PSYCHOLOGY 243 NOTES
Created and assembled by Michaela Goncalves
Guided by Dr. Zuhayr Kafaar’s lectures, podcasts and the prescribed textbook by
Claire Bless, Craig Higson-Smith and Sello Levy Sithole
Basically I own nothing :)
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Psychology 243
Research Design
Important info will be in Red
Definitions will be in blue
Quantitative will be dark blue
Qualitative will be green
1st Opp is 07 November for 100 marks
2nd Opp is 01 December for 100 marks
If you wrote the test then you gain entrance regardless of the mark, however you still need 50% to pass the
module. Class mark is 40% and Exam is 60%.
The Test will be on 1,2,5,6 and 10
The Exam will be on 1,2,5,6,10, 11, 13 and 16
16 is a self study chapter but will be tested (is included in these notes)
NOTE: QUALItative = QUALITY time and quaNtitative = Numbers
Lecture 1
CHAPTER 1: DIFFERENT METHODS FOR ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE
Social scientists use systematic rational though and observation to gain knowledge about human beings
and the world they inhibit.
• Epistemology is the study of ways of knowing about the world or knowledge about a reality that you
believe exists
• Ontology is your world view and your idea of how the world works
Non-Scientific methods
• Method of Authority
• Usually this is a child's first source of knowledge
• Relying on the knowledge and “wisdom” of prominent people who are recognised as having a better
grasp of their environment than ordinary people
• Statements made by these people in power/ qualified people are rarely questioned or challenged
• Knowledge that is passed from them to other ordinary people is seen as absolute
• These individuals rely on particular strategies to justify and preserve their position
• These may include masking their own ignorance with impressive rituals or using professional
language (professional jargon)
• The critique of this is that it allows individuals to hide their superficiality of their knowledge, its
underlying ideologies and weaknesses in judgement
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• Loses influence when better, alternative explanations can be found
• Mystical method
• Based on texts or supernatural sources like the bible
• The correctness of the knowledge is assumed to reside in a supernatural source
• Those who produce knowledge are regarded as authorities due to their ability to transmit the truth or
knowledge imparted to them by supernatural forces
• Also loses influence when better, alternative explanations can be found
• Intuitive method
• Ordinary reasoning through instinct/ intuition
• Know things through a gut feeling
• Is another way of making sense of the world
• People make judgements about the world based on what “feels” right to them
• Others may not come to similar conclusions in the same situation as their intuitive feelings may be
different
• It is transparent and cannot be communicated easily to others
• It is also not replicable
• Conventional wisdom
• Reflects common sense understandings of the world and are commonly accepted as true
• Accepted knowledge of the world
• Something that is generally accepted within the world
• ie. all Stellenbosch students drink a lot
• All women are emotional or talk too much
General Critique of Non-Scientific methods
• No systematic way of determining which of these statements are true
• Mainly based on faith/ worldview
• In contrast to this
• Empirical and rationalistic methods:
• Do not attribute special aptitudes to particular persons
• Differ only in the importance that they give to reasoning and observation
Rationalistic Method:
• Based on human reason and logic and says the basis of knowledge is correct reasoning
• This enables one to know what must be true by principle
• Humans have the ability to think logically and therefore to discover laws through purely intellectual
processes
• Observation of reality, collection of facts and using the five senses are unnecessary according to this
method
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• Method has been successful in natural sciences but not in social sciences
• Enables us to know what is true by principle
• Used to develop theories about the world
Empirical Method:
• Facts are observed in nature as the foundation of knowledge
• Objectivity of observation is emphasised and only what is observable
• Can be perceived by our senses and this constitutes knowledge
• Interpretations of observations and speculation about relationships between facts introduce subjectivity
and are therefore seen as distortions of the data
• Opposite of rationalistic method
• Facts objectively observed in nature are the foundations of knowledge
• Knowledge is based on only what is observable or perceived by our senses
• Used to test theories about the world
Rationalistic Method Empirical Method
Used to develop theories about the world Used to test theories about the world
Does not use senses, facts or observation of reality Does use senses, facts and observation of reality
Uses human logic and common sense Facts are observed in nature
These two extreme methods are inadequate for the acquisition of knowledge even though they have their
own advantages. The scientific method combines both of these to develop and test theories.
The Scientific Method:
• It is a synthesis between empirical and rationalistic methods
• Uses rationalism to develop theories and
• Uses empiricism to test those theories
• Science is therefore a continuous interplay of rational thought and empirical observation
A Priori Knowledge:
• Knowledge that we have prior to experience
• This knowledge or justification is independent of experience
A Posteriori Knowledge:
• Knowledge that we can have only after we have certain experiences
• This knowledge or justification is dependent on experience or empirical evidence
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