Psychology and Scientific Thinking A FRAMEWORK FOR EVERYDAY LIFE

1. 1 Psychology and Scientific Thinking A FRAMEWORK FOR EVERYDAY LIFE Slides prepared by Matthew Isaak

2. Learning Objectives LO 1.1 Explain why psychology is more than just common sense. LO 1.2 Explain the importance of science as a set of safeguards against biases. LO 1.3 Describe psychological pseudoscience and distinguish it from psychological science. LO 1.4 Identify reasons we are drawn to pseudoscience. LO 1.5 Identify the key features of scientific skepticism.

3. Learning Objectives LO 1.6 Identify and explain the text’s six principles of scientific thinking. LO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. LO 1.8 Describe different types of psychologists and identify what each of them does. LO 1.9 Describe the two great debates that have shaped the field of psychology. LO 1.10 Describe how psychological research affects our daily lives.

4. Lecture Preview • What is psychology? • Psychological pseudoscience • Scientific thinking • Psychology’s past and present

5. True or False?LO 1.1 Explain why psychology is more than just common sense. • Most people use only about 10% of their brain capacity. • Hypnosis enhances the accuracy of our memories. • People tend to be romantically attracted to individuals who are opposite to them in personality and attitudes. ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE FALSE! • So why do most people believe them?

6. What is psychology?LO 1.1 Explain why psychology is more than just common sense. • First off, it’s not very easy to define. • Our definition will be that psychology is the scientific study of the mind, brain, and behavior. • As a discipline, psychology spans many levels of analysis. • Runs from biological to social influences

7. What is psychology?LO 1.1 Explain why psychology is more than just common sense. • We can’t understand psychology by focusing on only one level of analysis – instead we need to examine all of them.

8. Figure 1.1 Levels of Analysis in Depression. We can view psychological phenomena, in this case the disorder of depression, at multiple levels of analysis, with lower levels being more biological and higher levels being more social. Each level provides unique information and offers a distinctive view of the phenomenon at hand. (Based on data from Ilardi, Rand, & Karwoski, 2007)

9. Challenging and FascinatingLO 1.1 Explain why psychology is more than just common sense. • Five factors make the study of psychology very difficult, but very rewarding. • Human behavior is difficult to predict. • Actions are multiply determined. • Psychological influences are rarely independent of each other. • People display individual differences in thinking, emotion, and personality.

10. Challenging and FascinatingLO 1.1 Explain why psychology is more than just common sense. • Five factors make the study of psychology very difficult, but very rewarding. • People influence one another. • Reciprocal determinism • Behavior is shaped by culture. • Emic vs. etic approaches

11. Common SenseLO 1.1 Explain why psychology is more than just common sense. Most of us trust our gut intuitions about how the world works. Birds of a feather flock together. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Better safe than sorry. Two heads are better than one. Actions speak louder than words. Opposites attract. Out of sight, out of mind. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Too many cooks spoil the broth. The pen is mightier than the sword. Even though each of these ring true, they are in fact opposites!

12. Naïve RealismLO 1.1 Explain why psychology is more than just common sense. • The belief that we see the world precisely as it actually is in truth – “seeing is believing”Works well in ordinary life, but consider: • The earth seems flat. • We seem to be standing still, yet the earth is moving around the sun 18.5 miles/sec.

13. Which table is longer?LO 1.1 Explain why psychology is more than just common sense. These two tabletops are identical in length.

14. When Common Sense is RightLO 1.1 Explain why psychology is more than just common sense. • Not all common sense is wrong. • Common sense should serve as a generator for hypotheses, which can then be tested. • But learning to think like a scientist means learning when—and when not—to trust our common sense.

15. Psychology as a ScienceLO 1.2 Explain the importance of science as a set of safeguards against biases. • Science is not a body of knowledge (e.g. chemistry or physics). • Science is an approach to evidence, one designed to keep us from fooling ourselves. • Science begins with empiricism, but then tests those observations using rigorous methods.

16. Psychology as a ScienceLO 1.2 Explain the importance of science as a set of safeguards against biases. • In psychology (and all science) we must abandon relying on opinions. • Instead we find out which explanations best fit the evidence or data.

