Lecture Material

• What are the three methods of language acquisition?

  1. Intuition
  2. Authority
  3. The Scientific Method
• Define Intuition and Where It Is Erroneous

  Definition: Relies on personal judgements and anecdotal evidence to draw conclusions about the world around us.

  Erroneous: Prone to cognitive and motivational biases; leads us to draw incorrect conclusions about cause and effect.
• Define Authority and Where it is Erroneous.

  Definition: Making decisions based on authority; placing trust in another who we believe has more expertise is a particular area than us.

  Erroneous: Difficult to verify if they are similarly biased.
• Define the Scientific Method

  1. Acknowledges that both intuition and authority are sources of ideas.
  2. Does not accept intuition and authority without question.
  3. Ideas are evaluated on the basis of careful logic and systematic observation.
• What are the four characteristics of scientific inquiry?

  1. Unviersalism: Scientific observations are systematically structured and evaluated using accepted methods of discipline.
  2. Communality: Methods and results are shared openly; replicated by others.
  3. Disinterestedness: No other agenda other than finding the truth.
  4. Organised Skepticism: Ideas are evaluated in an open free market of ideas; peer reviews. Ensures research with flaws will not become a part of the scientific literature.
• What is the main advantage of the scientific approach?

  It provides an objective set of rules for gathering, evaluating, and reporting evidence.
• What does a falsifiable idea mean?

  Means that they can be tested – where data can reveal whether they are truth or fiction – can be tackled by science.