Sources of Knowledge

1. Sources of Knowledge Foundations of Science

2. Is it true? How would we find out? • Most people use only about 10% of their brain power. • Most people experience a midlife crisis in their 40s or early 50s • Individuals commonly repress the memories of traumatic experiences. • There’s safety in numbers: The more people present at an emergency, the greater the chance that someone will intervene • Playing Mozart’s music to infants boosts their intelligence. • There is an afterlife. • Pornography is harmful.

3. Is it true? How would we find out? • Most people use only about 10% of their brain power. • Most people experience a midlife crisis in their 40s or early 50s • Individuals commonly repress the memories of traumatic experiences. • There’s safety in numbers: The more people present at an emergency, the greater the chance that someone will intervene • Playing Mozart’s music to infants boosts their intelligence. • There is an afterlife. • Pornography is harmful.

4. Sources of Knowledge Methods of Authority Superstition and Intuition (or commonsense) Tenacity Rational Method Empirical Method Scientific Method

5. Authority • What do experts say about a topic? • Books, web, TV, instructors, pastor, etc. • Quick & easy way to get an answer • Problems? • Is the expert really an expert? Can I trust this source? • Is the expert’s opinion really based on their knowledge? • Might the expert be biased?

6. Superstition & Intuition • Superstition • Magic, seeing patterns in random events • Examples: Bad luck comes in threes;Find a penny, pick it up; Break a mirror, seven years bad luck • Intuition • Hunch or feeling • Great if you’ve got nothing better to go on • Problems • How do we determine what is accurate? • People are susceptible to bias

7. Tenacity • Repeated exposure to stimuli may lead to development of inaccurate knowledge • Problems? • Not necessarily accurate • Resistant to change

8. Rational Method • Start with a set of facts & assumptions • Work towards a conclusion • All 3 years olds are afraid of the dark. • Amy is 3. • Thus, Amy must be afraid of the dark. • Problems? • Assumptions might be wrong • Some people just aren’t good at it

9. Empiricism • I’ll believe it when I see it • Easy & direct • Problems? • Can be unsafe or impossible • Perception is altered by expectations, knowledge, & feelings

10. Scientific Method • Formulate specific questions & systematically test them • Science is a process!! • Characteristics • Systematic empiricism – and objective • Empirical Questions – should be testable • Falsifiable • Publicly knowledge – should be verifiable, replicated • Parsimonious • Concerned with theory (General) • Tentative • Self-correcting & Progressive

11. Explaining Behavior • List 3 behaviors that you see often & that annoy you • Select 1 & explain WHY you think it occurs • What evidence could you gather to support your explanation? • What evidence could you gather to NOT support your explanation? • Now generate at least 2 alternative reasons WHY that behavior occurs

12. Types of Research

13. Types of Research • Basic Research • Focus on fundamental principles & testing theories • Study conditions tend to be more contrived • Extensive control, yields: • greater replication • More pronounced treatment effects • Provides basis for theories, principles that apply to various topics • Applied Research • Direct relationship to real world • Focus on relating results to a particular situation • Study conditions & results clearly occur in daily life • Control is more challenging • Readily applied outside of psychology, academia

14. Basic or Applied??? • Where does an individual’s personality come from? • How can we increase the likelihood that people will reduce pollution by relying on public transportation? • How are serotonin levels associated with depression? • Are there special receptors in the brain that are responsible for facial recognition? If so, where are they located? • What factors contribute to prejudices? • Should faces on magazine covers be presented in a specific location to increase liking of the magazine? • How can we reduce prejudices and intergroup conflict in the classroom?

15. Basic or Applied??? • Where does an individual’s personality come from? • How can we increase the likelihood that people will reduce pollution by relying on public transportation? • How are serotonin levels associated with depression? • Are there special receptors in the brain that are responsible for facial recognition? If so, where are they located? • What factors contribute to prejudices? • Should faces on magazine covers be presented in a specific location to increase liking of the magazine? • How can we reduce prejudices and intergroup conflict in the classroom?

16. Basic & Applied Research • “[I]t is probably a mistake to view the basic-versus-applied distinction solely in terms of whether a study has practical applications, because this difference often simply boils down to a matter of time.  Applied findings are of use immediately.  However, there is nothing so practical as a general and accurate theory.” (Stanovich, 2007, p.107)

17. Mini-Review Is the scientific method the best way to answer all questions? What are some differences between basic and applied research? How is the empirical method different from systematic empiricism that is part of the scientific method?