Principles of Scientific Thinking

Which is the scientific thinking principle that says:

Whenever we evaluate a psychological claim, we should ask ourselves whether we’ve excluded other plausible explanations for this claim.

• Ruling out rival hypothesis

• Correlation vs. Causation

• Falsifiability

• Replicability

• Generalizability

Answer explanation

The "placebo effect" is an example of this.

This scientific thinking principle minimizes the error of assuming that because one thing is associated with another, it must cause the other.

• Correlation vs. Causation

• Ruling out rival hypothesis

• Falsifiability

• Replicability

• Generalizability

Whenever we evaluate a psychological claim, we should ask ourselves whether one could in principle disprove it or whether it’s consistent with any conceivable body of evidence. Is it testable?

• Correlation vs. Causation

• Ruling out rival hypothesis

• Falsifiability

• Replicability

• Generalizability

Answer explanation

Is Santa Clause real?

Which scientific thinking principle affirms the idea that a study’s findings can be duplicated consistently; if they can’t be duplicated, it’s possible that the original findings were due to chance.

• Correlation vs. Causation

• Ruling out rival hypothesis

• Falsifiability

• Replicability

• Generalizability

Answer explanation

Can you read my mind? :-)

Which scientific thinking principle assures that the findings and conclusions reflect the diversity of the human experience.

• Correlation vs. Causation

• Ruling out rival hypothesis

• Falsifiability

• Replicability

• Generalizability

Answer explanation

99% of published psychology research is conducted by Western researchers and more than 2/3 of that work is conducted exclusively with college undergraduate students.

Which scientific thinking principle encourages us to ask ourselves, "Does this claim run counter to many things that we know already?"

• Extraordinary claims

• Ruling out rival hypothesis

• Falsifiability

• Replicability

• Generalizability

Answer explanation

"Incredible as it sounds, you can actually lose weight by drinking our Weight Buster! Our company recently conducted a rigorous study of 6 people who recently drank at least 1 Weight Buster every day for 2 weeks. All of them lost weight from 2-9 pounds. Science doesn't lie!"