17. Theories and HypothesesLO 1.2 Explain the importance of science as a set of safeguards against biases. • A scientific theory is an explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world. • A hypothesis is a specific prediction based on a theory, which can then be tested. • Theories are general explanations; hypotheses are specific predictions derived from them.

18. Theory MisconceptionsLO 1.2 Explain the importance of science as a set of safeguards against biases. “A theory explains one specific event.” “A theory is just an educated guess.” Why are these both wrong?

19. Science as a Safeguard against BiasLO 1.2 Explain the importance of science as a set of safeguards against biases. • Confirmation bias • Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypothesis and neglect or distort contradicting evidence • Scientists need to design studies that may disprove their theories.

20. Figure 1.3 Diagram of Wason Selection Task. In the Wason selection task, you must pick two cards to test the hypothesis that all cards that have a vowel on one side have an odd number on the other. Which two will you select?

21. Science as a Safeguard against BiasLO 1.2 Explain the importance of science as a set of safeguards against biases. • Belief perseverance • Tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them • The “don’t confuse me with the facts” bias

22. Metaphysical ClaimsLO 1.2 Explain the importance of science as a set of safeguards against biases. • Non-testable assertions that fall outside the realm of science • The existence of God, the soul, or the afterlife

23. FIGURE 1.4 Nonoverlapping Realms. Scientist Stephen Jay Gould (1997) argued that science and religion are entirely different and nonoverlapping realms of understanding the world. Science deals with testable claims about the natural world that can be answered with data, whereas religion deals with untestable claims about moral values that can’t be answered with data. Although not all scientists and theologists accept Gould’s model, we adopt it for the purposes of this textbook. (Source: Gould, 1997)

24. We Might Be WrongLO 1.2 Explain the importance of science as a set of safeguards against biases. • Good scientists are aware they might be wrong. • Scientific knowledge is always tentative and open to revision. • Science forces us to question our findings and conclusions.

25. Popular PsychologyLO 1.3 Describe psychological pseudoscience and distinguish it from psychological science. • About 3500 self-help books are published each year – only 5% are tested! • The quality of the information can be good, misleading, or even harmful. • Many websites may offer helpful advice, but others may contain erroneous information.

26. What is Pseudoscience?LO 1.3 Describe psychological pseudoscience and distinguish it from psychological science. • A set of claims that seem scientific, but aren’t • Pseudoscience lacks the safeguards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance that characterize science. • Testable beliefs that that are not supported by the evidence

27. Warning Signs of PseudoscienceLO 1.3 Describe psychological pseudoscience and distinguish it from psychological science. • Ad hoc immunizing hypotheses • Escape hatches to protect against falsification, usually a loophole or exception for negative findings • Lack of self-correction • Overreliance on anecdotes • Anecdotes are often not representative, but can’t tell us about cause and effect and are often difficult to verify.

28. Why Pseudoscience?LO 1.4 Identify reasons we are drawn to pseudoscience. • Our brains are predisposed to make order out of disorder and make sense out of nonsense. • Apophenia is the tendency to find connections among unrelated or random phenomena. • Pareidolia is seeing meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli.

29. The “Face” on MarsLO 1.4 Identify reasons we are drawn to pseudoscience Original photo Higher resolution photo

30. Why Pseudoscience?LO 1.4 Identify reasons we are drawn to pseudoscience. • We believe what we want to believe. • Many pseudoscientific beliefs offer control over an uncontrollable world. • Terror management theory and mortality salience – Pseudoscientific beliefs help counter our fear of death.

31. Thinking ClearlyLO 1.4 Identify reasons we are drawn to pseudoscience. • Learning to think scientifically can help us avoid falling prey to pseudoscience. • Emotional reasoning fallacy—using emotions rather than evidence as the guide • Bandwagon fallacy—Lots of people believe it, so it must be true. • “Not me” fallacy—Other people may have those biases, but not me.

