PSYC 217 - Research Methods Lecture 1: 7th September 2018 #Media violence leads to real world violence ?? Games cause violent behavior: - Games normalize violence and the children feel that it is appropriate to express violence in their behavior - Playing violent games sparks interest or fascination with arms/ weapons Games don't cause violent behavior: - Violent game sales increasing, violent crimes decreasing - Not violent games per se but exposure to violence in general - Correlational with alternative explanations - Sports games don't lead people to play sports #How do we know what we know? Ways of Knowing - Scientific Method - Unscientific (non-data driven) methods: intuition, authority - Logic (not exactly a scientific method, but is a tool that the scientific method relies upon) NON-DATA DRIVEN/ UNSCIENTIFIC METHOD 1) Intuition: unquestioning acceptance of own judgment. It's like gut feeling. Advantages: - They are very quick and very easy to access. Immediate reaction, whether positive or negative. - These kinds of intuitions are quick to access as they are related to the values that are important to us. (Example: Should marijuana be legalized?) Disadvantages: - They are difficult to critique and difficult to analyze. It is difficult to articulate why you have those intuitions or where they even came from in the first place.
- They also often end up being nothing more than a manifestation of prejudices. 2) Authority: When you derive knowledge based on information from a "credible other". Advantages: - It minimizes our need to acquire knowledge on our own. - Many people of authority have legitimate credentials to be considered "authority". Disadvantages: - Authorities may be wrong, or use intuition, experience, or folk wisdom - "Authority" may be due to perceived cues of credibility (ex: attractiveness, popularity) 3) Common Sense/Folk Wisdom: Appealing to what one expects everyone else to know. Examples: Idioms, Socks and Sandals Advantages: - There is an explanation for every situation (you can use a phrase to explain a situation) - A short, mutually understood way of communicating more complicated ideas. You have the same cultural understanding to use a simple phrase to explain a complicated situation. Disadvantages: - They are often highly contradictory, rendering them meaningless. - Cannot be refuted or falsified - They tell us nothing about human psychology, or rules or laws associated to our social world 4) Experience: Relying on personal experience to make decisions. Common example: Smoking causes a variety of different cancer. But you'll find an individual with stupid experience to make judgments about a particular topic. Advantages: - May be representative of collection of all possible experiences
- Vivid examples that are easy to remember. When we hear a story, it sticks in your head, so experiences are easy to remember - They are helpful if they are similar to general trends Disadvantages: - May not be representative of collection of all possible experiences. The person may allow one experience to color their judgment of a general trend. - Cannot account for alternative explanations