Episode 1: The scientific approach to psychology, with Keith Stanovich, Ph.D.
Research methods. It's what separates science from pseudoscience. For my first interview, I thought it would be good to discuss how psychology's research methods meet the criteria for science. When I was first planning for this podcast series, I contacted a few peopleto judge how easy it might be to get guests. In doing the research for that step, I came across the work of Dr. Keith Stanovich, of the University of Toronto. He had written a great book called How to Think Straight About Psychology. I read the book's description and immediately purchased it. When it arrived and I started reading it, I was not disappointed. It was an excellent primer on the scientific approach to psychology, with descriptions of the ways we get fooled when thinking about psychology and how research methodology works to counteract those pitfalls. It's a classic, a book I'm sure I will refer back to often.
A few weeks ago, when I started searching for potential guests, I knew Dr. Stanovich was the right man to have as my first interview. Much to my surprise, he agreed! So below, you'll find my interview with Dr. Stanovich, in which we discuss the problem of Freud, the development of a rigorous scientific study of psychology, and what a mathematically-gifted horse can teach us about research methodology — and much, much more! Man, I'm starting to sound like an informercial host; time to stop. I'll have the transcript posted within a week. I may pepper the transcript with links, so check it out!
Here are some links to Dr. Stanovich and his work. I can personally vouch for How to Think Straight About Psychology. Another of his books is on the way to my house, I'm sure it's excellent as well.
Amazon.com: How to Think Straight About Psychology
I hope you enjoy the episode, there's more to come! Send your feedback to host@psyconoclasm.com. Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated!
Download | Duration: 00:34:04
Posted by Psyconoclast at 4/22/2009 9:10 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: podcast science research methods
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: podcast science research methods
What a fascinating interview! It has me motivated me to be more careful in my thinking. Where could one go about getting a copy of the Belief Flexibility Scale Keith mentioned? I had a look on the internet but only came across a couple scales on cognitive flexibility.
Looking forward to more Psyconoclasm episodes!
Brad J
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see
Sá, W. C., West, R. F., & Stanovich, K. E. (1999). The domain specificity and generality of belief bias: Searching for a generalizable critical thinking skill. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 497-510.
at http://web.mac.com/kstanovich
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Thanks, Keith. I greatly enjoyed the article/study.
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Hello,
I've listen to this episode, and it's really good. I have a major in psychology, and there's a lot of pseudo-science in this field. We really need a skeptical podcast about psychology...
If you haven't read it yet, "Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology", by PhD Scott O. Lilienfeld Phd (Editor), PhD Steven Jay Lynn Phd (Editor), PhD Jeffrey M. Lohr Phd (Editor) is a must.
Keep up the good work,
With skepticality,
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Great interview. Stanovich's book How to Think Straight About Psychology is fabulous.
check out Stanovich at Pointofinquiry.org
I recently conducted an interview with Stanovich, that will appear on my site Knowledgesummit.net, in the near future. We discussed a few of the things mentioned in this interview.
jamie hale
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