CHAPTER 2: WHERE TO START September 14, 2019 12:14 PM FIVE BROAD SOURCES OF IDEAS i. Common Assumptions · Common sense or folk wisdom assumptions do not always turn out to be correct " Real world is much more complicated than our assumptions · e.g. despite the common belief that opposites attract, decades of research has shown that people tend to be attracted to others who are similar to them ii. Observations of the world around us : " Observations of personal and social events can lead us to develop intuitions about the world . Why do people underestimate task completion times? People are particularly likely to understand how long a project will take when it involves many steps (and therefore can be interrupted easily), rather than when the task can be completed in one seating . Study on Tipping Behavior: Lynn - Studied tipping behaviour in restaurants and hotels in the USA and other countries - Factors that increase tips: posture, touching, phrases written on a cheque - This research has impact on hotel and restaurant industry - Taking a scientific approach to everyday problems can lead to new discoveries and useful applications · Classical Conditioning: - Ivan Pavlov discovered - Neutral stimulus (e.g. tone) if paired repeatedly with an unconditional stimulus (e.g. food) that produces a reflex response (e.g. salivation), will eventually produce the response when presented alone. - He did not set out to discover classical conditioning, instead he was measuring salivation when given food. - This was an accidental discovery due to his inquisitive observation of the world around him iii. Practical Problems: · Researchers who tend to conduct more basic research may draw inspiration from societal problems, e. g. researchers trying to understand the horrors of World War II. iv. Theories: " A theory is a system of logical ideas that are proposed to explain a particular phenomenon and its relationship to other phenomena . Two important functions of theories in science: i. Theories organize and explain a variety of specific facts or descriptions of behaviour - Such facts and descriptions are not meaningful themselves, theories meaningfully relate them to each other. - Theories can make the world more comprehensible by providing a few abstract concepts around which we can organize and explain a variety of behaviours. ii. Theories generate new knowledge by focusing our thinking so that we notice new aspects of behaviour · Parsimony/ Occam's Razor: - If multiple theories are equally successful at explaining the same phenomenon, the least complex theory is most desirable because it is the easiest to falsify - The theory with the fewest links among variables is better because it is easier to entirely falsify than is the theory with many links - Simples theories are preferred to more complex theories that can explain the same phenomenon (i.e., same set of data) - Simpler has to meaning: " Requires fewer conceptual relationships/ assumptions - Examples: · Requires fewer adjustments to established relationships in science " Explanation A: violence