Chapter 1 Flashcards
(24 cards)
HOW WE ACQUIRE
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE WORLD
Tradition/Tenacity: “I believe it is true because it has always been true”
Intuition: “I believe it is true because I feel it is true”
Authority: “I believe it is true because an ‘expert’ says it is true”
Personal Experience: “I believe it is true because I experienced it”
Reasoning: “I believe it is true because it is logically derived”
Empiricism: “I believe it is true because I measured it”
Reasoning & Empiricism = Science!!
-OBSERVATION of real events provides the basis for hypotheses that can be TESTED in methodical and systematic ways.
The___ of psychology provides the theory
The ___of psychology might involve applying that theory in skillful ways to help others
science
art
What is CRITICAL THINKING
The ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective judgments on the basis of well-supported evidence
CRITICAL THINKING:
1-Ask questions
2-Objectively define problems
3-Examine the available evidence
4-Assess assumptions and biases
5-Avoid emotional reasoning
6-Separate facts from opinion
7-Avoid oversimplifying
8-Consider alternative explanations
9Tolerate uncertainty
10-Maintain an air of skepticism but remain open-minded
OBJECTIVES OF SCIENCE
Describe,
Explain,
& Predict.
Then Control
Why are the tenets of science useful for
The scientific approach to discovering truth assumes several fundamental principles about how the world works and demands that certain criteria be me-the tenets
What are the tenets of science
Determinism= Events/behaviors have natural causes
Empiricism= Real evidence = empirical data
Replicability= A single finding may be due to chance…
Falsifiability= Hypotheses and theories must be testable in a way that can be shown to be false!
Parsimony (i.e., “Occam’s Razor”)= Preference for the simplest explanation
The method of science involves logical steps toward finding truth… what are these steps
1-Assume a natural cause for the phenomenon (i.e., Determinism)
2-Make an ‘educated guess’ about the cause (i.e., generate a testable hypothesis)
3-Test your hypothesis
4-Revise your hypothesis, if necessary
5-Retest your new hypothesis
6-Draw conclusion(s)
___ is a formal statement of how concepts are related
Theory
the general category of ideas that are represented by our variables
Concepts
a prediction of how concepts are related that is often deduced from a theory
hypothesis
What is the purpose of research
1-Evaluate a theory
2-Description
3-Explanation
4-Prediction
5-Control
Objectives of a research
-Describe various approaches to research and classify research examples.
-Apply the steps of the scientific method to a problem
-Describe the difference between a theory, a concept, and a hypothesis
Descriptive research
- population-describe it- representative sample- making inferences about greater population
Explanatory research
explaining relationship between variables - uses why
Qualitative research
research describes differences in the kind or quality of behaviour
Quantitative Research
research measures differences in the amount of behaviour.
Basic Research
Answering a question to satisfy a question/curiosity-increasing knowledge
Applied Research
The researcher is looking at applying the knowledge to somehow benefit humankind.-making improvement
Cross-sectional Research
Study different groups in a short time period
Longitudinal Research
Studying participants over a long period of time
Field research
Les artificial
**lack of control of variables
Laboratory Research
results may not generalize as well to the real world.
Provides more control
___flawed sources of knowledge.
Tradition, authority, and intuition
