0.1 The Scientific Attitude, Critical Thinking, and Developing Arguments

Underlying all science is a passion for:

Exploring and understanding without misleading or being misled

Are some questions beyond science?

Yes

Example of questions beyond science:

Is there life after death?

Answering questions beyond science requires:

A leap of faith

How to find proof for ideas?

By looking for scientifically derived evidence

Magician James Randi (1928-2020) used an ______ approach

Evidence-based

James Randi’s evidence-based approach drew on:

Observation and experimentation

James Randi used an evidence-based approach to test what?

Those claiming to see glowing auras around people's bodies

No matter how sensible-seeming or how wild an idea is, the smart thinker asks:

Does it work? When put to the test, do the data support its predictions?

When subjected to scrutiny, crazy-sounding ideas sometimes:

Find support

How is science self-cleansing?

Right ideas stick around, while wrong ideas are discarded

To silt reality from fantasy and fact from fiction requires a:

Scientific attitude

How should you be when adopting a scientific attitude?

Skeptical but not cynical, Open-minded but not gullible, humble

Awareness of our vulnerability to error and openness to surprises and new perspective

Humility

What matters in experiments?

The truths revealed by our questioning and testing

What does not matter in experiments?

Personal preconceived notions

Psychology's early motto expressing humble attitude when doing experiments:

"The rat is always right”

3 steps of the scientific attitude:

Curiosity, skepticism, humility

Questions to ask in the curiosity step of the scientific attitude:

Does it work? When put to the test, can its predictions be confirmed?

Questions to ask in the skepticism step of the scientific attitude:

What do you mean? How do you know?

What does being skeptical meaning not cynical but not gullible mean?

Not doubting everything but also not believing everything

Researchers must be willing to be:

Surprised and follow new ideas

Why should researchers be ready to be surprised and to follow new ideas?

People and other animals don't always behave as our ideas and beliefs would predict

The scientific attitude prepares us to:

Think harder and smarter

Thinking that does not automatically accept arguments and conclusions. Rather. it examines assumptions, appraises the source, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions

Critical thinking

When reading a research report, an online opinion, or a news stor, critical thinkers ask what questions?

How do they know that? What is this person's agenda? Is the conclusion based on an anecdote, or scientifically derived evidence? Does the evidence justify a cause-effect conclusion? What alternative explanations are possible?

Critical thinkers wince when people:

Make factual claims based on their gut

Example of factual claims based on gut feelings:

"I feel like climate change is / isn't happening."

Are factual claims based on gut feelings true?

May or may not

Can critical thinkers be wrong?

Yes

Why can critical thinkers be wrong?

Most cynics demonstrate less cognitive ability and academic competence than average

What can critical inquiry do to popular presumptions?

Debunks them

How does critical inquiry debunk popular presumptions?

By checking intuitive fiction with scientific fact

Psychology rests on a strong foundation of:

Scientific inquiry