Critical Thinking The ability and willingness to assess

Critical Thinking = The ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective judgments on the basis of wellsupported reasons and evidence, rather than emotion.

Guidelines to Critical Thinking • 1. ________________: Use higher level questions! Don’t just ask “who? ” or “what? ” EXAMPLES: “Why did psychologists get this result? ” “How did they reach that conclusion? ” BLOOM’S TAXONOMY (You WILL see this in college!)

Guidelines to Critical Thinking

Guidelines to Critical Thinking • 2. DEFINE YOUR TERMS: Make a _____________ - a statement that attempts to predict a set of phenomena (EMPIRICAL!) SCIENCE-fiction Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars)

QUESTION DO YOU REMEMBER THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD?

Guidelines to Critical Thinking • 3. __________________ - NO “Lazy” Thinking - Look for proof! – Example: What is the cause of Autism? It’s nature vs. nurture, -Biological or Environmental? baby…nature wins (Nature vs. Nurture) every time - Why are some people such good athletes?

Guidelines to Critical Thinking 4. ANALYZE ASSUMPTIONS AND BIASES: Don’t assume without proof or ignore other PERSPECTIVES! – Principle of ____________: - A scientific theory must make predictions that are specific enough to expose theory to the possibility of being proven wrong -Example: “Misery Loves Company”

FALSIFIABILITY IN A “NUTSHELL” • CAN YOU REPLICATE YOUR EXPERIMENT AND GET THE SAME RESULTS? • IF NOT, START OVER! HELP! I’M IN A NUTSHELL!

Guidelines to Critical Thinking 5. AVOID EMOTIONAL REASONING: All disagreements must have proof!

Guidelines to Critical Thinking 6. DON’T OVERSIMPLIFY: Just because it’s happened to you (and maybe some friends) doesn’t mean it happens to everyone.

QUESTION SHOULD DISOBEDIENT CHILDREN BE SPANKED? Were YOU spanked as a child? How might this influence your perspective?

Guidelines to Critical Thinking 7. CONSIDER OTHER ________________ GOAL = ________ - An organized system of assumptions and principles that aims to explain a specified set of phenomena and their interrelationships. - Example: Depression causes cancer

Guidelines to Critical Thinking 8. TOLERATE UNCERTAINTY: Sometimes you just don’t know. . . …and that’s ____!!!