1) Psychological science uses both the scientific method and critical thinking to gain a deeper understanding of human behavior and experiences, rather than relying solely on intuition or common sense. 2) Hypotheses derived from theories are tested through research studies involving observations and experiments in order to evaluate, confirm, or revise theories. 3) While laboratory experiments aim to study behavior in a simplified way, the goal is to uncover underlying principles that can illuminate everyday life across different cultures, genders, and species.

1. Thinking Critically with
Psychological Science
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2. Thinking Critically with Psychological
Science
The Need for Psychological
Science
 The limits of Intuition and
Common Sense
 The Scientific Attitude
 The Scientific Method
FAQS About Psychology
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3. Impression of Psychology
Hoping to satisfy curiosity, many people listen
to talk-radio counselors and psychics to know
about others and themselves.
http://www.photovault.com
http://www.nbc.com
Dr. Crane (radio-shrink) Psychic (Ball gazing)
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4. The Need for Psychological Science
Intuition & Common Sense
Many of us believe that intuition and common
sense are enough to bring forth answers about
human nature.
Although intuition and common sense may aid
queries, they are not free of error.
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5. Limits of Intuition
Personal interviewers
tend to be overconfident
of their “gut feelings”
about job applicants.
Taxi/ Getty Images
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6. Errors of Common Sense
Try this !
If you were to fold a piece of paper (0.1 mm thick)
100 times, how large do you think its thickness
would be?
800,000,000,000,000 times the distance between
the sun and the earth.
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7. Hindsight Bias
Hindsight Bias is the “I-knew-it-all-along”
phenomenon.
We tend to believe, after
learning about an
outcome, that we would
have foreseen it. We
knew that the dot.com
stocks would plummet,
only after they did.
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8. Overconfidence
We tend to think we know
more than we actually do.
How long do you think Anagram
would it take to unscramble WREAT WATER
these anagrams?
ETYRN ENTRY
People said about 10
seconds. On average they GRABE BARGE
took about 3 minutes
(Goranson, 1978).
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9. Psychological Science
1. How can we differentiate between
uninformed opinions and examined
conclusions?
2. The science of psychology can help make
these examined conclusions, which lead
to our understanding what people feel,
think, act, as they do!
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10. The Scientific Attitude
The scientific attitude is composed of curiosity
(passion for exploration), skepticism (doubting
and questioning) and humility (humbleness to
accept when wrong).
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11. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking does
not blindly accept
Courtesy of the James Randi Education Foundation
arguments and
conclusions.
It examines
assumptions, discerns
hidden values,
evaluates evidence,
assesses conclusions.
The Amazing Randi
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12. Scientific Method
Psychologists, like all scientists, use the
scientific method to construct theories that
organize, summarize and simplify
observations.
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13. Theory
Theory is an explanation that integrates
principles, organizes and predicts behaviors
or events.
For example, low self-esteem contributes to
depression.
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14. Hypothesis
Hypothesis is a testable prediction, often
induced by a theory, to enable us to accept,
reject or revise the theory.
People with low self-esteem are apt to feel
more depressed.
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15. Research Observations
Research would require us to administer
tests of self esteem and depression to
people. Individuals who score low on self-
esteem measures and high on depression
tests, would confirm our hypothesis.
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16. Research Process
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17. FAQ
Q1. Can laboratory experiments illuminate
everyday life?
Ans: Artificial laboratory conditions are created to
study behavior in simplistic terms. The goal is to
find underlying principles that govern behavior.
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18. FAQ
Q2. Does behavior depend on one’s culture?
Ans: Even when specific attitudes and behaviors
vary across cultures, as they often do, the
underlying processes are much the same.
Ami Vitale/ Getty Images
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19. FAQ
Q3. Does behavior vary with gender?
Ans: Yes. Biology determines our sex, and then
culture further bends the genders. Yet in many
ways women and men are similarly human.
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20. FAQ
Q4. Why do psychologists study animals?
Ans: Study of animals gives us understanding of
many behaviors that may have common biology
across animals and humans.
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D. Shapiro, © Wildlife Conservation Society

21. FAQ
Q5. Is it ethical to experiment on animals?
Ans: Yes. To gain insights to devastating and fatal
diseases. All researchers who deal with animal
research are required to follow ethical guidelines
in caring for these animals.
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22. FAQ
Q6. Is it ethical to experiment on people?
Ans: Yes. Experiments that do not involve any
kind of physical or psychological harm that is
beyond normal levels encountered in daily life can
be carried out.
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23. FAQ
Q7. Is psychology free of value judgments?
Ans: No. Psychology emerges from people who
subscribe to a set of values and judgments.
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© Roger Shepard