.
Most work w/ infants & children
Experimental:
Use sophisticated research methods to study memory, language & thinking of humans
Biopsychologists:
Examine psychological bases of behavior.
Most work in research settings.
Forensic:
Assess, diagnose, and assist w/ rehabilitation & treatment of prison inmates.
Others conduct research on eyewitnesses or juries
Great Debates of Psych.
Two great debates have shaped the field of psych, both currently & in the past.
Nature-Nurture
Are our behaviors attributable mostly to our genes or our rearing environments?
Free Will-Determinism
To what extent are our behaviors freely selected, rather than caused by factors outside of our control?
How Psychology Affects our Lives:
Two broad categories of research: (Yellow fire engines, cars w/ brake lights, sequential police line ups, and standardized college entrance tests are examples of the application of psychology.)
Basic Research:
Applied Research:
Should be Empty: