Research instruments critically considered
Week 1 – Introduc/on: How Do We Find Out and How Do We Know?
Reading – Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
Goals of this Course Mandatory Part (up to the grade of 7)
7 weekly quizzes (80% correct) Deadline: Tuesday at
o Describe the nature of the scien0fic process and how Noon
it applies to psychology ® MC ques?ons (10 points each)
o Read and understand reports of psychological ® Open ques?ons (50 points each)
A peer-reviewed assignment
research in the media and peer-reviewed publica0ons ® Create 2 mul?ple choice ques?ons per weekly
o Iden0fy the strengths and weaknesses of their topic (12 in total)
methodologies ® Recommend 1 sort of media per weekly topic (6 in
total)
o Where appropriate, suggest alterna0ve explana0ons
to reported data or improve upon the reported An Op6onal Part (8 or higher)
methods Evaluate a popular media report of psychological
science
o Explain the basic sta0s0cal procedures used in ® Find a study in the media that you are interested
psychological research in and evaluate that.
Psychology as a science
® For a lot of people, psychology is not considered as a science (‘it is impossible to get an
ordered understanding of human behavior’). It is seen as ‘soH science’.
® It may be surprising that it can indeed be studied in a scien0fic way.
® Psychology is oHen defined as the scien&fic study of human behavior.
How do you study why someone is anxious? How do you study why someone is interpre0ng
a language in a certain way?
Step backwards: Metaphysical Systems (try to explain human behavior: things that
do not congruent with our understanding of physics)
® Animism: inanimate objects/ unconscious things influence human behavior
® Mythology: certain characters (gods and other en;;es) interact with human behavior
® Religion
® Astrology
Philosophy
® The first ‘compe0tor’ to these systems was the study of knowledge, behavior and the
nature of reality by making use of logic, intui&on and empirical observa0ons.
® Most of the early philosophical works focus on logical rules to explain how the world
func0ons.
® The best way to understand how something func0ons is to systema0cally observe how
something behaves (empirical observa&ons). Empiricism became one of the pillars of
thinking about human behavior.
Physiology and Physical Science
® The first labs of psychology emerged out of physiology and physical science. They used
the experimental methods: it was experimental psychology.
, The nature of scien/fic reasoning
® The four canons of science are assump0ons that appear to be accepted by almost all
scien0sts: it makes up the scien0fic approach to experimental psychology as well as other
areas of scien0fic research.
Determinism: there is order in the world. Everything that happens has some kind of cause and
brings some kind of effect. If we can understand this, we can come up with causal rela;onships
that make up theories to predict what will happen.
Empiricism: the world is knowable through observa;on, there is discovery through experience.
Parsimony: simplicity is key. Explana;ons of the natural world should be simple and avoid
unnecessary assump;ons. When two theories explain an object equally well, prefer the one that
makes the least assump;ons (the more assump;ons, the more likely is going to be problema;c).
Testability: theories should be confirmable and disconformable. Theories need to be able to be
falsified. If you cannot demonstrate that something is wrong, it is not a theory.
There are areas of study where these assump0ons work less.
Riddles and Scien/fic Reason
® Lateral thinking: the ability to take mul0ple perspec0ves
(humans are not very good at this. It is very cogni0vely
and emo0onally challenging to understand the world
through mul0ple perspec0ves or reasons). If you see it
from a (biased) par0cular perspec0ve, you can oHen be
stuck.
® Prior assump0ons can be dangerous (‘backpack does not
mean parachute’: we make assump0ons all the 0me)
® Alterna0ve and null hypotheses paralleled in the Yes/No ques0ons: is there a
rela&onship?
® Data that don’t fit expecta0ons can be key (our first tendency is to avoid them)
® The value of persistence
® An expecta0on for complex answers (simple answers tend to be more likely)
Science can be frustra0ng: there can be no complete certainty in your answer.
Ways of ‘knowing’
Authority: somebody told you. You rely on someone else’s experience that you believe has the
right knowledge.
Logic: using data to make inferences.
Intui7on: you can predict how something will behave even if you never experienced it, since you
have mental maps of how things work around you.
