Critical Thinking Booklet
Psychology
Eighth Edition
Douglas A. Bernstein, Louis A. Penner,
Alison Clarke-Stewart, and Edward J. Roy
William S. Altman
Douglas A. Bernstein
Houghton Mifflin Company
BOSTON NEW YORK
Sponsoring Editor: Jane Potter
Marketing Manager: Amy Whitaker
Marketing Assistant: Samantha Abrams
Senior Development Editor: Laura Hildebrand
Editorial Associate: Henry Cheek
Copyright © 2008 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Houghton Mifflin Company hereby grants you permission to reproduce the Houghton Mifflin
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Contents
Preface ................................................................................................................ IV
Chapter 1—Introducing Psychology.....................................................................1
Chapter 2—Research in Psychology ....................................................................5
Chapter 3—Biological Aspects of Psychology ....................................................9
Chapter 4—Sensation ........................................................................................ 13
Chapter 5—Perception ....................................................................................... 18
Chapter 6—Learning.......................................................................................... 22
Chapter 7—Memory .......................................................................................... 26
Chapter 8—Cognition and Language ................................................................ 30
Chapter 9—Consciousness ................................................................................ 35
Chapter 10—Cognitive Abilities ....................................................................... 39
Chapter 11—Motivation and Emotion .............................................................. 44
Chapter 12—Human Development ................................................................... 48
Chapter 13—Health, Stress, and Coping ........................................................... 52
Chapter 14—Personality .................................................................................... 56
Chapter 15—Psychological Disorders ............................................................... 61
Chapter 16—Treatment of Psychological Disorders ......................................... 66
Chapter 17—Social Cognition ........................................................................... 70
Chapter 18—Social Influence ............................................................................ 74
Chapter 19—Neuropsychology ......................................................................... 79
Chapter 20—Industrial/Organizational Psychology Summary ......................... 84
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
IV
Engaging in Critical Thinking in Psychology
Many educators rhapsodize about critical thinking (although often in rather vague terms) as a
desirable activity that everyone should integrate into their course work. It might be easy to
dismiss critical thinking as just another educational fad. But it isn’t.
Critical thinking is simply another way to describe the process psychologists use when
approaching a problem. We begin by describing the behaviors or phenomena that interest us; we
attempt to develop explanations for them; we develop and test hypotheses, then attempt to
predict outcomes based on our explanations; and we draw conclusions based on the results. In
the process, we learn a great deal about the elements of the problem, their interrelationships, and
connections to familiar ideas.
Some researchers have found that if you use critical thinking when you write about a topic,
you’re likely to learn more and to understand the material better (Tynjälä, 1998; Wade, 1995).
Pena-Shaff and Nicholls (2004) found that students better understood information when engaged
in critical thinking in online discussions. And, according to Kowalski and Taylor (2004) students
who engaged in critical thinking were more likely to change their initial misconceptions about
psychology than those who didn’t think critically.
Many different people use critical thinking in all kinds of ways. You might be familiar with a
television show called Mythbusters, in which Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman use critical
thinking and experimental methods to look for the truth behind urban legends and other common
misconceptions (Loxton, 2005). If you’re interested in psychic phenomena, you may want to see
how the James Randi Educational Foundation (at http://randi.org/) applies critical thinking to
people’s claims of paranormal abilities.
The exercises in this booklet present ideas, beliefs, and statements, which are linked to each
chapter in Essentials of Psychology (Bernstein & Nash, 2008). You’ll be asked to evaluate these
ideas, beliefs, and statements using the critical thinking method. Because we want you to
concentrate on learning to think critically, we’ve provided some source material for each
question. You might want to look for more information, using appropriate search engines such as
PsycARTICLES® or PsycINFO®, or by working with your school’s library or tutoring staff.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
V
Critical thinking isn’t just helpful for your school work, or for making decisions about which car
to buy or how to invest your savings. It’s also a fun way to learn. Students who used critical
thinking in online discussions (Pena-Shaff, Altman, & Stephenson, 2005) or in the classroom
(Hays & Vincent, 2004) said it helped them learn better and develop their communication skills.
So, when we engage in critical thinking, we learn more, deepen our understanding of what we
already know, learn more effective ways to communicate with other people, and have a lot more
fun in the process. We hope you’ll enjoy working on these critical thinking exercises, and that
they’ll stimulate your curiosity, ingenuity, and sense of intellectual play.
Be well, and enjoy!
William S. Altman, Ph.D.
Psychology and Human Services Department
Broome Community College, Binghamton, NY
References
Bernstein, D. A., & Nash, P. W. (2008). Essentials of Psychology (4th ed.). New York:
Houghton Mifflin.
Hays, J. R., & Vincent, J. P. (2004). Students’ evaluation of problem-based learning in
graduate psychology courses. Teaching of Psychology, 31, 124–126.
Kowalski, P., & Taylor, A. K. (2004). Ability and critical thinking as predictors of change in
students’ psychological misconceptions. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 31,
297–303.
Loxton, D. (2005). Mythbusters exposed: How a special effects crew opened the most
important new front in the battle for science literacy. Skeptic, 12(1), 34–42.
Pena-Shaff, J., Altman, W., & Stephenson, H. (2005). Asynchronous online discussions as a
tool for learning: Students’ attitudes, expectations, and perceptions. Journal of
Interactive Learning Research, 16, 409–430.
Pena-Shaff, J. B., & Nicholls, C. (2004). Analyzing student interactions and meaning
construction in computer bulletin board discussions. Computers & Education, 42,
243–265.
Tynjälä, P. (1998). Writing as a tool for constructive learning: Students’ learning experiences
during an experiment. Higher Education, 36, 209–230.
Wade, C. (1995). Using writing to develop and assess critical thinking. Teaching of
Psychology, 22, 24–28.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
1
CHAPTER
1
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 1.1:
Assessing the Impact of Legislation
Governments often enact laws to solve particular social problems or to lessen their impacts. One
example is the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002. Its purpose was to improve the
quality of children’s education in the United States, and according to the Department of
Education, the law is working as intended (http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml).
One way in which the NCLB is supposed to help raise academic achievement is through testing,
to determine whether there is actually improvement in the education of children. However, the
National Center for Fair and Open Testing claims this approach has failed. You can read their
statements about NCLB at (http://fairtest.org/nattest/bushtest.html).
Researchers have looked at NCLB from a variety of perspectives. Smith (2005) and Johnson
(2006) provide overviews of the law, its intentions, and some of its possible consequences.
Others have looked at NCLB’s impacts on gifted children (Mendoza, 2006), music education
(Circle, 2005), and visually impaired children (Ferrell, 2005).
Use the critical thinking method outlined in your textbook to determine whether NCLB is
working as intended. Be sure to look carefully at your sources to determine whether they are
credible and accurate, or just someone’s opinion. The basis for critical thinking is the use of
evidence. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Circle, D. (2005). To test or not to test? Music Educators Journal, 92(1), 4.
Ferrell, K. A. (2005). The effects of NCLB. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 99,
681–683.
Johnson, A. P. (2006). No child left behind: Factory models and business paradigms.
Clearing House, 80(1), 34–36.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
2
Mendoza, C. (2006). Inside today’s classrooms: Teacher voices on No Child Left Behind and
the education of gifted children. Roeper Review, 29, 28–31.
National Center for Fair and Open Testing. (n.d.). Federally mandated testing page: NCLB.
Retrieved December 29, 2007, from http://fairtest.org/nattest/bushtest.html.
Smith, E. (2005). Raising standards in American schools: The case of No Child Left Behind.
Journal of Education Policy, 4, 507–524.
United States Department of Education. (n.d.) No Child Left Behind—ED.gov. Retrieved
December 29, 2007, from http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml.
ACTIVITY 1.2:
Grade Inflation
Many people believe that today’s students are getting higher grades for doing less work, or work
of lower quality than students of previous generations. Media outlets report that grade inflation is
a problem at most colleges, as illustrated by reports from USA Today (2002) and Wikipedia
(2006). Organizations such as GradeInflation.com (http://gradeinflation.com/) report that grade
inflation is rampant and becoming more serious. Yet Ellenberg (2002) and Kohn (2002) suggest
that it may not be such a problem.
What is closer to the truth? Use the critical thinking approach to decide whether grade inflation is
real. If so, is it a major problem or something not worthy of concern? Be sure to look carefully at
your sources to determine whether they are credible and accurate, or just someone’s opinion.
Remember that the basis for critical thinking is the use of evidence.
Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Ellenberg, J. (2002, October 2). Don’t worry about grade inflation: Why it doesn’t matter
that professors give out so many A’s. Slate. Retrieved December 29, 2007, from
http://www.slate.com/id/2071759/.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
3
Grade inflation. (2006, December 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
December 29, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/
index.php?title=Grade_inflation&oldid=96950800.
Ivy League grade inflation [Electronic version]. (2002, February 27). USA Today. Retrieved
December 29, 2006, from http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2002/02/08/
edtwof2.htm.
Kohn, A. (2002). The dangerous myth of grade inflation. Chronicle of Higher Education;
49(11), pB7. Retrieved December 29, 2007, from EBSCO Academic Premier
database.
ACTIVITY 1.3:
Do We Use Only 10% of Our Brains?
The famous American psychologist William James (1907) once said, “Compared with what we
ought to be, we are only half awake. Our fires are damped, our drafts are checked. We are
making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources” (p. 323).
Many people believe we all have a great deal of untapped mental potential. Some think it’s based
in a kind of reserve of intelligence, while others believe in paranormal abilities that have not yet
been developed. Often, they’ll explain this by saying that we only use 10% of our brains.
Perhaps your parents or teachers may have mentioned this to you.
Creative Alternatives (Superconscious, 2007), CornerBar PR (Industry appetizers, n.d.), and
other commercial sites all quote the 10% figure. Many, such as self-described psychic Uri Geller
(n.d.), attribute it to Albert Einstein, while others cite Margaret Mead or other famous
researchers. Anitei (n.d.) at Softpedia cites data from brain scanning studies to show that we only
use about 20% of our brains when making memories. It’s worth noting that many of these
organizations and individuals also provide materials or services, which they claim are designed
to help you activate the slumbering part of your total potential.
Many psychologists, such as Chudler (1997), call the 10% figure a myth. Several (Genovese,
2004; Radford, 2000) have sought to explain or debunk the idea that we only use 10% of our
brain. Yet the belief persists despite the efforts of psychologists and psychology instructors
(Standing & Huber, 2003). Could this be because it really is true?
Do we have massive untapped resources in our brains? Use the critical thinking method to come
to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material.
Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1. What am I being asked to believe or accept?
2. What evidence is there to support the assertion?
3. Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
4
4. What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
5. What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Anitei, S. (n.d.). We use just 20% of out brains to make memories. Retrieved July 20, 2007,
from http://news.softpedia.com/news/We-Use-Just-20-of-the-Brain-to-MakeMemories-52643.shtml.
Chudler, E. (1997). Myths about the brain: 10 percent and counting. Retrieved September 4,
2007, from http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=fa/brain-myth.
Geller, U. (n.d.) Uri Geller. Retrieved July 20, 2007, from http://www.uri-geller.com/
lbmp_print.htm.
Genovese, J. E. C. (2004). The ten percent solution. Skeptic, 10(4), 55–57.
Industry appetizers: Overheard at the bar. (n.d.). CornerBar PR. Retrieved July 20, 2007,
from http://www.cornerbarpr.com/industryappetizers/overheard.cfm?article=1033.
James, W. (1907). The energies of men [Electronic version]. Science, 25(635), 321–332.
Retrieved July 20, 2007, from Classics in the History of Psychology Web site:
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/energies.htm.
Radford, B. (2000). The ten-percent myth. Retrieved July 20, 2007 from
http://snopes.com/science/stats/10percnt.htm.
Standing, L. G., & Huber, H. (2003). Do psychology courses reduce beliefs in psychological
myths? Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 31, 585–592.
Superconscious interview with Melvin Saunders. (2007). Creative Alternatives. Retrieved
July 20, 2007, from http://www.mind-course.com/interview.html.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
5
CHAPTER
2
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 2.1:
The Effectiveness of Peer Review
The scientific community relies on a process called peer review (see a good definition and
discussion of peer review in Wikipedia) to ensure that information published in scientific
journals is accurate. Yet there are still major problems associated with the peer review process,
and much inaccurate or misleading material may still be published. Weiss (2005) details many
sorts of scientific misconduct that may not be detected by the peer review process. The issues
surrounding the effectiveness of peer review are discussed in depth by Fox (1994) and Lundberg
(2002). Still, most scientists seem to feel that the peer review process is the best way to ensure
scientific integrity.
Use the critical thinking approach to determine whether peer review is an effective method for
maintaining honesty in scientific research. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source
material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Fox, M. F. (1994). Scientific misconduct and editorial and peer review processes. Journal of
Higher Education, 65(3), 298–309.
Lundberg, G. D. (2002). The publishing dilemma of the American Psychological
Association. American Psychologist, 57, 211–212.
Weiss, R. (2005, June 9). Many scientists admit to misconduct [Electronic version].
Washington Post. Retrieved December 29, 2007, from
http://www.washingtonpost.com.
Peer review. (2006, December 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
December 29, 2006, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peer_review&oldid=96718551.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
6
ACTIVITY 2.2:
Reiki
Practitioners of Reiki claim that it is a technique through which they can heal many physical,
mental, and emotional conditions. According to Wikipedia, it was developed in Japan in the
early 20th century. While Reiki masters have extolled its effectiveness (Rand, n.d.), skeptics
claim that it is nothing more than quackery or fraud (Carroll, 2002). Some researchers (Rosa,
Rosa, Sarner, & Barrett, 1998) have attempted to determine the effectiveness of Reiki.
Is Reiki a real phenomenon, or are the skeptics correct? Use the critical thinking method to come
to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material.
Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Carroll, R. T. (2002). Reiki. In The Skeptic’s Dictionary. Retrieved January 13, 2007 from
http://skepdic.com/reiki.html.
Rand, W. L. (n.d.). The international center for Reiki training. In The International Center
for Reiki Training Web site. Retrieved January 13, 2007, from http://www.reiki.org.
Reiki. (2006, November 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 13,
2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiki.
Rosa, L., Rosa, E., Sarner, L., & Barrett, S. (1998). A close look at therapeutic touch. JAMA:
The Journal of the American Medical Association, 279, 1005–1010.
ACTIVITY 2.3:
Loony for Luna
For centuries, people have believed that the full moon causes insane behavior. Sources report
links between the full moon and binge drinking, criminal disturbances, and violent crimes such
as murder (Sims, 2007; Tasso & Miller, 1976; Townley, 1997). Townley (1977) also reports
statistically significant correlations between the phase of the moon and the number of medical
procedures performed, the conception of children, and other phenomena. Lieber and Sherin
(1972) found a significant link between the lunar phase and the number of homicides in Dade
County, Florida, as well as a relationship between the phase of the moon and the level of
violence or strangeness of the homicides. Further confirmation of a relationship between lunar
cycle and insanity comes from Blackman and Catalina (1973) who correlated the phase of the
moon with the number of admissions to a mental health center emergency room.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
7
Other researchers dismiss the influence of the moon on such phenomena. Campbell and Beets
(1978) found no relationship between the phase of the moon and the number of psychiatric
hospital admissions, suicides, or homicides. They suggest that any findings to the contrary are a
particular type of statistical error. This echoes the findings of Walters, Markeley, and Tiffany
(1975), who studied the relationship between lunar phases and the number of emergency contacts
to a community mental health facility. A meta-analysis of 37 studies (Rotton & Kelly, 1985) also
refuted the supposed link between madness and the moon, attributing any links to various errors
on the parts of some other researchers. Similar findings were reported more recently by Owens
and McGowan (2006).
However, in an article looking at both the positive and negative findings of various researchers in
this area, Vines (2001) posits a possible explanation that might link the phase of the moon to
human behavior, taking social and historical technological change into account, along with data
on human biorhythms.
Does the moon influence human behavior? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own
conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in
thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Blackman, S., & Catalina, D. (1973). The moon and the emergency room. Perceptual and
Motor Skills, 37, 624–626.
