While reflecting back on my semester in psychology and thinking about what we learned that has been most useful to me, I realized it was one of the earliest and most simple concepts that has helped me the most. While seemingly basic, the Scientific Thinking Principles are actually probably the most important concepts one learns in psychology. Without them, we would not have a set of guidelines to use for effectively evaluating claims.
I realized the usefulness of these principles while I was writing an argumentative research paper a few weeks ago. I was able to use the principles to make sure I was supporting my argument in an effective manner. In addition to doing research, learning these principles can help us evaluate the loads of media messages we are bombarded with on a daily basis, as well as find solutions to everyday problems. These thinking principles remind us to look for alternate explanations, remember that 'A' doesn't necessarily always cause 'B', check to see if the claim can be disproved, find out if results can be replicated, evaluate that the evidence is as strong as the claim, and always be sure that a simpler explanation doesn't fit the data just as well as a complicated one.
Using the Scientific Thinking Principles
^Yes to both the original blog and the first comment. I definitely agree that I find myself actually applying the principles to things sometimes and they can be helpful. It is weird to think how dumb they seemed at the beginning of the semester compared to now.
I completely agree with you. When I was writing my final blog I was leaning back and forth between this and mnemonic because Scientific Principles are applicable to almost every aspect of life.
I am with you on this one! If you've ever taken a intro to statistics course they basically drill it into your head that "correlation does not equal causation!". Psych class helped me to better understand these principles, and I too have gained a better understanding of them.
I wrote my post about this too, and its sort of weird to think that this method is the only thing we can ever be 100% sure about when it comes to psychology and life in general.
I've been noticing the usefulness of the principles more and more as well. Whenever I'm considering an explanation for something, I always keep them in mind and they usually help decide if the explanation is plausible. I've found that Occam's Razor is the most useful and easy to apply, since all you have to do is select the simplest explanation.