PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS

Endterm 2020-2021

Course code: 425034-B-6

Date: December 15, 2020.

QUESTION 1: PLATO
Plato was the founder of the first academy. What was his view on knowledge?
[a] Knowledge can only be acquired if one uses a synthesis of empiricism and
rationalism.
[b] Knowledge can only be acquired via the senses.
* [c] Knowledge is a justified and true belief.
[d] You cannot ever get knowledge.

QUESTION 2: SOCRATES, PLATO & ARISTOTLE

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle disagreed about whether it was possible to
acquire knowledge. To which philosophical group did Socrates belong?
Socrates belonged to the …
[a] … empiricists.
[b] … rationalists.
* [c] … sceptics.
[d] … sophists.

QUESTION 3: RENÉ DESCARTES

Descartes belonged to a specific philosophical tradition. Which tradition was
that, and what was the first method he used in his search for certain
knowledge?
[a] Empiricism, the method of clear and distinct perception.
[b] Empiricism, the method of radical doubt.
[c] Rationalism, the method of clear and distinct perception.
* [d] Rationalism, the method of radical doubt.

QUESTION 4: RENÉ DESCARTES & DAVID HUME

How did Descartes and Hume think about the idea of the moon?
* [a] Both thought that this idea was acquired by the senses.
[b] Both thought that this idea was inborn.
[c] Descartes thought that this idea came from anamnèsis, Hume thought it was
innate.
[d] Hume thought that this idea came from impressions, Descartes thought it was
innate.

QUESTION 5: HERMENEUTICS
Why – according to hermeneutics – do we need a separate method for the
social sciences that is different from the method of the natural sciences? What
is this method called?
According to hermeneutics, people are not just physical objects, so we need
to have a method that is able to discover ….
[a] … the causes for people’s actions. This is the method of erklären.
[b] … the causes for people’s actions. This is the method of verstehen.
[c] … the reasons for people’s actions. This is the method of erklären.
* [d] … the reasons for people’s actions. This is the method of verstehen.

QUESTION 6: DAVID HUME & IMMANUEL KANT

Fill in the blanks: According to ………. ‘2 + 2 = 4’ is ……….. judgment.
* [a] Immanuel Kant, a synthetic a priori.
[b] Immanuel Kant, a synthetic a posteriori.
[c] David Hume, a synthetic a priori.
[d] David Hume, an analytic a posteriori.

QUESTION 7: THE LOGICAL POSITIVISTS

If we accept verifiability as the demarcation criterion to distinguish science
from non-science, what does that entail for [1] psychology, and [2] sociology?
[a] Both are scientific.
* [b] Both are unscientific.
[c] Only psychology is scientific.
[d] Only sociology is scientific.
QUESTION 8: KARL POPPER
Which of the following statements can be attributed to Karl Popper?
[a] If psychology has confirmed a general claim about the human mind, then this claim
is a scientific claim.
* [b] If psychology has falsified a general claim about the human mind, then there is
growth of knowledge.
[c] The general claims that have been proven by psychology, constitute knowledge we
cannot doubt.
[d] The general claims that have been verified by psychology can be accepted as true.

QUESTION 9: LOGICAL POSITIVISTS VS. KARL POPPER

The Logical Positivists and Karl Popper did agree on some issues and
disagreed on others. What did they agree about? On what did they differ?
* [a] They agreed that only science provides knowledge.
They disagreed on how to separate science from pseudoscience.
[b] They agreed that science works with research programs.
They disagreed about when you had to give up a research program.
[c] They agreed that science works with theoretical wholes.
They disagreed whether these theoretical wholes were paradigms or traditions.
[d] They agreed that you should use induction in science.
They disagreed about whether induction is a valid way of reasoning or not.
QUESTION 10: WITTGENSTEIN I & II
During his life, Ludwig Wittgenstein had changed his ideas about the
meaningfulness of sentences. That is why we often speak of Wittgenstein I
and Wittgenstein II. Take a look at the next two sentences.
[1] ‘The Eiffel Tower is located in Paris.’
[2] ‘The primary basis of the world is the unconscious.’
What would Wittgenstein I and what would Wittgenstein II say about the
meaningfulness of these sentences?
[a] Wittgenstein I and Wittgenstein II thought that both sentences were meaningful.
[b] Wittgenstein I and Wittgenstein II thought that both sentences were meaningless.
[c] Wittgenstein I thought that both are meaningless; Wittgenstein II that both
sentences are meaningful.
* [d] Wittgenstein I thought that only the first sentence is meaningful; Wittgenstein
II that both sentences are meaningful.

QUESTION 11: RELATIVISM & CONSTRUCTIVISM

Which things make beliefs true, and – according to the constructivists – are
these things objective or subjective?
[a] Facts make beliefs true, & facts are objective according to the constructivists.
* [b] Facts make beliefs true, & facts are subjective according to the constructivists.
[c] Sentences make beliefs true, & sentences are objective according to the
constructivists.
[d] Sentences make beliefs true, & sentences are subjective according to the
constructivists.

