PSYC 2030 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Falsifiability, Begging The Question, Claustrophobia
13 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Psychology involves examining aspects of mental life and their impact on behaviour. It takes 4 forms: description, prediction, explanation, application. Method is what is used to differentiate psychology of other research-based fields. Scientific method: a procedure for acquiring and testing knowledge through systematic observation or experimentation. The scientific method is an empirical method; a procedure for obtaining information on the basis of observation. Psychologists are not always convinced by their findings and so they try and challenge it by using a systematic approach. In order to understand why mental process and behaviours have particular effects, we have to develop psychological theory. Theory: a system of explanation used to make sense of, and integrate, a number of empirical findings. It can comprise abstract principles or be more specific and comprise a set of concrete hypotheses about particular structures and mechanisms. A good theory should: account for multiple facts, make predictions. Therefore, science is not merely an accumulation of facts.
