Introduction to psychology
Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology
1.1 What is Psychological Science?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Define psychological science.
Define critical thinking, and describe what it means to be a critical thinker.
Identify the eight major biases in thinking, and explain why these biases result in
errors in reasoning.
Psychology involves the study of mental activity and behavior.
Psychological science is the study, through research, of mind, brain, and behavior.
Mind = mental activity
o Include perceptual experiences we have while interacting with the world
o Responsible for memories, thoughts, and feelings
o Mental processes result from biological processes within the brain
Behavior: describes the totality of observable human actions
o Range from subtle to complex
Psychologists generally want to understand mental activity – normal and abnormal – the
biological basis of that activity, how people change as they grow older, how people vary in
response to social settings, and how people acquire healthy and unhealthy behaviors.
Psychological Science Teaches Critical Thinking
Critical thinking: the ability to systematically question and evaluate information using well
supported evidence.
Using critical thinking improves how people think.
Amiable skepticism: openness and wariness. Requires careful examination of how
well evidence supports a conclusion. Using critical thinking and understand methods
of psychological science are important.
Psychological Reasoning Examines How People Typically Think
, Reasoning refers to evidence used to draw conclusions
Psychological reasoning refers to using psychological research to examine how
people typically think, to understand when and why they are likely to draw erroneous
conclusions.
People engage in common errors in thinking, these errors often result in faulty conclusions.
Some of these common errors in thinking include:
1) Confirmation bias/ignoring evidence. People tend to place great importance on
evidence that supports their beliefs.
A factor contributing to this selective sampling of information selective
memory
2) Failing to accurately judge source credibility
Who can you trust?
Be wary of appeals to authority?
Examine the sources of information you receive critical thinking
3) Misunderstanding or not using statistics. People generally fail to understand or
use statistics in efforts to interpret events around them.
4) Seeing relationships that don’t exist. The misconception that two events
happening at the same time must be related. Our desire to find predictability in the
world leads us to sometimes see order that does not exist. For example: an increase
in global temperature and a decrease in pirates have a linear relationship, but this
does not mean that they are related.
5) Using relative comparisons. How a question is framed, or presented, also changes
how people answer the question.
people are more confident and enthusiastic about a treatment when told
how many people have been saved from it, people become less confident
when told how many died, but the outcome will be the same.
6) Accepting after the fact explanations. People expect the world to make sense and
therefore come up with explanations for why events happen – even when having
incomplete information.
Hindsight bias
Example from the book: shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school.
7) Taking mental shortcuts. People often follow simple rules, called heuristics, to
make decisions. These mental shortcuts are good because they often produce
reasonably good decisions with minimum effort. BUT, many heuristics can lead to
inaccurate judgements and biases.
Chapter 1: The Science of Psychology
1.1 What is Psychological Science?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Define psychological science.
Define critical thinking, and describe what it means to be a critical thinker.
Identify the eight major biases in thinking, and explain why these biases result in
errors in reasoning.
Psychology involves the study of mental activity and behavior.
Psychological science is the study, through research, of mind, brain, and behavior.
Mind = mental activity
o Include perceptual experiences we have while interacting with the world
o Responsible for memories, thoughts, and feelings
o Mental processes result from biological processes within the brain
Behavior: describes the totality of observable human actions
o Range from subtle to complex
Psychologists generally want to understand mental activity – normal and abnormal – the
biological basis of that activity, how people change as they grow older, how people vary in
response to social settings, and how people acquire healthy and unhealthy behaviors.
Psychological Science Teaches Critical Thinking
Critical thinking: the ability to systematically question and evaluate information using well
supported evidence.
Using critical thinking improves how people think.
Amiable skepticism: openness and wariness. Requires careful examination of how
well evidence supports a conclusion. Using critical thinking and understand methods
of psychological science are important.
Psychological Reasoning Examines How People Typically Think
, Reasoning refers to evidence used to draw conclusions
Psychological reasoning refers to using psychological research to examine how
people typically think, to understand when and why they are likely to draw erroneous
conclusions.
People engage in common errors in thinking, these errors often result in faulty conclusions.
Some of these common errors in thinking include:
1) Confirmation bias/ignoring evidence. People tend to place great importance on
evidence that supports their beliefs.
A factor contributing to this selective sampling of information selective
memory
2) Failing to accurately judge source credibility
Who can you trust?
Be wary of appeals to authority?
Examine the sources of information you receive critical thinking
3) Misunderstanding or not using statistics. People generally fail to understand or
use statistics in efforts to interpret events around them.
4) Seeing relationships that don’t exist. The misconception that two events
happening at the same time must be related. Our desire to find predictability in the
world leads us to sometimes see order that does not exist. For example: an increase
in global temperature and a decrease in pirates have a linear relationship, but this
does not mean that they are related.
5) Using relative comparisons. How a question is framed, or presented, also changes
how people answer the question.
people are more confident and enthusiastic about a treatment when told
how many people have been saved from it, people become less confident
when told how many died, but the outcome will be the same.
6) Accepting after the fact explanations. People expect the world to make sense and
therefore come up with explanations for why events happen – even when having
incomplete information.
Hindsight bias
Example from the book: shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school.
7) Taking mental shortcuts. People often follow simple rules, called heuristics, to
make decisions. These mental shortcuts are good because they often produce
reasonably good decisions with minimum effort. BUT, many heuristics can lead to
inaccurate judgements and biases.
