HP1100 – Week 1 Reading

Introduces psychology as a science. And has a number of characteristics, such as :

- Reliance on objectives
- Empirical (originating from observation and research) facts

* Vital that every psychologist be able to understand and critically evaluate research evidence. All
psychologists should become savvy consumers of experimental psychological research.

The goals of science :

- Description and discovery of regularities

- Developing a theory to explain facts and laws (main goal)

Psychology in context by talking about ways of learning about behavior

Methods to learn behaviour can be divided into 2 :

1. Nonempirical Methods
a. Authority – based on someone else’s knowledge
e.g. : How would you know that Obama was born in Hawaii? It’s not like we have ever
visited Obama’s birthplace and we were certainly not there when he was born. Perhaps,
we have heard of him talk about it on television or have seen a copy of his birth
certificate. However, there are people to cease to believe that Obama was born in
Hawaii, and pointing that birth certificates can be forged, hence it is not viable evidence.
If you believe Obama was born in Hawaii, maybe from the news or the books you have
read. These sources all serve as authorities for you if you believe what that say.
Authorities can also often be wrong even when they assert their beliefs most forcefully.
For example, Galileo suffered grievously for daring to hold that the earth goes around
the sun.
 b. Logic – An important way of helping us know about behaviour. Based on deductive and
inductive reasoning.
The use of logic is often crucial in drawing correct conclusions about the world. However,
logic has its limitations as a way of knowing. It can tell you that a statement is false
because an improper solution is drawn.
e.g. Perhaps I say “If it rains, then there will be no baseball game.” If I look out the
window and see it is raining, it is valid for me to say, “It is raining; therefore, there will be
no baseball game.” If it is not raining, then the statement is false.

2. Empirical Methods
a. Intuition – a way of knowing based on spontaneous, instinctive processes rather than
on logic or reasoning.
A kind of intuition is called Common sense, practical intelligence shared by a large group
of people ( because of its dependence on informal methods. It emphasizes the
agreement of a person’s judgment with the shared attitudes and experiences of a larger
group of people. Common sense has 2 limitations :
1. Standards differ from time to time and from place to place according to the
attitudes and experiences of the culture. (changes with time and circumstance)
2. The only criterion common sense recognizes for judging the of a belief or practice
is whether it works. Following a practice simply because it works does not permit
any basis for predicting when the practice will work and when it will not. (it is
pragmatic rather than theoretical)

Since common sense only has practical success as its criterion, it can’t predict new
knowledge. It is also possible to speak of a scientific result as being counterintuitive; that
is, it goes against our notions of common sense.

e.g. For example, a theory of obesity in humans says that overweight people are
controlled more by external cues (sight of food or a clock that indicates dinnertime) and
less by internal signals (hunger pangs) than are other people. This theory makes the
counterintuitive prediction that there should be counterintuitive: something that goes
against common sense situations in which overweight people eat less than average-
weight people. True to prediction, overweight people do eat less if they have to make a
special effort to obtain the food. If there is plenty of food in front of them, however, they
will eat more than average-weight people.

b. Science - a way of obtaining knowledge by means of objective observations

Three reasons why we must discuss the nature of science :
1. There is not a scientific method, rather, there ARE scientific methods consisting of
the steps :
a. Defining the problem
b. Forming a hypothesis
c. Collecting data
d. Drawing conclusions
e. Communicating the findings
2. People who have developed a basic idea of how to do science that involves biology,
chemistry, or physics often have difficulty seeing how to go about the science of
 psychology. A study by Boyack, Klavans, and Börner (2005) showed that psychology
is a hub discipline, along with mathematics, physics, chemistry, earth sciences,
medicine, and the social sciences. While psychology is distinct from biology, many
sub-disciplines, such as animal behavior or neurology, share ideas common to both
sciences.
3. An introductory discussion of experimental psychology is that beginning psychology
students sometimes feel that they have become amateur psychologists by virtue of
observing human and animal behaviour for a lifetime. We are often more aware of
the customs of a slightly different culture than we are of our own.

