PSYCH 100

According to David Hume, an eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher, the more a claim contradicts what we already know, the more __________ must be the evidence for the claim.

PERSUASIVE

According to astronomer Carl Sagan, scientific skepticism includes (1) a willingness to keep an open mind to all claims, and (2) a willingness to __________.

accept claims only after researchers have subjected them to careful scientific tests

Psychics who perform poorly in laboratory tests and then blame their poor performance on "bad vibes" from skeptical researchers are displaying which sign of pseudoscience?

ad hoc immunizing hypotheses

The phrase "don't confuse me with the facts" would best describe which self-deception trap?

belief perseverance

One reason that intuition and common sense are not a good basis for scientific psychology is that we often do not notice __________.

contradictions between our views

Your friend is an emergency room nurse. He tells you the ER is always busier when there is a full moon; he claims it is because unstable people are more affected by the moon's gravitational pull. To evaluate his claim, you should understand that __________.

correlation is not causation

A friend says he will not have his new baby inoculated against any childhood diseases because he is afraid the shots will cause autism. You point out that there is no scientific evidence to support that idea. He says he knows that, but he just feels that it is true. What logical fallacy is at work?

emotional reasoning fallacy

Science begins with the premise that knowledge should first be acquired through observation. This premise is called __________.

empiricism

According to philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper, for a scientific claim to be meaningful, it must be falsifiable, which means __________.

it can be tested to determine if it is false

Ways of thinking that appear to make intuitive sense but are actually traps that lead to mistaken conclusions are called __________.

logical fallacies

The outgoing behavior of other people can make an extraverted person act even more extraverted. Bandura called this mutual influence on one another's behavior __________.

reciprocal determinism

Because religious concepts cannot be tested scientifically, we should consider that __________.

science and religion are nonoverlapping realms of understanding the world

In thinking of the multiple levels of analysis in psychology, the neurochemical level is considered to be __________ because this level is more closely tied to biological influences.

toward the lower end of the ladder