Campbell, D. E., & Beets, J. L. (1978). Lunacy and the moon. Psychological Bulletin, 85,
1123–1129.
Lieber, A. L., & Sherin, C. R. (1972). Homicides and the lunar cycle: Toward a theory of
lunar influence on human emotional disturbance. American Journal of Psychiatry,
129, 69–74.
Owens, M., & McGowan, I. W. (2006). Madness and the moon: The lunar cycle and
psychopathology. German Journal of Psychiatry, 9(1), 123-127.
Rotton, J., & Kelly, I. W. (1985). Much ado about the full moon: A meta-analysis of lunarlunacy research. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 286–306.
Sims, P. (2007, June 7). British cops shine light on late-night lunacy. The Courier Mail.
Retrieved on 4 September, 2007, from http://www.news.com.au/story/
0,23599,21864175-13762,00.html.
Tasso, J., & Miller, E. (1976). The effects of the full moon on human behavior. The Journal
of Psychology, 93, 81–83.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
8
Townley, J. (1997). Can the full moon affect human behavior [Electronic version]?
In J. Townley Dynamic Astrology: Using Planetary Cycles to Make Personal and
Career Choices. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books. Retrieved on July 23, 2007, from
http://www.innerself.com/Astrology/full_moon.htm.
Vines, G. (2001, June 23). Blame it on the moonlight [Electronic copy]. New Scientist,
170(2296), 36–39. Retrieved July 23, 2007, from EBSCO Academic Premier
database.
Walters, E., Markley, R. P., & Tiffany, D. W. (1975). Lunacy: A type I error? Journal of
Abnormal Psychology, 84, 715–717.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
9
CHAPTER
3
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 3.1:
Is There a Biological Basis for Morality?
What is the source of morality? Recently, some scholars have suggested that morality is not
something learned, but is inherent in the biological structure of the brain (Broom, 2006). Others
believe it is something that is not at all connected to biology, but to other factors such as identity
(Hardy & Carlo, 2005), parental influence (White & Matawie, 2004), and temperament (Kagan,
2005). Some psychologists (Flack & de Waal, 2000; Loye, 2002) look at the evolutionary basis
of morality, as well.
Use the critical thinking approach to determine whether morality is biologically based and a
result of the evolution of the brain. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source
material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Broom, D. M. (2006). The evolution of morality. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 100,
20–28.
Flack, J. C., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2000). Any animal whatever: Darwinian building blocks
of morality in monkeys and apes. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7(1–2), 1–29.
Hardy, S. A. & Carlo, G. (2005). Identity as a source of moral motivation. Human
Development, 48, 232–256.
Kagan, J. (2005). Human morality and temperament. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation,
51, 1–32.
Loye, D. (2002). The moral brain. Brain and Mind, 3, 133–150.
White, F. A. & Matawie, K. M. (2004). Parental morality and family processes as predictors
of adolescent morality. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 13, 219–233.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
10
ACTIVITY 3.2:
The Age of Responsibility
The psychologist G. Stanley Hall linked adolescence to all sorts of social problems (Hall, 1904).
Little seems to have changed in over 100 years—current newspapers and magazines are
constantly bombarding us with information about the terrible nature of adolescents. They tell us
that teenagers all over the world are violent, evil people who will kill or hurt others on impulse
(Arinde, 2006; Larimer, 2000). They’re responsible for all sorts of crime; the tide of adolescent
viciousness is rising.
Steinberg and Scott (2003) argue that adolescents should not be held responsible for murder or
other similar infractions, as their brains have not yet reached maturity. Beckman (2004) provides
a good overview of some of the issues involved. Others posit that the relative immaturity of the
adolescent is not the causal factor in such crimes. They mention factors such as parental levels of
morality (White & Matawie, 2004), depression (Ritakallio, Kaltiala-Heino, Kivivuori,
Luukkaala, & RimpelÄ, 2006), and community violence (Patchin, Huebner, McClusky, Varano,
& Bynum, 2006).
Use the critical thinking approach to determine whether Steinberg and Scott are correct in stating
that adolescents should not be held to the same degree of responsibility for their immoral actions
as adults. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in
thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Arinde, N. (2006, February 16). Gangland, New York City, part 2. New York Amsterdam
News, 97(8), pp. 3, 34.
Beckman, M. (2004). Crime, culpability, and the adolescent brain. Science, 305, 596–599.
Hall, G. S. (1904). Adolescence—Its psychology and its relations to physiology,
anthropology, sociology, sex, crime, religion, and education. New York: D. Appleton
and Company.
Larimer, T. (2000, August 28). Natural-born killers? Time, 156(9), 37.
Patchin, J. W., Huebner, B. M., McClusky, J. D., Varano, S. P., & Bynum, T. S. (2006).
Exposure to community violence and childhood delinquency. Crime & Delinquency,
52, 307–332.
Ritakallio, M., Kaltiala-Heino, R., Kivivuori, J., Luukkaala, T., & RimpelÄ, M. (2006).
Delinquency and the profile of offences among depressed and non-depressed
adolescents. Criminal Behaviour & Mental Health, 16, 100–110.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
11
Steinberg, L. & Scott, E. S. (2003). Less guilty by reason of adolescence: Developmental
immaturity, diminished responsibility, and the juvenile death penalty. American
Psychologist, 58, 1009–1018.
White, F. A. & Matawie, K. M. (2004). Parental morality and family processes as predictors
of adolescent morality. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 13, 219–233.
ACTIVITY 3.3:
He Thinks, She Thinks
In 2005, Lawrence H. Summers stirred up a major controversy when he spoke at the National
Bureau of Economic Research Conference on Women and Science. In his apology, Summers
(2005) says that he unintentionally gave the impression that men were biologically better
qualified to succeed in the sciences than women. This has generated a good deal of scientific and
political debate, with many intelligent people arguing on both sides of the issue. Some
neuroscientists provide arguments for (Hines, Chiu, McAdams, Bentler, & Lipcamon, 1992) or
against (Byne, Bleier, & Houston, 1988) gender differences based on the structure of the brain,
specifically a part of the brain called the corpus callosum. Other sources cite discrimination
(Committee on Women Faculty in the School of Science, 1999), differing levels of “job
involvement” and perceived levels of autonomy (Lorence, 2001), or socialization (Roger &
Duffield, 2000) as the source of differences in women and men’s success in the sciences.
What is closer to the truth? Are men biologically better adapted to scientific work than women?
Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your
thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer
the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Byne, W., Bleier, R., & Houston, L. (1988). Variations in human corpus callosum do not
predict gender: A study using magnetic resonance imaging. Behavioral Neuroscience,
102, 222–227.
Committee on Women Faculty in the School of Science. (1999). A study on the status of
women faculty in science at MIT: How a committee on women faculty came to be
established by the dean of the School of Science, what the committee and the dean
learned and accomplished, and recommendations for the future. Retrieved December
29, 2006, from MIT Web site: http://web.mit.edu/fnl/women/women.pdf.
Hines, M., Chiu, L., McAdams, L. A., Bentler, P. M. & Lipcamon, J. (1992). Cognition and
the corpus callosum: Verbal fluency, visuospatial ability, and language lateralization
related to midsagittal surface areas of callosal subregions. Behavioral Neuroscience,
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
12
106, 3–14.
Lorence, J. (2001). A test of “gender” and “job” models of sex differences in job
involvement. Social Forces, 66, 121–142.
Roger, A. & Duffield, J. (2000). Factors underlying persistent gendered option choices in
school science and technology in Scotland. Gender & Education, 12, 367–383.
Summers, L. H. (2005). Letter from President Summers on women and science. Retrieved
December 29, 2006, from Harvard University, Office of the President Web site:
http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/2005/womensci.html.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
13
CHAPTER
4
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 4.1:
Hey Kid, Turn Down That Darned Noise!
Apple’s iPod™ and other music players have become incredibly popular. Wired Magazine
reports that despite the fact that Microsoft manufactures a competing product, the iPod is wildly
popular on the Microsoft campus, much to the annoyance of Microsoft founder Bill Gates
(Kahney, 2005). Even colleges and universities are using iPods to disseminate information to
students and others, and for use in student projects (Brandeis, 2005; Broome, 2007; Martin,
2007).
And yet, many researchers (Geiger, 2006; Moore, 2006; Shafer, 2006) warn that using the iPod
may damage your hearing. This may be due to of the design of the earbuds (Keizer, 2005) or the
volumes at which people listen (Hitti, 2006). In fact, a class-action suit regarding this has been
filed against Apple (Keizer, 2006).
Are these worries overblown? Would colleges and universities promote the use of a technology
that causes relatively permanent harm to its users? Is the iPod dangerous? Have your experiences
with iPods been good or bad? Do you see valid points on both sides?
Use the critical thinking method to evaluate the evidence and decide if the iPod is dangerous. Be
sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically,
you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Brandeis University. (2005). Welcome to the home of the iPod experience! Retrieved July
23, 2007, from Brandeis University Web site: http://lts.brandeis.edu/teachlearn/ipod/
index.html.
Broome Community College. (2007). About BCC on iTunes U. Retrieved on July 23, 2007,
from Broome Community College Web site: http://itunes.sunybroome.edu/
overview.php.
Geiger, D. (2006). When modern life pumps up the volume, give your ears some TLC.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
14
Retrieved on July 23, 2007, from CNN.com Web site: http://www.cnn.com/2007/
HEALTH/04/10/healthmag.hearing/.
Hitti, M. (2006, March 16). Teens’ MP3 habits may up hearing loss: Adults listen longer, but
teens turn the volume up higher. Retrieved on July 23, 2007, from WebMD Medical
News Web site: http://www.webmd.com/news/20060316/
teens-mp3-habits-may-up-hearing-loss.
Kahney, L. (2005, February 2). Hide your iPod, here comes Bill. Retrieved on July 23, 2007,
from Wired Magazine Web site: http://www.wired.com/print/gadgets/mac/
commentary/cultofmac/2005/02/66460.
Keizer, G. (2005, December 19). Eh? iPod earbuds can cause hearing loss. Retrieved on July
23, 2007, from Information Week Web site: http://www.informationweek.com/story/
showArticle.jhtml?articleID=175006733.
Keizer, G. (2006, February 2). Apple hit with iPod hearing loss lawsuit. Retrieved on July
23, 2007, from Information Week Web site: http://www.informationweek.com/story/
showArticle.jhtml?articleID=178601009.
Martin, N. (2007, May 25). iPod study plants seeds of change. Retrieved on July 23, 2007,
from Texas Tech Today Web site:
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/communications/news/stories/
07-05-food-safety-ipod.php.
Moore, M. (2006). Hispanics may face higher risk for hearing loss from iPods, other MP3
players. ASHA Leader, 11(17), 3,17.
Shafer, D. N. (2006). Noise-induced hearing loss hits teens. ASHA Leader, 11(5), 1, 27.
ACTIVITY 4.2:
Blind People Hear Better
As you know, people are highly adaptable. If something goes wrong in your life, you can often
compensate for it by changing other aspects of what you do. Many people believe that when
someone has an impaired sense, such as sight, they can compensate by developing more
sensitivity in one of their other senses. For example, it is often said that blind people have more
sensitive hearing than sighted people. Locke, Voltaire, and other philosophers subscribed to that
theory, and many of us might want to believe it; it has a certain ring of fairness to it—a loss in
one part of a person’s life is compensated by a gain in another.
Many psychologists consider this sort of compensation a myth, citing such concepts as the all-ornothing principle (recall the discussion of action potentials and the firing of neurons in your
textbook, Bernstein, Penner, Clarke-Stewart, & Roy, 2008) which states that neurons either fire
or don’t fire, but cannot fire by degrees. They also point out that the physical structures of
hearing (pinnae, tympanic membrane, bones of the middle ear, etc.) are the same for blind and
sighted individuals (see the diagram in your book, Bernstein et al., 2008, p. 114).
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
15
However, other psychologists have looked at the plasticity of the brain, which suggests that
compensation might be possible (recall the discussion of plasticity in Bernstein, et al., 2008).
Sahlman and Koper (1992) found that blind individuals detected lies with far greater accuracy
than sighted individuals. Furthermore, people who lost their sight early in life had a greater
ability to locate the sources of sounds than sighted individuals (Lessard, Paré, Lepore, &
Lassonde, 1998). These results were echoed by Voss, Lassonde, Gougoux, Fortin, Guillemot,
and Lepore (2004), who posited that this greater ability might be due to early reorganization of
the cortex, a theory supported by the work of Rauschecker and Korte (1993), who found such
reorganization in the brains of cats. Yet other researchers (Morgan, 1999; Zwiers, Van Opstal, &
Cruysberg, 2001) point out numerous flaws in such experiments.
Do blind people compensate for their lack of sight by developing better hearing? Use the critical
thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible
source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Bernstein, D. A., Penner, L. A., Clarke-Stewart, A., & Roy, E. J. (2008). Psychology (8th
ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Lessard, N., Paré, M., Lepore, F., & Lassonde, M. (1998). Early-blind human subjects
localize sound sources better than sighted subjects. Nature, 395(6699), 278–280.
Morgan, M. (1999). Sensory perception: Supernormal hearing in the blind? Current Biology,
9, 53–54.
Rauschecker, J. P., & Korte, M. (1993). Auditory compensation for early blindness in cat
cerebral cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 13, 4538–4548.
Sahlman, J. M., & Koper, R. J. (1992, May). Do you hear what I hear?: Deception detection
by the blind. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International
Communication Association, Miami, FL. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
EC301405.
Voss, P., Lassonde, M., Gougoux, F., Fortin, M., Guillemot, J.-P., & Lepore, F. (2004).
Early- and late-onset blind individuals show supra-normal auditory abilities in farspace. Current Biology, 14, 1734–1738.
Zwiers, M. P., Van Opstal, A. J., & Cruysberg, J. R. M. (2001). A spatial hearing deficit in
early-blind humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 21(9), 1–5.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
16
ACTIVITY 4.3:
How Do You Know You Won’t Like It, If You Don’t
Try a Little?
When you were a small child, did your parents ever try to get you to eat something that you were
convinced you wouldn’t like? Why did you think you wouldn’t like it? Did you actually like it,
or did your preconceptions make it taste awful? Do you know people who seem to enjoy what
you consider terrible-tasting foods (such as Limburger cheese or single-malt scotch whiskey),
just because they’re high-status foods?
Some psychologists suggest that our expectations can actually change our sensory experiences.
For instance, Rozin, Fallon, and Augustini-Ziskind (1985) and Rozin and Fallon (1987) note that
even though children might like certain foods, they begin to find them disgusting after they’ve
come into contact with some other food that they find disgusting. Ratings of wines also seem to
be heavily influenced by expectations (Friedman & Fireworker, 1977). In fact, expectations
about the quality of a wine were found to influence diners’ enjoyment and evaluation of the
quality of an entire meal, and how much of that meal they actually eat (Payne & Wansink, 2007;
Wansink, Payne, & North, 2007). Taste experiments on beer (Lee, Frederick, & Ariely, 2006)
and soups (Prescott & Young, 2002) also showed that expectations had a major impact on flavor
ratings.
Is this a real effect, or is something else going on? Use the critical thinking method to come to
your own conclusion about whether preconceptions change our sensory experiences. Be sure to
support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you
need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Friedman, H. H., & Fireworker, R. B. (1977). The susceptibility of consumers to unseen
group influences. Journal of Social Psychology, 102, 155–156.
Lee, L., Frederick, S., & Ariely, D. (2006). Try it, you=11 like it: The influence of
expectation, consumption, and revelation on preferences for beer. Psychological
Science, 17, 1054–1058.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
17
Payne, C., & Wansink, B. (2007). How wine expectations influence meal evaluations and
consumption. FASEB Journal, 21(5), 327.
Prescott, J., & Young, A. (2002). Does information about MSG (monosodium glutamate)
content influence consumer ratings of soups with and without added MSG? Appetite,
39(1), 25–33.
Rozin, P., & Fallon, A. (1987). A perspective on disgust. Psychological Review, 94, 23–41.
Rozin, P., Fallon, A., & Augustoni-Ziskind, M. (1985). The child’s conception of food: The
development of contamination sensitivity to “disgusting” substances. Developmental
Psychology, 21, 1075–1079.