Characteristics of Science

We can characterize science like the way we might characterize happy families by listing their typical
attributes. There are Important characteristics of science that tend to distinguish it from it from all
other ways of knowing :

1. Science is Empirical (verifiable by observation)

The scientific attitude is to rely on experience more than on authority, common sense, or
even logic. Although empiricism is an essential characteristic of science, it is important to
note that not all empirical ways of knowing are scientific. The intuitive method is empirical
but not scientific.

2. Science is Objective
The most important characteristic of science is that it is a way of obtaining knowledge
based on objective observations. Objective observations are made in a way that any person
at the same place and time would arrive at the same observation. When these observations
are made and carefully reported, they serve like a recipe for others to follow so other
scientists could follow the same procedures to see if they arrive at the same observation.
The opposite of this is subjective observation. These are the observations that a person
makes that another person is not required to accept as true. Objectivity is what makes
science the universal means of achieving understanding, because it eliminates from
consideration at the outset any phenomenon that cannot command the agreement of every
person. (Objectivity is the single most important characteristic in setting science apart from
what is not science)

3. Science is Self-Correcting (because its empirical)

Science is characterized by a willingness to let new evidence correct previous beliefs.
(characterized by a commitment to change based on empirical evidence)

4. Science is Progressive (because its empirical and self-correcting)

Science moves forward towards truth, adding more and more information to what was
previously known.

5. Science is Tentative
Science never claims to have the whole truth on any question because new information
may make current knowledge obsolete at any time. Because of the progressive nature of
 science, however, we can be reasonably confident that we are increasingly approaching the
truth, rather than simply changing our ideas according to fashion or whim.

6. Science is Parsimonious (Parsimony means stinginess)

For science, the principle of parsimony holds that we should use the simplest explanation
possible to account for a given phenomenon.

7. Science is Concerned with Theory

One of the major concerns of science is the development of a theory of how something
works, the importance of theory can be illustrated by contrasting science and technology.
(technology has the goal of making something work, whereas science has the task of
understanding why it works)

* Science and technology share a number of common characteristics, including empiricism and
progress.

The Relation Between Science and Nonscience

By emphasizing science, we are not saying that we must reject other ways of knowing. Scientists
begin their inquiry on the basis of the actual beliefs that they hold at the time, as influenced by
authority, logic, and common sense. What makes them different is the willingness to change those
beliefs through empirical evidence derived from their method of inquiry.

e.g. Anyone who meets minimal requirements—an undergraduate, graduate student, or new PhD—
can present a paper that challenges the theories of even the most illustrious scientist. Although the
challenger may suffer trepidation, and the senior scientist’s arguments may receive more careful
attention the focus of the discussion will be on the soundness of the research methods and the logic
of the challenger’s position. If the challenger has presented a sound argument based on acceptable
methods of observation, other scientists would try to repeat the observation. If successful, the
illustrious scientist’s ideas are replaced by those of the challenger.

Working Assumptions of Science

1. The Reality of the World (Realism) – the philosophy that objects perceived by us have a
existence in the real world.
The notion that the objects of scientific study in the world exist apart from their being
perceived by us. Scientists avoid one variety of realism which is common sense realism.
Common sense realism is the philosophy of the person on the street who never wondered
why coal looks black because anybody knows that coal is black.

2. Rationality – a view that reasoning is the basis for solving problems

The world is understandable by way of logical thinking.

3. Regularity – a belief that a phenomena exists in a recurring pattern that conform with
universal laws.
Assuming that the world follows the same laws at all times and in all places.
 4. Discoverability – is it possible to find solutions to questions posed
This belief in discoverability is the difference between a puzzle and a mystery. Science treats
the world as a gigantic puzzle that is mysterious in the loose sense of leading to wonder, but
is not mysterious in the strict sense of not being solvable by human means.

5. Causality (every event has a cause)

A belief that all events are caused is called determinism. Not all of the relationship between
events are not of a cause-and-effect-nature; some things just happen at the same time.
e.g. You ate ice cream and got sick.
In order to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between these events, you need :
1. Temporal Precedence : something that occurs prior to another thing.
2. Co-variation of cause and effect : when the cause is introduced, the effect occurs.
3. Probabilistic co-variation : statistical association of a cause with an effect.
4. Elimination of alternative explanations : no explanation for an effect other than the
purported cause is possible.

