Cheryl Willard - Lee College

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Key for Correlation ≠ Causation Answers will vary, but here are some possible causal explanations: 1. Studies have shown a negative correlation between depression and levels of serotonin. Explanation 1: Low levels of serotonin cause depression. Explanation 2: Depression causes low levels of serotonin. Explanation 3: Stressful life events influence both brain chemistry and depression. 2. A study found a negative correlation between alcohol consumption and memory. Explanation 1: Alcohol causes memory impairment. Explanation 2: Drinking and partying reduces the amount of sleep one gets which is related to low scores on memory tests. 3. A positive correlation was shown to exist between caffeine consumption and level of stress. Explanation 1: Daily stressors lead people to consume more caffeine. Explanation 2: Caffeine causes people to make more minor errors and thus experience more stress. Explanation 3: Number of hours spent at work in a week independently lead people to consume more caffeine and to experience more stress. 4. A college professor found a negative correlation between class absences and course grades. Explanation 1: A high number of classes (and corresponding missed information) cause lower grades. Explanation 2: Students with jobs or other responsibilities find it difficult to make it to class or to find time to study. 5. Studies show that the more psychology courses students take during their college years, the higher their scores on measures of interpersonal sensitivity (i.e., a positive correlation). Explanation 1: Psychology courses cause people to have greater sensitivity. Explanation 2: People who have had traumatic life experiences tend to show greater sensitivity and to take more psychology courses. Explanation 3: People with greater interpersonal sensitivity take more psychology courses. 12
Critical Thinking Concept #3: Thinking Critically with Psychological Science This exercise involves the use of several elements of critical thought, including questioning one’s assumptions, making logical inferences, and using data and scientific concepts to support one’s reasoning. The exercise was located in The Critical Thinking Companion by Halonen and Gray (2001). Slight modifications were made. Without effective critical thinking abilities, we could easily fall prey to questionable claims about the causes of behavior, such as this sampling of headlines from tabloid papers over the last few years: “Wiggling Your Ears Makes You Smarter” “Woman’s Head Explodes During Psychic Trance” “Belly Button Shape Reveals Your Character” “Eating Bananas Increases Your Bust Size” Psychological reasoning is an important intellectual ability, whether we are selecting a product for purchase or exercising our citizens’ rights by deciding which candidate will get our vote. Understanding the principles of critical thinking in psychology should enable us not only to create and defend our opinions more effectively but also to challenge arguments that are invalid. The primary emphasis of this type of thinking is one question: “What’s your evidence?” Psychological research design teaches us to examine claims about behavior and to consider alternative explanations. What other variables might account for the relationship being claimed? By applying the following experiment-based principles of psychological reasoning, we can protect ourselves against invalid claims. 1. Don’t expect simple cause-and-effect relationships. They rarely exist in relation to behavior, so a skeptical or disbelieving stance is generally the safest response to simplistic claims about the causes of behavior. 2. Don’t settle for cause-and-effect statements without sufficient evidence. Remember that question: “What’s your evidence?” Is the evidence objective (derived from systematic, unbiased, and well-controlled observation) or subjective (influenced by personal experiences, characteristics, and biases)? Personal testimony is particularly problematic, especially when the enthusiastic advocate is being paid for it. 3. Don’t confuse interpretation of behavior with behavior itself. People often embellish their observation of behavior with statements about the meaning of the behavior. They then report their conclusions about the behavior instead of describing the behavior they observed. For example, on witnessing a professor’s late arrival to class, we might leap to the conclusion that she is busy or disrespectful or scatter-brained rather than sticking to the facts. The observable behavior is arriving late to class. Invalid claims may report interpretations or judgments about a behavior rather than focusing on a description of behavior without interpretation. 13
Page 1 and 2: FACULTY LEARNING COMMUNITY TEACHING
Page 3 and 4: PSYC 2301.M05 - INTRODUCTION TO PSY
Page 5 and 6: 5. Library Scavenger Hunt. For this
Page 7 and 8: Reflective Thinking Statement No. 1
Page 9 and 10: Critical Thinking Concept #1: Consi
Page 11 and 12: Fact or Falsehood To the left of ea
Page 13: Practice #2: Correlation ≠ Causat
Page 17 and 18: Practice #3: Thinking Critically wi
Page 19 and 20: Key for Thinking Critically with Ps
Page 21 and 22: Practice #4: Understanding Operant
Page 23 and 24: C. Frank, an air traffic controller
Page 25 and 26: Key for Understanding Operant Condi
Page 27 and 28: Critical Thinking Concept #5: Build
Page 29 and 30: 6. What is your conclusion? Are you
Page 31 and 32: Practice #7: Avoiding Assimilation
Page 33 and 34: Active Learning Statement After the
Page 35 and 36: • To demonstrate the capacity of
Page 37 and 38: Practice #10: The “B” Test of I

Cheryl Willard - Lee College

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