Final Exam Review Flashcards

Feelings Book - Chapter 6

• Opinion vs. Evidence

  • Opinions: Statements of what we think, with little supporting evidence.
  • Minds act as "opinion factors," shaping how we view everything.
  • Opinions are remembered, but their origins are often forgotten.
  • Sometimes opinions are not based on any evidence at all.
  • Example: Stating "dogs are better than cats" is an opinion without official evidence.
  • Evidence: Information confirming that our thoughts make sense.
  • Example: Studies showing dogs are objectively better than cats.
  • Effective critical thinkers evaluate the quality and quantity of evidence before forming or expressing opinions.
  • Bias impacts are important to consider in the evidence.

• Bias

  • Wanting only one side to be proven correct, especially your own.
  • Assuming familiar views are correct without questioning them.
  • Ignoring or avoiding evidence contrary to your beliefs.
  • Reading information/resources based on agreement with your position.
  • Criticizing opposing evidence before analyzing it.
  • Critical thinkers ensure they are not biased to get a full understanding of topics.
  • Ethical and Philosophical implications: Undermines the pursuit of truth.

• Sources of Evidence and Reliability

  • Personal Experience

    • Exerts greater influence because we attach significance to our own experiences.

  • Unpublished Reports, Stories, or Rumors

    • Difficult to confirm due to lack of evidence.
    • Can change as they're passed from person to person.

  • Published Reports, Books, Magazines, Newspapers, and TV News

    • Usually more carefully documented, but non-scholarly works may mix facts and opinions.
    • Important to distinguish statements supported by evidence.

  • Eyewitness Testimony

    • Can be flawed due to circumstances (late night, faulty memory, influence of drugs, etc.).

  • Celebrity Testimony/Ads

    • Celebrities may be paid to promote products they know little about.
    • Ensure celebrities are credible and actually use the products.

  • Expert Opinion

    • Generally more reliable due to knowledge and skills.
    • Example: Psychologists/psychiatrists in courts.
    • Nevertheless, not all expert opinions are consistently reliable, so always be sure.

  • Experiments (Lab or Field)

    • Labs: Enable researchers to vary conditions and identify cause-and-effect precisely, though results might be artificial.
    • Field: Occur in natural settings, but influencers can distort the findings.

  • Statistics

    • Any information that can be quantified.
    • Example: average change in temperature over time explains global warming.

  • Surveys

    • Common tools in social sciences; data are quantifiable.
    • Conducted over the phone, mail, or personal interview.

  • Formal Observation

    • Detached: Observer doesn't interact with subjects (e.g., child psychologist watching a playground).
    • Participant: Researcher actively involved (e.g., anthropologist living in a tribe).

  • Research Review

    • A research question where there's already a considerable body of research that has been done
    • The reviewer examines all those studies to summarize and compare findings.

• What Constitutes Sufficient Evidence?

  • Judgment can be made with certainty.
  • Having preponderance of evidence means one view/explanation is more probable or reasonable than others.
  • Sometimes, there isn't enough relevant evidence, so judgment is withheld (reasonable doubt).

• Purpose of Evaluating Evidence

  • To find the truth.
  • Being open to new ideas/turning on new ideas before rejecting them.
  • Okay to change mind, belief, and position; minds are always growing with new information.
  • Continuing to believe in something known to be false is intellectually dishonest, and critical thinkers update beliefs based on evidence.

Feelings Book - Chapter 9 - Errors

• Unwarranted Assumptions

  • Ideas that are assumed to be correct or incorrect without evidence.
  • Example: Idea that if something is widely reported, it must be true.
  • Relates to how false ideas can spread like wildfire.

• Either/Or Outlook

  • Black-and-white thinking; things are either right or wrong.
  • Example: Thinking you'll either do really well or really bad on finals.
  • Also known as all-or-nothing thinking.

• Mindless Conformity

  • Following others' wishes/beliefs due to fear or lack of motivation to think for oneself.
  • Example: Asch experiment with lines, where participants conformed to the group's wrong answers to avoid standing out.

• Absolutism

  • Rules without exceptions.
  • Example: Student suspended for turning in a knife, despite school's zero-tolerance policy.

