Critical Thinking = The ability and willingness to assess claims and make

objective judgments on the basis of well-supported reasons and evidence, rather

than emotion.

Guidelines to Critical Thinking

• 1. _______________________________:

Use higher level questions!Don’t just ask “who?” or “what?”

EXAMPLES:

“Why did psychologists get this result?”

“How did they reach that conclusion?”

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY (You WILL see this in college!)

Guidelines to Critical Thinking

Guidelines to Critical Thinking

• 2. DEFINE YOUR TERMS: Make a _________________________ - a

statement that attempts to predict a set of phenomena (EMPIRICAL!)

SCIENCE-fictionEmperor Palpatine (Star Wars)

QUESTION

DO YOU REMEMBER THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD?

Guidelines to Critical Thinking

• 3.___________________________________- NO “Lazy” Thinking - Look for proof!

– Example: What is the cause of Autism?

-Biological or Environmental?

(Nature vs. Nurture)

- Why are some people such

good athletes?

It’s nature vs. nurture, baby…nature wins

every time

Guidelines to Critical Thinking

4. ANALYZE ASSUMPTIONS AND BIASES: Don’t assume without proof or ignore other PERSPECTIVES!– Principle of _______________________:

- A scientific theory must make predictions that are specific enough to expose the theory to the possibility of being proven wrong

-Example: “Misery Loves Company”

FALSIFIABILITY IN A “NUTSHELL”

• CAN YOU REPLICATE YOUR EXPERIMENT AND GET THE SAME RESULTS?

• IF NOT, START OVER!

HELP! I’M IN A NUTSHELL!

Guidelines to Critical Thinking

5. AVOID EMOTIONAL REASONING:

All disagreements must have proof!

Guidelines to Critical Thinking

6. DON’T OVERSIMPLIFY: Just because it’s happened to you (and maybe some friends) doesn’t mean it happens to everyone.

QUESTION

SHOULD DISOBEDIENT CHILDREN BE SPANKED?

Were YOU spanked as a child? How might this influence your

perspective?

Guidelines to Critical Thinking

7. CONSIDER OTHER _______________________________

GOAL = _______________ - An organized system of assumptions and principles that aims to explain a specified set of phenomena and their interrelationships.

- Example: Depression causescancer

Guidelines to Critical Thinking

8. TOLERATE UNCERTAINTY: Sometimes you just don’t know...

…and that’s ________!!!