PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Null Hypothesis, Pseudoscience, Causal Inference
26 May 2018
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PSYC1001 Notes
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TABLE OF CONTINENTS
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Science and Statistics …………………………………………………………….2
Human Development …………………………………………………………….18
History of Psychology ……………………………………………………………32
Emotion ……………………………………………………………………………36
Social Psychology ………………………………………………………………..53
Personality ………………………………………………………………………..70
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PSYC1001 Notes
! of !284
TOPIC: SCIENCE AND STATISTICS !
Lect 1 The Attitude of Science !
a) Understand that critical thinking skills should be used with care and respect !
•Dependent on whether something can be tested with an experiment or not"
•Can = science have strong view on it "
•Cannot i.e. determine whether a course of action is right or wrong = seek guidance
from moral philosophers, holy text or social norm "
• Must accept non-scientific debate with great tolerance and humility that a question can
have many valid questions "
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b) Distinguish between scientific viewpoints and viewpoints based on opinion, taste
or belief!
•Stephen Jay Gould: Science and religion as “non-overlaping magisteria”!
•i.e. they were both worthy of our time and respect and were not in conflict because
they were asking and answering different questions"
•Religion can no longer dictate scientific knowledge !
•Difference between acquired knowledge from revelations (taught by your parents/
teachers), emotions/intuitions/opinion and science method!
•i.e. the difference between the realm of opinion (plants versus zombie) and
magisterium of science (vaccination)"
•However attitude on science is dependent on the knowledge you attain!
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e) Understanding the attitude of scientific investigation (the scientific method and
the attitude of science) !
•Attitude of science (“Baloney detection”) !
•Theories are just the best we have at any given time"
•It is the mechanisms for evaluating claims which ensures the strength of science"
•Operates with the assumption that our current understanding is imperfect"
•If criticism is not possible then progress cannot be made"
•Science is motivated to bring down/challenge the big theories "
•Science must be content with uncertainty"
•Science needs to be transparent and open to criticism"
•The lack of authority i.e. not absolute truth "
•Have independent confirmation of the “facts”"
•Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledge proponents from all
POV"
•Argument from authority carry little weight "
•Spin more than one hypothesis"
•Quantify (i.e. prove with a measure/numerical quantity)"
•Question whether the hypothesis can be falsified "
•Reliance on carfully designed and control experiments is key!
•The scientific method; !
•Process of criticising and evaluating evidence and proposing and testing
alternative explanations !
a) Understand that critical thinking skills should be used with care and respect"
b) Distinguish between scientific viewpoints and viewpoints based on opinion, taste or belief"
c) Identify and understand the logical errors: ‘Argument from authority’ and ‘Ad Hominen’"
d) Distinguish between open‐mindedness and unbounded credulity"
e) Understand the ‘attitude’ of scientific investigation
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PSYC1001 Notes
! of !384
•Research: Spot bias, industry intervention, logical error, lack of evidence, lack of peer
review, lack of replication, poor research design, emotive claims etc… "
•Evidences needs to be; !
•objective"
•replicable"
•peer reviewed"
•applicable up to date"
•scientific"
•Example of the phantom limb (specific localisation of brain function + proving old
theories wrong) !
•An arm or legs that lingers in definitely in the minds of patient long after it has been
lost in accident or removed by surgeon "
•1940s-1950s Wilder Penfield stimulated specific regions of the patients brain with
an electrode - found a narrow strip from the top down both sides of the brain where
his electrode produced sensation localised in various part of the body "
•“Sensory homunculus” - greatly distorted representation of the body on the
surface of the brain "
•Debate of nature vs nurture - the extent to which aspects of our mind are laid down
by genes and the extent to which they are modified by experience "
•Proof of the phantom limb"
•Magnetoence Phalography (MEG) - relies on the principle that if you
touched different body parts laid out in the Penfield map can be measured
as changes in magnetic fields in the scalp "
•Connection i.e. between the arm and face, genitals and feet"
•Discovery - large scales changes in the organisation of the brain could occur
in adult humans (i.e. connection can be modified over distances spanning a
centimetre or more) —> contradicts the fixed nature of connections in the
adult human brain —> PLASTICITY IN THE BRAIN!
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c) Identify and understand logical errors “Argument from authority”and “Ad
Hominen”!
•Appeal to authority!
•Logical fallacy"
•If you believe in something is true because someone important said/endorces it"
• Ad Hominem!
•Logical fallacy"
•Disagree with what someone says but attack them for being disreputable rather
attacking their claim or evidence "
•Argument from adverse consequence (i.e. God’s system of punishment and reward)"
•Appeal to ignorance - the claim that whatever have not proved false must be true (The
absence of evidence is not evidence of absence!)!
•Observational selection "
•Statistics of small number"
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d) Distinguish between open mindedness and unbounded credulity !
•A willingness to explore new ideas does not mean you have to accept them
unconditionally"
•Approach promoted by science - goes through “evidence filter” before accepting"
•Pseudoscience: no faith that leading theory is the best (WHAT NOT TO DO!) "
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