What is Science?

What is Science?
Ways of Thinking about the World

What Are Important Factors in the Ways Scientists Work?

The Assumptions of Science

Reality of the world - we exist (that's a good thing!)

Rationality - (the world is understandable)

Regularity - (there are reoccurring patterns in the world)

Discoverability - we can discover the solutions to the problems we study

Causality - events happen because of preceding causes

The Goals of Science

Discover Regularities

Describe the Behavior

Discover Laws

Search for Causes

The Development of Theories
(Let's have an explanation for these laws that we discovered.)

How Does Science Progress and by the Way, What's a Paradigm Shift?

One thing that many consider important to understanding Science and Psychology is the nature of progress in our field. One seminal figure is Thomas Kuhn who emphasizes the role of scientific revolutions and the concept of the scientific paradigm.

The Key Take Away Points:

Scientific progress isn't always smooth. It is punctuated by Scientific Revolutions where old ideas and theories are overthrown by exciting new ones proposed by brash newcomers.
That's a paradigm shift according to some.

Paradigms represent the pervasive way of thinking about particular field or subfield. During a period of normal science - everyone goes along. Paradigm shifts shake up this comfortable feeling.
A good example of a paradigm shift was the Copernican Revolution where the Sun became the center of the Solar system! For extra credit - which picture below is correct?

If you get it wrong - you may be burned at the stake.