Wansink, B., Payne, C., & North, J. (2007). Fine as North Dakota wine: Sensory
expectations and the intake of companion foods. FASEB Journal, 21(5), 329.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
18
CHAPTER
5
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 5.1:
Multitasking Makes Life Easier
Have you ever watched someone driving while talking on a cell phone, drinking a cup of coffee,
and chatting with people in their car? Have you ever tried to study while also watching
television, listening to something on your MP3 player, snacking, checking your e-mail, and
talking to someone on the telephone? Many people believe that doing many things at once is far
more efficient than doing one thing at a time. Articles in the popular press and some industry
journals tell us that multitasking is not only necessary and useful (Booth, 2004; Overholt, 2002),
but that it can enhance our working lives (Cook, 2005). Others talk about the dangers of
multitasking in terms of driving safety (Peters & Peters, 2002), productivity (Davidson, 2006),
and learning (Baddeley, Lewis, Eldridge, & Thomson, 1984; Blume, 2001). Still others
(Greenwald, 2004; Wasson, 2004) discuss potentially good and bad aspects of the behavior.
Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion about the utility of
multitasking. Does it help people become more effective and efficient? Be sure to support your
thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer
the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Baddeley, A., Lewis, V., Eldridge, M., & Thomson, N. (1984). Attention and retrieval from
long-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, 518–540.
Blume, H. (2001). Mnemonic plague. American Prospect, 12(14), 39–41.
Booth, J. E. (2004). The art of juggling. Association Management, 56(5), 69.
Cook, P. (2005). Women in the workplace. Chemistry & Industry, 1, 12–13.
Davidson, J. (2006). Why multitasking backfires. Associations Now, 2(6), 14.
Greenwald, A. G. (2004). On doing two things at once: IV. Necessary and sufficient
conditions: Rejoinder to Lien, Proctor, and Ruthruff (2003). Journal of Experimental
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
19
Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 30, 632–636.
Overholt, A. (2002). The art of multitasking. Fast Company, 63, 118–125.
Peters, G. A., & Peters, B. J. (2002). The distracted driver: How dangerous is
“multitasking”? Professional Safety, 47(3), 34–40.
Wasson, C. (2004). Multitasking during virtual meetings. Human Resource Planning, 27(4),
47–60.
ACTIVITY 5.2:
Racial Profiling and National Security
In recent years, there has been a major thrust to identify and capture suspected terrorists before
they can do any harm to the public. Newspaper columnists such as Nicolas Kristof (2002) have
called for racial profiling to assist in this effort. Yet as both the New York Times (“The New
Airport Profiling,” 2003) and Newsweek (Begley et al., 2001) note, profiling may not be a
successful strategy. Yetman (2004) seems to argue that profiling may be helpful, and that it will
occur, in any case. Grimland, Apter, and Kerkhof (2006) argue that the number of factors
influencing suicide bombers suggests that they cannot be profiled successfully. Complicating this
debate is America’s stated support for equality and the possible conflict between profiling and
the civil liberties of the targeted people.
Is the use of racial or ethnic profiling effective in identifying possible terrorists? Use the critical
thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible
source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Begley, S., Clemetson, L., Rogers, A., Levy, S., McGrath, P., Chen, J., & Underhill, W.
(2001, October 1). As America vows ‘never again,’ it is launching a series of
antiterrorism measures—from ethnic profiling to snooping through your personal email. Newsweek, 138(14), 58–62.
Grimland, M., Apter, A., & Kerkhof, A. (2006). The phenomenon of suicide bombing:
A review of psychological and nonpsychological factors. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis
Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 27(3), 107–118.
Kristof, N. D. (2002, May 31). Liberal reality check: When racial profiling works [Editorial].
New York Times, 151(52135), p. A25.
The New Airport Profiling. (2003, March 11). [Editorial]. New York Times, 152(52419),
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
20
p. A28.
Yetman, J. (2004). Suicidal terrorism and discriminatory screening: An efficiency-equity
trade-off. Defence and Peace Economics, 15, 221–230.
ACTIVITY 5.3:
The Roller Coaster of Love
What makes us fall in love? Why does one person completely bowl us over, while others make
no impression at all? Is it fate, or is it something much simpler? Some psychologists suggest that
it might be a phenomenon called excitation transfer, which is “the process of carrying over
arousal from one experience to an independent situation” (Bernstein, Penner, Clarke-Stewart, &
Roy, 2008, p. 447). For example, if you’ve just finished working out and an attractive person
smiles at you, you’re likely to think that it’s his smile that’s making your heart pound, so you’re
likely to have a much stronger emotional reaction than you would have if you’d met him when
you were relaxed and just sitting around.
Evidence supporting this position has been posited by several researchers (Lewandowski &
Aron, 2004; Meston & Frohlich, 2003; Walsh, Meister, & Kleinke, 1977). In fact, McClanahan,
Gold, Lenney, Ryckman, and Kulberg (1990) found that even when people were dissimilar,
which usually results in dislike, transferred excitation would result in attraction.
Cotton (1981) disagreed, suggesting that the evidence is not convincing, and that there may be
other explanations. Meston and Frohlich (2003) reported that although excitation transfer was
strong with non-romantic partners, it wasn’t if the people being tested already had an ongoing
romantic relationship with each other. Other psychologists feel that other factors such as
perceived similarity (Jones, Pelham, Carvallo, & Mirenberg, 2004; Montoya & Horton, 2004),
the influence of friends (Graziano, Jensen-Campbell, Shevilske, & Lundgren, 1993), and
physical beauty (Maner et al., 2003) might have considerably more influence on possible
romantic feelings. Robert Baron (1987) even found evidence for the influence of negatively
charged ions in the environment.
What is the truth? Is transferred excitation as influential in stirring romance as some might
suggest? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support
your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to
answer the following questions:
1. What am I being asked to believe or accept?
2. What evidence is there to support the assertion?
3. Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
21
4. What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
5. What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Baron, R. A. (1987). Effects of negative ions on interpersonal attraction: Evidence for
intensification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 547–553.
Bernstein, D. A., Penner, L. A., Clarke-Stewart, A., & Roy, E. J. (2008). Psychology (8th
ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Cotton, J. L. (1981). A review of research on Schachter’s theory of emotion and the
misattribution of arousal. European Journal of Social Psychology, 11, 365–397.
Graziano, W. G., Jensen-Campbell, L. A., Shebilske, L. J., & Lundgren, S. R. (1993). Social
influence, sex differences, and judgments of beauty: Putting the interpersonal back in
interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 522–531.
Jones, J. T., Pelham, B. W., Carvallo, M., & Mirenberg, M. C. (2004). How do I love thee?
Let me count the Js: Implicit egotism and interpersonal attraction. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 665–683.
Lewandowski, G. W., & Aron, A. P. (2004). Distinguishing arousal from novelty and
challenge in initial romantic attraction between strangers. Social Behavior and
Personality, 32, 361–372.
Maner, J. K., Kenrick, D. T., Becker, D. V., Delton, A. W., Hofer, B., Wilbur, C. J., &
Neuberg, S. L. (2003). Sexually selective cognition: Beauty captures the mind of the
beholder. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1107–1120.
McClanahan, K. K., Gold, J. A., Lenney, E., Ryckman, R. M., & Kulberg, G. E. (1990).
Infatuation and attraction to a dissimilar other: Why is love blind? Journal of Social
Psychology, 130, 433–445.
Meston, C. M., & Frohlich, P. F. (2003). Love at first fright: Partner salience moderates
roller-coaster-induced excitation transfer. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 32, 537–544.
Montoya, R. M., & Horton, R. S. (2004). On the importance of cognitive evaluation as a
determinant of interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
86, 696–712.
Walsh, N. A., Meister, L. A., & Kleinke, C. L. (1977). Interpersonal attraction and visual
behavior as a function of perceived arousal and evaluation by an opposite sex p erson.
Journal of Social Psychology, 103, 65–74.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
22
CHAPTER
6
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 6.1:
Hypnopædia (“Sleep Learning”)
According to the dictionary (Hypnopedia, 1987), hypnopædia is “A method of teaching in which
information heard while the learner is asleep is supposed to be retained (p. 831).” The term was
first used by Aldous Huxley (1932) in his novel Brave New World. Imagine learning everything
you need to know for this psychology course by hearing recordings of the textbook and accounts
of exciting experiments read to you each night by Dr. Bernstein. Each morning, you would
awaken with a new store of information, which you would be able to use on later examinations,
and later in life as you need to solve psychologically based problems. It sounds too good to be
true. Is it?
Almost as soon as the idea was issued, psychologists became interested in testing it. Leshan
(1942) found that hypnopædia helped people stop biting their nails. Some researchers (Fox &
Robbin, 1952) reported that subjects actually learned information during sleep. Other researchers
(Simon & Emmons, 1955; Simon & Emmons, 1956) determined that any learning actually took
place during a waking state, not during actual sleep. In his review of the literature on
hypnopædia, Aarons (1976) found several anomalies in the various studies which might have
accounted for the differing results and called for more controlled experimentation. The debate is
still raging.
Is hypnopædia effective? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be
sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically,
you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Aarons, L. (1976). Sleep-assisted instruction. Psychological Bulletin, 83, 1–40.
Fox, B. H. & Robbin, J. S. (1952). The retention of material presented during sleep. Journal
of Experimental Psychology, 43, 75–79.
Huxley, A. (1932). Brave New World, London: Chatto & Windus.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
23
Hypnopedia. (1987). In The American Heritage Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin.
Leshan, L. (1942). The breaking of a habit by suggestion during sleep. Journal of Abnormal
and Social Psychology, 37, 406–408.
Simon, C. W., & Emmons, W. H. (1955). Learning during sleep? Psychological Bulletin, 52,
328–342.
Simon, C. W., & Emmons, W. H. (1956). Responses to material presented during various
levels of sleep. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 51, 89–97.
ACTIVITY 6.2:
Never Change Answers on a Multiple Choice Test
Your teachers or parents have likely given you lots of advice about how to study and take tests.
One common piece of advice is that you should never change your answers on a multiple-choice
test, but should always go with your first “gut feeling” if in doubt. Several online sources
(Dummies.com, n.d.; Fat Campus Test Taking Strategies, n.d.; Test Taking Strategy from the
Editors at Campus Expert, n.d.) give this advice. However, not all students seem to take this
advice. According to several researchers (Ballance, 1977; Frederickson, 1999; McMorris &
Weidemann, 1986), most students change their answers.
But does it help? A good deal of research on changing answers has been done by psychologists
over the years. Matthews (1929), Reile (1952), Reiling and Taylor (1972), and Vispoel (2000)
are among many researchers who studied the success rates of students who changed answers on
tests.
Should you stick with your first impulse on multiple-choice tests? Use the critical thinking
method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source
material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Ballance, C.T. (1977). Students’ expectations and their answer-changing behavior.
Psychological Reports, 41, 163–166.
Dummies.com. (n.d.). Discovering test taking strategies for the GED. Retrieved on
January 15, 2007, from http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/
id-1753,subcat-TESTPREP.html?print=true.
Fat Campus Test Taking Strategies. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15, 2007, from http://
fatcampus.com/test.htm.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
24
Frederickson, C.G. (1999). Multiple-choice answer changing: A type connection? Journal of
Psychological Type, 51, 40–46.
Mathews, C.O. (1929). Erroneous first impressions on objective tests Journal of Educational
Psychology, 20, 280–286.
McMorris, R.F. & Weideman, A.H. (1986). Answer changing after instruction on answer
changing. Measurement & Evaluation in Counseling & Development, 19, 93–101.
Reile, P. J. (1952). Should students change their initial answers on objective-type tests? More
evidence regarding an old problem. Journal of Educational Psychology, 43, 110–115.
Reiling, E. & Taylor, R. (1972). A new approach to the problem of changing initial responses
to multiple choice questions. Journal of Educational Measurement, 9, 67–70.
Test Taking Strategy from the Editors at Campus Expert. (n.d.) Retrieved January 15, 2 007,
from http://www.campusexpert.com/test.htm.
Vispoel, W. P. (2000). Reviewing and changing answers on computerized fixed -item
vocabulary tests. Educational & Psychological Measurement, 60, 371–384.
ACTIVITY 6.3:
A Computer on Every Desk
Many parents, educators, and reporters believe that all children can benefit from having
computers at school (Bergin, Ford, & Hess, 1993; de Pommereau, 1997; Elliot, 2000). Some of
the advantages they describe are that students will become better writers by using word
processing software; will achieve better learning outcomes; will be more aware of current events
by being able to access a world of information on the Internet; will learn to communicate better
by using e-mail and instant messaging, and will become more equitable and cooperative. Others
believe that computers may not be as useful or helpful as some might hope, either because they
are less suitable for educational tasks (Attewell, Belkis, & Battle, 2003; Cunningham &
Stanovich, 1990; Toppo, 2006), because they will not be properly adopted by educators
(Reynolds, Treharne, & Tripp, 2003), or because they will not be accessible to children outside
of school (Selwyn & Bullon, 2000). Some feel that computer use will discourage students from
learning, from paying attention in class and from interacting with people; that computer use may
not be as effective as other teaching methods; and that using computers in school may harm
students socially and physically. Even early researchers noted that there were major issues to be
resolved before allowing computers to become part of children’s daily life in school (Lepper,
1985).
What do you think? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion about
whether computers are beneficial in the classroom. Be sure to support your thoughts with
credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1. What am I being asked to believe or accept?
2. What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
25
3. Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
4. What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
5. What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Attwell, P., Belkis, S-G., & Battle, J. (2003). Computers and young children: Social benefit
or social problem? Social Forces, 82, 277–296.
Bergin, D. A., Ford, M. E., & Hess, R. D. (1993). Patterns of motivation and social behavior
associated with microcomputer use of young children. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 85, 437–445.
Cunningham, A., & Stanovich, K. E. (1990). Early spelling acquisition: Writing beats the
computer. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 159–162.
de Pommereau, I. (1997, April 21). Computers give children the key to learning.
Christian Science Monitor, 89(101), 11.
Elliot, I. (2000, April). A laptop in every backpack. Teaching PreK-8, 30(7), 40–43.
Lepper, M. (1985). Microcomputers in education: Motivational and social issues.
American Psychologist, 40, 1–18.
Reynolds, D., Treharne, D., & Tripp, H. (2003). ICT–the hopes and the reality. British
Journal of Educational Technology, 34, 151–167.
Selwyn, N. & Bullon, K. (2000). Primary school children’s use of ICT. British Journal of
Educational Technology, 31, 321–332.
Toppo, G. (2006, April 11). Computers may not boost student achievement. USA Today, 08d.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
26
CHAPTER
7
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 7.1:
Is Fish Really Brain Food?
For many years, people have believed that eating fish will help make you smarter and improve
your memory, referring to fish as “brain food” (Calon et al., 2004; Kirchheimer, 2004; Marano,
2004; Warner, 2004). Yet some researchers note that eating fish may cause memory problems
(Schantz et al., 2001).
Can you improve your memory by eating more fish or by taking supplements that contain fish oil
or other fish byproducts? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be
sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically,
you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Calon, F., Lim, G. P., Yang, F., Morihara, T., Teter, B., Ubeda, O., Rostaing, P., Triller, A.,
Salem, N., Ashe, K. H., Frautschy, S. A., & Cole, G. M. (2004). Docosahexaenoic
acid protects from dendritic pathology in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model.
Neuron, 43, 633–645.
Kirchheimer, S. (2004, September 1). Why fish seems to prevent Alzheimer’s damage: Study
shows DHA in omega-3 fatty acid lowers Alzheimer’s disease risk. WebMD Medical
News. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/93/102368.htm.
Marano, H. E. (2004, March 16). FoodnMood: Save your brain. Psychology Today. Retrieved
January 13, 2007, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/
pto-20040316–000006.html.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
27
Schantz, S. L., Gassior, D. M., Polverejan, E., McCaffrey, R. J., Sweeney, A. M., Humphrey,
H. E. B., & Gardiner, J. C. (2001). Impairments of memory and learning in older
adults exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls via consumption of Great Lakes fish.
Environmental Health Perspectives, 109, 605–611.
