1. Unit 1: History of Psychology and Research Methods
1.3 Critical Thinking & the Scientific Method

2. Critical Thinking
Why do we need to think critically in psychology? 1. Hindsight Bias – the tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that we would have foreseen it. (“I knew it all along”) 2. Overconfidence – the tendency to think we know more than we actually do Critical thinking – examine assumptions, evaluates evidence, assesses conclusions

3. Scientific Method 1. Form a Research Question 2. Form a Hypothesis
Usually done after making an observation
1. Form a Research Question
Hypothesis – a proposed explanation; a starting point for further investigation
2. Form a Hypothesis
Usually done by collect data – from lab setting or observations
3. Test Hypothesis

4. Scientific Method 1. Form a Research Question 4. Analyze Results
2. Form a Hypothesis
Fails
Passes
Revise/Change Hypothesis (back to step 2)
3. Test Hypothesis
Draw Conclusions & Create a Theory

5. Draw Conclusions & Create a Theory
Scientific Method
Draw Conclusions & Create a Theory
Replication
- Other scientists must be able to replicate your study
- Follow your operational definitions (directions for experiment so anyone can replicate it)
- If a study doesn’t produce the same results more than once, the original results probably weren’t accurate