PSYCH 1X03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Statistical Inference, Central Tendency, Standard Deviation
5 Sep 2016
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Informal answers: answers to psychological questions relying on personal experiences, common sense, reasoning: formal methods: techniques/concepts of the scientific method. Obvious/common sense conclusions may not really be true, we perceive what we expect: ob-ob mouse: not fat because eating a lot, but eats a lot because fat. Levels/methods of analysis used when examining a question: learning, cognitive, social, developmental, evolution, neuroscience: operating in different paradigms and asking diff questions, should use different ones in order to have a full picture of patterns, etc. Parsimony: bt two otherwise equally good explanations for some phenomenon, we prefer the simpler one (that makes fewer assumptions). But if one obviously does a better job of accounting for the known facts, it wins single-handedly. Natural order: as much as we can, we attribute the same effects to the same causes (happiness=smile), but only when comparing the same causes (other species bare teeth for other reasons)