32. Why Should We Care?LO 1.4 Identify reasons we are drawn to pseudoscience. • Because pseudoscience can be very dangerous. • Three major reasons to be concerned: • Opportunity cost • Direct harm • Inability to think scientifically • Although not foolproof, scientific thinking is our best safeguard against human error.

33. Scientific SkepticismLO 1.5 Identify the key features of scientific skepticism. • Being scientifically skeptical does not mean being closed-minded. • Evaluate claims with an open mind, but insist on persuasive evidence before accepting them. • Skeptics are willing to change their minds, but must have good evidence before doing so.

34. Critical ThinkingLO 1.6 Identify and explain the text’s six principles of scientific thinking. • A set of skills for evaluating all claims in a open-minded and careful fashion • This allows us to overcome our own biases (especially the confirmation bias). • Six critical thinking principles will be emphasized in this course.

35. Critical Thinking PrinciplesLO 1.6 Identify and explain the text’s six principles of scientific thinking. • Ruling out rival hypotheses • Have important alternate explanations for the finding been considered? • Correlation isn’t causation • Can we be sure A causes B? • Falsifiability • Can the claim be disproven?

36. Critical Thinking PrinciplesLO 1.6 Identify and explain the text’s six principles of scientific thinking. • Replicability • Can the results be duplicated in other studies? • Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence • Is the evidence as convincing as the claims?

37. Critical Thinking PrinciplesLO 1.6 Identify and explain the text’s six principles of scientific thinking. • Occam’s razor • Does a simpler explanation fit the data just as well? • Parsimony: logical simplicity

38. Psychology’s Early HistoryLO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. • For many centuries, psychology was indistinguishable from philosophy. • In 1879, William Wundt developed the first psychology laboratory in Germany. • But psychology had to break away from another influence as well—spiritualism.

39. From Séance to Science LO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. • In the 1800’s, Americans were obsessed with spiritualism and mediums. • The public saw psychology and spiritualism as inextricably linked. • Psychology ultimately distanced itself from spiritualism.

40. Great Theoretical FrameworksLO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. • What unifying theoretical perspective best explains behavior? • Five primary schools of thought have shaped modern psychological responses to this question.

41. Great Theoretical FrameworksLO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. • Structuralism • Major figures were Wundt and E.B. Titchener. • Aimed to identify the most basic elements of psychological experience E.B. Tichener.

42. Great Theoretical FrameworksLO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. • Functionalism • Its major figure was William James, heavily influenced by Charles Darwin. • Hoped to understand the adaptive purposes of thought and behavior William James

43. Great Theoretical FrameworksLO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. • Behaviorism • Major figures were Watson and Skinner. • Focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking outside the organism John Watson

44. Great Theoretical FrameworksLO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. • Cognitivism • Major figures were Piaget and Neisser. • Focuses on the mental processes involved in different aspects of thinking Jean Piaget

45. Great Theoretical FrameworksLO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. • Psychoanalysis • Major figures were Freud and Jung. • Focused on internal psychological processes of which we’re unaware Sigmund Freud

46. Contributions to Scientific PsychologyLO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. • Structuralism • Encouraged systematic data collection and empiricism • Functionalism • Influenced evolutionary perspectives in modern psychology • Behaviorism • Helped to understand how we learn and improved psychology’s scientific rigor

47. Contributions to Scientific PsychologyLO 1.7 Identify the major theoretical frameworks of psychology. • Cognitivism • Highlighted the role of thought and our interpretation of events in behavior • Psychoanalysis • May have actually retarded scientific advance of psychology, but theories of mental processing outside of conscious awareness are holding up

48. Psychology TodayLO 1.8 Describe different types of psychologists and identify what each of them does. • Very diverse, as reflected in the 500,000 psychologists worldwide • There are many types of psychologists who work in many settings.

49. Figure 1.9 Approximate Distribution of Psychologists in Different Settings. Psychologists are employed in a diverse array of settings. (Based on data from the National Science Foundation, 2003)

50. Types of PsychologistsLO 1.8 Describe different types of psychologists and identify what each of them does. • Clinical • Work with people who have mental disorders • Therapists may have different degrees (Psy.D., M.S.W., Ph.D., etc.).