Concept Review Research in Psych, 5e: Study Guide, Chapter 1 1-4
After you finish reading and studying each main section of the chapter, print out this document and answer the following questions to test your comprehension.
· Why Take This Course?
o Why is the methods course believed to provide a “foundation” for other psychology courses? Hint: process vs. content. (p.-- )
o Why will a research methods course help (a) the student hoping to go to graduate school in psychology, and (b) the student planning to work right after college? (p.-- )
· Ways of Knowing
o As a way of arriving at truth, what are the advantages and disadvantages with Peirce’s method of authority? (p. --)
o As a way of arriving at truth, what are the advantages and disadvantages with Peirce’s a priori method? (p. --)
o There is some truth in the saying that experience is the best teacher, but what are some the problems with this old adage? Hint: think of two social cognition biases. (p. --)
o How might a belief in UFOs illustrate the social cognition biases of belief perseverance, confirmation bias, and the availability heuristic? (p. --)
o Scientists sometimes cling to theories obstinately. In what sense can this be a good thing? (p. --)
· Science as a Way of Knowing
o How do research psychologists use the term determinism? (p. --)
o How do scientific observations differ from everyday observations?
o How does the modern view of objectivity differ from Peirce’s view of the concept? (p. --)
o How does objectivity relate to replication and why was objectivity a problem for early introspective psychologists? Hint: think of the quotes in Box 1.1. (p. --)
o How does Sir Francis Galton illustrate the tendency for researchers to be data-driven? (p. --)
o The general public often seems frustrated with science, especially when it seems that one result is reported on Monday and the opposite result from a different study appears on Tuesday. Explain how this frustration reflects a misunderstanding of the nature of scientific inquiry and scientific thinking. (p. --)
o Why isn’t this an empirical question? “Are people basically good or evil?” Create an empirical question that would relate to the issue of good and bad behavior. (p. --)
o What is the difference between a hypothesis and a theory?
o What is meant by the concept of falsification?
o What are the features of scientific thinking that go into making someone a “skeptical optimist?” (p. --)
· Psychological Science and Pseudoscience
o What is the point of the Harris cartoon on page --?
o Consider phrenology and the use of subliminal tapes. How has each been associated with legitimate science? (p. --)
o What is the problem with using anecdotal data to draw firm conclusions? (p. --)
o How did phrenologists get around the problem that not all killers had bumps in their “destructiveness” area? What’s wrong with this strategy? (p. --)
o In what way does the subliminal tape business illustrate the fourth and final attribute of pseudoscientific thinking (complexity reduced to simplicity)? (p. --)
o For legitimate scientists, phrenology was destroyed by the ablation studies completed by Flourens. Describe what he did. (p. --)
· The Goals of Research in Psychology
o What are the four main goals of scientific psychology? (p. --)
· A Passion for Research in Psychology (Part I)
o What does the work of Eleanor Gibson and B. F. Skinner have in common? (p. -)
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