Warner, J. (2004). Fish may protect brain from effects of aging: Fatty fish may help prevent
Alzheimer’s, but other fats raise risks. WebMD Medical News. Retrieved from
http://www.webmd.com/content/Article/80/96450.htm.
ACTIVITY 7.2:
Cramming for Success
One constant from grade school through post-graduate study is that students take many tests. To
pass them, you may have to learn a lot of information in a very short time. That’s not easy.
Because there are many demands on a student’s time, one strategy people may use is cramming.
This means that they study everything they need to know on the day before a test, so that it’s
fresh in their minds when they have to take the exam. In fact, they may study all night and into
the next day in order to read everything, usually using a rote memorization strategy. They may
also use specialized tools, such as flash cards or other study aids. In some cases, this works well.
Smart crammers may pass their examinations (Martel & Hemphill, 1996; Tigner, 1999). Others
say it does not work under most circumstances (Tigner, 1999). Miller’s (1956) work on the limits
of memory capacity may have some bearing. Some researchers report mixed results (Romano,
Wallace, Helmick, Carey, & Adkins, 2005). Researchers looking at long-term retention imply
that distributed practice, or spaced learning, tends to yield much better results (Conway, Cohen,
& Stanhope, 1992).
So, is cramming a good strategy for learning? Will people who cram for examinations be able to
retain the information and use it in productive ways? Use the critical thinking method to come to
your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember
that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Conway, M. A., Cohen, G., & Stanhope, N. (1992). Very long-term memory for knowledge
acquired at school and university. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 6, 467–482.
Martel, J. & Hemphill, S. (1996, October 17). Getting ahead: Upgrade now! Rolling Stone,
745, p. 113–116.
Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our
capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 81–97.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
28
Romano, J., Wallace, T. L., Helmick, I. J., Carey, L. M., & Adkins, L. (2005). Study
procrastination, achievement, and academic motivation in web-based and blended
distance learning. Internet & Higher Education, 8, 299–305.
ACTIVITY 7.3:
A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body
In 2001, Newsweek magazine reported that keeping physically fit helps us stay mentally fit
(Adler, Raymond, & Underwood, 2001). To this end, many people recommend lifelong sports
such as hiking, golf, or tennis that can be played well into old age (Brainy Hikers, 2005). They
believe that by engaging in these sports, you challenge yourself to think and remember things in
ways that promote good long-term memory and problem solving ability. However, not all sports
are helpful to all people. Christensen and Mackinnon (1993) note that certain types of physical
activity were linked to certain types of memory gains and task performance. Slosman and
colleagues (2004) report on the effects of scuba diving on memory, for example.
Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion about whether engaging in
lifelong sports will help you retain your long-term memory. Be sure to support your thoughts
with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the
following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Adler, J., Raymond, J., & Underwood, A. (2001, Fall/Winter). Fighting back with sweat.
Newsweek, 138(11), 34–41.
Brainy Hikers. (2005, July/August). Backpacker, 33(6), 60.
Christensen, H., & Mackinnon, A. (1993). The association between mental, social and
physical activity and cognitive performance in young and old subjects. Age and
Ageing, 22, 175–182.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
29
Slosman, D. O., de Ribaupierre, S., Chicheriao, C., Ludwig, C., Montandon, M.-L., Allaoua,
M., Genton, L., Pichard, C., Grousset, A., Mayer, E., Annoni, J.-M., & de
Ribaupierre, A. (2004). Negative neurofunctional effects of frequency, depth and
environment in recreational scuba diving: The Geneva “memory dive” study. British
Journal of Sports Medicine, 38, 108–114.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
30
CHAPTER
8
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 8.1:
Children’s Books: Big Words or Little Words?
Many parents and teachers believe that children’s stories should contain simple language,
appropriate to the level of a beginning reader. They feel that if a child encounters too many
difficult or unfamiliar words, the child will become discouraged and will not want to read. This
was the idea behind basal readers, many of which are simplified versions of other stories. In fact,
after an extensive review of the available basal readers, Hill (1997) described basal readers as
excellent resources for learning language at an accessible level. Farr (1988) also extols the value
of the basal readers. Ohanian (1987), however, feels that children benefit from more complex
words and syntactic structures, and that children’s stories should contain more intriguing words
and sentences. Sakari (1996) analyzed basal versions of children’s stories to see how well their
original meanings came through. Other teaching methods have also been compared to the use of
basal readers by several researchers (Popplewell & Doty, 2001).
Do you believe that children’s books should be written at an extremely simple level? Use the
critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with
credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Farr, R. (1988). Reading: A place for basal readers under the whole language umbrella.
Educational Leadership, 46(3), 86.
Green, G. M., & Olsen, M. S. (1986). Preferences for and comprehension of original and
readability-adapted materials. (Technical Report No. 393). Washington: National
Institute of Education.
Hill, D. R. (1997, May 23). Graded (basal) readers—choosing the best. The Language
Teacher Online. Retrieved from http://www.jalt-publications.org/tlt/files/97/may/
choosing.html.
Ohanian, S. (1987, September). Ruffles and flourishes. The Atlantic Monthly, 260(3), 20–21.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
31
Sakari, M. D. (1996). Altering trade books to “fit” literature-based basals. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED396239).
ACTIVITY 8.2:
It’s Just Going Around Right Now
Diagnosing an illness is a form of problem solving. If you watch any episode of the show House
(e.g. House’s New Staff, n.d.), you’ll see Dr. Gregory House and his team use differential
diagnoses to determine the particular diseases or conditions of their patients. Doctors do this by
listing every disease or condition that explains a patient’s symptoms, and then trying to figure
out which particular condition she has through a process of elimination. They are trained to do
this in medical school, much as clinical psychologists are in their graduate programs. In fact,
differential diagnosis is a good example of critical thinking.
Of course, doctors are human, and often take cognitive shortcuts rather than engaging in the
entire process of differential diagnosis. After all, they’re experts, and their experience should
help them cut through a lot of the tedium of working through such a long and involved process.
Researchers suggest that experts use such shortcuts because of their superior knowledge base and
experience at solving particular kinds of problems, and that these shortcuts help them make
faster, better decisions (Davidson, 2003; Zimmerman & Campillo, 2003).
Have you ever gone to the doctor and after describing your symptoms been told that you have
the flu, even though the doctor didn’t examine you or run any tests? Perhaps your doctor had
already seen 20 or 30 other people with these symptoms, so she formed a mental set to use as a
shortcut. (You might want to review the discussion of the mental set in Bernstein, Penner,
Clarke-Stewart, & Roy, 2008.) However, most viral infections have the same symptoms, so you
might have had a much more serious condition. Without a full differential diagnosis, you might
not know that you’ve contracted anthrax until it’s too late. Examples of errors caused by mental
set in medicine abound (Basnyat, 2002; Cathebras, 2002; Kerr, 2004; Verheugt, 2002), and have
been studied by medical professionals (Graber, Franklin, & Gordon, 2005) in an attempt to
identify their causes and come up with possible solutions.
Is this really a problem? Are the heuristic shortcuts that doctors use good because they make
diagnoses and treatments more efficient, or are they shortcuts to disaster? Use the critical
thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible
source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Basnyat, B. (2002). Uses of error: A developing country perspective. The Lancet, 359, 2026.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
32
Bernstein, D. A., Penner, L. A., Clarke-Stewart, A., & Roy, E. J. (2008). Psychology (8th
ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Cathebras, P. (2002). Uses of error: Cure. The Lancet, 359, 2273.
Davidson, J. E. (2003). Insights about insightful problem solving. In J. E. Davidson & R. J.
Sternberg (Eds.) The psychology of problem solving (pp. 149–175). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Graber, M. L., Franklin, N., & Gordon, R. (2005). Diagnostic error in internal medicine.
Archives of Internal Medicine, 165, 1493–1499.
House’s new staff. (n.d.) Retrieved on July 27, 2007, from YouTube.com:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GsXXd_8RsSg.
Kerr, D. J. (2004). Two errors. The Lancet, 364, 907.
Verheugt, F. W. A. (2002). Uses of error: Who is to blame? The Lancet, 360, 789.
Zimmerman, B. J., & Campillo, M. (2003). Motivating self-regulated problem solvers. In J.
E. Davidson & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.) The psychology of problem solving (pp. 233–
262). New York: Cambridge University Press.
ACTIVITY 8.3:
Talent Might Stop You from Being Really Good at Something
NPR’s program From the Top (n.d.) features talented young musicians. Are they brilliant
performing artists because they’re talented or because they work hard? Psychologists have long
debated the question of whether nature or the environment is more important in our development
as individuals, and the relative influences of talent and hard work are among the most studied
areas with regard to this question.
Stories of child prodigies such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John von Neumann, H.P.
Lovecraft, Shirley Temple, and Steve Wozniak abound. In fact, you’ll find an interesting list of
such people on Wikipedia® (List, 2007). Researchers have long argued that such talent is
natural, and is the basis for people’s accomplishments throughout life (Galton, 1865). Some view
a child prodigy as a distinctly gifted individual (Feldman, D. H., 1993). Lubinski, Webb,
Morelock, and Benbow (2001) found that talented early adolescents developed into highly
achieving adults, and Webb, Lubinski, and Benbow (2002) reported that students with a talent
for mathematics became successful in mathematical and scientific fields as adults.
Yet other researchers maintain that what makes people into expert problem solvers is not their
natural talent, but a set of acquired skills, honed through long periods of deliberate practice and
concentrated learning (Ericsson and Charness, 1994). In fact, Ericsson, Krampe, and TeschRömer (1993) found that “individuals acquire virtually all of the distinguishing characteristics of
expert performers through relevant activities (deliberate practice)” (p. 397), and that expertise is
not dependent on unique talent. For example, research on the differences between musicians and
non-musicians found that individuals showed no major differences in most mental abilities
(Helmbold, Rrammsayer, and Altenmüller, 2005). Thus, Sternberg (2001) describes giftedness
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
33
itself as a form of expertise that is actually developed over time, a view that echoes the assertions
of Lubinski and Benbow (2000) and Winner (2000).
Some psychologists imply that being gifted as a child may actually interfere with the
development of expertise. One reason may be that these children won’t feel the need to practice
or critique their own errors while working to improve, or that relentless pushing by adults may
make them lose interest in their abilities, and so they may not become expert performers or
problem solvers as adults unless they are given appropriate educational opportunities to develop
their talents (Winner, 2000). As Lubinski and Benbow (2001) note, becoming an expert involves
certain costs. Other pressures, such as the pressure to fit in, or the jealousy of one’s peers may
also play a role in preventing talented individuals from advancing in expertise (Plucker & Levy,
2001).
Does having an innate talent guarantee that you’ll become an expert at something, or will it
prevent you from doing so? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be
sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically,
you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Ericsson, K. A., & Charness, N. (1994). Expert performance: Its structure and acquisition.
American Psychologist, 49, 725–747.
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in
the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100, 363–406.
Feldman, D. H. (1993). Child prodigies: A distinctive form of giftedness. Gifted Child
Quarterly, 37(4), 188–193.
From the top. (n.d.). Retrieved on July 26, 2007, from http://www.fromthetop.org/.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
34
Galton, F. (1865). Hereditary talent and character [Electronic version]. Macmillan’s
Magazine, 12, 157-166, 318-327. Retrieved on July 28, 2007, from Classics in the
History of Psychology Web site: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Galton/talent.htm.
Helmbold, N., Rammsayer, T., & Altenmüller, E. (2005). Differences in primary mental
abilities between musicians and nonmusicians. Journal of Individual Differences,
26(2), 74–85.
List of child prodigies. (2007). In Wikipedia. Retrieved on July 26, 2997 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_child_prodigies.
Lubinski, D., & Benbow, C. P. (2000). States of excellence. American Psychologist, 55, 137–
150.
Lubinski, D., & Benbow, C. P. (2001). Choosing excellence. American Psychologist, 565,
76–77.
Lubinski, D., Webb, R. M., Morelock, M. J., & Benbow, C. P. (2001). Top 1 in 10,000:
A 10-year follow-up of the profoundly gifted. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86,
718–729.
Plucker, J. A., & Levy, J. J. (2001). The downside of being talented. American Psychologist,
56, 75–76.
Sternberg, R. (2001). Giftedness as developing expertise: A theory of the interface between
high abilities and achieved excellence. High Ability Studies, 12(2), 160–179.
Winner, E. (2000). The origins and ends of giftedness. American Psychologist, 55, 159–169.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
35
CHAPTER
9
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 9.1:
Can You Talk to the Dead?
Many people believe that they can communicate with dead people. Some wish to communicate
with relatives or friends, others with various noteworthy individuals. Often, that communication
is facilitated by individuals called mediums, such as John Edward (http://www.johnedward.net/
about_John_Edward.htm), many of whom have become quite famous and have gathered huge
numbers of followers. Recently, a group of magicians and other experts attempted to contact the
spirit of escape artist Harry Houdini (Barron, 2006). Several spiritualists attempted to
communicate with the spirit of Princess Diana Spencer by using the Eiffel Tower as a psychic
antenna (Yu et al., 2003). The popular press is filled with the exploits of reporters who attend
séances or participate in experiments in parapsychology, hoping to discover the secrets of the
unknown (Miller, 1998; Stanford, 2002).
On the opposing side, scientists investigating the ability of people to communicate with the dead
have exposed numerous tricks, gadgets, elaborate schemes, and the medium’s exploitation of
their clients’ gullibility or hope (Séance, 1999; Wiseman, Greening, & Smith, 2003). James
Randi has long offered a one million dollar prize for any “individual who can prove, in a
controlled setting, that they have ‘super’ powers ” (Randi, n.d.). So far, no one has been able to
claim the money. Many scientists have explained the results of near-death experiences, often
used as demonstrations of life after death, as hallucinations, based in the structure of the brain or
the result of childhood fantasies (Siegel, 1980). Other scientists take issue with such findings
(Stevenson, 1981).
Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion about whether people can
communicate with individuals who have died. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible
source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
36
References:
Barron, J. (2006, November 1). Houdini declines comment, but not for want of trying. New
York Times, 156(53750), p. B2.
Miller, K. (1998, June). Psychics: Science or seance? A reporter visits the twilight zone. Life,
21(7), 80–87.
Randi, J. (n.d.) James Randi Educational Foundation. Retrieved January 30, 2007 from
http://randi.org/.
Séance. (1999). The seance. Skeptic, 7(3), 100–101.
Siegel, R. K. (1980). The psychology of life after death. American Psychologist, 35, 911–
931.
Stanford, P. (2002, April 8). Knock, knock. Who’s there? A dead man’s spirit. New
Statesman, 131(4582), 32–33.
Stevenson, I. (1981). Comments on “The psychology of life after death.” American
Psychologist, 36, 1459–1461.
Wiseman, R., Greening, E., & Smith, M. (2003). Belief in the paranormal and suggestion in
the seance room. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 285–297.
Yu, T., Holmes, A., Wren, J., Davis, C., Doman, J., Fleeman, M., Jones, O., Jordan, J.,
Labossiere, R., Nolan, C., Paley, R., Stein, E., Stueven, M., & Warrick, P. (2003,
February 24). Mediums rare: In search of Diana. People, 59(7), 20.
ACTIVITY 9.2:
The Future Is in Your Dreams
Some people believe that their dreams can help them foretell the future (called “precognitive
dreaming”). This has been a common theme in literature and in many religious texts. Some
researchers (Eisenbud, 1954; Krippner, 1969; Krippner, 1975) have found reasons to support this
idea. Other researchers have determined that precognitive dreaming may be the result of an
inadequate ability to realistically assess probabilities (Blagrove, French, & Jones, 2005) or an
interpretation of meaningful coincidences based on a belief in the paranormal (Houran & Lange,
1998). James Randi (2006) provides a concise overview of the prevailing notions of dreaming as
a way of predicting the future.
Do dreams predict the future? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion.
Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking
critically, you need to answer the following questions:
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
37
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Blagrove, M., French, C., & Jones, G. (2005). Probabilistic reasoning, affirmative bias and
belief in precognitive dreams. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 65–83.
Eisenbud, J. (1954). Behavioral correspondences to normally unpredictable future events.
Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 23, 205–233.
Houran, J., & Lange, R. (1998). Modeling precognitive dreams as meaningful coincidences.
Psychological Reports, 83, 1411–1414.
Krippner, S. (1969). The paranormal dream and man’s pliable future. Psychoanalytic Review,
56, 28–43.
Krippner, S. (1975). Dreams and other altered conscious states. Journal of Communication,
25, 173–182.
Randi, J. (2006). Dreams. In An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult
and Supernatural. Retrieved February 1, 2007, from http://www.randi.org/
encyclopedia/dreams.html.
ACTIVITY 9.3:
Sleep Deprivation
We all need to sleep. Your textbook (Bernstein & Nash, 2008) discusses a number of problems
associated with sleep deprivation, including difficulties with learning, decision-making, driving,
and other activities. Some people are chronically sleep deprived because they suffer from
conditions such as insomnia, sleep apnea, or stress, or because the scheduling of their jobs or
other activities interferes with their ability to get enough sleep. Most studies of sleep deprivation
deal with short-term losses of sleep. Your task is to determine whether long-term sleep
deprivation will result in permanent damage to the abilities of an individual. In other words, will
several weeks or more of sleep deprivation cause long-term damage to the brain?
Some studies, that might be helpful, were done by Blagrove, Alexander, and Horne (1995),
Horne (1978), and Miró, Cano, and Buela-Casal (2002). You might also want to look at
information available from the National Sleep Foundation at (http://www.sleepfoundation.org/).
Does sleep deprivation cause long-term brain damage? Use the critical thinking method to come
to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material.
Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
38
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Bernstein, D. A., & Nash, P. W. (2008). Essentials of Psychology (4th ed.). New York:
Houghton Mifflin.
Blagrove, M., Alexander, C., & Horne, J. A. (1995). The effects of chronic sleep reduction
on the performance of cognitive tasks sensitive to sleep deprivation. Applied
Cognitive Psychology, 9, 21–40.
Horne, J. A. (1978). A review of the biological effects of total sleep deprivation in man.
Biological Psychology, 7, 55–102.
Miró, E., Cano, C., and Buela-Casal, G. (2002). Effects of total sleep deprivation on
cardiovascular parameters: An absence of biologically significant findings? Journal
of Psychophysiology, 16, 119–126.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
39
CHAPTER
10
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 10.1:
Jumbo Intelligence
What is intelligence? Is it possible that other species are as intelligent as human beings?
Research on apes, monkeys, dolphins, dogs, and birds has been going on for many years.
Recently, some researchers have posited that elephants may be extremely intelligent. For
instance, Nissani (2006) looked at whether elephants seem to use causal reasoning in working
with tools. Plotnik, de Waal, and Reiss (2006) investigated whether elephants can successfully
recognize themselves in mirrors. In terms of social knowledge, McComb, Moss, Durant, Baker,
and Sayialel (2001) reported on the abilities of older female elephants, and Slotow, van Dyk,
Poole, Page, and Klocke (2000) studied the possible influence of older male elephants on
younger males. Remember, intelligence is more than the simple ability to learn tricks. It may
involve self-recognition and the ability to understand that another creature may think different
thoughts than you do.
Do elephants think in ways that we might consider intelligent? Use the critical thinking method
to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material.
Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Nissani, M. (2006). Do Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) apply causal reasoning to tooluse tasks? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 32, 91–
96.
McComb, K., Moss, C., Durant, , S. M., Baker, L., & Sayialel S. (2001). Matriarchs as
repositories of social knowledge in African elephants. Science, 292, 491–495.
Plotnik, J. M., de Waal, F. B., and Reiss, D. (2006). Self-recognition in an Asian Elephant.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, 103, 17053–
17057.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
40
Slotow, R., van Dyk, G., Poole, J., Page, B., & Klocke, A. (2000). Older bull elephants
control young males. Nature, 408, 425–426.
ACTIVITY 10.2:
IQ Test Bias
Psychologists have been trying to measure intelligence for many years. Early attempts focused
on the shape or size of the head, the weight of the brain, or the speed with which a person could
perform certain tasks. Modern intelligence tests use more sophisticated methods, but of course, it
is difficult to measure something that isn’t physical, so the results may be questionable. Some
people believe that modern intelligence tests and college entrance examinations are biased
against certain groups of people, women, for example (Sex and intelligence, 2007). If so, this is a
serious problem.
Feingold (1988) reported that such gaps were disappearing, and Cole (1997) reported that the
gap in mathematics scores were small, although women still outscored men on tests of writing
and language. Leonard and Jiang (1999) discussed the under-representation of women in college
due to under-prediction of their abilities by the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American
College Test (ACT). Mau and Lynn (2001) note that although men generally get higher scores on
the SAT and ACT, women actually get higher grades in their college courses.
In looking at possible reasons for a gap in scores, Kimball (1989) proposed that males might
score higher on tests given in novel situations, while females might have an advantage in familiar
settings, such as their normal classrooms. Duckworth and Seligman (2006) suggest that the
actual difference may be that females are more self-disciplined than males, and that this is of
more value in classroom work than on standardized tests.
So, who’s correct? Are these tests biased against women? There seems to be a lot of evidence on
both sides. Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support
your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to
answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Cole, N. S. (1997). The ETS gender study: How males and females perform in educational
settings. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. (ERIC Document Reproduction
Service No. ED424337).
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
41
Duckworth, A. L., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2006). Self-discipline gives girls the edge: Gender
in self-discipline, grades, and achievement test scores. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 98, 198–208.
Feingold, A. (1988). Cognitive gender differences are disappearing. American Psychologist,
43, 95–103.
Kimball, M. M. (1989). A new perspective on women’s math achievement. Psychological
Bulletin, 105, 198–214.
Leonard, D. K., & Jiang, J. (1999). Gender bias and the college predictions of the SATs: A
cry of despair. Research in Higher Education, 40, 375–407.
Mau, W.-C., & Lynn, R. (2001). Gender differences on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the
American College Test, and college grades. Educational Psychology, 21, 133–136.
Sex and intelligence. (2007). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 13,
2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_intelligence.
ACTIVITY 10.3:
Feel Good, Be Good
In 1986, George Deukmejian, then governor of California, created the State Task Force to
Promote Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility (Now, 1986). Among other
objectives, this task force was supposed to understand the relationship between self-esteem and
social and educational problems, and to recommend ways to enhance self-esteem in order to
ameliorate or eliminate those problems. As a result of the task force’s deliberations, many
psychologists began to study the benefits of having high self-esteem.
In their study of 5th and 6th grade students, Wiggins and Schatz (1994) found that self-esteem was
closely related to success in school, so much so that students whose self-esteem rose during the
term managed to achieve much higher grades in the following year. Other studies have found
relationships between self-esteem and aggression or behavioral problems (DuBois et al., 2002;
Tevendale, DuBois, Lopez, & Prindiville, 1997). In their review of over 100 studies of selfesteem, Haney and Durlak (1998) found that programs that concentrated on changing children’s
and adolescents’ self -esteem were more effective at alleviating various behavioral or social
problems than programs focused directly on those problems. DuBois and Flay (2004) also stress
self-esteem’s relationship to general health and socially valuable outcomes.
Given all of the supporting research, it seems that encouraging high levels of self-esteem in
children and adolescents will generate many excellent outcomes, but the picture is not all that
clear. Shaw (1994) states that self-esteem actually has little or no impact on student success,
noting that students’ self-esteem scores have been rising steadily, but that student achievement
has been falling. Other researchers (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003, 2005) note
that the posited relationship is backward, and that one does not do well because of high selfesteem, but that one achieves high self-esteem as a result of one’s accomplishments. In fact, they
note that programs concentrated on boosting self-esteem have little effect on raising academic
achievement, promoting occupational success, lowering violence, or engendering prosocial
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
42
behaviors. This is consonant with the argument that it isn’t self-esteem, but how one pursues it,
that is most important, and that there are many costs to the direct pursuit of self-esteem (Crocker
and Park, 2004).
The enhancement of self-esteem in the schools is a topic of great debate. Some educators believe
fervently in its power to help students boost their achievement, while others feel that it has either
no effect or a negative effect. As a psychologist, you are in an excellent position to help people
decide which is true. Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure
to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you
need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger, J. I., & Vohs, K. D. (2003). Does high
self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier
lifestyles? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 1-44.
Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger, J. I., & Vohs, K. D. (2005, January). Exploding
the self-esteem myth. Scientific American, 292(1), 84–91.
Crocker, J., & Park, L. E. (2004). The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological Bulletin,
130, 392–414.
DuBois, D. L., Burk-Braxton, C., Swenson, L. P., Tevendale, H. D., Lockerd, E. M., &
Moran, B. L. (2002). Getting by with a little help from self and others: Self-esteem
and social support as resources during early adolescence. Developmental Psychology,
38, 822–840.
DuBois, D. L., & Flay, B. R. (2004). The healthy pursuit of self-esteem: Comment on and
alternative to the Crocker and Park (2004) formulation. Psychological Bulletin, 130,
415–420.
Haney, P., & Durlak, J. A. (1998). Changing self-esteem in children and adolescents:
A meta-analytic review. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 27, 423–433.
Now, the California task force to promote self esteem [Electronic version]. (1986, October
11). The New York Times, 136, 8.
Shaw, P. (1994, Summer). Education bulletin: Self-esteem rises to all-time high; test scores
hit new lows [Electronic version]. Antioch Review, 52(3), 467–475. Retrieved on July
24, 2007 from EBSCO Academic Premier database.
Tevendale, H. D., DuBois, D. L., Lopez, C. & Prindiville, S. L. (1997). Self-esteem stability
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
43
and early adolescent adjustment: An exploratory study. Journal of Early Adolescence,
17, 216–237.
Wiggins, J. D., & Schatz, E. L. (1994, March). The relationship of self-esteem to grades,
achievement test scores, and other factors critical to school success [Electronic
version. School Counselor, 41(4), 239–244. Retrieved on July 24, 2007 from EBSCO
Academic Premier database.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
44
CHAPTER
11
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 11.1:
Reproductive Education: Monkey See, Monkey Do?
One of the major controversies in education has been whether to provide reproductive
information to children and adolescents. Many people feel that it is necessary to provide children
with clear information about their sexuality and reproductive health in school, to help them make
better reproductive and sexual choices (Schemo, 2000). Educators often insist that such programs
increase the use of safer sexual practices, such as the use of contraceptives (Ancheta, Hynes, &
Shrier, 2005; Carrera, Kaye, Philliber, & West, 2000). Others insist that it is not the job of the
schools, and that it should be handled by parents. One of the major objections to teaching
children and adolescents about sexual health and reproduction has been that if they learn about it
in school, they will engage in sexual behaviors at an earlier age. Others object on moral or
religious grounds, arguing that sex education will promote immoral or dangerous behavior (de
Vise, 2007), and insist that reproductive education programs only provide information about
abstinence until marriage (Feldmann, 1995). In any case, when children and adolescents do not
get information about sex, many remain ignorant or turn to the Internet, which often provides
incorrect and sometimes dangerous information (Carrera, Kaye, Philliber, & West, 2000; Elias,
2005; Greenfield, 2004).
Will children or adolescents who are taught about sexuality and reproduction in school be more
likely to engage in sexual behavior than those who do not receive such information? Use the
critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion about this. Be sure to support your
thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer
the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Ancheta, R., Hynes, C., & Shrier, L. A. (2005). Reproductive health education and sexual
risk among high-risk female adolescents and young adults. Journal of Pediatric &
Adolescent Gynecology, 18(2), 105–111.
Carrera, M., Kaye, J. W., Philliber, S., & West, E. (2000). Knowledge about reproduction,
contraception, and sexually transmitted infections among young adolescents in
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
45
American cities. Social Policy, 30(3), 41–50.
de Vise, D. (2007, January 10). Board of education approves new sex-ed curriculum.
Washington Post, p. B02.
Elias, M. (2005, October 17). Teens turn to Internet for information on sex. USA Today,
p. 07d.
Feldmann, L. (1995, October 5). State lawmakers push abstinence-based sex ed.
Christian Science Monitor, 87(218), p. 3.
Greenfield, P. M. (2004). Inadvertent exposure to pornography on the Internet: Implications
of peer-to-peer file-sharing networks for child development and families. Journal of
Applied Developmental Psychology, 25, 741–750.
Schemo, D. J. (2000, October 4). Survey finds parents favor more detailed sex education.
New York Times, 150(51531), p. A1.
ACTIVITY 11.2:
Second Best
In 1963, Avis, the second-largest car rental company in the United States, began to use the
slogan “We try harder” as a way of promoting their brand (Avis, 2003). The idea they tried to
promote was that being number two meant they had to, and would, work much harder to earn
and keep your business. They wanted consumers to believe that the number-one company was
just sitting back, taking it easy. The campaign has been a tremendous success.
Do you remember Aesop’s fable about the race between the tortoise and the hare? Some
researchers believe that being in first place makes people complacent, and therefore sloppy or
inattentive (Charbonnier, Huguet, Brauer, & Monteil, 1998; Huguet, Charbonnier, & Monteil,
1999). Sports psychologists study phenomena like this to help athletes learn to do their best at all
times.
Does being in second place make someone work harder? Use the critical thinking method to
come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material.
Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
46
References:
Avis. (2003). We try harder.com. Retrieved January 13, 2007, from http://www.avis.com/
AvisWeb/html/wetryharder/index.html.
Charbonnier, E., Huguet, P., Brauer, M., & Monteil, J.-M. (1998). Social learning and self–
beliefs: People’s collective effort depends on the extent to which they distinguish
themselves as better than others. Social Behavior and Personality: An International
Journal, 26, 329–340.
Huguet, P., Charbonnier, E., & Monteil, J.-M. (1999). Productivity loss in performance
groups: People who see themselves as average do not engage in social loafing. Group
Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 3(2), 118–131.
ACTIVITY 11.3:
Weighty Problems
How many times have you seen friends diet unsuccessfully? They may not be able to lose any
weight, or may succeed for a short time, but then regain the weight. Some individuals believe
that people who can’t lose weight are just weak-willed, and that if they really wanted to, they
could just buckle down and do it. Many weight-loss programs are based entirely on this idea, and
provide a lot of personal support for their clients, sometimes in the manner of the twelve-step
programs used to work with addicts (Hunger in Soul, 1993). Television personality Dr. Phil
McGraw takes this approach (Hellmich, 2003). Researchers have looked at several other
possibilities for weight gain (Baumeister, Kahn, & Tice, 1990; Grilo & Pogue-Geile, 1991;
McGuire, Wingh, Klem, Lang, & Hill, 1999; Moreno-Aliaga, Santos, Marti, & Martinez, 2005).
Other possibilities are detailed on pages 303 and 304 in your textbook (Bernstein & Nash, 2008).
Is it true that the reason many people can’t lose weight is personal weakness? Use the critical
thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible
source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Baumeister, R. F., Kahn, J., & Tice, D. M. (1990). Obesity as a self-handicapping strategy:
Personality, selective attribution of problems, and weight loss. Journal of Social
Psychology, 130, 121–123.
Bernstein, D. A., & Nash, P. W. (2008). Essentials of Psychology (4th ed.). New York:
Houghton Mifflin.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
47
Grilo, C. M., & Pogue-Geile, M. F. (1991). The nature of environmental influences on
weight and obesity: A behavior genetic analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 520–
537.
Hellmich, N. (2003, September 9). Dr. Phil talks the talk on controlling weight. USA Today,
p. 10d.
‘Hunger in soul’ dooms dieters. (1993). USA Today Magazine, 122(2579), 5.
Moreno-Aliaga, M. J., Santos, J. L., Marti, A., & Martinez, J. A. (2005). Does weight loss
prognosis depend on genetic make-up? Obesity Reviews, 6, 155–168.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
48
CHAPTER
12
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 12.1:
Structured Activities Vs. Free Time
Bruno Bettelheim (1987) talks about the need for all children to engage in free play, unfettered
by adult models, in order to learn to solve problems, persevere, and develop their own minds. He
notes that attempts to engage children in organizations such as scouting or organized sports will
only interfere with children’s natural development. In the same vein, Robert Paul Smith (1984)
writes about leaving children alone to do whatever they like. His contention is that kids need to
be kids, and that adults should stay away from them. In fact, Zero to Three: The National Center
for Infants, Toddlers and Families (n.d.) stresses the importance of play for infants and toddlers,
saying that “Not only is it fun, but it is very important to children’s development. It is their
“work” and their way of learning about the world around them.”
