EXPE(M)

• Psychology


  The science of behavior
• Psychological science


  Research about the psychological processes underlying behavior
• Science


  Activity that includes the systematic ways in which we go about gathering data, noting relationships, and offering explanations
• Scientia


  Latin word of science, which means Knowledge
• Formal laboratory experiments


  Designed to provide the most precise information
• Observations


  Under different conditions such as laboratory or real-world settings
• We collect and use psychological data to understand the behavior of others and to guide our own behavior
• Commonsense psychology


  The kind of everyday, nonscientific data gathering that shapes our expectations and beliefs and directs our behavior toward others
• Commonsense beliefs


  Data we collect from our own experience and what we have learned from others
• Very often, the data we gather as commonsense psychologist come from sources that seem credible and trustworthy
• Psychological information, particularly when it is offered by people we like, respect, or admire, is typically accepted without question
• Confirmation bias


  Once we believe we know something, we tend to overlook instances that might disconfirm our beliefs and we seek, instead, confirmatory instances of behavior
• If we were to rely only on commonsense psychology, we would frequently be wrong
• All commonsense psychologists are trait theorists-at least when it comes to explaining the behavior of others
• Our ability to make accurate predictions about someone's traits increases with the length of acquaintanceship. We are generally more accurate when we know someone well than when we judge a stranger
• For decades, psychologists have debated whether traits or situations are better are better predictors of behavior
• The process of stereotyping is a related problem of nonscientific inference
• Overconfidence bias


  The more data we have available (accurate or not), the more confidence we have in our judgments about behavior
• Scientific Mentality


  Research psychologists share the belief that there are specifiable (although not necessarily simple or obvious) causes for the way people behave and that these causes can be discovered through research
• Empirical Data


  Data that are observable or experienced
• Aristotle advocated systematic observation of experience. Empirical data must be verified or disproved through investigation (Falsifiability)
• Laws


  When principles have generality to apply in all situations
• Theory


  We advance understanding and testing an interim explanation commonly
• Parsimony


  When two explanations are equally defensible, the simplest explanation is preferred until it is ruled out by conflicting data. "Occam's Razor"
• Self-correction


  Modern scientists accept the uncertainty of their own conclusions
• Scientists meet frequently through professional and special interest groups and attend professional conferences to exchange information about their current work
• Replication


  To repeat our procedures and get the same results again if we have gathered data objectively and if we have followed good thinking
• Goals of Psychological Science

  • Description
  • Prediction
  • Explanation
  • Control
• Description


  The initial step toward understanding any phenomenon, whether it is the path of the stars in heavens or complexities of human and animal behavior
• Prediction


  The capacity for knowing in advance when certain behaviors would be expected to occur – to be able to predict them ahead of time – because we have identified other conditions with which the behaviors are linked or associated
• Explanation


  When we explain behavior, we also understand what causes it to occur. It includes knowledge of the conditions that reliably reproduce the occurrence of a behavior
• Control


  The application of what has been learned about behavior. Once a behavior has been explained through experimentation, it may be possible to use that knowledge to effect change or improve behavior
• Exposure Therapy


  Exposure to the anxiety-provoking situation or stimuli
• Systematic Desensitization


  Exposure to the anxiety-provoking situation or stimuli with engagement in relaxation behaviors
• Basic Research


  Research designed to test theories or to explain psychological phenomena in humans and animals
• Applied Research


  Research that is designed to solve real-world problems (like improving employee performance)
• Tools of Psychological Science

  • Observation
  • Measurement
  • Experimentation
• Observation


  The systematic noting and recording of events
• Measurement


  The assignment of numerical values to objects or events in their characteristics according to conventional rules
• Experimentation


  A process undertaken to test a hypothesis that particular behavioral events will occur reliably in certain, specifiable situations