CH1 The Science of Psychology PDF

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Justin Matthews
Introduction to psychology as a science...

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Chapter 1: The Science and Scientific Research of Pschology Class Discussion #1: The Science of Psychology Word Per Day (Mehl in 2007): - Stereotype Belief: Women speak more than men - The study showed that women do speak more however this isn’t statistically significant as the number of words per day is an exact number - Record people through the day (they wore microphones) and had a student record the number of words What is Science: - Science: General way of understanding the natural world featuring systematic empiricism, empricial questions, and public knowledge - The main parts that make them different subject matter, equipment, approach, and techniques - Systematic Empiricism: Learning about the world through careful observation - Systematically observe the world around them by plannng and observing carefully (with a purpose) - Example: Mehl didn’t trust people’s sterotypes which resulted in a conflict between belief and systematic obversation - Empirical Question: Question about the way they world actually is that can be answered via systematic observation - Example: Mehl’s question was empirical because 3 possible outcomes (m > f, m < f, or m = f) - Public Knowledge: Detailed description of research that are avaliable to other researche and the general public, usually through publication in a professional journal - Importance of Publishing in a Journal: - Science is self correcting: Systematic observations can be wrong and conclusions incorrect, but are then corrected - People can replicate the studies to check your results - Science is a social process: Current work is based on the past work - Pseudoscience: - Set of beliefs or activities that is claimed to be scientific but lacks on or more of the three features of science - Key Features of Pseudoscience: Lack of scientific research, relevant scientific reserach is ignored, lack of public knowledge (not possible to evaluate, etc. - Karl Popper’s Claim: - Falsifiability: Important property of scientifc claims. A claim is falsifiable is there is an observation that would, if it were made, count as evidence against the claim - Example: People believed that women talk more than men but Mehl proved falsfiability to show that the claim was incorrect. - Extrasensory Perception or other psychic powers → Main claim their powers disapeear when observed too closely - Means that there is no possible observation to prove them wrong - Importance: - Learning helps bring te fundamental features of science and their importance to focus - Pseudoscience beliefs are widely held and promoted. Learning about them can help us recognize/ evaluate them - Many pseudosciences purport to explain some aspects of human behavior/ mental processes Class Discussion #2: Scientific Research in Psychology

Cycle of Science (REMEMBER):

Science is Cyclic: - Research literature is one of the primary sources of new research questions - Often time psychologist will leave questions at the end of a study that still need to be answered - Reserch questions can originate OUTSIDE the cycle with informal observations or practical problems that need to be solved - Research always involves seeing if the research question has already been answered to refine based on what has already been found Scientist… Who/ Where/ What? - Scientific research in psychology is generally conducted by people with doctoral degrees and master’s degrees in psychology - This research is often support by research assistants with bachelor’s degrees or other relevant training - Locations: Government Agencies (NIH, etc.), Industry (Facebook, etc.), Nonprofit Organization (ACS, etc.), and College/ University Faculty - Actions: Coritcal areas for language/ perception, principles of classical/ operant conditioning, biases in reasoning/ judgement, people’s tendency to obey authority, and effectiveness of clinical treatments Types of Resarch (Not Always Clear Cut): - Basic Research: Scientific research that is primarily for the sake of learning something new - Example → Mehl with ‘which gender talks more’ - Applied Research: Scientific research that is conducted primaritly to solve some practical problem - Example → Collet with ‘phone use impare driving ability’ Science and Common Sense: - Some people wonder if the scientific approach to psychology is necessary - Intuitive beliefs about people’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings are collectively referred to as ‘folk psychology’ - Example: ‘People use only 10% of their brain power’ → Not True - fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imagine) measures brain activity by detecting associated changes in blood flow Intuitive Beliefs: - How can so many of our intuitive beleifs about human behavior be so wrong? - Difficulty has lead to the use of mental shortcuts (think of ‘Power of Habit’) - This is an empiricial question, and psychologist have attempted to answer it - Confirmation Bias: Tendency to notice and rememeber evidence that consitent with what we already

believe and to ignore evidence that is inconsistent with what we already believe - Example: In the Mehl study we forget quiet women and remember the talkative women Combat the Confirmation Bias: - Understanding that you are susceptiable to bias (Intuitive but incorrect belief) - Cultivate an Attitude of Skepticisim: Critical-thinking attitude that involves considering alternatives and searching for evidence before accepting that a belief or claim is true - Doesn’t mean you are being cycnical or distrustful to the person - When should I be Skeptic: - It doesn’t mean questioning EVERY belief or claim one comes across (Impossible) - Meants to pause/ consider alternative and to search fo the evidence (consider empirical evidence) - Take these steps where is enought at stake to justify doing so - Cultivate Tolerance for Uncertainty: Critical thinking attitude taht involves withholidng judgement about whether a belief or claim is true when there is insufficient evidence for it - How to be Good: - Scientist accept that there are many things that they don’t know - There is often not enought evidence to full evaluate a belief or claim Psychology: Study of behavior and mental processes Application of scientific research to help people, organizations, and communities function better Clinical Practice of Psychology: - Diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders and related problems - The most common and widely known applications - Different Applications (Need a license to practice): clinical psychologist, counseling psychologist, school psychologist, marriage/ family therapist, and licensed clinical social work Relationship Between Scientific Research and Clinical Practice: - There are many therapeutic approaches that rely more on intuition or common sense - Empirically Supported Treatment: Treatment for a psychological problem that has been shown by scientific research to result in greater improvement than no treatment, a placebo, or some alternative treatment - Eaxmples of Therapy: Cognitive Behavorial Therapy (Depression, Panic Disorder, Eating Disorders, and PTSD), Exposure Therapy (PTSD), Behavioral Therapy (Depression), Behavioral Couples Therapy (Alcoholism and Substance Abuse), and Exposure Therapy with Response Prevention, (OCD) and Family Therapy (Schizophrenia) Scienitific Clinical Practice: - Scientific approach to clinical psychologit is essential if the goal is to diagnose and treat psychological problems based on detailed and accurate knowledge about those problems and the most effective treatment for them - Very important for clinicals who never conduct scientific study thermselves to be scientifically literate so they can read and evaluate new research and make treatment decisons based on the best avaliable advice...