Modern parenting doesn’t seem to work that way. From an early age, children are scheduled for
play dates, music lessons, and other activities. Parents today seem to believe that unless children
have a lot of structured activity, they won’t reach their full potential. Carey (2007) writes about a
new children’s playground where adults have been hired to teach children to play properly.
People magazine (Schindehette, Fowler, Nelson, & Wesfall, 2002) reported that children whose
schedules are overloaded with structured activities show dangerous signs of stress and anxiety.
Ferguson (2004) discusses groups of parents who attempt to defuse that stress in their children’s
lives.
Yet, as Busseri, Rose-Krasnor, Willoughby, and Chalmers (2006) report, some breadth and depth
of involvement in certain types of activities is highly beneficial to the development of young
people. Studying the impact of after-school activities on success in school, Cooper, Valentine,
Nye, and Lindsay (1999) found that children who participated in structured activities did better
in school than those who did not. This was especially true of children whose after-school
activities were academically oriented. In fact, Luthar, Shoum, and Brown (2006) reported that
over scheduling of children’s activities was not a problem, but that the actual difficulty lay in
parental expectations and pressures.
What is really going on? Is the over scheduling of children for structured play and organized
activities causing them harm? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion.
Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking
critically, you need to answer the following questions:
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
49
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Bettelheim, B. (1987, March). The importance of play. The Atlantic Monthly, 259(3), 35–46.
Busseri, M. A., Rose-Krasnor, L., Willoughby, T., & Chalmers, H. (2006). A longitudinal
examination of breadth and intensity of youth activity involvement in successful
development. Developmental Psychology, 42, 1313–1326.
Carey, B. (2007, January 14). Can Johnny come out and (be taught to) play? New York
Times, 156(53824), 3.
Cooper, H., Valentine, J. C., Nye, B., & Lindsay, J. J. (1999). Relationships between five
after-school activities and academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology,
91, 369–378.
Ferguson, S. (2004, November 22). Stressed out! Macleans, 117(47), 30–38.
Luthar, S. S., Shoum, K. A., & Brown, P. J. (2006). Extracurricular involvement among
affluent youth: A scapegoat for “ubiquitous achievement pressures”? Developmental
Psychology, 42, 583–597.
Schindehette, S., Fowler, , J., Nelson, M., & Wesfall, J. (2002, September 23). Learning to
chill. People, 58(13), 74–78.
Smith, R. P. (1984). Let your kids alone. In M. Rainbolt & J. Fleetwood (Eds.) On the
contrary: Essays by men and women (pp. 93–98). Albany: State University of New
York Press.
Zero to Three: The National Center For Infants, Toddlers and Families. (n.d.). The
importance of play. Retrieved January 13, 2007, from http://www.zerotothree.org/
Search/index2.cfm.
ACTIVITY 12.2:
Defining the Family
There are many kinds of families in the world. In some cultures, children are raised by an
extended family, with many people of different ages sharing in each other’s daily lives. In other
cultures, children are raised in nuclear families, which consist of just the parents and children.
Yet other children are raised by single parents, grandparents, or other relatives, or foster parents.
Many people in the United States believe that the best way to raise children is in a nuclear
family, where the father works and the mother stays at home with the children, as depicted in
television shows such as Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best. Critics such as Whitehead
(1993) say that children not raised in such households are more likely to be poor and abused, are
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
50
likely to have difficulty with intimacy, and may be unable to hold regular jobs. Walker and
Hennig (1997) did find some difficulties with regard to ego functioning, family intimacy, and
conflict among children and parents in their comparison of single-parent and two-parent families.
Gartrell, Deck, Rodas, Peyser, and Banks (2005) investigated the psychological development of
children who were brought up in homes with two lesbian parents, comparing their development
to that of children brought up in heterosexual two-parent homes. Comparisons of children from
heterosexual, two-parent households with children from households with parents who are lesbian
couples or single mothers were made by Solombok and colleagues (2003). Researchers have also
looked at the development of parent-child relationships and the psychological well being of the
mothers in both single-parent and two-parent homes where donor insemination was used to
conceive the children (Murray & Golombok, 2005).
Is the model of the heterosexual two-parent family the best way to raise children? Use the critical
thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible
source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Gartrell, N., Deck, A., Rodas, C., Peyser, H., & Banks, A. (2005). The national lesbian
family study: 4. Interviews with the 10-year-old children. American Journal of
Orthopsychiatry, 75, 518–524.
Solombok, S., Perry, B., Burston, A., Murray, C., Mooney-Somers, J., Stevens, M., &
Golding, J. (2003). Children with lesbian parents: A community study. Developmental
Psychology, 39, 20–33.
Murray, C., & Golombok, S. (2005). Going it alone: Solo mothers and their infants
conceived by donor insemination. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75, 242–253.
Walker, L. J., & Hennig, K. H. (1997). Parent/child relationships in single-parent families.
Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 29, 63–75.
Whitehead, B. D. (1993, April). Dan Quayle was right. The Atlantic Monthly, 271(4), 47–84.
ACTIVITY 12.3:
Space Cadet
Science-fiction writers have long speculated about what life would be like if we could colonize
space. Recently, several companies have been set up to give people tours of space or vacations in
space (Glines, 2005; Grainger, 2004; Robertson, 2006). There has also been much serious
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
51
speculation about setting up space industries, such as mining in the asteroid belt or creating a
colony in earth orbit (Erickson, 2006).
Many writers have contemplated colonies in the weightless environment of outer space, positing
that people would be healthier and would live longer in such places. NASA and other scientific
organizations have been looking into long-term stays in space, but obviously no one has been
able to try raising a family there. Still, a lot of work has been done on our ability to live in space
for extended periods (Durante, 2002; Hawkey, 2003; Nicogossian, 2003).
Would people raised outside the gravitational field of the earth be healthier and live longer? Use
the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts
with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the
following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Durante, M. (2002). Biological effects of cosmic radiation in low-earth orbit. International
Journal of Modern Physics A: Particles & Fields; Gravitation; Cosmology; Nuclear
Physics, 17, 1713–1721.
Erickson, K. R. (2006). Next X-Prize: L1 base with linked asteroid mining as prime catalyst
for space enterprise. AIP Conference Proceedings, 813(1), 1145–1152.
Glines, C. V. (2005, May). SpaceShipOne introduces space tourism and a new era for
aviation. Aviation History, 15(5), 6.
Grainger, D. (2004, November 1). Space nerds face the final frontier. Fortune, 150(8), 16.
Hawkey, A. (2003). The importance of exercising in space. Interdisciplinary Science
Reviews, 28, 130–138.
Nicogossian, A. (2003). Medicine and space exploration. The Lancet, 362, 8–9.
Robertson, E. (2006, April 7). Virgin takes next step in space race. Travel Weekly: The
Choice of Travel Professionals, 12.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
52
CHAPTER
13
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 13.1:
Is Beauty the Key to a Better Life?
Some individuals believe that good-looking people operate under the burden of their looks, that
they cannot have stable relationships, and that they aren’t taken seriously at work. They’re often
subjected to derogatory terms that emphasize their looks and belittle their talents or intelligence.
Other individuals seem to believe that good-looking people actually have much happier lives
than less attractive people; that they earn more, have more stable home lives, gain more social
status, have better love lives, and live longer. These varying viewpoints have been studied by
many social psychologists (Baron, Markman, & Bollinger, 2006; Farley, Chia, & Allred, 1998;
Henderson & Anglin, 2003; Judge & Cable, 2004; Kalof, 1999; McKelvie & Coley, 1993;
Rhodes, Simmons, & Peters, 2005; Shackelford & Larsen, 1999; van Leeuwen & Macrae, 2004).
Some writers (Nash, Fieldman, Hussey, Lévêque, & Pineau, 2006) have even implied that
cosmetics can make a massive difference in the ways in which people are treated. Television
shows such as ABC’s Extreme Makeover or TLC’s What Not to Wear are designed around the
idea that people who look better will have better lives.
Do beautiful people have better lives? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own
conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in
thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Baron, R. A., Markman, G. D., & Bollinger, M. (2006). Exporting social psychology: Ef fects
of attractiveness on perceptions of entrepreneurs, their ideas for new products, and
their financial success. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36, 467–492.
Farley, S. D., Chia, R. C., & Allred, L. J. (1998). Stereotypes about attractiveness: Whe n
beautiful is not better. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, 13, 479–492.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
53
Henderson, J. J. A., & Anglin, J. M. (2003). Facial attractiveness predicts longevity.
Evolution and Human Behavior, 24, 351–356.
Judge, T. A., & Cable, D. M. (2004). The effect of physical height on workplace success and
income: Preliminary test of a theoretical model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89,
428–441.
Kalof, L. (1999). Stereotyped evaluative judgments and female attractiveness. Gender Issues,
17(2), 68–82.
McKelvie, S. J., & Coley, J. (1993). Effects of crime seriousness and offender facial
attractiveness on recommended treatment. Social Behavior and Personality: An
International Journal, 21, 265–277.
Nash, R., Fieldman, G., Hussey, T., Lévêque, J.-L., & Pineau, P. (2006). Cosmetics: They
influence more than caucasian female facial attractiveness. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 36, 493–504.
Rhodes, G., Simmons, L. W., & Peters, M. (2005). Attractiveness and sexual behavior: Does
attractiveness enhance mating success? Evolution and Human Behavior, 26, 186–201.
Shackelford, T. K., & Larsen, R. J. (1999). Facial attractiveness and physical health.
Evolution and Human Behavior, 20, 71–76.
van Leeuwen, M. J., & Macrae, C. N. (2004). Is beautiful always good? Implicit benefits of
facial attractiveness. Social Cognition, 22(6), 637–649.
ACTIVITY 13.2:
Does It Matter Whether Your Glass Is Half Full
or Half Empty?
Optimism is based on the belief that no matter what happens, things will generally turn out for
the best. In investigating the roots of optimism, Sethi and Seligman (1993) noted that it seemed
to be tied to particularly fundamentalist religious beliefs. In fact, optimism seems to be a
powerful force. Many people believe that optimistic individuals will lead happier, healthier, and
longer lives (Optimistic, 2003; Warner, 2004), and score higher on measures of the quality of life
(Mayo, 2002). On the other hand, Segerstrom (2006) found that optimism seems to depress the
functioning of the immune system. Other researchers (Mahler & Kulik, 2000) have found that
both optimism and pessimism may be necessary for proper recovery from illness.
Will optimistic people live longer, happier, and healthier lives? Use the critical thinking method
to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material.
Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
54
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Optimistic people live longer. (2003, January). Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter,
20(11), 2–5.
Mayo Clinic Study: Optimists report higher quality of life. (2002, November/December).
FDA Consumer, 36(6), 7.
Mahler, H. I. M., & Kulik, J. A. (2000). Optimism, pessimism and recovery from coronary
bypass surgery: Prediction of affect, pain and functional status. Psychology, Health &
Medicine, 5, 347–358.
Segerstrom, S. C. (2006). How does optimism suppress immunity? Evaluation of three
affective pathways. Health Psychology, 25, 653–657.
Sethi, S. & Seligman, M. E. P. (1993). Optimism and fundamentalism. Psychological
Science, 4, 256–259.
Warner, J. (2004, November 1) Optimism may help you live longer. WebMD Medical News.
Retrieved January 13, 2007, from http://www.webmd.com/content/article/
96/103659.htm.
ACTIVITY 13.3:
The Power of Prayer
Many people believe that intercessory prayer can successfully appeal to the power of some deity
or spirit in order to help someone in their community. For example, if a person is ill and other
people pray for her recovery, she will get well or suffer less pain (Krucoff et al., 2001).
Proponents of this approach claim that it works even if the patient doesn’t know that people are
praying on her behalf, although some find that the people who are praying must be in the
patient’s presence (Matthews, Marlowe, & MacNutt, 2000). Other researchers are skeptical, and
find no evidence of the effectiveness of intercessory prayer (Benson et al., 2006; Mathai &
Bourne, 2004; Palmer, Katerndahl, & Morgan-Kidd, 2004; Shermer, 2006). Masters (2005), on
the other hand, suggests that the question cannot be investigated by scientific methods, as they
are ill equipped to deal with questions of divine intervention. You can find a good overview of
this topic on WebMD (see: http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/can-prayer-heal.
Does intercessory prayer have a direct effect on a patient’s health? Use the critical thinking
method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source
material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1. What am I being asked to believe or accept?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
55
2.
3.
4.
5.
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Benson, H., Dusek, J. A., Sherwood, J. B., Lam, P., Bethea, C. F., Carpenter, W., Levitsk y,
S., Hill, P. C., Clem, D. W., Jain, M. K., Drumel, D., Kopecky, S. L., Mueller, P. S.,
Marek, D., Rollins, S., & Hibberd, P. L. (2006). Study of the therapeutic effects of
intercessory prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: A multicenter randomized t rial
of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer. American Heart Journal,
151, 934–942.
Krucoff, M. W., Crater, S. W., Green, C. L., Maas, A. C., Seskevich, J. E., Lane, J. D.,
Loeffler, K. A., Morris, K., Bashore, T. M., & Koenig, H. G. (2001). Integrative
noetic therapies as adjuncts to percutaneous intervention during unstable coronary
syndromes: Monitoring and actualization of noetic training (MANTRA) feasibility
pilot. American Heart Journal, 142, 760–769.
Masters, K. (2005). Research on the healing power of distant intercessory prayer: Disconnect
between science and faith. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 33, 268–277.
Mathai, J., & Bourne, A. (2004). Pilot study investigating the effect of intercessory prayer in
the treatment of child psychiatric disorders. Australasian Psychiatry, 12, 386–389.
Matthews, D. A., Marlowe, S. M., & MacNutt, F. S. (2000). Effects of intercessory prayer on
patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Southern Medical Journal, 93, 1177–1186.
Palmer, R. F., Katerndahl, D., & Morgan-Kidd, J. (2004). A randomized trial of the effects of
remote intercessory prayer: Interactions with personal beliefs on problem-specific
outcomes and functional status. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary
Medicine, 10, 438–448.
Shermer, M. (2006). Prayer and healing. Skeptic, 12(3), 20–21.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
56
CHAPTER
14
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 14.1:
Liar!
In a typical courtroom drama, someone takes the witness stand and is sworn “to tell the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Truth is very important in any society. And yet, people
lie. They may lie for benevolent reasons, such as not hurting someone else’s feelings, or to help
protect another person from harm. They may also lie for personal gain, or to inflict pain on
another person.
Can you spot a liar? What would you look for? Ekman (1996) writes that there are many reasons
why we cannot or do not detect liars. There’s been a lot of research on the effectiveness of
mechanical “lie detectors” such as polygraph machines, voice stress analyzers, or thermal
imaging systems (Dery, 2004; Grubin & Madsen, 2005; Stern, 2003). Some scientists believe
that you can tell whether someone is lying by looking at their body language or their facial
expressions (Ekman, O’Sullivan, & Frank, 1999; Elaad, 2003; Hart, Hudson, Fillmore, &
Griffith, 2006; Vrij, Edward, & Bull, 2001; Vrij & Mann, 1999). It’s even been suggested that
dogs can be trained to sniff out lies (Magnusson, 2002).
Is it really possible to know whether someone is lying? Use the critical thinking method to come
to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material.
Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Dery, G. M. (2004). Lying eyes: Constitutional implications of new thermal imaging lie
detection technology. American Journal of Criminal Law, 31, 217–250.
Ekman, P. (1996). Why don’t we catch liars? Social Research, 63, 801–817.
Ekman, P., O’Sullivan, M., & Frank, M. G. (1999). A few can catch a liar. Psychological
Science, 10, 263–266.
Elaad, E. (2003). Effects of feedback on the overestimated capacity to detect lies and the
underestimated ability to tell lies. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 17, 349–363.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
57
Grubin, D., & Madsen, L. (2005). Lie detection and the polygraph: A historical review.
Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 16, 357–369.
Hart, C. L., Hudson, L. P., Fillmore, D. G., & Griffith, J. D. (2006). Managerial beliefs about
the behavioral cues of deception. Individual Differences Research, 4, 176–184.
Magnusson, P. (2002, April 8). Maybe they can sniff out lies, too. Business Week. 3777, 12.
Stern, L. (2003, November 17). We know you’re lying. Newsweek, 142(20), E4.
Vrij, A., Edward, K., & Bull, R. (2001). Police officers’ ability to detect deceit: The benefit
of indirect deception detection methods. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 6,
185–196.
Vrij, A., & Mann, S. (2001). Telling and detecting lies in a high-stake situation: The case of
a convicted murderer. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 15, 187–203.
ACTIVITY 14.2:
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Have you decided on a career, or are you still exploring your options? Some people believe that
personality tests are the most accurate way to match a person to a profession in which they can
excel and find satisfaction. Many researchers have created tests specifically to do this sort of
matching. A growing number of sites on the Internet provide personality matching for jobs
(for example, you may want to look at some of the tests available at http://humanlinks.com/ or
http://www.monster.com/). You may even have taken some of these tests in school, as they’ve
become quite popular with many school guidance departments, as well as with major
corporations’ personnel departments (Maynard, 1994; Sherrid, 1994).
Over the years, researchers have investigated the effectiveness and accuracy of these tests. Butler
and Crinnion (1972) examined the Kuder Preference Record with regard to career advising and
the subsequent job satisfaction of employees who had used it to decide on their occupations.
Knapp, Knapp, and Knapp-Lee (1985) looked at the COPSystem Interest Inventory as a
predictor of the occupational choices of high school graduates. Costa and McRae (1984) reported
on the possible utility of combining tests for occupational type and personality. The combination
of interests and abilities as predictors of occupational choice was also investigated by Tracey and
Hopkins (2001). Researchers have even looked at the correspondence between the prediction of a
test that a person will do well in a job, and how well those people were rated by their supervisors
on the job (Chockalingam, Ones, & Hough, 2001; Murphy & Dzieweczynski, 2005; Piedmont &
Weinstein, 1994).
How successful are personality tests at matching people with their professions? Use the critical
thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible
source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1. What am I being asked to believe or accept?
2. What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
58
3. Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
4. What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
5. What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Butler, F. J. J., Crinnion, J., & Martin, J. (1972). The Kuder Preference Record in adult
vocational guidance. Occupational Psychology, 46, 99–104.
Carr, P. G., de la Garza, J. M., & Vorster, M. C. (2002). Relationship between personality
traits and performance for engineering and architectural professionals providing
design services. Journal of Management in Engineering, 18, 158–166.
Costa, P. T., McCrae, R. R., & Holland, J. L. (1984). Personality and vocational interests in
an adult sample. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 390–400.
Knapp, R. R., Knapp, L., & Knapp-Lee, L. (1985). Occupational interest measurement and
subsequent career decisions: A predictive Follow Up study of the COPSystem Interest
Inventory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 32, 384–354.
Maynard, R. (1994, June). Match the right workers with the right jobs. Nation’s Business,
82(6), 10.
Murphy, K. R., & Dzieweczynski, J. L. (2005). Why don’t measures of broad dimensions of
personality perform better as predictors of job performance? Human Performance, 18,
343–357.
Piedmont, R. L., & Weinstein, H. P. (1994). Predicting supervisor ratings of job performance
using the NEO Personality Inventory. Journal of Psychology, 128, 255–265.
Sherrid, P. (1994, October 31). A 12-hour test of my personality. U. S. News & World
Report, 117(17), 109.
Tracey, T. J. G., & Hopkins, N. (2001). Correspondence of interests and abilities with
occupational choices. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48, 178–189.
Viswesvaran, C., Ones, D. S., & Hough, L. M. (2001). Do impression management scales in
personality inventories predict managerial job performance ratings? International
Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9, 277–289.
ACTIVITY 14.3:
Love Online
Do you know someone who has met his or her partner or spouse through an Internet matching
service? Computer dating services have been around for a very long time. As far back as the
1970s, people began to think that by using the power of the electronic brain, they could find the
one person destined for them (Lum & Curran, 1975). Originally, these services matched people
based on answers to basic questions about their likes and dislikes, lifestyle preferences, religion,
and other such variables. As computers became more powerful, the programs became more
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
59
sophisticated. Several companies offering matchmaking services on the Internet use proprietary
personality tests as the basis for their pairings (Carter, 2005; Hansell, 2004). One company even
claims to help people find their “soul mates,” although as Gottlieb (2005) reports, that may be
more complicated than some people anticipate. You can find information about some of these
Internet based companies by looking at their Web sites. For example, you may want to look at
http://eharmony.com/servlet
/about/eharmony or http://www.match.com/ help/aboutus.aspx.
As you might imagine, anything to do with love is going to attract a lot of attention, even in the
psychological community. Many researchers have looked at how people are attracted to one
another, different kinds of love in which people might find themselves, and what makes
relationships last (Gattis, Berns, Simpson, & Christensen, 2004; Murstein & Brust, 1985;
Sternberg, 2000; Zentner, 2005). Others (Houran & Lange, 2004) have investigated the
expectations of people who use computer-matching services.
Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion about whether Internet
matchmaking sites are likely to provide successful results. Be sure to support your thoughts with
credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Carter, S. R. (2005). For modern-day cupids, data replaces dating. APS Observer, 18(2), 25–
26.
Gattis, K. S., Berns, S., Simpson, L. E., & Christensen, A. (2004). Birds of a feather or
strange birds? Ties among personality dimensions, similarity, and marital quality.
Journal of Family Psychology, 18, 564–574.
Gottlieb, L. (2006, March). How do I love thee? The Atlantic Monthly, 297(2), 58–70.
Hansell, S. (2004, March 8). Getting to know me, getting to know all about me. New York
Times, 153(52782), C5.
Houran, J. & Lange, R. (2004). Expectations of finding a ‘soul mate’ with online dating.
North American Journal of Psychology, 6, 297–308.
Lum, K., & Curran, J. P. (1975). Personality similarity and interpersonal attraction in the
computer dating situation. Journal of Social Psychology, 95, 233–239.
Murstein, B. I., & Brust, R. G. (1985). Humor and interpersonal attraction. Journal of
Personality Assessment, 49, 637–640.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
60
Sternberg, R. J. (2000, July/August). What’s your love story? Psychology Today, 33(4), 52–
59.
Zentner, M. R. (2005). Ideal mate personality concepts and compatibility in close
relationships: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
89, 242–256.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
61
CHAPTER
15
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 15.1:
Me and My Invisible Friend
When you were a child, did you or any of your friends have an imaginary companion? Do you
sometimes still think about him or her? In the movie Harvey, James Stewart plays Elwood P.
Dowd, a man who has befriended a giant invisible rabbit named Harvey (Koster, 1950). His
family and the people he meets are convinced that he’s mentally ill, and that he needs to be put
into an institution for his own well being. Some researchers point out that children with
imaginary companions are more vulnerable in certain ways (Bonne, Canetti, Bachar, De-Nour, &
Shalev, 1999; Hoff, 2005). Others indicate that it is perfectly normal for children to have
imaginary friends (Brott, n.d.; Pearson et al., 2001; Taylor, Carlson, Maring, Gerow, & Charley,
2004; Taylor, Cartwright, & Carlson, 1993). In fact, some studies report that children with
imaginary companions may be more creative (Hoff, 2005), may find the imaginary companions
nurturing in childhood, perhaps helping the children to work out their personal anxieties or
develop schemas about social relationships (Friedberg, 1995; Gleason, 2002; Hart & Zellars,
2006), and may have advantages in dealing with anxiety or other negative emotions later in life
(Gleason, Jarudi, & Cheek, 2003).
Where do we draw the line between a harmless exercise of the imagination and the beginnings of
mental illness? Do children’s imaginary playmates signal the beginnings of detachment from
reality, and the early signs of mental illness? Use the critical thinking method to come to your
own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that
in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Bonne, O., Canetti, L., Bachar, E., De-Nour, A. K., Shalev, A. (1999). Childhood imaginary
companionship and mental health in adolescence. Child Psychiatry and Human
Development, 29, 277–286.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
62
Brott, A. (n.d.). Imaginary friends: Should you be concerned. In Family Resource.com.
Retrieved January 13, 2007, from http://www.familyresource.com/parenting/
character-development/imaginary-friends-should-you-be-concerned.
Friedberg, R. D. (1995). Allegorical lives: Children and their imaginary companions. Child
Study Journal, 25, 1–22.
Gleason, T. R. (2002). Social provisions of real and imaginary relationships in early
childhood. Developmental Psychology, 38, 979–992.
Gleason, T. R., Jarudi, R. N., & Cheek, J. M. (2003). Imagination, personality, and imaginary
companions. Social Behavior and Personality, 31, 721–738.
Hart, T., & Zellars, E. E. (2006). When imaginary companions are sources of wisdom.
Encounter,19(1), 6–15.
Hoff, E. V. (2005). Imaginary companions, creativity, and self-image in middle childhood.
Creativity Research Journal, 17, 167–180.
Koster, H. (Director). (1950). Harvey [Film]. United States: Universal International Pictures.
Pearson, D., Rouse, H., Doswell, S., Ainsworth, C., Dawson, O., Simms, K., Edwards, L., &
Faulconbridge, J. (2001). Prevalence of imaginary companions in a normal child
population. Child: Care, Health and Development, 27, 13–22.
Taylor, M., Carlson, S. M., Maring, B. L., Gerow, L., & Charley, C. M. (2004). The
characteristics and correlates of fantasy in school-age children: Imaginary
companions, impersonation, and social understanding. Developmental Psychology,
40, 1173–1187.
Taylor, M., Cartwright, B. S., & Carlson, S. M. (1993). A developmental investigation of
children’s imaginary companions. Developmental Psychology, 29, 276–285.
ACTIVITY 15.2:
Do Vaccines Cause Autism?
According to your text, autistic spectrum disorders occur in roughly 10 to 20 out of 10,000
children (Bernstein & Nash, 2008). Researchers believe that some of the causes of autism may
be genetic factors or developmental anomalies in the parts of the brain that control
communication. Recently, some people began to suspect that these anomalies are caused by
impurities in the vaccines given to infants to help them build up immunity to disease. As a result,
some fearful parents have begun to withhold vaccinations from their children in an effort to
prevent autism. Drug companies and government agencies have declared that there is no link
between vaccines and autism, but many people feel that the manufacturers and governments are
simply lying to avoid litigation and want to be able to sell more vaccine (Allan, 2004; Roberts,
2002). In response, researchers have attempted to document the link between autism and certain
vaccinations (DeStefano, Bhasin, Thompson, Yeargin-Allsopp, & Boyle, 2004; Goldman &
Yazbak, 2004; Honda, Shimizu, & Rutter, 2005; Madsen & Vestergaard, 2004).
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
63
Is it likely that autism is caused by substances carried in children’s vaccines? Use the critical
thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible
source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Allan, S. D. (2004, May 21). Victim families say autism-vaccination link painfully obvious.
Greater Things Conservative, Prophetic News Trends Service. Retrieved January 13,
2007, from http://www.greaterthings.com/News/daily/2004/05/21/autismvaccination_link/.
Bernstein, D. A., & Nash, P. W. (2008). Essentials of Psychology (4th ed.). New York:
Houghton Mifflin.
DeStefano, F., Bhasin, T. K., Thompson, W. W., Yeargin-Allsopp, M., & Boyle, C. (2004).
Age at first measles-mumps-rubella vaccination in children with autism and schoolmatched control subjects: A population-based study in metropolitan Atlanta.
Pediatrics, 113,
259–266.
Goldman, G. S., & Yazbak, F. E. (2004). An investigation of the association between MMR
vaccination and autism in Denmark. Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, 9,
70–75.
Honda, H., Shimizu, Y., & Rutter, M. (2005). No effect of MMR withdrawal on the
incidence of autism: A total population study. Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 46, 572–579.
Madsen, K. M., & Vestergaard, M. (2004). MMR vaccination and autism: What is the
evidence for a causal association? Drug Safety, 27, 831–840.
Roberts, Y. (2002, February 21). An epidemic of crude propaganda. Community Care, 1410,
23.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
64
ACTIVITY 15.3:
All Artists Are Nuts
Vincent van Gogh cut off part of his ear and tried to give it to someone as a gift. Many gifted
writers such as Virginia Woolf and Edgar Allen Poe are said to have suffered from mental
illnesses. Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Steven Foster are among the many creative musicians
listed among the ranks of the tormented. To many people, it seems that creativity and madness
are inextricably linked (Lauronen et al., 2004). Psychologists have investigated the possible
relationship between creativity and several psychological conditions, such as bipolar disorder
(Rothenberg, 2001; Shapiro & Weisberg, 1999; Weisberg, 1994; Creativity and Bipolar
Disorder, 2006), schizophrenia (Cela-Conde et al., 2006; Gosline, 2004), and depression
(Kaufman & Baer, 2002; Verhaeghen, Joormann, & Kahn, 2005). Franklin and Cornell (1997),
on the other hand, have suggested that creativity may itself be mistaken for mental illness under
certain conditions, even in individuals who are emotionally stable.
What do you think is the most reasonable conclusion? Is madness necessary for true creativity, or
does creativity eventually cause madness? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own
conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in
thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Cela-Conde, C. J., Arenillas, C. L., Nadal, M., Capó, M. À., Mascaró, À. C., & Marty, G.
(2006). Creativity and evolution. International Congress Series, 1296, 95–105.
Creativity and bipolar disorder. (2006). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
January 13, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity_and_bipolar_disorder.
Franklin, K. W., & Cornell, D. G. (1997). Rorschach interpretation with high -ability
adolescent females: Psychopathology or creative thinking? Journal of Personality
Assessment, 68, 184–196.
Gosline, A. (2004, July 24). Creative spark can come from schizophrenia. New Scientist,
183(2457), 14.
Kaufman, J. C., & Baer, J. (2002). I bask in dreams of suicide: Mental illness, poetry, and
women. Review of General Psychology, 6, 271–286.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
65
Lauronen, E., Veijola, J., Isohanni, I., Jones, P. B., Nieminen, P., & Isohanni, M. (2004).
Links between creativity and mental disorder. Psychiatry, 67, 81–98.
Rothenberg, A. (2001). Bipolar illness, creativity, and treatment. Psychiatric Quarterly, 72,
131–147.
Shapiro, P. J., & Weisberg, R. W. (1999). Creativity and bipolar diathesis: Common
behavioural and cognitive components. Cognition and emotion, 13, 741–762.
Verhaeghen, P., Joormann, J., & Khan, R. (2005). Why we sing the blues: The relation
between self-reflective rumination, mood, and creativity. Emotion, 5, 226–232.
Weisberg, R. W. (1994). Genius and madness? A quasi-experimental test of the hypothesis
that manic-depression increases creativity. Psychological Science, 5, 361–367.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
66
CHAPTER
16
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 16.1:
The Acid Test
Most people know LSD only as a psychedelic drug used during the 1960s by hippies. However,
some scientists believe that LSD can be used to treat autism, alcoholism, and schizophrenia with
a great degree of success. Early studies done by psychiatrists in the 1950s and 1960s were said to
show some promise in these areas (Dyck, 2005; Whalen, 1998). In 1955, the Saturday Evening
Post declared LSD to be a new wonder drug (Yoder, 1955). Yet, only a few years later, that same
publication declared, “if you take LSD even once, your children may be born malformed or
retarded” (Davidson, 1967, p. 22). Even some early researchers who had been convinced of
LSD’s usefulness and safety turned against it later, for several reasons (Novak, 1997), but there
is a movement among some scientists to renew LSD research (Claridge, 1994; Grinspoon, 1981).
Can LSD be useful in treating alcoholism, autism, and schizophrenia? Use the critical thinking
method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source
material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Claridge, G. (1994). LSD: A missed opportunity? Human Psychopharmacology, 9, 343–351.
