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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    • Unpublished Reports, Stories, or Rumors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. .