PSY 179 Critical Thinking in Psychology PDF

12.11.2024 PSY 179- Critical thinking in Psychology Logical Fallacies and Cognitive Biases Today Common logical fallacies in reasoning Cognitive biases an...

12.11.2024 PSY 179- Critical thinking in Psychology Logical Fallacies and Cognitive Biases Today Common logical fallacies in reasoning Cognitive biases and their impact on thinking 1  12.11.2024 Introduction to Cognitive Biases and Logical Fallacies Understanding Key Concepts in Psychology What are cognitive biases?: Systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, influencing decisions and perception. What are logical fallacies?: Errors in reasoning that undermine the logic of an argument, often persuasive but misleading. Importance in psychology: Understanding these concepts helps in developing critical thinking and avoiding errors in judgment. Fallacy is an argument that contains a mistake in reasoning. What is fallacy? This is not the same as a “factual error.” Four out of five dentists recommend Chewy Brand Gum. (Fallacy) Chewing gum is made out of Silly Putty. (Factual error) Fallacies can be various; structural fallacies, content fallacies, and violations of the Principle of Rational Discussion. 2  12.11.2024 Fallacies of relevance are mistakes in reasoning that occur because the premises are logically irrelevant to the conclusion. Fallacies of insufficient evidence are mistakes in reasoning that occur because the premises, though logically relevant to the conclusion, fail to provide sufficient evidence to support the conclusion. Personal Attack (Ad Hominem) Ad Hominem is when the arguer attacks the person and not the argument. Ad hominem literally means “against the person.” Similar to Name-calling in the idea where the person is attacked rather than addressing the real argument. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnMmXTV OjBY 3  12.11.2024 Post Hoc (Cause and Effect) A Post Hoc fallacy involves «My car was running fine until attributing a cause and effect Jimmy borrowed it. Now it relationship without adequate makes a funny noise. He must evidence. (Which is similar to have done something to it.» a hasty generalization.) «How do I know that ginseng tea is a cure for the common cold? Last week I had a bad case of the sniffles. I drank a cup of ginseng tea, and the next morning my sniffles were gone. « Post hoc fallacy https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=a2Te4LMPBds 4  12.11.2024 Hasty Generalization That’s when a person makes sweeping statements based on too little or biased evidence. «I’ve hired three business majors as student help in the past year. All three were lazy and shiftless. Obviously all business majors are lazy and shiftless» Hasty generalization https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=WfuHuFx31rE 5  12.11.2024 Circular Reasoning It is also known as Begging «My mother is always busy the Question. because she has too much to A person uses Circular do.» Reasoning when they support a statement simply by If the term or idea used to repeating it in different words. support the argument is interchangeable, it is most likely a form of Circular Reasoning. Circular reasoning https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=8CVbku6nxhU 6  12.11.2024 Appeal to Authority An Appeal to Authority is one of the most common fallacies used in advertising. Celebrities and doctors are used as people with opinions that should be trusted. Just because somebody “famous” or a “doctor” has an opinion, that doesn’t make it true. Appeal to Authority https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=EM3fPkYuUGY 7  12.11.2024 Appeal to Emotions Uses of emotions (negative or «Don’t vote for them. You won’t even be safe in your home» positive) to persuade in place (Fear) of evidence. This crime was awful. The defendant must be guilty» Emotions can drive our (Anger) reasoning without our Please don’t fail me. I need this awareness. class to graduate» (Pity) «Buy this product. It will make you feel great» (Happiness) Appeal to emotions https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=FxU59qfkQAg 8  12.11.2024 Appeal to Ignorance «There must be intelligent life The arguer asserts that a on other planets. No one has claim must be true because proven that there isn’t. no one has proven it false, or There isn’t any intelligent life conversely on other planets. No one has proven that there is. The arguer asserts that a claim must be false because no one has proven it to be true. Appeal to ignorance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX8K_cUTc_I 9  12.11.2024 False Alternatives This fallacy is committed «Either we elect a Republican when an arguer poses a false as president, or crime rates dichotomy. will skyrocket. Obviously, we don’t want crime rates to skyrocket. Therefore, we should elect a Republican as president.» Slippery Slope An arguer commits this fallacy when they claim, without sufficient reason, that a seemingly harmless action will lead to a disastrous outcome. 10  12.11.2024 Slippery Slope https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=mTCvwD-EzfQ Straw Man A straw man argument misrepresents an opponent’s argument to make it easier to dismiss. The straw man can take many forms, but it often involves distorting, exaggerating, oversimplifying, or taking parts out of context, and can be quite effective if you’re not paying attention. 