Psych 100: Intro to Psychology

Sue Frantz

 

How to take notes on the textbook

 

Your textbook (Myers in Modules, 7th ed.) is written using an outline, which you can see in the headings.  Here is the barebones outline for module 2.

 

I. Thinking critically with psychological science [Purple heading]

A.     The limits of intuition and common sense [Green heading]

1.      Did we know it all along? The hindsight bias [Blue heading]

2.      Overconfidence

B.     The scientific attitude

C.     The scientific method

II. Description

A.     The case study

B.     The survey

1.      Wording effects

2.      Sampling

C.     Naturalistic observation

III. Correlation

A.     Correlation and causation

B.     Illusory correlations

C.     Perceiving order in random events

IV. Experimentation

A.     Evaluating therapies

B.     Can subliminal tapes improve your life?

V. Statistical reasoning

A.     Describing data

B.     Measures of central tendency

C.     Measures of variation

D.     Making inferences

                        1. When is an observed difference reliable?
                        2. When is a difference significant?

VI. Frequently Asked Questions About Psychology

            A. Can laboratory experiments illuminate everyday life?
            B.  Does behavior depend on one's culture?

            C.  Does behavior vary with gender?

            D. Why do psychologists study animals?

            E.  Is it ethical to experiment on animals?

            F.  Is it ethical to experiment on humans?

            G.  Is psychology free of value judgments?

            H.  Is psychology potentially dangerous?

 

Now that you have the skeleton, it’s time to fill in the content.  Each paragraph has a point that it makes.  Find the point in each paragraph and drop it into your outline.  You may find that you need to take more notes in areas that you are less familiar with, and fewer notes in areas where you have prior knowledge. 

 

Include examples from your own life whenever you can. 

 

Here's a more detailed example through the bottom of page 19.  Notice that what is in the outline is much more than just the bold-faced and italicized terms. 

 

I. Thinking critically with psychological science

A.     The limits of intuition and common sense

Some people say that intuition and common sense are all we need.  But intuition and common sense are not right as often as we like to think. 

1.      Did we know it all along? The hindsight bias

Hindsight bias (aka I-knew-it-along phenomenon) = “the tendency to believe after learning an outcome, that one would have foreseen it.”

 

Examples of the hindsight bias:

 

When told “out of sight out of mind,” most believe it’s true.  When told “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” most believe it’s true.  When asked why, people say it is common sense.  A statement and its opposite cannot both be true.  Common sense was wrong. 

 

Lineup photos: Students, after being told they picked the right one, reported that they had a lot of confidence in their answer before being told they picked the right one.  Actually, they hadn’t picked the right one.

 

“Common sense describes what has happened more easily than it predicts what will happen.”

 

Intuition is sometimes right, sometimes wrong. 

 

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If you have taken good notes on the module, you will not need to reread the module.  

 

To evaluate your notes on module 2, turn to page 35.  First, try to answer the questions without looking at your notes.  For the ones you are unsure of, try to answer them using the notes you have taken.  If you can answer them all, your notes are probably good.  If you cannot, then return to the sections covered by the unanswered questions, and take more notes. 

 

I highly recommend you do the same using the study guide that came with your textbook. 

 

Now, read through your notes twice a day.  Actively read through.  By actively, I mean, remind yourself what example goes with that information.  Think as you read.  If you reach a spot in your notes where you are unsure what you meant, go back to the module and remind yourself, and then amend your notes. 

 

If you put in this time up front, it will mean less time spent studying later, AND it will mean greater comprehension and retention.