QUESTION 12: PAUL FEYERABEND

If Feyerabend says that anything goes, which question in philosophy of
science is then no longer interesting?
This is the question ...
[a] ... how it is possible that paradigms can be compared rationally.
[b] ... how to show that Voodoo is science as well.
* [c] ... how we can distinguish science from pseudoscience.
[d] ... how we get to know the Ideas (=Forms) from the World of Ideas (=World of
Forms).

QUESTION 13: PRAGMATISM

What – according to Charles Sanders Peirce – is wrong with the method of
tenacity as a method to fixate our beliefs?
* [a] The social impulse is against it: you cannot isolate yourself form other people.
[b] There is nothing wrong with this method of belief fixation.
[c] There will always be people that ask why we have the beliefs we have and why we do
not have other beliefs.
[d] What we believe seems to become a matter of taste.
 QUESTION 14
How would you best describe critical thinking? As:
[a] Intelligent thinking
[b] Sceptical thinking
* [c] Rational thinking
[d] Negative thinking

QUESTION 15
Investors often do not sell shares when the share price dropped under their
purchase price, even when there are no indications from the market that the
stock will rise in value again. Why is that?
[a] Because of the availability bias
[b] Because of the endowment effect
* [c] Because of loss aversion
[d] Because of the gambler's fallacy

QUESTION 16
Pearl Jam performs in Amsterdam and you are a fan. You want to buy a
ticket and you decide that you don't want to spend more than 80 euros on a
ticket. On the website there are tickets available for 75 euros, so you buy a
ticket. The night of the concert you meet a group of hopeless fans without a
ticket in front of the entrance. One of them offers you 120 euros for your
ticket. You refuse to sell. What's going on here?
[a] Loss aversion
[b] Sunk cost fallacy
* [c] The endowment effect
[d] The bandwagon effect

QUESTION 17
Which reasoning error arises from error management?
* [a] Hyperactive pattern detection
[b] The confirmation bias
[c] The belief bias
[d] None of the above

QUESTION 18
What is NOT a reason why system 1 is fallible?
[a] System 1 is approximating
* [b] System 1 is lazy
[c] System 1 is outdated
[d] System 1 does error management

QUESTION 19
Which statement about evolution by natural selection is not correct?
[a] Evolution by natural selection produces characteristics that help the organism
to survive and reproduce.
[b] Evolution by natural selection is driven by random genetic variation.
* [c] Evolution by natural selection causes species to become more and more
intelligent over time.
[d] All of the above statements are correct.

QUESTION 20
Superstition arises from a series of reasoning errors. Which reasoning error
does not play a role in this?
[a] Hyperactive pattern detection
[b] The confirmation bias
* [c] The hindsight bias
[d] All three of them play a role

QUESTION 21
In a trial to determine the efficacy of new medication, a control group is
used. What is a control group?
[a] The group of scientists who check if the medication is effective.
[b] The group of patients who receive the medication.
* [c] The group of patients who receive a placebo.
[d] The group of patients participating to the trial.

QUESTION 22
When are acquired intuitions NOT reliable?
[a] When applied in an ecologically valid context.
[b] When applied in an everyday context.
[c] When applied in a context that is not ecologically valid.
* [d] They are generally always reliable.

QUESTION 23
What does Gigerenzer mean by 'ecological rationality'?
[a] That system 2 is reliable in an ecological context.
* [b] That system 1 is reliable in an ecological context.
[c] That system 1 and 2 are reliable in an ecological context.
[d] None of the above.

QUESTION 24
Which intuitive judgement is not reliable?
[a] Intuitive judgment of a mother that her child is lying.
[b] Intuitive judgement of an art connoisseur that a work of art is a forgery.
* [c] Intuitive judgement of an investor that a risky investment will be profitable.
[d] All three are reliable.

QUESTION 25
Why do democratic nations wage war less often than autocratic nations,
according to Dominic Johnson?
[a] Because peace is a higher priority in democracies.
[b] Because citizens – who are in control in democracies – do not want to send
their children to the battlefield.
* [c] Because in democracies decisions – such as undertaking military action – are
extensively debated.
[d] According to Dominic Johnson, democracies wage war as often as autocratic
regimes.

QUESTION 26
Why isn't there one scientific method?
[a] Because scientists each have their own methods and those methods can differ
from one another.
* [b] Because there is no single method that is used in all of the sciences.
[c] Because scientific methods evolve rapidly and the methods of the 19th century
cannot be compared with those of the 21st century.
[d] There is one scientific method that is used in all of the sciences.

QUESTION 27
What does Carl Sagan mean by the statement that the sciences are 'self-
correcting'?
[a] That scientists often detect the errors they make and rid their theories of these
errors.
[b] That only pseudo-scientists don't rid their theories of errors.
[c] Both statements are correct.
* [d] Both statements are wrong.