Chapter 1 Psychology, Science, and Life

1. Chapter 1Psychology, Science, and Life

2. Why are Research Methods Important Tools for Life? • Understanding human behavior • Creating new knowledge • Preparing for a career in psychology

3. Why are Research Methods Important Tools for Life? Answering important questions • What is the biological basis of consciousness? • How are memories stored and retrieved? • How did cooperative behavior evolve? • To what extent are genetic variation and personal health linked? • What causes schizophrenia?

4. Scientific and Nonscientific Knowledge

5. What Constitutes Scientific Knowledge Tenacity Simply believing something because you don't want to give up your belief. It may be obvious to you, even if not to others. You have probably discovered that people do not change their minds easily, concluding that they are simply being stubborn. But they are probably thinking exactly the same about you

6. What Constitutes Scientific Knowledge Authority This way of adopting knowledge removes the burden from any single person to make decisions; instead, one would rely on an expert of some kind. Authorities and experts are often right, but they can be wrong.

7. What Constitutes Scientific Knowledge A Priori Method People might fix their knowledge based on consensus and reasoned argument, the a priori approach. The problem is that reasons for believing something may change over time, so what was seen as true in the past may change.

8. What Constitutes Scientific Knowledge The Scientific Method If we want to know universal truths, the most valid approach can be through science, which is objective and self-correcting. Gradually, we can accumulate knowledge that is valid and discard ideas that prove to be wrong. Unfortunately, some questions cannot be addressed scientifically.

9. What Constitutes Scientific Knowledge

10. What Constitutes Scientific Knowledge Concepts and Measurements are Objective Research requires that concepts have objective definitions and measurements that are well defined and that anybody can apply.

11. What Constitutes Scientific Knowledge Claims Are Data Driven Research claims must be based on objective data rather than on the preferences or initial beliefs of the researcher.

12. What Constitutes Scientific Knowledge Scientific Research is Replicable Research has to be set up so that others can repeat a study to see if the same results occur. A process is scientific if different scientists can repeat a study, even if the results differ. More research can identify why there are discrepancies.

13. What Constitutes Scientific Knowledge Scientific Research is Public After completing research, scientists make their work public so other scientists can scrutinize it and create new research based on it.

14. Culture and Ways of Knowing Not all people accept the same type of logical framework that people do in Western cultures.

15. Why We Do Research • Curiosity and Enjoyment • Scientific Goals

16. Why We Do Research Description One evening in 1964, a woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked and murdered while walking home from work. It was claimed that 38 people saw what was happening, but nobody helped or called the police. Two psychologists (e.g., Latané and Darley, 1970) wondered why this might happen. Their first step in understanding this phenomenon was to describe the behaviors of the bystanders.

17. Why We Do Research Explanation As Darley and Latané noted, when there are more people around, we are less likely to offer aid. The researchers called this failure to act diffusion of responsibility; that is, when others are around, we can pass blame for our inaction to them, assuming less (or none) for ourselves.

18. Why We Do Research Prediction We can determine those when helping behavior is likely to occur. • Helping occurs as people try to avoid feeling guilty or if a person is similar to them. • Helping diminishes if people have been relieved of guilt.

19. Why We Do Research Control Behaviors in everyday life are seldom controlled by a single variable, but we can control behavior to a degree. We may help others if our mood is positive because we tend to generalize our good mood to everything around us We may help if our mood is negative, but if we think that helping somebody will improve our mood

20. The Interaction of Science and Culture The Role of the Government in Science A lot of research is funded by the government. Some research is applied, with possible applications. Some research is theoretical, possibly without future applications.

21. The Interaction of Science and Culture Cultural Values and Science Researchers are part of the culture and often study issues that are important in life. Culture helps determine how scientists conduct their research.

22. Controversy—Should women serve on juries? • Hugo Münsterberg researched the difference between men and women in the decision-making process in groups in the early 1900s. • He concluded that women should not serve on juries because of the way they were influenced in their decision making.

23. Controversy—Should women serve on juries? • Harold Burtt conducted a conceptual replication of Münsterberg’s study a few years later. • Burtt concluded that women were as capable as men in making decisions.

24. Controversy—Should women serve on juries? • Neither Münsterberg nor Burtt seem to have asked the question of whether men should serve on juries. • Their assumption throughout the research was that men were appropriate for juries. • Why? The answer has to do with culture.

25. Scientific Literacy • What is Scientific Literacy? • A specialized form of critical thinking, that involves developing clear questions, collecting and assessing relevant information, identifying important assumptions, and generating effective solutions to problems

26. Scientific Literacy • How scientifically literate are Americans? • Researchers have concluded that about 28% of Americans are scientifically literate

27. Scientific Literacy • The majority of Americans believe in various paranormal phenomena even though there is no systematic evidence for them. • ESP • Telekinesis • Ghosts • Clairvoyance • Precognition

28. Scientific Literacy Most psychologists regard these phenomena as involving pseudoscience. What is pseudoscience? An area about which believers claim scientific status but for which there is no sound scientific evidence.

29. Scientific Literacy How many people believe in pseudoscientific claims?

30. Scientific Literacy

31. Scientific Literacy Junk Science When scientists or researchers make claims to support their own interests, going beyond what the data support, they are using what is called junk science. Courts in the United States may restrict scientific testimony from so-called experts if the testimony would constitute junk science.

32. Controversy—What Causes Autism? Some nonscientists and physicians claim that the vaccines that contained mercury were responsible for autism. An early report in the British Medical Journal claimed to have found a link between vaccines and onset of autism

33. Controversy—What Causes Autism? Where did these claims come from? • The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended removal of mercury from vaccines because it is poisonous • The CDC did not link the mercury with autism. • The recommendation was purely preventive.

34. Controversy—What Causes Autism? • When the CDC made its recommendations, parents were getting involved in advocating on behalf of children diagnosed as autistic. • Parents were objecting to a psychoanalytically based explanation for autism. • Parents favored a medical model.

35. Controversy—What Causes Autism? • Some people drew the conclusion that mercury in vaccines was the culprit. • Mercury poisoning leads to symptoms similar to those of autism • Some activists concluded that the CDC recommended removing mercury from vaccines because of a mercury-autism link (which the CDC never made).

36. Controversy—What Causes Autism? What is the current consensus about mercury as the cause of autism? • The original research claims were based on fabricated research. • Even after mercury was removed from vaccines, the incidence of autism increased. • Mercury levels are no higher in children diagnosed as autistic than in typically developing children.

37. Controversy—What Causes Autism? What is the message here? • Scientific issues reflect issues important in society. • Research can resolve controversies. • If people are not scientifically literate, they can fall prey to claims that are not scientifically supported.