Critical Rational Thinking in Psychology

What is critical rational

thinking?

TASK

In groups look at the conclusions from Lazarsfeld (1949) and suggest reasons for the findings of the study.

[10 minutes]

Paul Lazarsfeld (1949) | The American Soldier - An Expository Review

1. Better educated soldiers suffered more adjustment problems than less educated soldiers.

2. Southern soldiers coped better with the hot South Sea Island climate than Northern soldiers.

3. White privates were more eager to be promoted officers than Black privates.

4. Southern Black soldiers preferred Southern to Northern White officers

5. As long as the fighting continued, soldiers were more eager to return home than after the war ended.

Paul Lazarsfeld (1949) | The American Soldier - An Expository Review

1. Better educated soldiers suffered fewer adjustment problems than less educated soldiers.

2. Northern soldiers coped better with the hot South Sea Island climate than Southern soldiers.

3. White privates were less eager to be promoted officers than Black privates.

4. Southern Black soldiers preferred Northern to Southern White officers

5. After the war ended soldiers were more eager to return home than when the fighting continued.

RT| Criticisms of Psychology

1. Is psychology only common sense?2. Do psychological theories provide new insight into

the human condition or do they document the obvious?

3. Does psychology simply formalise what any amateur already knows intuitively?

“Day after day social scientists go out into the world. Day after day they discover that people’s behavior is pretty much what you’d expect.” Cullen Murphy, Editor, Atlantic Monthly (1990)

RT | Contradictory Common Sense• Question: How does separation • affect bonds of affection?

• Common sense or • “the wisdom of the ages”

• Answer: Separation strengthens • bonds of affection (“absence makes the

• heart grow fonder”)

• Answer: Separation weakens • bonds of affection (“out of sight, out of mind”)

• Question: How can we reduce • aggression from others?

• Common sense or • “the wisdom of the ages”

• Answer: By responding to aggression in kind • (“an eye for an eye”)

• Answer: By acting in a passive, • forgiving manner

• (“turn the other check”)

“Anything seems commonplace, once explained.” Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes

Hindsight Bias1. “I knew it all along phenomena”– the tendency to perceive

something as obvious or unavoidable, after learning of the outcome.

2. Study of Hindsight bias: Teigen (1986)• Evaluate actual proverbs and their opposites

Actual Proverb• Fear is stronger than love.• He that is fallen cannot help him

who is down.• Wise men make proverbs and

fools repeat them.

Opposite• Love is stronger than fear.• He that is fallen can help him

who is down.• Fools make proverbs and wise

men repeat them.

What is the quality of the evidence?

Could the relationship have happened by chance?Is there a control or comparison group?

Is the conclusion causal using correlational data?

Are there any confounding variables?

Are we over generalising based on an unrepresentative sample?

Are there any biases in the research or data collection methods?

Can you actually falsify the theory?

Is the study claiming to have found the answer?

TASK

Choose a study that we have covered over the last 6 weeks and using the evaluation framework consider the conclusions that the researcher came to.

[10 minutes]