The Goals of Science

1. The Discovery of Regularities

a. The Description of Behaviour
The first step in any science is to describe the phenomena considered to be important
for the science to deal with. If the descriptive phase of a science is skipped or done
carelessly, it may become necessary to return to square one and start over again.
b. Discovering Laws
A law is simply a statement that certain events are regularly associated with each other.
The frustration-aggression law states that frustration causes aggression. If any time a
regular association between two variables exist, you have a law. However, because of the
complexity of behavior, laws of behavior are often stated in statistical form.
c. The Search for Causes
Scientists search for the causes of the events that we observe.

* Some events are just coincidences. Sometimes the real cause is another event that is correlated
with the suspected cause. Causes cannot happen after their effects.

2. The Development of Theories

A theory is a set of statements that organize a large body of facts (laws) into a single
explanatory system. We can define the concept of theory either broadly or narrowly.
Broadly speaking, a theory is a statement or set of statements about the relationships among
variables.
 More often, the term theory is used in a second and stricter sense. According to this view, a
theory is a statement or a set of statements about relationships among variables that
includes at least one concept that is not directly observed but that is necessary to explain
these relationships. Theoretical concepts are not observed directly; they can be defined only
indirectly by reference to events that are directly observed. A theoretical concept is an
invention of the scientist to account for laws of behavior.

Theories Must be Falsifiable

A good theory must be capable of being tested in an unambiguous way, the reason for this is the
empirical nature of science. Theories would be scientific if it can be tested. A theory must not only be
testable, it must also be capable of being proven wrong. This property of being capable of disproof is
called falsifiability.

The Role of Theories

1. Organizing Knowledge and Explaining Laws (description) - The individual fact is explained by
being shown to be an instance of a general law. In turn, the law is explained by its relation to
the theory.
2. Predicting New Laws (prediction) - A fruitful theory not only explains many different laws
that were previously unrelated, but also suggests places to look for new laws.
3. Guiding Research (control) - A good theory suggests new experiments and helps researchers
choose alternative ways of performing them.

* Theoretical explanation is the ultimate goal of science.

* Other Goals - Description, prediction, and control are three aspects of the goal of discovering
regularities of behavior.

Hypotheses In Science

A hypothesis is a statement that is assumed to be true for the purpose of testing its validity. A
hypothesis can be put in the form of an if-then statement: If A is true, then B should follow. A
scientific hypothesis must be capable of empirical testing and, as a result, empirical confirmation or
disconfirmation. Most scientific research, then, is designed to test at least one hypothesis.
Defining Theoretical Concepts

Operationism, which is associated with physicist Percy Bridgman, states that scientific concepts
must be public in the same way that scientific data are public. According to Bridgman, a theoretical
concept must be tied to observable operations that any person can observe or perform.
Operationism, then, strictly limits the kinds of concepts with which science can deal. If there is no
way of defining the concept according to observable operations, the concept is barred from science.
In an operational definition is to state a procedure, or operation, that specifies the meaning of the
concept.

Misuses of operational definition :

1. Taking a trivial definition of a concept and attempting to build a theory on it.

2. Considering every measure of a concept as independent of every other measure.

Using different ways of honing in on a concept via different operational definitions is called
converging operations. e.g. The larger the number of independent locations from which a surveyor
knows the distance and direction, the more precisely the new point is located.

The Nature of Scientific Progress

 Paradigms
the concept of a paradigm: a pervasive way of thinking about a branch of science that
includes all the assumptions and theories that are accepted as true by a group of scientists.
According to Kuhn, the course of science is not steady progress toward a goal. Rather, it
consists of phases of normal science, each dominated by a single paradigm, alternating with
revolutions that install new paradigms that last as long as each paradigm is reasonably
successful in accounting for empirical data. Kuhn holds that it is not possible to choose
between different paradigms on the basis of data alone. The reason is that what counts as
data depends on the methods, theories, and assumptions of the particular paradigm.