Notetaker: Victor Law
Advanced Placement Psychology
Chapter 1: Thinking Critically with Psychological Science
(
http://www.ApPsychology.net )
The Scientific Attitude
Scientific approach that is skeptical and open-minded
To shift away from illusions to reality, one must use Smart thinking or critical thinking: thinking that does not
blindly accept things, but approaches with skepticism and examines the evidence carefully; Ask how did they
know, on guts and instinct? Are the evidence biased?
However, must remember to have humility as too extreme would be stubbornness
The Limits of Intuition and Common Sense
Intuition often ends up nowhere
Tend to use a lot hindsight bias: tendency to believe that one would have known it after the results are shown;
Seems like common sense; The answer was right there and look how obvious it was
Experience it usually when looking back on history; eg. Glen Clark and the fast ferries
Humans tend to be overconfident, think we know more than we actually do (probably result of self-serving bias)
Hindsight causes us to be overconfident as we believe we would have picked the answer when the results are in
front of us
The Scientific Method
Scientific theory: explanation using set of princi ples to organi se/predict observations
No matter how good theory sounds, must put it to test
Must imply testable prediction = hypothesis
Beware of bias when testing
Good experiment can be replicated: the experiment can be repeated and would yield constant results; done with a
different group of people or by a different person ending with constant results
Theory useful if:
(1) effectively organises range of observations
(2) implies clear predictions
Case study: research method where one person is studied in depth to find universal principles (things that apply
to all)
Drawback is that the individual being studied could be atypical, results not universally contained
Survey: research method to get the self-reported attitudes/behaviours of people
Looks at cases less depth and wording of question affects the response given (framing)Tend to hang around group
similar to us so using them as study is wrong
False consensus effect: tendency to overestimate others agreement with us; eg. Vegetarians believe larger
amount of pop. is vegetarian than Meat-eaters
Population: all the cases in the group being studied
To make a good sample, use random sampling: sample that gives each case a good chance of being studied to
ensure results within range
Naturalistic observation: observing and recording behaviour in natural settings with any control on situation
Like case study & survey, doesnt explain behaviour
When finding a trait that accompanies another, not resulting effect, but correlation: the way 2 factors vary
together and how well one predicts the other
Positive correlation: direct relationship where factors increase or decrease together
Negative correlation: inverse relationship where one factor goes up while one goes down
Does not explain cause, simply show relationship between factors
Illusory correlation: perceiving correlation when none exist; Notice random coincidences as not random, rather
as correlated
Experiment
To isolate cause & effect, conduct experiments
Experimental condition: condition that exposes subjects to treatment
Control condition: condition that serves as a comparison to see effects of treatment on experimental condition
subjects
Use random assignment: assigning subjects to experimental/control groups randomly to ensure no bias
Independent variable: experimental factor being manipulated and studied (by itself, alone, no need to depend on
something) * x-axis
Dependent variable: experimental factor that depends on independent variable and changes in response to it * y-
axis
Placebo: an inert substance/condition that maybe administered instead of a presumed active agent
Double-blind procedure: procedure in which the experimenter and the subject noth don't know which treatment
is given
Bibliography
Myers, David G., Psychology Fifth Edition. Worth Publishers, Inc. New York, NY ©1998
