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I need the following answered in very simple terms. This is my first psychology class. Do not go into any details just simple
English with the knowledge of me not knowing anything at all, which I do not, about the subject.
YOUR TASK: After you have read and studied the online lecture in this conference on Science and Scientific Methods, just
drop me a note here, as a response to this main topic, telling me, and your classmates, that you have read it. Then in a
couple of paragraphs summarize two ideas in this online lecture that you found most interesting and most important.
I will attach the information that you need to read and respond to if it all does not fit here.
I need the following answered in very simple terms. This is my first psychology class. Do not go into any details just simple
English with the knowledge of me not knowing anything at all, which I do not, about the subject.
YOUR TASK: After you have read and studied the online lecture in this conference on Science and Scientific Methods, just
drop me a note here, as a response to this main topic, telling me, and your classmates, that you have read it. Then in a
couple of paragraphs summarize two ideas in this online lecture that you found most interesting and most important.
DB 1 Discussion Board WHAT IS SCIENCE
Science is, first and foremost, a way of answering questions about the natural world.
Throughout most of human history, human beings unfortunately have relied upon nonscientific
ways of answering
questions about the world and how it works. Some of these nonscientific
ways of answering questions about the world are
reliance upon authority, faith, logical argument, and personal intuition.
The problem with these nonscientific
methods is that they are often subject to error, leading to incorrect answers to
questions about the world and how it works, and this can lead to costly mistakes. Human history is filled with examples of
how incorrect conclusions about what is true and what isn’t true prevented human progress and even led to great harm to
human beings. Human beings once believed that mental illness was caused by demons. This false belief led to a treatment
for mental illness in the Middle Ages that involved drilling holes in the heads of the mentally ill so that the evil spirits causing
their condition would have a route of escape.
Science is more reliable as a method of answering questions about the world, in part, because science is based upon
observation. Any method, like science, that depends upon observation is said to be an empirical method. But even
observation can be subject to error. Think of three witnesses to a crime. Though they all saw the same events, they may all
report different versions.
Because even observation is subject to error, science attempts to use special techniques of observation which are
designed to make the observation as error free as possible. These special techniques of observation used by scientists to
make their observations as error free as possible constitute what we call scientific method.
Given these considerations, let’s give science a definition. Science is a way of answering questions about the natural world
