Prologue: How Psychology Became a Science
&
Chapter 1: Science and Pseudoscience in
Psychology
Skills for Thinking Scientifically in Everyday Life
C. Brown: Unit 1
Course Structure
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1. Four exams (final is Cumulative)
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2. Research Component
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90%
(10%) sona system
3. Class participation (clickers), cooperative
learning, and textbook assignments serve as
extra-credit (students may raise their course
grade a whole letter grade)
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Class Handouts
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Fill-in-the-blanks
Textbook Assignments
Extra credit Opportunities
Extra-credit
SI Leader
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What is a clicker?
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The clicker is an instructional aid that
looks something like a TV remote.
The clicker we are using looks like this:
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10:10 – 11:00 Lauren Mininger
<lfm401@jaguar1.usouthal.edu>
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Clickers are so easy to use…

Even cave students and cave
professor can use them!
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1
PRS OVERVIEW
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You will use your RF Clicker in your classes to
respond electronically to questions.
In the typical classroom scenario, you login to your
p
Class and send Responses.
During the join or login process, your Student ID is
transmitted to the PRS software via the RF Receiver.
Each time you send a response to a Question, your
Student ID is attached to your Response, ensuring
each answer you send is attributed to you.
Your Responses are recorded electronically, and can
be scored and stored in an electronic Gradebook.
First Time Users:
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You must enter your Student ID before you can use your PRS
Clicker.
1 Power on your Clicker.
2 When autoscan begins,
g , press
p
* to stop
p it.
3 Press * to display the Setup Menu.
4 Scroll up or down to display the ID: menu option.
Press the enter/send button to select this option.
5 Input your Student ID. (J00xxxxxx). To enter the J for J00,
press the E button, and then scroll to J.
6 Press enter/send button to save your Student ID
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Joining a Class

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Most of the time you will be using your Clicker to
respond to Questions in the classroom.
When you turn on your Clicker, it automatically
begins scanning for PRS Classes. Each RF Receiver
broadcasts the name of its Class.
When the autoscan is completed, scroll through the
list of Classes that were found.
When you see the name of your Class, press the
enter/send button to join it.
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Quick Jump
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BASIC OPERATION
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1 Slide the Power Switch up to turn your Clicker on.
The initial screen graphically shows remaining battery
power and will remind you when it’s time to replace
your batteries
batteries. Then,
Then your Clicker will begin
autoscanning for a Class to join.
2 When autoscanning has completed, scroll up or
down to your Class and press the enter/send button
to join it.
The ANS: field will display on the top line of the LCD
and below it you will see the name of the Class you
joined. You are now ready to participate in a PRS
Session.
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The Quick Jump feature allows you to bypass the
autoscan process, which in a large PRS facility can
take a long time.
time The Quick Jump Number will be
displayed in angle brackets on the board, along with
the name of the Class you are to join.
Press the Quick Jump Number, verify the
Class name, and press the enter/send button to join
it.
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QUESTION TYPES

The Questions you will be asked during
a typical PRS Session will be projected
at the front of the classroom. Your
instructor can choose from among six
types of Questions— Multiple Choice,
True/False, Numeric, Series, Short
Answer, and Survey.
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2
Responding to Questions:
Sleep Mode
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The process is the same, regardless of
the Question Type:
Press the key(s) that represent your
Response, press the enter/send button
to send it, and watch for the received
message.

Sleep Mode is designed to extend
battery life.
If your clicker falls asleep during class
press any key to wake up your Clicker
and return it to full power.
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Let’s get started!
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PRS: “This is how we take roll”
T/F
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I can see th
the iicon that
th t iindicates
di t
that this is a PRS clicker question.
Are you here today?
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Extra-credit
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Form a study group with the classmates
seated in your row. Email your SI the
names of your group members. You
will have some cooperative learning
assignments with your group members
later in the course.
________________________________
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________________________________
__
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1. Yes
1
2. No
3. Uncertain, ask me later!
Lecture Preview
What is psychology?
 Historical perspectives of the field
 The great theoretical frameworks
 Modern psychology
 Great debates of psychology
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3
What is Psychology?

