Throughout this semester, I think that the idea of scientific thinking is the most important point the course made and I may remember for a long period of life. It's a world of information nowadays, we are surrounded by tons of information in everyday's life and how to make the best use of it has become an issue. Though complexed terms may be forgotten, I'll still remember being aware of confirmation bias, recognizing pseudoscience, following principle of Occam's razor and so on. The argument about if we truely have "free will" also leaves an deep impression in my mind. Since we can be easily mislead, controlled by media, or other information around us, "being yourself" seems to become a hard thing. Things in this world have so many faces in different perspectives, truths are always hard to find, but as long as we plant a clear idea of scientific thinking in our minds, there is always a way to know the truth and do the right. No one wants to be a puppet, that's why think right and free are so important, that's what I got from this course.
Think right and think free
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I agree this is a great point. It is probably the most useful thing to know across sciences and even through everyday life in analyzing claims.
I almost wrote about the scientific method as well. I think it is important that everyone be able to determine fact from fiction, or fact from grossly exaggerated fact. A lot of times companies are looking to sell as much of their product as possible and so they do research into certain fields and advertise only the positive outcomes of their research. This is a trap many people have fallen in to and I think may be a big reason we are such a consumer-led economy.
I think those principles can apply to many different areas too! Not just psychology! It's not so bad being skeptical!
With the rapid expansion of the internet within our lifespan so far, it's no wonder we fall prey to biases and false claims. I'm glad we learned to be skeptical in this course because it means we cannot readily accept falsities and have the mental prowess to explore ideas further and avoid becoming conformist sheep.
I also agree with this point. It is not only important to know for future science classes but also for everyday life. It is important to know what we should take at face value and what we need to dig a little deeper into.
For myself I think scientific thinking is one of the most important thing and stay in my memory for long time. For me after I read the chapter 1 I started to think or trying to think scientific thinking such as is this is the only explanation or is this experiment can help with different person too. So I'm pretty sure scientific thinking will be the last concept I'll forget from this book.
This is a great point. When I was in high school, I used to think that I was a freethinker, but then I realized I was just swallowing whatever information was being fed to me. It wasn't until college that I believe I learned to call a spade a spade, being able to disagree with people that have Ph.D's because I realize that just because they have a lot more education that myself doesn't mean they are necessarily correct on this issue.