PURPOSE: The goals in this course is to introduce students to critical thinking. One important usage of critical thinking is to be able to analyze the logic of an assignment, a chapter, a textbook, or even a scientific discipline such as psychology.
Intellectual humility involves the ability to distinguish between learning that is deep and learning that is superficial.
In this activity, to test your ability to do this. Think of a course you completed in which you received a high or fairly high final grade. If you were asked to write and elaborate on that course without consulting any sources, answers to the following questions:
What is (name of subject—for example, history, biology)? What is the main goal of studying this subject?
What are people in this field trying to accomplish? What kinds of questions do they ask? What kinds of problems do they solve?
What sorts of information or data do they gather? How do they go about gathering information in ways that are distinctive to this field?
What is the most basic idea, concept, or theory in this field? How did studying this field change your view of the world?
If you find it difficult to answer these questions, consider the hypothesis that you might have received your high grade by cramming for tests or by some other means of superficial learning.
Are you able to identify the difference between what you have learned superficially and what you have learned deeply?
This is the underlying concept of this final assignment in this class. You will be required to expound on the logic of this course. The purpose is to identify the logic of the scientific discipline of psychology.
This involves intellectual empathy by treating the course textbook as the thinking of the author. You will attempt to try step into the shoes of the author by attempting to accurately reconstruct the author’s viewpoints and to self-reflectively reason from premises, assumptions, and ideas other than your own.
Using the examples of biochemistry, biology, ecology, aerospace engineering, and electrical engineering, as well as the more abbreviated logic of American history provided in Parts I & II below for comparison, write out the logic of this course, Introductory Psychology, using the elements of thought and applying intellectual standards to your analysis.
Use the textbook, encyclopedias, and other resources as references as necessary and make sure you apply intellectual standards to produce a quality product replete with critical thinking.
TASK: Your task is to:
(1) Analyze the logic of psychology by breaking the discipline down into its elements.
The logic of this discipline can be analyzed by:
Examining the purpose of psychology
Questions that psychologists answers
Information that is used by psychologists
Concepts used within psychology
Judgments or inferences made by psychology
Assumptions that underlie the inferences
Implications of psychology
Point of view psychologists
