Critical thinking final

Confirmation bias

The tendency for individuals to favor information that aligns with their existing beliefs.

Emotional response

Judgment distortions based on feelings rather than evidence.

Propaganda

Information that contains both truth and false information to sway opinions.

Lies

Deliberate falsehoods meant to mislead.

Internal consistency

A measure indicating that all questions in a test or survey assess the same concept.

External consistency

Checks if an explanation aligns with real-world evidence.

Criteria of Adequacy

Standards used to evaluate the quality of explanations, theories, and hypotheses.

Testability

The ability of a theory to be tested through observation or experimentation.

Fruitfulness

The potential of a theory to generate new insights.

Scope

The capacity of an explanation to cover a wide range of phenomena.

Simplicity

Preference for simpler explanations over more complex ones, as long as they effectively explain the phenomenon.

Conservatism

The concept that a theory should fit well with established knowledge and not contradict well-supported facts.

Political tribalism

Loyalty to a political group that prioritizes group identity over objective facts.

Hyper Partisan thinking

Extreme political bias characterized by strong loyalty to a political party and opposition to the other side.

Worldview

A comprehensive set of beliefs and values that shapes understanding of the world and guides decision-making.

Kantian Ethics

An ethical framework that judges the morality of actions based on duty and universalizability principles.

Utilitarianism

An ethical theory that determines the rightness or wrongness of actions based on their consequences for overall happiness.

Moral premises

Statements about what is right or wrong, good or bad.

Nonmoral premise

Factual statements that provide evidence or context for an argument.

Cognitive reflection

The ability to think logically rather than relying on gut reactions and emotions.

Motivated reasoning

The phenomenon where individuals accept claims without evidence, favoring those that confirm pre-existing beliefs.

Splicing

Combining unrelated footage to create misleading narratives.

Doctoring

Altering images or sounds to misrepresent reality.

Paid search ads (PSA)

Ads that pay to appear first in search engine results.

Display ads (DPA)

Ads designed to capture the attention of viewers online without them searching for a specific product.