11  12.11.2024 Straw man https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=CziUffCkg70 Bandwagon (Appeal to popularity) The bandwagon fallacy «Everyone else on the argues that a claim is true highway is speeding, so I can because a lot of people speed too. No one actually believe it’s true, or conversely goes the speed limit.» a claim is not true because a lot of people believe it’s not. 12  12.11.2024 Bandwagon (Appeal to popularity) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5BB9t0Cgl4 Now… Think about a time when you’ve seen one of these fallacies used. It can be from a commercial you’ve seen, a print ad you’ve read, or perhaps a person you know who used one of the fallacies in an argument. 13  12.11.2024 Cognitive biases We all have mental shortcuts that help our brain process information quickly, called heuristics. They reduces cognitive load by making instant decisions Based on stored experiences and patterns Frees up mental resources for more complex tasks However…. They can lead to systematic thinking errors, called cognitive biases. These biases affect our judgments and decisions Often based on incomplete or incorrect information In today’s highly digital world, we are more prone to biases than ever before…. 14  12.11.2024 Most common types of cognitive biases 1.Availability bias 2. Anchoring bias 3. Confirmation bias 4.In-group bias 5.The framing effect Also.. 6.Media bias 7. AI bias Availability bias Availability bias is when our brain relies on the most easily accessible information— whether it's a recent event, a personal experience, or something we've seen in the media—to make decisions. E.g. if you see several stories on shark attacks, you might start to fear swimming because you assume they occur with greater frequency than they actually do. 15  12.11.2024 Anchoring bias Anchoring bias, also called the anchoring effect, happens when people place too much importance on the first piece of information they come across—this initial "anchor" influences all their later decisions and judgments. E.g. First impression of someone Confirmation bias This bias involves the tendency to look for information that confirms what we already believe, making it a particularly tricky form of cognitive bias. We remember the times when things align with our beliefs and overlook the times they don't, which is a flaw in how we process information. 16  12.11.2024 In-group bias In-group bias (also known as in-group « Football fans may criticize favoritism) is the tendency for people to the players of the other team give preferential treatment to others who for excessive force or brutality belong to the same group that they do. but tolerate the same This bias shows up even when people behavior when it comes to are put into groups randomly, making their own players.» group membership effectively meaningless. We may also have an outgroup bias, which means we view outgroup members negatively or perceive them as homogeneous, potentially leading to stereotypes and prejudices. The framing effect How information is presented influences our perception Different settings or wordings shape our views Impact on Society: Can lead to harmful judgments and stereotypes Media often frames certain groups negatively (e.g., youth as lazy or entitled) 17  12.11.2024 Media bias Sensational Headlines: News often focuses on dramatic and emotional stories Can exaggerate events for emotional effect Selective Reporting: Negative or shocking stories dominate coverage Creates a misleading view of events Serious Effects: A study showed people overestimate their risk of cancers frequently in the news This leads to skewed beliefs and can influence health decisions AI bias AI Isn’t Always Impartial: AI systems, like ChatGPT, can reflect human biases Bias in input data can lead to biased outputs Spreading Misinformation: AI can amplify biases, feeding into our availability heuristic This contributes to the spread of false information Example of Political Bias: Research shows ChatGPT leans towards left-wing views 18  12.11.2024 Shift your thinking from system 1 to system 2 Do you remember you have two types of thinking? Organizations that promote System 2 thinking encourage more rational, analytical decision-making, which can also boost creativity and foster innovation. In psychology science, psychologists and social scientists also can fall for these logical fallacies and cognitive biases…. 19  12.11.2024 Interviewer Bias: Occurs when the researcher's Influences: Questioning style, personal identity (e.g., sex, ethnicity) characteristics or behavior Impact: Distorts responses, especially related to sensitive topics affect participants' Affects the establishment of rapport and participant comfort responses Researcher Bias: Happens Types: Deliberate (e.g., misreporting results), Unconscious (e.g., when a researcher's beliefs personal assumptions affecting questions) or expectations influence Impact: Can lead to skewed findings and misrepresentation of the research process data Sampling Bias: Occurs when the sample selected Impact: Threatens the external validity of the research is not representative of the Affects the generalizability of the results population being studied Question So, how Evaluate do we Remain open-minded start? Actively listen Build awareness 20  12.11.2024 Summary and key takeaways The vast amount of information we encounter online can heighten our susceptibility to cognitive biases, particularly availability bias. Digital sources themselves may be biased or inaccurate. Common biases to be aware of include the framing effect, confirmation bias, and availability bias. Employing critical thinking is key to recognizing and mitigating these biases. 21