The scientific study of behavior, mental
processes and the brain
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Multiple _______________________,, from
biological to social influences
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Gain new knowledge from each perspective
Attempts to answer many exceptionally
difficult questions (e.g., consciousness)
Class Notes
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Remember taking notes is like sending a text
message to yourself.
Do not expect to write down every word.
The members of each study group should
help their “team mates” fill in the gaps.
You learn best by having to fill in the missing
information after the class period is over, but
before the day is over.
__________________________________
__________________________________
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10 Things That Make
Psychology Challenging
1) Behavior is difficult to ________

Meehl’s maxim
2) Behavior is _____________________

Question single-variable explanations
3) Psychological influences are rarely
independent of one another

_______________ - overlap among
different causes of behavior
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10 Things That Make
Psychology Challenging
8) People in psychological experiments
usually know they’re being studied

Problem of _____________
9) People differ from each other -
___________________ in thinking,
emotion, behavior
10) Culture influences people’s behavior
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10 Things That Make
Psychology Challenging
4) Psychological influences are often
unknown
5) People
eop e a
affect
ect eac
each ot
other
e
(______________________________)
6) Many psychological concepts are difficult
to define (e.g., intelligence)
7) The brain didn’t evolve to understand
itself
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Psychology’s Historical
Roots
Prescientific Psychology
Is the mind connected
to the body or distinct?
 Are ideas inborn or is
the mind a
______________ filled
by experience?
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4
Psychology’s Historical
Roots
Psychology’s Historical
Roots
Socrates (469-399 B.C.) and Plato (428-348 B.C.)
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Aristotle suggested Plato
Socrates
h
http://www.law.umkc.edu
h
http://www.law.umkc.edu
that soul is not separable for the bl f
h
body and that knowledge (ideas) grow from experience.
Socrates and his student Plato believed that mind was separate from the body and continued to exist after death. And that ideas were innate.
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PRS

Psychology’s Historical Roots
Have scholars always believed that
mental processes are dependent upon
the integrity of the brain and that
mental processes cease at death?
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Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
1. Yes
2. No
Bacon is one of the founders
of modern science, especially
the _______________.
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Psychology’s Historical
Roots

Psychological Science Is Born
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John Locke (1632-1704)
______________
All knowledge is acquired by means of
sensory experience.
 Science flourishes through observation
and experiment
 No knowledge is ________
Psychology’s Historical Roots
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Locke held that the mind was a
tabula rasa or blank sheet at
birth and experience wrote on it.

_______________
All natural phenomena could be
explained in terms of the interaction of
physical entities.
What causes thunder?
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5
Psychology’s Historical Roots

Psychological Science Develops
Psychology’s Historical
Roots 1) Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt
opened the first
psychology
_________ at the
University of
Liepzig (c. 1879)

Wundt German philosopher and
Wundt--German
physiologist
 James--American philosopher
 Freud--Austrian physician
 Watson & Skinner --behaviorists
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Psychology’s Historical
Roots 2) Functionalism
Great Theoretical
Frameworks of Psychology
1) _______________- aimed to identify the basic
elements of psychological experience
 ‘Map’ the elements of consciousness (sensations,
images, feelings) using introspection
 Underscored importance of __________
observations
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The structure of the mind must somehow
resemble the _________ table.
William James
Functionalism focused on
how behavioral
processes function- how
they enable organism to
adapt, survive, and
flourish.
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Great Theoretical
Frameworks of Psychology
2) _______________- aimed to
understand the adaptive purposes of
psychological characteristics (thoughts,
f li
feelings,
behaviors)
b h i )
 Psychologists must act as ‘detectives’ to
discover these purposes
 Founded by William James
 Evolutionary aspect still influences modern
psychology
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Psychology’s Historical Roots
3) Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud
 Introduced
_____________in The
Interpretation of
Dreams, 1900.
D
1900

Psychoanalysis is Freud’s
theory of personality and
method of
psychotherapy, both of
which assume the
importance of
___________ processes.
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6
Psychology’s Historical Roots
4) Behaviorism
Great Theoretical
Frameworks of Psychology
3) ________________ - focuses on
internal psychological processes (impulses,
thoughts, memories) of which we’re
we re unaware
 Maintains that our everyday lives are filled
with symbols, which psychoanalysts must
decode
 Emphasis on the role of early experiences
 Problem: unconscious processes are
difficult to verify

