Critical Thinking

Course description and goals:

How do you evaluate the strength of a claim made in a magazine, news program, or research article? This course will provide you with basic skills and information to systematically critique claims and research in the popular press and research literature. You will be introduced to basic research concepts, such as correlation vs. causation, common biases, hypotheses, dependent/independent variables, validity, and reliability. You will apply this knowledge to evaluating a wide range of ideas and research in psychology.

Humans fall prey of biases and fallacies that interfere with their ability to draw sound conclusions about situations. This has repercussions on academic and professional life, but also on personal life. Critical thinking is a skill that facilitates the identification of these biases and fallacies and helps us succeed in school, work and life in general. By completing this course, you will learn to identify common fallacies in thought and reasoning, learn to evaluate reliable sources of evidence, distinguish science from pseudoscience, gain a basic understanding of research strategies, research design, and analysis in psychology. The learning of this skill may be challenging and sometimes uncomfortable, yet for those who engage and sit with this uncomfortable feeling (and ask for help, if needed) will result in a useful addition to their skillset.

Download syllabus.