Critical Thinking, Brain Areas, Reasoning, and Scientific Methods in Psychology

Critical thinking

Reasonable, reflective thinking focused on evaluating evidence before deciding what to believe.

Broca's area

Regulates speech production and grammar. Damage = slow, impaired speech.

Wernicke's area

Comprehension of spoken/written language. Damage = Wernicke's aphasia (speech fluent but meaningless).

Deductive reasoning

General → specific. Uses major premise, minor premise, conclusion.

Inductive reasoning

Specific → general. Patterns/experiences used to form hypotheses or theories.

Astronomy

Follows the scientific method, evidence-based.

Astrology

A pseudoscience (appears scientific but lacks evidence, falsifiability, and plausibility).

Antecedent

The 'if' part of a conditional statement.

Consequent

The 'then' part of a conditional statement.

Assumptions

Making statements without proof; unwarranted assumptions taken for granted without evidence.

Requirements for deductive reasoning

Valid: argument follows correct logical form. Sound: valid + all premises are true.

Asserting the consequent

Logical fallacy → invalid argument. Correct form: assert the antecedent.

Thinking errors

Examples include belief bias, circular reasoning, argument from ignorance, shifting the burden of proof, unwarranted assumptions, and belief perseverance.

Psychological framework

Guides interpretation of evidence in questions like 'do people forget traumatic experiences'.

Challenging an argument

With scientific evidence — evaluated for quality (strength of support) and quantity (amount of support).

Theories and claims

Do not need 100% proof; must be plausible explanations supported by strong evidence.

Foundations of deductive reasoning

Major premise (general rule), minor premise (specific case), conclusion (follows logically).

Critical thinking requirements

Be skeptical and open-minded, evaluate evidence quality & quantity, avoid thinking errors, use rational-analytic thinking.

Commonsense belief errors

Popular beliefs can mislead through subjective reasoning like 'everyone knows'.

Weak evidence

Includes personal experience, anecdotes, statements of authority, commonsense beliefs.

Strong evidence

Includes empirical evidence, carefully collected scientific data.

Distinguishing pseudoscience from science

Science: empirical approach, testable theories, evidence-based treatments. Pseudoscience: lacks evidence, relies on anecdote/authority.

Heuristics and biases

Representativeness heuristic, selective perception, belief perseverance can affect reasoning.

Flawed arguments

Examples include circular error, assumption error, unwarranted assumption.

Importance of critical thinking in psychology

Prevents acceptance of pseudoscience, ensures arguments are plausible and evidence-based, protects against harm.