chapter 1 introduction and research methods: the science of psychology

Editor's Notes

• #3: One person has to know the full story, and other people have to figure out the missing pieces by asking questions. There is only one restriction on the question you can ask. The question must be a question that can be answered with either a "yes" or a "no". Apart from that you can ask anything. As you can imagine, at the beginning, the people asking know very little and the questions asked can be totally irrelevant to the story. Most people I know will answer such questions with "It's not relevant" to stop people going down totally dead ends. On the other hand, it adds to the challenge if you don't get hints like this. He stood on a block of ice to hang himself. Both the engineer and lawyer were female, the priest was male, so the policeman was fairly sure that he was the one referred to as "John“. Clues: the man lives in an isolated place, and the people depended on him doing his job for their safety. He did not know the people... Solution: The man is a lighthouse keeper who forgot to turn the light on the previous evening. He sees the ships that have been shipwrecked during the night... Clues: The office is locked from the inside - no-one has directly killed him. He was poisoned... Solution: The seal on the envelope was poisoned, so when he licked and sealed it, he was poisoned... Clues: What are you assuming? Solution: It's daytime... Both scientific thinking and riddle solving attempt to make sense of data that may initially appear contradictory. Focus your creative energies on just a few topic areas that you genuinely care about, and work on these areas purposefully for several weeks or months. · Avoid being too narrow in the way you define your problem or topic areas; try to use broader definitions, and see what insights you gain. · Try to come up with original and useful ideas by making novel associations among things that you already know.
• #15: 2 circles which make up the Great Seal of the US – left circle is the pyramid with the eye and the right circle is the bald eagle 6 (fun fact – a piece of wood can make 8 cylinder pencils or 9 six-sided pencils) Octagon 8-sides To the right In her right hand Four Circle
• #21: Science is derived from the Latin word meaning knowledge. We gain scientific knowledge by testing hypotheses. Research designed to test hypotheses goes through a series of steps…
• #27: Steps to the scientific method: Choose and formulate a question to be answered On the basis of previous research or a particular theory, pose a question about development Develop a hypothesis regarding the question MUST BE TESTABLE Developing a method for testing the hypothesis Design and conduct a research project that will provide evidence (in the form of data) about the hypothesis Using the data yielded by the method to draw conclusions regarding the hypothesis Use the evidence to support or refute the hypothesis Describe the limitations of the research Provide any alternative explanations for the results Make the findings available Publish the research Describe the procedure and the results in sufficient detail that other scientists can evaluate the conclusions or replicate the reearch
• #32: What is a testable hypothesis for each? How would you go about testing it? Examples: Fetching water causes falls; There is a correlation between the terrain and the likelihood of falling.. Examples: Appearance of a spider causes fear; Eating curds and whey causes fear.
• #36: These definitions allow psychologists the ability to study intangible concepts such as memory, assertiveness, and happiness by making them more concrete, countable, and observable A definition that specifies the operations (or procedures) used to produce or measure something – a way to give a numerical value
• #37: CLASS EXAMPLE: Have people give definitions for: Sadness Depression Creativity