introduction

• negative thoughts → intervention is to change the way the person thinks
  • cognitive behavorial therapy
• this course focuses on experimental psychology
• another arm of pyschology is clinical psychology
  • we think as scientists
  • the scientific method cansometimes be applied in this way
  • psychologists are scientists!

lecture overview

• the need for psychological science
• research strategies
  • description
  • correlation
  • experimentation
    • important to know the difference between all of these
• statistical reasoning
• ethical considerations

the need for psychological science

• humans cannot rely solely on intution and common sense
  • some of the research feels familiar, as it should! the human experience is being studied
  • we must move beyond intuition + common sense to advance! we need scientific evidence
• 3 phenomena illustrate this:
  • hindsight bias - "hindsight is 20/20"
  • judgemental overconfidence - "I know this to be true"
    • not experimentally based
    • ex: young adults do not drive well
      • next q: is there any evidence?
  • tendency to perceive patterns in random events

critical thinking

<aside> 💡 analyzing, rather than simply accepting, information

</aside>

• determining if flaw in information collection exists
• considering alternative explanatioins for facts or results
• searching for hidden assumption and decide if you agree
  • important to examine your personal biases
    • especially not in the clinical field (research) → misinterpretation of data
      • need collegaues to call you on that bias
    • bias in the therapy space → altering the way in which you view a patient
      • we must "listen without judgement"
• looking for hidden bias, politics, values, or personal connections
• discarding personal assumptions and biases and view the evidence

the empirical method