Teaching Critical Thinking in Psychology: A Handbook of Best Practices

Critical Thinking

People know what they believe, and they believe what they know. And, in some cases, they

are wrong. For example, many people believe that good students are socially inept loners,

even though ample research has shown that good students display a wide range of desirable

social traits (Stanovich, 2004). And simply providing new information is often ineffective

in changing people’s minds (Anderson, Lepper, & Ross, 1980). Thus it would behoove

students to generate habits of critical thinking about how they acquire and update what

they know. The research methods course is an ideal venue for enhancing such thought.

Critical thinking comprises formulating questions clearly and precisely, gathering and

testing relevant information, recognizing our (and others’) assumptions and perspectives,

and communicating effectively to develop solutions (Scriven & Paul, 2007), all goals

associated with conducting research.

Further, students must learn to differentiate between knowledge that they can trust and

that they cannot. Unfortunately, there is no certain algorithm for such decision making;

there are, at best, tentative heuristics, and critical thinkers must identify their own and

others’ biases and assumptions (Smith, 2002).

As teachers work to engender critical thinking in students, psychology teachers work

toward a particular type of critical thinking: scientific thinking. Recent research indicates

a relatively poor incidence of scientific literacy in the populace, roughly 28%. Surprisingly,

this low value actually represents an increase from 10% since 1988 (Miller, 2007).

Miller’s assessments actually reflect what Maienschein and students (1998) referred to

as science literacy, which is knowledge of scientific material. This type of knowledge differs

from scientific literacy, which is oriented toward process and context, rather than content.

In a broad sense, scientific literacy involves knowledge and understanding of scientific

concepts and processes required for personal decision making and civic involvement

Chapter 17

Why We Believe: Fostering Critical

Thought and Scientific Literacy

in Research Methods

Bernard C. Beins

Teaching Critical Thinking in Psychology: A Handbook of Best Practices Edited by D. S. Dunn, J. S. Halonen, and R. A. Smith