• Relativism

  • The idea that if there are no rules, you can do what feels good.
  • Example: Murder, although not practiced in all societies, is still committed because it may feel good to the perpetrator.

• Biased For or Against Change

  • Either not wanting to change or wanting too much change.
  • Example: Saying we need to change the entire public education system, wanting too much change at once.

Feelings Book - Chapter 10 - Errors of Procedure

• Occur when addressing specific types of issues.

• Biased Consideration of Evidence

  • Leaning in one direction or another on issues.
  • Example: 2024 elections and the divide between left and right-leaning individuals.

• Double Standard

  • Having one set of rules for oneself and another set for others.
  • Example: Gender double standards (e.g., nursing being considered okay for women but not as common for men).

• Hasty Conclusion

  • Premature judgment or jumping to conclusions without sufficient evidence.
  • Example: Concluding that dogs are better than cats without experience with either.

• Stereotyping/Overgeneralization

  • Thinking all evidence in a group is the same based on limited information.
  • Commonly seen in stereotypes about different groups.

• Oversimplification

  • Attempting to make complex material easy to understand but distorting the facts.
  • Example: Students thinking O-chem is common sense when tired of studying.

• Post Hoc Fallacy

  • Belief that when one thing occurs after another, the first caused the second.
  • Example: Hearing a loud noise after walking downstairs and saying the stairs caused the noise.

Feelings Book - Chapter 17

• Inquiry Definition

  • Seeking answers to questions.
  • Investigating issues.
  • Gathering information to help draw conclusions.

• Two Kinds of Inquiries

  • Into Facts. Seek the answers to questions using evidence and logic.
  • Into Opinions. Seeking answers to stuff that you believe to be the truth.

• How Much Inquiry Is Enough?

  • No set amount really depends.
  • Follow the rules for determining sufficient evidence.
  • Be aware of signs of bias.
  • Stop looking when we think we have enough.
  • Go above and beyond.

• How To Manage Extensive Reading Materials

  • Identify the key assertion.
  • Identify the author’s conclusions.
  • Notice any qualifying words used in the key assertions or the conclusion.
  • Note the amount, kind, and sources of evidence used to support the assertions.
  • Notice the conditions the author includes.
  • Compose an accurate summary of the article or book from your analysis in steps one to five.

Feelings Book - Chapter 11 - Errors of Expression

• These errors occur when expressing views orally or in writing.

• Contradiction

  • Saying one thing and then actively doing or saying the opposite.

• Arguing in a Circle

  • Using a statement as both a premise and a conclusion.

• Meaningless Statement

  • Using words or reasoning that makes absolutely no sense.

• Mistaken Authority

  • Giving someone authority who does not have it.

• False Analogy

  • Comparing dissimilar things, claiming similarity when it doesn't exist.

• Irrational Appeal (Umbrella Term)

  • Encouraging acceptance of ideas without questioning them, pressuring conformity.

    • Appeal to Emotion. Using feelings to induce guilt, fear, anger, pity.
    • Appeal to Tradition. Doing something because it's always been done (bandwagoning).
    • Appeal to Moderation. Moderation in action and emotion is always preferable.
    • Appeal to Authority. Accepting authority's words without question.
    • Appeal to Common Belief. Believing because everyone else does..
    • Appeal to Tolerance. Not judging or criticizing others, believing tolerance is always good.

Feelings Book - Chapter 12 - Errors of Reaction

• Occur after criticism or challenges to ideas/beliefs, needing to save face.

• Automatic Rejection

  • Rejecting criticism or new ideas before investigating.

• Changing the Subject

  • Abruptly turning the discussion in a different direction to divert attention.

• Shifting Burden of Proof

  • Demanding others disprove our ideas when there is a disagreement.

• Straw Man

  • Putting words into someone else's mouth and accusing them of lying.

• Attacking the Critic

  • Attempting to discredit an idea/argument by criticizing the speaker.

Feelings Book - Chapter 18 - Judgment

• Judgment Definition

  • Conclusions arrived at through examination of evidence and careful reasoning.
  • Product of thought that has been weighed and evaluated.
  • Unlike feelings, judgments are not spontaneous and unconscious.
  • Judgments are not necessarily wise, but they can be; judgments can be be incorrect because of miss perceptions of knowledge, truth and opinions.

