19
Critical Thinking: Needed Now More Than Ever
cultural developments have all made the job of the psychology teacher more vital than
ever. Of course, each of us can reach only a relatively few students, but collectively we can
have some impact on the intellectual and scientific sophistication of a generation. If we
can prod students to resist jumping to premature conclusions, to consider the evidence for
a claim, to be willing to modify their beliefs in the face of counterevidence, to question
received wisdom and to keep questioning until they get better answers, and to tolerate a
certain degree of uncertainty—in short, to think critically—we will then have done our
jobs well.
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