Psy102 - Unit 1 (Science And Pseudoscience In Psychology)

Front 1

Popular Psychology Industry

Back 1

Sprawling network of everything sources of information about human behavior.

Front 2

Naive Realism

Back 2

Belief that we see the world precisely as it is.

Front 3

Communalism

Back 3

Willingness to share our findings with others.

Front 4

Disinterestednes

Back 4

Attempt to be objective when evaluating the evidence.

Front 5

Confirmation Bias

Back 5

Tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypotheses and neglect or distort evidence that contradicts them.

Front 6

Belief Perseverance

Back 6

Tendency to stick to our initial beliefs even when evidence contradicts them.

Front 7

Scientific Theory

Back 7

Explanation for a large number of findings in the natural world.

Front 8

Hypothesis

Back 8

Testable prediction derived from a theory.

Front 9

Scientifc Skepticism

Back 9

Approach of evaluating all claims with an open mind but insisting on persuasive evidence before accepting them.

Front 10

Pathological Skepticism

Back 10

Tendency to dismiss any claims that contrdict our beliefs.

Front 11

Oberg's Dictum

Back 11

Premise that we should keep our minds open, but not so open that we believe everything.

Front 12

Astrology

Back 12

Pseudoscience that claims to predict people's personalities and futures from the precise date and time of their birth.

Front 13

Critical Thinking

Back 13

Set of skills for evaluating all claims in an open-minded and careful fashion.

Front 14

Falsifiable

Back 14

Capable of being disproved.

Front 15

Risky Prediction

Back 15

Forecast that stands a good chance of being wrong.

Front 16

Replicability

Back 16

Demand that a study's findings be duplicated, ideally by independent investigators.

Front 17

Correlation-Causation Fallacy

Back 17

Error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other.

Front 18

Variable

Back 18

Anything that can vary.

Front 19

Third-Variable Problem

Back 19

Case in which a third variable causes the correlation between two other variables.

Front 20

Pseudoscience

Back 20

Set of claims that seems scientific but is not.

Front 21

Metaphysical Claims

Back 21

Assertions about the world that are unfalsifiable.

Front 22

Ad Hoc Immunizing Hypothesis

Back 22

Escape hatch or loophole that defenders of a theory use to protect their theory from falsification.

Front 23

Peer Review

Back 23

Mechanism whereby experts in a field carefully sceen the work of their colleagues.

Front 24

Connectivity

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Extent to which a researcher`s findings build on previous findings.

Front 25

Rational Thinking

Back 25

Thinking that relies on careful reasoning and objective analysis.

Front 26

Experiential Thinking

Back 26

Thinking that depends on intuitive judgements and emotional reactions.

Front 27

Transcendental Temptation

Back 27

Desire to alleviate our anxiety by embracing the supernatural.

Front 28

Terror Management Theory

Back 28

Theory proposing that our awareness of our death leaves us with an underlying sense of terror with which we cope by adopting reassuring cultural worldviews.

Front 29

Pareidolia

Back 29

Tendency to percieve meaningful images in meaningless visual stimuli.

Front 30

Apophenia

Back 30

Tendency to percieve meaningful connections among unrelated phenomena.

Front 31

Logical Fallacies

Back 31

Traps in thinking that can lead to mistaken conclusions.

Front 32

Emotional Reasoning Fallacy

Back 32

Error of using our emotions as guides to evaluating the validity of a claim.

Front 33

Bandwagon Fallacy

Back 33

Error of assuming that a claim is correct just because many people believe it.

Front 34

Either-Or Fallacy

Back 34

Error of framing a question as though we can answer it in only one of two extreme ways.

Front 35

Not Me Fallacy

Back 35

Error of believing we're immune from thinking errors that afflict others.

Front 36

Bias Blind Spot

Back 36

Lack of awareness of our biases, coupled with an awareness of others' biases.

Front 37

Opportunity Cost

Back 37

Investment of time, energy, and effort in a questionable treatment that can lead people to forfeit the chance to obtain an effective treatment.

