PSYC 107 Final Ch.12

Dependent Variable

is the one that changes in response to the manipulation.

Scientific experiments

Are carried out under controlled or semicontrolled conditions and involve systematic measurement and statistical analysis of data.

Scientific theory

As "a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses.

Unity

Associated with the belief in predictability is the assumption that there is an underlying unity of the universe, or a unified dynamic structure that is present in all phenomena. These unified structures can be translated into scientific laws that are universally applicable.

Hypothesis

Basically an educated guess—a proposed explanation for a particular set of phenomena, which can serve as a starting point for further investigation

Materialism

Empiricism goes one step further. Scientific materialists argue that everything in the universe is physical matter. (_________ in this sense has nothing to do with being obsessed with acquiring money, consumer goods, and other "material things.") According to scientific __________, perceptions, thoughts, and emotions can all be reduced to descriptions of physical systems, such as brain waves or stimulus and response.

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626),

English philosopher and statesman. who systematized the scientific method, as the father of modern science. In his Novum Organum (1620), ______ put forth a method based on direct observation for discovering truths about the world. ________ scientific method, which begins with carrying out systematic observations about the world and using testing and experimentation to draw inferences that are based on these observations, has been tremendously successful in advancing our knowledge about the world and our ability to manipulate nature.

Scientific method

Involves the identification of a problem and the rigorous, systematic application of observation and experimentation in testing an explanation for the problem.

Pseudoscience

Is a body of explanations or hypotheses that, in an attempt to gain legitimacy, masquerades as science.

Research Methodology

Is a systematic approach to gathering and analyzing information based on established scientific procedures and techniques.

Independent Variable

Is the factor that the experimenter is manipulating

Scientific Revolution

Or paradigm shift, occurs when a new scientific theory is made available to replace a problematic paradigm. Requires a new way of looking at the world and may take several decades to complete.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)

Polish astronomer, launched the scientific revolution with his assertion that the sun, not the Earth, is the center of the solar system.

Normal science

Refers to "research firmly based upon one or more past scientific achievements, achievements that some particular scientific community acknowledges for a time as supplying the foundation of its further practice. Is conveyed in science journals and textbooks.

Science

Rests on reasoning that moves from observable, measurable facts to testable explanations for those facts. The task of scientists is to discover, observe, and collect facts in a systematic manner and to explain relationships among them.

Predictability

Scientists have traditionally assumed that the physical world is orderly and predictable.

Paradigm

The accepted view of what the world is like and how we should go about studying it. A __________ becomes part of normal science if it is both successful in solving problems that scientists are working on and also able to attract a large group of adherents.

Empiricism

The belief that our physical senses are the primary source of knowledge, is one of the most basic assumptions of science. Scientists consider the empirical method the only reliable method for obtaining knowledge. Consequently, the more data and observations that scientists accumulate over the generations, the greater is science's ability to correctly explain the workings of nature.

Confounding variables

Variables that are not accounted for or controlled by the experimental design

Objectivity

A related assumption underlying modern science is __________, the belief that we can observe and study the physical world "out there" as an object outside of us without bias on the part of the scientist/observer. Because the world is objective and independent of the individual observer, the presumption is that systematic observation will lead to agreement among scientists. This assumption has been called into question by quantum physics, which has found that the mere act of observing a quantum event changes it.

Controlled Experiment

All variables are kept constant except for the independent variable(s)