• Strategies

  • Know yourself.
  • Contemplate your own biases.
  • Be observant of yourself, others, and the environment.
  • Clarify issues. Ask questions.
  • Conduct inquiry and seek information.
  • Evaluate information/evidence. Check if it is relevant.

• Faulty Ways to or Six Ways to avoid Faulty Evaluation/Arguments

  • Distinguish the person versus the idea.
  • What is said and how it is said, the substance versus style.
  • Distinguish why people think as they do and if their thoughts are correct.
  • The soundness of an idea doesn’t depend on the motivations of those who support it, but depends on how well the idea fits the reality of the situation.
  • The individual and the group.
  • Matters of preference and matters of judgment.
  • Familiarity and correctness.

Sense Book

• Chapter 11

  • Availability Error. Believing what we see the most often is true
    • Example. People will be more afraid to fly in airplanes that drive cars just because airplane crashes are advertised on the news more.
  • Six Stages of Change
    • Precontemplation. Not considering change
    • Contemplation. Seeing the possibility of change
    • Determination. Commitment to change and thing of strategies to use
    • Action. Implementing the strategies
    • Maintenance. The goal of the change is achieved.
    • Termination. When you are done with change but there is recurrence.
  • Fake News vs. Real News
    • Fake News
      • Emotions and very subjective
      • Us vs. Them mindset
      • Designed to create fear and anger
      • Include opinions and biased sources, which can also lead to gaslighting
    • Real News
      • No emotion or very objective
      • Designed to tell the story how it is
      • Main goal is to educated abou issue and events.
      • Focus on facts, research and statistics.
  • Absolutist Mindset
    • Believing one way or the other and no in between.

• Chapter 13

  • Sensationalism vs. News
    • Sensationalism
      • Build stories into something bigger than it is.
      • Designed to get attention and trigger anxiety and not educated them
    • News
      • Goal is to informed and educates the audience with accurate and relevant information and promote awareness about current events.
      • They build trust because their reporting is accurate and unbiased.
  • Euphemisms. Replacing a harsher offensive word with something that is more mild or vague.
    • Example. Passed away instead of died.
    • Make merchanise sound more prestigous the it is..
  • Media influence regarding body images.
    • Parents have a big influence, particularly for mother and daughter relationships
  • Five Questions That You’re Going To Want To Ask When Evaluating Research and News Reports?
    • 1 . What is being measured/compared and how?
    • 2. Who or what organization funded the study?
    • 3. How many subjects and for how long were they studied?
    • 4. Who reported results and what were the conclusions?
    • 5. Are there any other variables that could account or interfere with the results?

• Chapter 17

  • Higher Order Thinking Skills which involves active learning and cognitive activity
  • Enhances effective thinking and decision making.
  • Abstract thoughts and active proces involved in this.
    • Application, problem solving, questioning, debate, analysis, evaluation, and adaptation.
  • Many schools do not want these so that they do not come to their own conclusions.
  • Waring signs for people who appose critical thinking
    • No one what to discus both sides of an issue.
    • No openness to new ideas.
    • They refuse to even begin the conversation or will start mocking you
    • Individuals opposed to critical thinking who belong to groups who share their viewpoints can be an example of enthocentrisim. religious organizations also don't like it.

• Chapter 18

  • Most important factor to keep in mind when using critical thinking
  • Skills are your own motivation.
  • Psychological issues tat interfere
    • Control, issues with authority figures, insecurity, low or over-inflated self-esteem, a lack of trust, a lack of coping skills, denial of responsibility
  • Instances when you should refrain from using critical thinking skills
    • Any instance where your safety is in jeapordy, when you begin dictating how a boss or authority figure should handle something
    • Also, when you are dealing with someone who thinks in absolutest terms
  • The components of the give Ms's which is a blueprint to drive change and continuous improvement
    • Man is mindset
    • Materials such as resource
    • Machine such as items to assist
    • Methods such as problem-solving strategies
    • Measurements such as how to measure success/failure.
  • How can our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, influence perception of a problem?
    • You have to ask yourself, where does the problem lie?. Emotion, thought or behavior?
    • It wil also help you modify your thoughts, emotions and behaviors to help you better achieve the desired outcome. .