Features of Science

• What are the main features of science?

  Objectivity, replicability, falsifiability, theory construction
• What does objectivity in science entail?

  • Keeping a critical distance in research
  • Avoiding personal biases in data collection
  • Ensuring participant behavior is not influenced
• How do objective methods in psychology typically operate?

  They involve high control, like lab experiments
• What is the contrast between objectivity and subjectivity?

  Objectivity is based on facts, subjectivity on opinions
• What does the empirical method emphasize?

  Data collection based on direct sensory experience
• What is required for a theory to be considered scientific?

  It must be empirically tested and verified
• Why is replication important in science?

  It determines the validity of a finding
• What does falsifiability mean in scientific theories?

  A theory must be testable and potentially proven false
• How did Karl Popper differentiate between good science and pseudoscience?

  Good science is falsifiable, pseudoscience is not
• What do psychologists avoid saying in their findings?

  They avoid saying 'this proves' in favor of 'this supports'
• What is a theory in scientific terms?

  A set of general laws explaining events or behaviors
• What is the role of hypothesis testing in science?

  To make clear and precise predictions based on a theory
• What is a paradigm according to Thomas Kuhn?

  • A shared set of assumptions and methods in science
  • Distinguishes scientific from non-scientific disciplines
  • Examples include evolution and plate tectonics
• Why does Kuhn consider psychology as 'pre-science'?

  It lacks a universally accepted paradigm
• What characterizes natural sciences according to Kuhn?

  They have core principles accepted by the community
• What happens during a scientific revolution according to Kuhn?

  A group questions the accepted paradigm due to contradictory evidence
• Why does Kuhn argue psychology has not undergone paradigm shifts?

  It has too many internal disagreements and conflicting approaches