PSYU 306 - critical thinking VISUAL (This column is

generally completed by the

SHOT VOICE OVER CII)
1 Don’t think twice about it.
What do you think?
Think again.
I think so.
Think out loud.
2 We throw around that “think” word a lot, so we must know
how to think. Then, why do we need a class on it? Well, I
can tell you what I think...
3 Welcome to PSYU 306. It’s not just thinking. It’s critical
thinking. In everyday language, being critical is often
negative. It means we are judging someone...often unfairly.

But critical thinking involves evaluating your judgment

carefully so you can think before you speak and make better
decisions.
4 We all need to make decisions in our personal as well as
professional lives. We will learn the ins and outs of how to
be an effective critical thinker...with an emphasis on
psychology since most students in this class are majoring in
psychology. But, no matter where your life and career take
you, you will need to practice and understand critical
thinking.
5 Don’t worry. The course will certainly not tell you what to
think or believe. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. We want to
help you sort through the massive electronic and paper
mountains of information to draw well-reasoned conclusions
and offer evidence to support decisions, arguments, choices,
beliefs, diagnoses ...you name it...critical thinking can help
you do it.
6 To get us started, let’s consider some scenarios that may
come up in the course.

Your sister was wearing a pair of earrings you gave her for
her birthday on the day she got the job she really wanted.
Today she will find out if she got the promotion she was up
for, so she made sure to wear the same earrings.

What do you think?

7 A. My sister was wise to do this; the earrings bring her
luck
B. I am going to borrow those earrings when I am
hoping to earn a promotion
C. There is no such thing as luck; the earrings are
unrelated to her success
Let’s try another. Have you ever second-guessed
yourself when taking a multiple-choice test? When
that happens, assuming you can still make a change,
what do you do?

A. I always heard it’s best to stick to your first

response, so I am not going to change it.
B. I think through why I am second-guessing, and, if my
first answer is worrying me, I change it.
These quick scenarios give you a tiny taste of issues you
will consider in this class. You will learn about
thinking errors and how to correct them. You will also
consider how to determine if there is credible
evidence to support your decision or claim.
What about those good luck charm earrings? We will
have some fun later in the term talking about
superstitions, magic, science, and critical thinking.
We will also consider how to analyze psychological
questions like: Are people basically selfish or
unselfish. Take a look at the syllabus this week to see
all the topics we will cover.
Also, jump into the discussion board just as soon as you
can so we can discuss situations like this along with
what it means to hold false beliefs.
By the way, have you ever jumped in and tried to solve a
problem without first thinking about how to
approach it?
This week, you will also have a chance to rate yourself on
questions like this and see what your answers tell you
about your critical thinking skills.
What about changing your answer on a multiple-choice
test? It turns out that, contrary to the popular belief
of many students, you are statistically better off if
you change your answer when you suspect a
different choice is correct than if you stick with your
first answer. This is just one example of the subject
matter we’ll cover in Critical Thinking. See you in
class!