Front 38

Extraordinary Claims

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The more a claim contradicts what we already know, the more persuasive the evidence for this claim must be before we should accept it.

Front 39

Occam's Razor

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If two hypotheses explain a phenomenon equally well, we should generally select the simpler one.

Front 40

Ruling Out Rival Hypotheses

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Findings consistent with several hypotheses require additional research to eliminate these hypotheses.

Front 41

Distinguish common from uncommon sense.

Back 41

Psychological research shows that many widely agreed-on "truisms" about human nature aren't true. Much of psychology is uncommon sense.

Front 42

Describe naive realism and its perils.

Back 42

Naive realism is the error of believing that we see the world precisely as it is. It can lead us to false beliefs about ourselves and our world, such as believing that our perceptions and memories are always accurate.

Front 43

Differentiate popular psychology information from misinformation.

Back 43

Some of popular psychology is accurate, but some of it isn't. For example, although some self-help books are helpful, most have never been tested. When inaccurate, popular psychology often oversimplifies scientific findings.

Front 44

Describe the importance of science as a set of safeguards against biases.

Back 44

Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out evidence that supports our hypotheses and to disregard or distort evidence that doesn't. Belief perseverance is the tendency to cling to our beliefs despite contrary evidence. The scientific method is a set of safeguards against these two errors.

Front 45

Identify the key features of scientific skepticism and distinguish it from pathological skepticism.

Back 45

Scientific skepticism requires us to evaluate all claims with an open mind but to insist on compelling evidence between accepting them. Pathological skepticism, in contrast, implies close-mindedness.

Front 46

Identify and explain six key principles of critical thinking that will be used throughout the text.

Back 46

Six key thinking principles are Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence, Falsifiability, Occam's Razor, Replicability, Ruling out Rival Hypotheses, and the distinction between Correlation and Causation.

Front 47

Describe pseudoscience and its differences from science and metaphysics.

Back 47

Pseudoscientific claims appear scientific, but don't play by the rules of science. In particular, pseudoscience lacks the safeguards against confirmation bias and belief perseverance that characterize science. Metaphysical claims, in contract, aren't flsifiable and therefore lie outside the boundaries of science.

Front 48

Describe the prevalence of pseudoscientific beliefs.

Back 48

Pseudoscientic and otherwise questionable beliefs are widespread in our culture. Large numbers of Canadians accept the existence of extrasensory perception and astrology despite compelling evidence.

Front 49

Identify seven key warning signs of pseudoscience.

Back 49

Seven key warning signs of pseudoscience are overuse of ad hoc immunizing hypotheses, lack of self-correction, exaggerated claims, overreliance on anecdotes, evasion of peer review, absence of connectivity, and psychobabby.

Front 50

Describe the motivational factors that predispose us to pseudoscientific beliefs.

Back 50

Many pseudoscientific beliefs offer comfort to us, especially in the face of our own inevitable deaths. See also: Terror Management Theory and Transcendental Temptation.

Front 51

Describe the role that scientific illiteracy may place in the public's acceptance of pseudoscience.

Back 51

Only a small minority of the public have the scientific literacy to distinguish scientific from pseudoscientific claims.

Front 52

Explain the important of cognitive factors as contributors to pseudoscientific thinking.

Back 52

The human mind tends to perceive sense in nonsense and order in disorder. Although generally adaptive, this tendency can us to see patterns when they don't exist.

Front 53

Identify key logical fallacies in psychological thinking that can predispose us to pedudoscientific beliefs.

Back 53

Four key logical fallacies to beware of when evaluating psychological claims are the reasoning fallacy, the bandwagon fallacy, the either-or fallacy, and the not-me fallacy.

Front 54

Describe the dangers of pseudoscience.

Back 54

Pseudoscientific claims can result in opportunity costs and direct harm due to dangerous treatments. They may also result in a slippery slope, leading us to think less critcally about other important domains of modern life. See also: Opportunity Cost.