Think Like a Psychologist

Thesis Psychologists use scientific reasoning strategies These strategies can be helpful outside of this class * Many of the points in this presentation are based on Keith Stanovich’s book, How to Think Straight About Psychology.

Think Empirically Opinions are interesting, but they don’t provide a good way to settle disputes Let the data do the talking Examples: – Lunar madness – Implicit egotism

Think Empirically Testimonials and anecdotes do not provide good evidence Reliability Internal validity External validity

Think Falsifiably There must be some way to test a claim for it to be falsifiable Theories that explain every possible outcome explain nothing Examples: – Freudian personality theory – Maslow’s hierarchy

Think Probabilistically As in other science, evidence is probabilistic, not absolute Need to tolerate ambiguity Accurate prediction in long run, not individual cases

Think Skeptically Scientists can never be 100% certain Support for a claim varies on a continuum from weak to strong Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence – ESP – Subliminal perception

Think Operationally Psychologists evaluate ideas operationally: define variables by describing how they are measured Philosophers (and others) rely on essentialism: what is the true meaning? Example: What is intelligence?

Think Realistically Most things are not caused by single factors acting alone Multiple causation Interaction of factors Example: conformity under some situations but not others

Benefits of Thinking Like a Psychologist Use and apply psychological research Don’t get influenced by bogus claims Tolerate and appreciate uncertainty