Untitled
Ordinary Knowing
Heider & "Naive Scientist" Concept
- Constructivism (Kant): Knowledge is not just external reality.
- Functionalism (James): Hypotheses should be adaptive/useful.
Sources of Knowledge:
- Personal Experience/Observations
- Intuition: Perceiving truth without reasoning (includes biases).
- Self-serving Bias
- Confirmation Bias
- Perceived Control
- Belief Perseverance
- Authority: Persuasion relies on credibility of the speaker; problems include:
- Legitimacy of authority can be questionable.
- Authority may act in self-interest.
Consensus and Belief
- False Consensus Effect: Overestimating agreement with one’s beliefs or behaviors.
- Bandwagon Effect: Majority agreement is taken as validity, regardless of evidence.
Empiricism and Science
- Empiricism: Knowledge comes from observed evidence.
- Key Components:
- Falsifiability: Hypotheses can be tested and potentially disproven.
- Testability: Claims must be observable and replicable.
- Unfalsifiable Claims:
- Lack specificity
- Immunity to evidence
- Circular reasoning
- Supernatural unobservables
- Ad hoc adjustments
Scientific Method
- Definitions: Characterized by precision, observation, replication, peer review, and objective data.
- Psychological science struggles for credibility ("Rodney Dangerfield of sciences").
- Issues include associations with pseudoscience and resistance to evaluation.
Characteristics of Critical Thinkers
- Skeptical
- Open-minded
- Fair-minded
- Respect evidence
- Clarity and precision
- Consider diverse perspectives
- Willingness to alter views
- High tolerance for ambiguity.
Reference Formatting (APA Style)
- Basic structure for articles and citations:
- Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (Year). Title. Title of Periodical, Volume(Number); Pages. URL.
- In-text Citations:
- (Author, Year) for singular authors.
- (Author et al., Year) for more than two authors.
- Proper citing to avoid plagiarism is essential for both published and unpublished works.