PSY 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Phineas Gage, Gun Violence, Confirmation Bias
Document Summary
Psychology differs from studies of musicians, writers, etc. due to its scientific approach. Requires employment of critical thinking to evaluate information on the basis of well-supported evidence. Non-critical thinking can lead to erroneous conclusions. Ex. lay-perso(cid:290)"s co(cid:289)(cid:289)o(cid:290) (cid:289)isu(cid:290)dersta(cid:290)di(cid:290)g of correlational data. Correlations imply a relation between two things, but not necessarily a causal relationship (ex. Gun violence and acts of violence on tv, in movies, on internet, etc. ) Phineas gage (1848) has pipe blown through his head yet still lived; showed that physical change to brain produced large change in cognitive and physical function. Naturalistic observations (observing/recording animals/human beings in natural environments) Questionnaires and surveys (polling; usually anonymous or with unimportant differentiation between individuals) Experiments (only one variable manipulated; most control) Independent variable: things that you manipulate (music or no music) Dependent variable: behavior based off of variable.
