PSYC 3450 Experimental Psychology Course Instructor: Alla Chavarga Monday 9:05-10:45am
Jan 13, 2016
PSYC 3450Experimental Psychology
Course Instructor: Alla ChavargaMonday 9:05-10:45am
Course Syllabus
• Syllabus handout
• Attendance• Course Format: Lecture & Lab
• Your ONLY homework assignment!
Email me: [email protected]: Your Name PSYCH 3450 – Name of TA
• Required Textbook
CHAPTER 1Scientific Thinking in Psychology
Why take this course?
How do we come to know things?
Science as a way of knowing
Psychological Science vs. Pseudoscience
Goals of Research
Why take this course?
• Learn how to do research in Psychology
• Informed and critical consumption of information
Process vs. content
• Responsibility as a clinician
• How to Get into Grad School 101
How do we come to know things?
I know three things:
Correlation does not prove causation.
Socrates has ten fingers.
The sun will come up tomorrow.
Authority
Reason(a priori)
Experience(a priori)
Empiricism
How do we come to know things?
Empiricism – the process of learning things through direct observation or experience, and reflecting on those experiences. Sounds legit. What could be wrong about this method?
Social Cognition Biases
Belief perseverance – the tendency to hold on to a belief, even in the face of contradictory evidence. Confirmation Bias – tendency to seek out information only in support of belief, ignoring contradictory information. Availability heuristic – tendency to overestimate the frequency with which unusual or memorable events occur
Science as a way of knowing
Scientific Method - the most reliable way to develop a belief; independent of pre-existing bias and opinion.
Hypothesis Experiment Conclusion
Assumptions
• Determinism
• Discoverability
All events have causes.Statistical determinism.
Through systematic observation, these causes can be found.
Science as a way of knowing
Scientific methods are characterized by objectivity.Scientists need not be perfect; their results simply need
be publicly verified and replicated.
• Specific, detailed descriptions of method.
Scientists are data-driven.
Science produces tentative conclusions.
Science asks answerable questions.
Science develops theories that can be disproven.
Science as a way of knowing
Some important concepts:
• Hypothesis
• Theory – a set of statements that summarize what is known about some phenomenon and propose working explanations for those phenomena.
• Falsification
Psychological Science vs. Pseudoscience
• Pseudoscience: any field of inquiry that appears to be scientific but is based on inadequate scientific methods and typically produces false conclusions.
• May seem convincing! Anecdotal evidence; effort justification
• Sidesteps disproof
The Goals of Research
• Description
• Prediction
• Explanation
• Application
Lab Prep
• Typically, at the end of a lecture, we will do a mini-lecture consisting of the material to be presented in lab that very week.
• Often times, you will be responsible for writing up the experiment you will perform in lab, so please pay special attention to the definitions and concepts presented.