The Behaviorist
Alternative

In 1913, John B.
Watson defined
psychology as the
study of behavior,
offering an alternative
to _________
approaches and
marking the start of
behaviorism in the
United States.
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Psychology’s Historical Roots
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Great Theoretical
Frameworks of Psychology
4) Behaviorism - focuses on uncovering the
The Behaviorist
Alternative
Skinner emphasized
the study of ______
behavior as the
subject matter of
scientific
psychology.
_____________ of learning by looking outside
the organism to rewards and punishments
delivered byy the environment
 Psychological science must be objective, not
relying on subjective reports
 Founded by John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner
was follower
 Black box - their view of the mind: an
unknown entity which we need not
understand in order to explain behavior
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PRS
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PRS
Which of the following individuals is
most strongly associated with the idea
that behavior is controlled by
unconscious processes?
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
1.
2.
3.
4.
Wilhelm Wundt
William James
Sigmund Freud
B.F. Skinner
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
As an adolescent which famous
psychologist claimed to be the
reincarnation of Sir Francis Bacon?

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
1.
2.
3.
4.
Wilhelm Wundt
William James
Sigmund Freud
B. F. Skinner
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7
Psychology’s Historical Roots
5) Cognitivism
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The “Cognitive Revolution”
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Many types of evidence suggested that
behaviorism was too restrictive.
 These included studies of child development,
animal behavior, and brain studies
Cognition

Great Theoretical
Frameworks of Psychology
5) Cognitivism - proposes that our
thinking (cognition) affects our behavior
in powerful ways
Rewards and punishments can’t fully explain
behavior because our ______________ of
these is a crucial determinant of behavior
We also learn by insight
Jean Piaget and Ulric Neisser are cognitivists

A general term that refers to _____________
such as thinking, knowing, and remembering.
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Cooperative Group Challenge
The Rules
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Left Group vs. Right Group
All the members of each group receive
bonus points for each question the
group answers correctly.
The group (left or right) that answers
the most questions correctly wins
additional bonus points.
Types of Psychologists
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
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Types of Psychologists

Q1. _____ conducts research on
eyewitness testimony.
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Clinical
Counseling
School
Developmental
Experimental
Biopsychology
Forensic
Industrial/Organizational
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Types of Psychologists

Q2. _____ study how people change
over time.
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8
Types of Psychologists
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Q3. _____ work in businesses to assist
in employee selection and evaluation.
Types of Psychologists
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Types of Psychologists
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Q5. _____ assesses schoolchildren’s
psychological problems.
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Types of Psychologists
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Types of Psychologists
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Q7. _____ uses sophisticated research
methods to study learning, memory and
language.
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Q4. _____ works with normal people
experiencing temporary self-contained
problems.
Q6. _____ examines the physiological
basis of behavior.
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Types of Psychologists

Q8. _____ provides assessment and
treatment for people with mental
disorders.
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9
Types of Psychologists
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Types of Psychologists
Q9. _____ assists with the treatment
and rehabilitation of prison inmates.
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Psychology and Psychiatry

Psychiatry- a branch of ___________
dealing with psychological disorders


Practiced by physicians who sometimes
use drug treatments as well as
psychotherapy
Clinical psychology- a branch of
psychology focused on the assessment
and treatment of people with
psychological disorders
Q10. _____ designs equipment to
optimize productivity and minimize
accidents.
Counseling Psychology

A branch of psychology that assists
people with problems in living (often
related
l t d to
t school,
h l workk or marriage)
i
)
and in achieving greater well being.
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Clinical Psychology

Fields of Psychology Today
Most psychologists ________ clinical
psychologists.

