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Psychology Chapters 1-4 Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

This sheet covers chapters 1-4 in my psychology course

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Chapter 1

What is Psycho­logy?
Scientific study of the mind, brain, and behaviours
3 Levels of Analysis
Biolog­ical, Psycho­log­ical, Social cultural influences
What do the 3 levels do?
Provides views and inform­ation of 'psych­olo­gical phenom­enon'
Biological = ?
Molecule, brain structures
Psycho­logical = ?
thoughts, feelings
Social culture influences = ?
relating to others, personal relati­onships
Must focus on all 3, lack of unders­tanding
5 Major Challenges in Psychology
multiply determ­ined, psycho­logical influe­nces, individual differ­ences, reciprocal determ­inism, cultural differ­ences
Multiply Determined = ?
Caused by many factors
Psycho­logical influences
rarely indepe­ndent of one another
Individual differ­ences
2 people, same issue, give different responses and expres­sions
Reciprocal determ­inism
ones actions can influence those around them (Albert Bandura)
Cultural differ­ences
limit genera­liz­ations, different cultures = express emotions differ­ently
What is Science?
An approach: observ­ation, testin­g/e­xam­ina­tion, and decision to accept­/di­scard
Science never tries to prove any ideas
What is a Scientific Theory?
Accounts existing data, generates testable predic­tions
It is not just a simple guess
Hypothesis
Specific prediction in relation to solving their study
 

Chapter 1

2 Things a Good Scientist Does?
Engage in bias-free practice, attempts to avoid/­prevent bias
Confir­mations Bias
Ability to recollect inform­ation when it boosts what we already have
Belief Persev­erance
Believing what you already believe even if evidence proves wrong
Scientists recognize when they're wrong
Scientists never claim to prove their theories
Scientific claims
They can be tested
Metaph­ysical claims
Can't be physically tested using methods or science
Pseudo­science
An imposter of science (astro­logy, self-help books)
they CAN be tested but they never are. (relying on it can be dangerous)
Why is it important to distin­guish scientific claims from pseudo­science claims?
Provides with misinf­orm­ation, convinced when there is lack of evidence
What are the three Warning Signs?
Over reliance on anecdotes, Meanin­gless psycho­babble, Talk of proof instead of evidence
When a warning sign is shown - not good quality eviden­ce/fake science
Over Reliance on Anecdotes
Not considered scientific evidence, based off one person, hard to verify
Meanin­gless Psycho­babble
Uses scient­ifi­c-s­ounding words that don't mean anything
Talk of proof instead of evidence
Science provides evidence that supports or contra­dicts ideas (using words like prove, proven)
Emotional Reasoning Fallacy
allowing emotions to cloud judgments (which is wrong)
Bandwagon Fallacy
believe something is true because others think it is true
Not me Fallacy
thinking you're immune from what others struggle with
Bias Blind Spot
unaware of own biases but highly aware of others
Patter­nicity
tendency to see meaningful patterns in random stimuli
It gives comfort by having a sense of conntrol over uncont­rol­lable and unpred­ictable
3 Dangers of Pseudo­science
Opport­unity cost, Direct harm, and Inability to think scient­ifi­cally as citizens
Opport­unity Cost
using alternate methods instead of the most helpfu­l/u­seful one
Direct Harm
someone doing pseudo­sci­entific activities and get hurt physic­all­y/p­syc­hol­ogi­cally
An inability to think scient­ifi­cally as citizens
affect broader decisions about society
Scientific thinking = ?
aware of all biases that could happen - protects against error
Scientific Skepticism = ?
evaluating all claims with an open mind - needs persuasive evidence beforehand
Variable = ?
something that is not constant or cannot vary
A correl­ation between two variables does not mean that there is a relati­onship between them
Correl­ation is not causation
Third Variable Problem
when a correl­ation between 2 variables can be explained by a third
 

Chapter 1

Scientific claims are falsif­iable
What factors may explain why a study’s findings are not replicated by others who attempt to regulate it?
Finding's could be wrong, samples are not repres­ent­ative of one another
More partic­ipants = better results
Extrao­rdinary Claims
Is the evidence strong enough to support? They require supportive evidence
Parsimony (Occam's Razor)
Starting with an explan­ation and then creating a compli­cated one
The 6 Scientific Thinking Princi­ples:
1) Ruling out altern­ative explan­ations
Having altern­ative explan­ations for findings
2) Correl­ation vs. Causation
Error of assuming that because one thing is related to another, it must cause the other
3) Falsif­iab­ility
Capable of being disproven
4) Replic­ability
A study's findings are able to be duplicated
5) Extrao­rdinary Claims
The more unlikely a claim is, the better the evidence
6) Parsimony (Occam's Razor)
If two findings are equally as good, pick the simpler one