Critical Thinking

Pseudoscience and the Paranormal

Jonathan C. Smith

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781119029359
• eBook ISBN: 9781119029373
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Comprehensive and engaging, this extensively revised edition of a student and instructor favorite introduces the basics of critical thinking using the claims of pseudoscience and the paranormal.

• Guides readers through the critical thinking process by considering different types of support (sources, logic, and scientific observation) and ruling out alternative explanations
• Allows students to practice and apply their new critical thinking skills on claims of extraordinary cures including energy treatments, complementary/alternative medicine and faith healing as well as four paranormal claims of consequence: astrology, spiritualism and the afterlife, parapsychology, and creationism.
• Couples a conversational, nontechnical narrative with student-friendly pedagogical tools, including critical thinking questions and a study guide for each chapter.
• Provides clear and open-minded discussions of the paranormal spectrum, belief justification surveys, the placebo effect, and the relationship between religion and critical thinking

Part I
Introduction

1
Critical Thinking: Your Survival Kit

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OUTLINE

1. Critical Thinking Defined: Critical thinking is the process of (1) evaluating a claim about objective reality and identifying support, and (2) considering alternative hypotheses.
   1. Stating a Claim, Identifying Types of Support
      1. Appropriate sources
      2. Logic and clear language
      3. Science
   2. Alternative Hypotheses: Going Beyond Immediate Personal Experience and Intuition
      1. Oddities in nature and the world of statistics
      2. Perceptual error or trickery
      3. Memory error
      4. Placebo effect
      5. Sensory phenomena, hallucinations, and psychiatric conditions
2. Bats, Balls, and Mind‐Reading: Intuitive vs. Reflective Cognitive Thinking Styles
3. The Time and Place for Critical Thinking
4. Finding a Safe Practice Arena
5. The Four Challenges of the Open‐Minded Critical Thinker
   1. Have the Courage to Pause and Reflect
   2. Question Fearlessly and Honestly
   3. Recognize that There May Be More to the World than Meets the Eye
   4. Admit You Might Be Totally Mistaken

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Figure 1.1 What’s in your Pandora’s Box?.

Reproduced with kind permission of Shutterstock

Life can be a Pandora’s box of problems and mysteries. This includes all things great and small. Everyday challenges like starting college, dating, and finding work. Threats to society, like war, poverty, disease, and environmental disaster. Yes, even frantic internet exposés of mind‐controlling psychics, flesh‐eating vampires, and invasions from other universes. In a world full of troubles, every student needs one important survival kit – a toolbox of powerful critical thinking skills.

Consider Alex, a college student who faces a rather complicated dating dilemma. The first few dates went well. What to do next? Please study this carefully:

I think I’m ready for sex. I’m dating Jesse, who is fun to be with. But I doubt Jesse has any interest in romance. I’m not quite sure what I want.

I want to take Jesse to an art museum this weekend. There are two exhibits. I’ve seen both. Which has the more beautiful art?

I’m getting closer to both Jesse and Riley. I’ve gone out with both. It almost feels like I’m dating two people. Is that OK? Should I drop one and date the other? And what about Jamie, someone interesting I just met?

What does God want me to do? How can I tell the difference between God’s will and my wishes?

Julian, my roommate wants me to take a drink he obtained from a store that specializes in alternative medicine. Citing personal experience, Julian says it works and will help me make choices more decisively. Should I try it?

All these questions! Last night I had a dream that I dropped out of school and took a hike on a long mountain path to clear my head. Out of nowhere, a sage on a vintage Harley rumbled to a dramatic stop in front of me. I was struck by what this person was wearing – a glowing ruby eye earring, delicate flowered silk scarf, and steel‐studded leather arm band. As the dust settled, my Biker Sage whispered: “Think clearly!” blew me a kiss, and roared away. Should I take this premonition seriously?

Critical Thinking Defined

Fortunately, Alex is taking a course in critical thinking and hopes he can find some answers. He begins with some popular definitions. For example, his very first Google hit (out of 53,100,000 results) is a very popular definition:

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.

(Scriven & Paul, 2014)

Such definitions are abstract and global and can be applied to a wide range of life’s challenges. Think “clearly.” Conceptualize “consistently.” Evaluate “fairly.” You could use these with just about any issue, whether it be one of romance, beauty, creativity, morality, God, science, the deeper mysteries of life, or even sex.

However, the majority of texts on critical thinking take a more focused approach. Put very simply, critical thinking boils down to two very simple questions:

What are the facts? How do we know they’re true?

To elaborate:

Critical thinking is the process of (1) evaluating a claim about objective reality and identifying support, and (2) considering alternative hypotheses.

This needs a little unpacking. Let’s examine each part of our definition.

Stating a Claim, Identifying Types of Support

Fir...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Introduction
• Part II: The Critical Thinker’s Toolkit
• Part III: Alternative Explanations
• Part IV: Paranormal Challenges
• Appendix A: Why Do You Believe?
• Appendix B: Belief Justification Survey
• References
• Index
• End User License Agreement