Week 1 – Introduc/on: How Do We Find Out and How Do We Know?
Reading – Chapter 1 and Chapter 2
Goals of this Course Mandatory Part (up to the grade of 7)
7 weekly quizzes (80% correct) Deadline: Tuesday at
o Describe the nature of the scien0fic process and how Noon
it applies to psychology ® MC ques?ons (10 points each)
o Read and understand reports of psychological ® Open ques?ons (50 points each)
A peer-reviewed assignment
research in the media and peer-reviewed publica0ons ® Create 2 mul?ple choice ques?ons per weekly
o Iden0fy the strengths and weaknesses of their topic (12 in total)
methodologies ® Recommend 1 sort of media per weekly topic (6 in
total)
o Where appropriate, suggest alterna0ve explana0ons
to reported data or improve upon the reported An Op6onal Part (8 or higher)
methods Evaluate a popular media report of psychological
science
o Explain the basic sta0s0cal procedures used in ® Find a study in the media that you are interested
psychological research in and evaluate that.
Psychology as a science
® For a lot of people, psychology is not considered as a science (‘it is impossible to get an
ordered understanding of human behavior’). It is seen as ‘soH science’.
® It may be surprising that it can indeed be studied in a scien0fic way.
® Psychology is oHen defined as the scien&fic study of human behavior.
How do you study why someone is anxious? How do you study why someone is interpre0ng
a language in a certain way?
Step backwards: Metaphysical Systems (try to explain human behavior: things that
do not congruent with our understanding of physics)
® Animism: inanimate objects/ unconscious things influence human behavior
® Mythology: certain characters (gods and other en;;es) interact with human behavior
® Religion
® Astrology
Philosophy
® The first ‘compe0tor’ to these systems was the study of knowledge, behavior and the
nature of reality by making use of logic, intui&on and empirical observa0ons.
® Most of the early philosophical works focus on logical rules to explain how the world
func0ons.
® The best way to understand how something func0ons is to systema0cally observe how
something behaves (empirical observa&ons). Empiricism became one of the pillars of
thinking about human behavior.
Physiology and Physical Science
® The first labs of psychology emerged out of physiology and physical science. They used
the experimental methods: it was experimental psychology.
, The nature of scien/fic reasoning
® The four canons of science are assump0ons that appear to be accepted by almost all
scien0sts: it makes up the scien0fic approach to experimental psychology as well as other
areas of scien0fic research.
Determinism: there is order in the world. Everything that happens has some kind of cause and
brings some kind of effect. If we can understand this, we can come up with causal rela;onships
that make up theories to predict what will happen.
Empiricism: the world is knowable through observa;on, there is discovery through experience.
Parsimony: simplicity is key. Explana;ons of the natural world should be simple and avoid
unnecessary assump;ons. When two theories explain an object equally well, prefer the one that
makes the least assump;ons (the more assump;ons, the more likely is going to be problema;c).
Testability: theories should be confirmable and disconformable. Theories need to be able to be
falsified. If you cannot demonstrate that something is wrong, it is not a theory.
There are areas of study where these assump0ons work less.
Riddles and Scien/fic Reason
® Lateral thinking: the ability to take mul0ple perspec0ves
(humans are not very good at this. It is very cogni0vely
and emo0onally challenging to understand the world
through mul0ple perspec0ves or reasons). If you see it
from a (biased) par0cular perspec0ve, you can oHen be
stuck.
® Prior assump0ons can be dangerous (‘backpack does not
mean parachute’: we make assump0ons all the 0me)
® Alterna0ve and null hypotheses paralleled in the Yes/No ques0ons: is there a
rela&onship?
® Data that don’t fit expecta0ons can be key (our first tendency is to avoid them)
® The value of persistence
® An expecta0on for complex answers (simple answers tend to be more likely)
Science can be frustra0ng: there can be no complete certainty in your answer.
Ways of ‘knowing’
Authority: somebody told you. You rely on someone else’s experience that you believe has the
right knowledge.
Logic: using data to make inferences.
Intui7on: you can predict how something will behave even if you never experienced it, since you
have mental maps of how things work around you.