Distinction between psychiatry (M.D.)
and psychology (Ph.D.) is the emphasis
on medical verses behavior approaches
to behavioral disorders.
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10
The Great Debates
of Psychology
PRS
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Most psychologists are clinical
psychologists.
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T. True
T
F. False
Mind - Body Debate: Are our behaviors
due entirely to the actions of our nervous
system or are they also due to the action of
another entity
entity, like a soul?
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The Great Debates
of Psychology

Nature - Nurture
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Tabula rasa? No, research conducted by behavior
geneticists and others suggests that most psychological
traits are substantially influenced by genes
Behavior
h
is attributable
b bl to both
b h genes and
d environment,
but the relative balance of the two depends on which
characteristic we measure (e.g., risk for ADHD vs.
religious affiliation)
Evolutionary psychology - applies Darwin’s theory
of natural selection to human and animal behavior
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A Diversity of Perspectives
Harvard refused to grant
the Ph.D. to Mary
Whiton Calkins
(1890’s)
(1890
s) who became
the first female APA
President in 1905.
Margaret Floy Washburn
became the first
woman to receive a
psychology Ph.D.
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Mind-body ________ - include scientific
psychologists, assert that the mind is the brain
and nervous system in action
Mind-body _________ - the mind is more than
the brain and nervous system
Impossible to resolve scientifically
The Great Debates
of Psychology

Free Will - Determinism: to what extent are
our behaviors freely selected rather than
caused by factors outside of our control?


Some psychologists argue most behaviors are
generated automatically, without conscious
awareness, though we perceive them as under our
control
Compatibilism - free will and determinism aren’t
mutually exclusive

Our genes and environment limit our behavioral choices, but
we may still freely select or reject certain options
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A Diversity of Perspectives
The first African
American to earn a
Ph.D. in psychology
was Francis Cecil
Sumner from Clark
University in 1920.
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11
Expansion of
Psychology’s Horizons
In addition to
psychology branching
out in basic and
applied areas of
research it has
become more diverse,
including more female
and minority
psychologists and
more psychologists
from other parts of the
world.
Popular Psychology



Self-help - about 3,500 self-help books are
published each year
The quality of the information can be good
good,
misleading, or even dangerous
The Internet offers easy and quick
information but quality is often questionable
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
PRS
PRS
Most people use only about 10% of their
brain capacity.
If you’re unsure of your answer while
taking a test, it’s best to stick with your
initial answer.

T/F
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PRS
Popular Psychology
People tend to be romantically attracted
to individuals who are opposite to them
in personality and attitudes.

T/F

T/F

Quick fixes and miracle cures - there
are hundreds for increasing intelligence,
memory, depression, and even for
enhancing our sex lives
An important part of this course includes
discussion of how to discern the quality of
information
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12
Scientific Thinking and
Everyday Life
Psychology as a Science

Science is an approach to evidence, a
toolbox of skills used to prevent us from
fooling
g ourselves



Strive to think scientifically - think in
ways that __________________
______________ - willingness to share
our findings with others
______________ - attempt to be
objective when evaluating evidence


Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
What Is a Scientific Theory?

Explanation for a large number of findings
in the natural world


Not just an educated guess - some survive
repeated efforts to refute them
Hypothesis testable prediction
derived from a theory
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Scientific Skepticism



Disconfirmation bias - tendency to seek
out evidence inconsistent with a hypothesis
we don’t believe, and neglect information
consistent with it
Oberg’s dictum - premise that we should
keep our minds open, but not so open that
we believe ______________
Role of authority - we should be unwilling
to accept claims on the basis of authority
alone
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Become aware of your biases
Use the tools of the scientific method to
try to overcome them
Scientific Skepticism

As scientists, we should
1) evaluate all claims with an open mind
2) insist on persuasive evidence before
accepting these claims
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Basic Principles of Critical Thinking
Critical thinking - set of skills for evaluating all
claims in an open-minded and careful fashion
1. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary
evidence
2. _____________ - for a claim to be meaningful,
it must be capable of being disproved
•Risky prediction - forecast that stands a good
chance of being wrong
3. Occam’s Razor (___________) - simplest
explanation for a given set of data is the best
one
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
13
Basic Principles of Critical Thinking
4. ______________ - findings must be
duplicated, ideally by independent
investigators
5 Ruling out rival hypotheses - need to
5.
consider alternative hypotheses
6. Correlation ________ Causation
• Correlation-causation fallacy
• Third variable problem
B OR B
•If A and B are correlated: A
A
OR C
B
Psychological Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience - set of claims that seems
scientific but isn’t - lacks safeguards against
confirmation bias and belief perseverance



A
Metaphysical claims are __________
(e.g., God, the soul, or the afterlife: not
necessarily wrong, but untestable)
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Prevalence of
Pseudoscientific Beliefs
Astrology for Pets!!!


