Psychology and Scientific Thinking Flashcards
Chapter 1 (52 cards)
True or false - hypnosis enhances the accuracy of our memory?
False
True or false - opposite personalities tend to attract each other?
False
What is psychology?
The scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviour
What are the 3 Levels of Analysis?
- Social Culture Influences
- Psychological
- Biological
At the social or behavioural level of analysis, what is this involved with?
Relating to others and personal relationships
At the mental or neurological level of analysis, what is this involved with?
Thoughts, feelings, and emotions
At the molecular or neurochemical level of analysis, what is this involved with?
Molecules and brain structure
Why can’t we trust our own intuition or common sense?
It can lead us to contradictions in logic, much like proverbs or idioms like “birds of a feather flock together” or “better safe than sorry”
What is naive realism?
The belief that everything that can be seen is truth, “seeing is believing”
What are the 5 main challenges of Psychology?
- Human behaviour is difficult to predict (actions are determined by multiple factors)
- Psychological influences are rarely independent
- People have individual differences that make them unique
- People influence one another (reciprocal determinism)
- Behaviour is shaped by culture (think emic vs. etic approaches)
What is reciprocal determinism?
The term used to describe how people influence each other
What are emic and etic approaches?
Emic - evaluating behaviours from within a culture
Etic - evaluating behaviours from outside a culture
What is a scientific theory?
An explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world
What is a hypothesis?
A testable prediction derived from a preexisting theory
What are 2 misconceptions of what a theory is or does?
- A theory explains just one event
- A theory is merely an educated guess
What type of bias tends to seek evidence that supports one’s hypothesis, dismissing any contradicting evidence?
Confirmation bias
What is belief perserverance?
The tendency to stick to one’s initial beliefs even if contradictory evidence exists
What do we call assertions about the world that are unable to be tested?
Metaphysical claims
What is pseudoscience?
A set of claims that seem scientific but lack defences from bias
About what % of self-help books are based or tested on empirical evidence?
5%
What are 3 warning signs of pseudoscience?
- Over reliance on anecdotes
- Lack of self-correction
- Ad hoc hypothesis adjustments
What is apophenia?
The tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated phenomena
What is pareidolia?
The tendency to perceive meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli, e.g. Face on Mars
What is the emotional reasoning fallacy?
Using emotions as arguments rather than evidence
