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Exploring the Foundations of Psychological Science

Dive into the fundamentals of psychological science, the scientific method, and research methods in social sciences. Understand the role of science in everyday life and the historical context of psychological research. Discover key concepts and avoid common pitfalls in scientific reasoning.

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Exploring the Foundations of Psychological Science

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Slides to accompany Weathington, Cunningham & Pittenger (2010), Chapter 1: Research and the Social Sciences

  2. Objectives • Rationale for the course • Role of science in everyday life • The scientific method • History of psychological science • Assumptions of science • Requirements for scientific research

  3. What Scares You about Science?

  4. Why Should I Care about RM? • 1 of 3 core areas of psychology and social sciences • Statistics and tests/assessments are the others • Provides a systematic approach to learning, understanding, and questioning that you can use in all areas of life

  5. Role of Science in Life • What are some examples of science in your life? • Have you “researched” anything today? • What are some big decisions or questions you are currently considering?

  6. The Scientific Method • Hypothesize • Operationalize • Measure • E valuate • Replicate, revise, report

  7. Psychological Science is... • A way of thinking • A way of explaining • Based on determinism and measurability • Research methods + statistics help us to be scientists

  8. The Science of Psychology • Young  late 19th century (i.e., late 1800s) • Informally, an ancient field of study • Philosophy • Literature • Religion

  9. Tastes like Bacon! • Sir Francis Bacon’s novum organum • “new instrument” for finding answer = Scientific method • Human biases  “idols” can prevent us from thinking clearly and critically • Intellectual fallacies

  10. Idols of the Tribe • Error in logical reasoning  allowing our intuition or common sense to get in the way • Examples: • Selective perception • Self-fulfilling prophecy • Gambler’s fallacy • Tendency to look for simple explanations • Emotion over reason (e.g., road rage) • Why is this a limitation?

  11. Idols of the Cave • Perception dictated by personal experiences • Tied to culture, society, upbringing • Engineer seeing all problems as an engineer • Judging people based on similarity to others you know • Failing to explore issues on more than one level • Why is this a problem?

  12. Idols of the Market-place • Thought processes influenced by language • Misuse of words • Misunderstanding of words/language • Slang • Why is this a limitation?

  13. Idols of the Theatre • Accepting explanations without critical evaluation • Often associated with the power of authority or lasting myth • You know what they say… • Religion • Political systems • Why can this be a problem?

  14. Requirements for Scientific Research • Empirical analysis • Public verification • Systematic observation • Environmental control • Rational explanation • Parsimony • Tentative explanation/conclusions

  15. What’s Next • *Instructor to complete as a heads-up to the students

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