ARIES (Mar 21- Ap 20)
Aries cats and dogs are born to be leaders in their
territory. They try to boss the other pets in their
immediate neighborhood.
neighborhood No other pet can dare to
bully them. They cannot be easily put under leash.
They call for attention. If not given adequate
attention, they are likely to become rebellious,
stubborn and disobedient. When pampered they do
not hesitate to show back their gratitude. It is a little
difficult to get them under your words. They are
known to be territorial and defend the same with all
their might.
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Pseudoscientific Beliefs

Beliefs are regarded as pseudoscientific
if they cannot be ___________ by
observers who are disinterested in the
outcome.
E
Examples
l : Astrology,
A t l
out-of-body
t f b d experiences,
i
polygraph testing, recovered memories
Sometimes difficult to discern from bad science

Among Americans in 2005

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


Extrasensory perception
Haunted houses
Gh t
Ghosts
Telepathy (mind reading)
Astrology
Visits to the earth by aliens
Communication with the dead
Witches
41%
37%
32%
37%
25%
24%
21%
21%
(Skeptical Inquirer, 2005)
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Seven Deadly Sins of
Pseudoscience
1. Ad hoc immunizing hypothesis - escape
hatch that defenders of a theory use to
protect against falsification, usually a
loophole or exception for negative findings
2. Lack of self-correction
3. Exaggerated claims
4. Overreliance on anecdotes
• Anecdotes are often not representative
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
14
Seven Deadly Sins of
Pseudoscience
5. Evasion of peer review - doesn’t allow
work to be screened by colleagues
6. Absence of connectivity - findings
don’t build upon prior scientific findings
7. Psychobabble - oodles of psychological
or neurological language that sounds
highly scientific
Why Are We Drawn to
Pseudoscience?




We’re all prone to pseudoscientific beliefs
Rational versus experiential thinking
Transcendental temptation - desire to
alleviate our anxiety by embracing the
supernatural
Need for wonder - fulfills our intrinsic
fascination with the nature of our
existence
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Why Are We Drawn to
Pseudoscience?



Scientific illiteracy - half of Americans
don’t know it takes a year for the earth to
revolve around the sun; about two-thirds
believe humans and dinosaurs coexisted
Making sense out of nonsense - our
brains are preprogrammed to make order
out of disorder
Brain as interpreter - making sense of
the world, but going beyond the
information it receives
Logical Fallacies in Psychological
Thinking


Emotional reasoning fallacy error of using our emotions to
evaluate the validity of the claim
Bandwagon fallacy - assuming a
claim is correct because many people
believe it
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Dangers of Pseudoscience



Opportunity cost - we may forfeit other
effective treatments due to cost or time of
ineffective efforts
Animal deaths - related to questionable
treatments (e.g., the Black Rhinoceros and
Chinese green-haired turtle)
Direct harm
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Texbook Assignment 1-1.




Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Who was Candace Newmarker, and
how did she die? (P57) Email your
response to your SI.
________________________________
__
________________________________
__
________________________________
__
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________________________________
15
Apply Your Thinking

Suppose you are dying of cancer. A new doctor says he
has an experimental therapy that may extend your life
for a couple of months. What are the downsides to this
scenario?
 Opportunity cost



You may forfeit other effective treatments due to cost or
time of ineffective efforts.
You may forfeit other things you could be doing to enjoy the
remainder of your life.
Textbook assignment 1-2.



Direct harm

The therapy may cause more harm than good; we tend to
think of treatment effects as beneficial or neutral, but they
could be detrimental.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008


Complete the “Match the Critical
Thinking Principle” assignment on page
59. Email your response 1-6 to your SI.
________________________________
__
________________________________
__
________________________________
__
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________________________________
16