Davidson, B. (1967, August 12). The hidden evils of LSD. Saturday Evening Post, 240(16),
19–23.
Dyck, E. (2005). Flashback: Psychiatric experimentation with LSD in historical perspective.
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 50, 381–388.
Grinspoon, L. (1981, January). LSD reconsidered: Should clinical research be resumed?
Sciences, 21(1), 20–23.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
67
Novak, S. J. (1997). LSD before Leary. ISIS: Journal of the History of Science in Society,
88, 87–110.
Whalen, J. (1998, November-December). The Hollywood experiment. Utne Reader, 90,
81–118.
Yoder, R. M. (1955, October 22). Help for the living dead. Saturday Evening Post, 228(17),
42–43, 64, 66, 71.
ACTIVITY 16.2:
Does DARE Deliver?
The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program began in Los Angeles in 1983.
According to the official DARE Web site (http://www.dare.com/home/about_dare.asp), it is
currently available in 75% of the school districts in the United States, and has also been picked
up in 43 other countries. Information on the program’s Web site notes that current research
shows it to be an effective program
(http://www.dare.com/home/Resources/Story1eb3.asp?N=Resources&M=16&S=43) and
(http://www.dare.com/home/Resources/documents/DAREMarch06ProgressReport.pdf). Still,
Aniskiewicz and Wysong (1990) note that while it does seem to be successful in accomplishing
its stated aims in the short term, it is more of a success in a political sense. Other researchers
(Drug Education, 1999; Ennett, Tobler, Ringwalt, & Flewelling, 1994; GAO, 2003; Thombs,
2000; Zagumny & Thompson, 1997) have raised concerns about DARE’s long-term
effectiveness.
Is DARE successful at keeping children and adolescents from using drugs? Use the critical
thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible
source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Aniskiewicz, R., & Wysong, E. (1990). Evaluating DARE: Drug education and the multiple
meanings of success. Policy Studies Review, 9, 727–747.
Drug education programs fail in Houston. (1999, January/February). Society, 36(2), 3–4.
Ennett, S. T., Tobler, N. S., Ringwalt, C. L., & Flewelling, R. L. (1994). How effective is
Drug Abuse Resistance Education? A meta-analysis of Project DARE outcome
evaluations. American Journal of Public Health, 84, 1394–1401.
GAO literature review reiterates ineffectiveness of original D. A. R. E. (2003, January 27).
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
68
Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, 15(4), 1–2.
Lynam, D. R., Milich, R., Zimmerman, R., Novak, S. P., Logan, T. K., Martin, C.,
Leukefeld, C. & Clayton, R. (1999). Project DARE: No effects at 10-year follow-up.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 590–593.
Thombs, D. L. (2000). A retrospective study of DARE: Substantive effects not detected in
undergraduates. Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education, 46(1), 27–40.
Zagumny, M. J., & Thompson, M. K. (1997). Does D. A. R. E. work? An evaluation in rural
Tennessee. Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education, 42(2), 32–41.
ACTIVITY 16.3:
Can Television Stop Teenagers from Smoking?
There have been many efforts to convince people to stop smoking. Many states (e.g. New York
http://www.nysmokefree.com/newweb/pageview.aspx?p=45); or Florida
(http://www.doh.state.fl.us/
Tobacco/quitline.html) and the federal government (www.smokefree.gov) have web sites and hot
lines designed to help people quit. Even tobacco companies have provided resources to help
people give up tobacco if they want to (Philip Morris USA, 1999).
Some of the most innovative and attention-grabbing television advertisements and online viral
marketing efforts against the dangers of smoking have been created by the truth campaign.
Their focus, as you might expect, is to stop people from using cigarettes. According to their Web
site, “truth has one mission: spread information about the tobacco companies and their deadly,
addictive products so people can make decisions about smoking based on the whole story—not
just the one the industry’s given us (truth, 2007, p.1).” Researchers have investigated whether the
campaign actually lowers youth smoking rates (Farrelly, Davis, Haviland, Messeri, and Healton,
2005; Sly, Hopkins, Trapido, and Ray, 2001). Others have looked into its effects on young
people’s perceptions about tobacco (Hersey et al., 2005), and whether the program may be
helped by “branding” the truth® campaign (Evans, Price, and Blahut, 2005).
The truth videos seem to have gotten a lot of people talking about the problem of cigarette
smoking, but have they actually convinced anyone to avoid smoking or to give up the habit if
they already smoke? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure
to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you
need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Evans, W. D., Price, S., & Blahut, S. (2005). Evaluating the truth ® brand. Journal of Health
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
69
Communication, 10, 181–192.
Farrelly, M. C., Davis, K. C., Haviland, M. L., Messeri, P., & Healton, C. G. (2005).
Evidence of a dose–response relationship between “truth” antismoking ads and youth
smoking prevalence. American Journal of Public Health, 95, 425–431.
Hersey, J. C., Niederdeppe, J., Evans, W. D., Nonnemaker, J., Blahut, S., Holden, D.,
Messeri, P., & Haviland, M. L. (2005). The theory of “truth”: How counterindustry
media campaigns affect smoking behavior among teens. Health Psychology, 24, 22–
31.
Philip Morris USA. (1999). Philip Morris USA—Smoking & Health Issues—Quitting
Smoking. Retrieved January 20, 2007, from http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/
en/health_issues/quitting_smoking.asp.
Sly, D. F., Hopkins, R. S., Trapido, E., & Ray, S. (2001). Influence of a counteradvertising
media campaign on initiation of smoking: The Florida “truth” campaign. American
Journal of Public Health, 91, 233–238.
truth. (2007). Thetruth.com. Retrieved 20 January, 2007, from http://www.thetruth.com/.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
70
CHAPTER
17
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 17.1:
Does Marriage Need Defending?
Marriage and family life are integral parts of American culture. Many people fall in love, and
want to marry and raise families. It seems as though everyone has some idea of what a family
should look like. For many people, the family consists of a father, a mother, their children, and
sometimes grandparents or other relatives. Other people believe that families might consist of
other combinations, for example two men and their children or two women and their children.
Some people believe that gay or lesbian marriage is perfectly normal and healthy, and that it is a
right that should be protected by the idea of equality under law (Hartocollis, 2006). Others, often
for religious reasons, believe that such unions are unnatural, and can threaten the stability of
normal families (Lueck, 2004). In fact, the federal government took a position on this when the
Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law in 1996 (Defense, 2007). Overall, public opinion
on the issue seems to have been shifting towards acceptance of such unions in the past few years
(Paulson, Miller, & Paul, 2004; Toner, 2003).
Will the acceptance of gay and lesbian unions threaten the stability of marriages in general?
Some research on the success of gay and lesbian families has been done (Herek, 2006; Kurdek,
2005; Solomon, Rothblum, & Balsam, 2004), and may be worth viewing in your deliberations.
Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your
thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer
the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Defense of Marriage Act (2007, 17 January) In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
January 20, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_Marriage_Act.
Hartocollis, A. (2006, July 8). Meaning of ‘normal’ is at heart of gay marriage ruling. New
York Times, 155(53634), B3.
Herek, G. M. (2006). Legal Recognition of same-sex relationships in the United States: A
social science perspective. American Psychologist, 61, 607–621.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
71
Kurdek, L. A. (2005). What do we know about gay and lesbian couples? Current Directions
in Psychological Science, 14, 251–254.
Lueck, T. J. (2004, March 10). Bishops assail gay marriage as a threat. New York Times,
153(52784), B1.
Paulson, A., Miller, S. B., & Paul, N. C. (2004, February 27). Wedding shots deepen gaymarriage divide. Christian Science Monitor, 96(64), 3.
Solomon, S. E., Rothblum, E. D., & Balsam, K. E. (2004). Pioneers in partnership: Lesbian
and gay male couples in civil unions compared with those not in civil unions and
married heterosexual siblings. Journal of Family Psychology, 18, 275–286.
Toner, R. (2003, July 25). Opposition to gay marriage is declining, study finds. New York
Times, 152(52555), A16.
ACTIVITY 17.2:
What’s So Funny?
In his guise as the 2000 Year Old Man, Mel Brooks said, “Tragedy is if I’ll cut my little finger
… Comedy is if you fall into an open sewer and die” (Brooks, 1994). His explanation was that
all comedy is based on the pain of somebody else—your own pain is tragic, someone else’s can
be funny. Of the four major psychological explanations for comedy, one is that the things we
find funny are those that make us feel superior (Berger & Wildavsky, 1994; Fatt, 1998). This is
how many psychologists explain the popularity of slapstick humor, ethnic jokes, political satire,
and other aggressive forms of comedy (Berger & Wildavsky, 1994; Wyer & Collins, 1992). For
example, McCauley, Woods, Coolidge, and Kulick (1983) reported that subjects were more
likely to find cartoons funnier if their subject matter was more aggressive. Interestingly, there
may be other forces at work. In looking at some of the reasons for the success of aggressive or
violent comedy, McIntosh, Murray, Murray, and Manian (2003) found that the frequency of
films depicting such humor seemed tied to specific social conditions.
So, is humor based on the pain of other people? Do we need to feel superior to laugh? Use the
critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with
credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1. What am I being asked to believe or accept?
2. What evidence is there to support the assertion?
3. Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
72
4. What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
5. What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Berger, A. A., & Wildavsky, A. (1994). Who laughs at what? Society, 31(6), 82–86.
Brooks, M. (Speaker). (1994). The complete 2000 year old man (CD recording #71017).
Los Angeles: Rhino.
Fatt, J. P. T. (1998, October/November). Why do we laugh? Communication World, 15(9),
12–14.
McCauley, C., Woods, K., Coolidge, C., & Kulick, W. (1983). More aggressive cartoons are
funnier. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 817–823.
McIntosh, W. D., Murray, J. D., Murray, R. M., & Manian, S. (2003). What’s so funny about
a poke in the eye? The prevalence of violence in comedy films and its relation to
social and economic threat in the United States, 1951–2000. Mass Communication &
Society, 6, 345–360.
Wyer, R. S., Jr., & Collins, J. E. (1992). A theory of humor elicitation. Psychological
Review, 99, 663–688.
ACTIVITY 17.3:
You Have a Huge Web of Friends. Or Do You?
Humans are a social species. We all have our groups of friends and family on whom we depend
for so many things. Originally, all of our personal interactions were face-to-face. We knew to
whom we were speaking and could relate to them directly, often getting cues about their feelings
or motivations from their faces or their body language. The invention of writing, the telegraph,
the telephone, and more recently the Internet, has changed that. Now, many people increasingly
find their friends and social support groups among people they might never see in person (or in
what some Internet aficionados call “meatspace”). How has this affected their relationships?
Andrew Brown (1998) talks about the close friendships he’s developed via e-mail. He mentions
that although they only seem to have come together over a common interest in the Grateful
Dead, they do seem to like one another; that although e-mail is an artificial way to get to know
people, these relationships feel as real as other friendships. In exploring the similarities and
differences between online and offline friendships, Carter (2004, 2005) notes that friendships in
cyberspace operate in much the same way that friendships have always operated: starting
tentatively, building trust, and developing over time. In fact, many people have not only begun
friendships online, but loving relationships, which have been consummated in marriage in the
non-virtual world (Chen, 2007). Mesch and Talmud (2006) report that online and offline
friendships are extremely similar; in both cases, newer relationships tend to be superficial and
longer-term relationships are quite strong.
However, some researchers report that online friendships are not as well developed or as deep as
offline friendships. Cummings, Butler, & Kraut (2002) found that although they are highly
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
73
interactive, and may carry a lot of message traffic, most online communities do not develop
strong social ties with intimate personal communication, perhaps due to the lack of face-to-face
or direct voice cues. People who use the Internet extensively show declines in non-virtual
communication with their families and social groups, and a drop in the size of their social
groups, as well as increased depression and loneliness (Kraut, Patterson, Kiesler, Mukopadhyay,
& Scherlis, 1998).
Does the Internet actually promote deep friendships, or are the relationships generated online
only superficial? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to
support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you
need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Brown, A. (1998, December 4). Real friends. New Statesman, 127(4414), 42.
Carter. D. (2004). Living in virtual communities: Making friends online. Journal of Urban
Technology, 11(3), 109–125.
Carter, D. (2005). Living in virtual communities: An ethnography of human relationships in
cyberspace. Information, Communication, & Society, 8(2), 148–167.
Chen, C. Y. (2007). Virtual vows. Foreign Policy, (158), 101.
Cummings, J. N., Butler, B., & Kraut, R. (2002). The quality of online social relationships.
Communications of the ACM, 45(7), 103–108.
Kraut, R. Patterson, V. L., Kiesler, S. Mukopadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet
paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological
well-being? American Psychologist, 53, 1017–1031.
Mesch, G., & Talmud, I. (2006). The quality of online and offline relationships: The role of
multiplexity and duration of social relationships. The Information Society, 22(3),
137–148.
Morris, D. (1967). The naked ape: A zoologist’s study of the human animal. New York:
McGraw Hill.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
74
CHAPTER
18
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 18.1:
Crowded and Crazy
You may have seen newspaper stories in which the reporter speculated that the crowded nature
of cities is causing an upsurge in violence. People have long suspected that crowding may cause
higher levels of aggression and mental health problems (Miller & Peterson, 1984). Indeed,
Gregor, Smith, Simons, and Parker (1970) found that aggressive behaviors were increased by
increasing the crowding of mice. Rats reared in high-density situations also showed more
emotionality and other indications of stress (Morrison & Thatcher, 1969). Population density
also had negative effects on the problem solving abilities of rats faced with complex tasks
(Goeckner, Greenough, & Mead, 1973). Scientific American published a good overview of the
studies on crowding (de Waal, Aureli, & Judge, 2000) which looked at studies on several
species, including humans.
Research on humans has linked high population density and hot temperatures to several
measures of people’s feelings and more negative responses to other people (Griffitt & Veitch,
1971). Evans, Palsane, Lepore, and Martin (1989) noted that crowding may cause breakdowns in
people’s social relationships, which may account for some of the pathological responses seen in
crowded situations. In contrast, Baron and Needel (1980) note that humans’ greater cognitive
complexity must mediate our reactions to situations of density and crowding. However,
Lawrence (1974) noted that there are problems with drawing simplistic conclusions about human
reactions to crowding and population density, and after many years of research and
environmental design, Paolo Soleri (2001) believes that the urban setting is the perfect
environment for human beings.
Does crowding cause people to be more aggressive? Use the critical thinking method to come to
your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember
that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
75
References:
Baron, R. M., & Needel, S. P. (1980). Toward an understanding of the differences in the
responses of humans and other animals to density. Psychological Review, 87, 320–
326.
de Waal, F. D. M., Aureli, F., & Judge, P. G. (2000, May). Coping with crowding. Scientific
American, 282(5), 76–81.
Evans, G. W., Palsane, M. N., Lepore, S. J., & Martin, J. (1989). Residential density and
psychological health: The mediating effects of social support. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 57, 994–999.
Goecknet, D. J., Greenough, W. T., & Mead, W. R. (1973). Deficits in learning tasks
following chronic overcrowding in rats. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 28, 256–261.
Gregor, G. L., Smith, R. F., Simons, L. S., & Parker, H. B. (1970). Behavioral consequences
of crowding in the deermouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). Journal of Comparative and
Physiological Psychology, 79, 488–493.
Griffitt, W. & Veitch, R. (1971). Hot and crowded: Influences of population density and
temperature on interpersonal affective behavior. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 17, 92–98.
Lawrence, J. E. S. (1974). Science and sentiment: Overview of research on crowding and
human behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 81, 712–720.
Miller, J. A., & Peterson, I. (1984, June 16). Life in a maddening crowd. Science News,
125(24), 377.
Morrison, B. J. & Thatcher, K. (1969). Overpopulation effects on social reduction of
emotionality in the albino rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology,
69, 658–662.
Soleri, P. (2001). Urban ideal: Conversations with Paolo Soleri. Albany, CA: Berkely Hills
Books.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
76
ACTIVITY 18.2:
Kids Today Are Just Plain Rude, and It’s All Because of Their
Cell Phones and Other Electronic Gadgets
It’s no surprise to find that many older people seem to believe that members of the younger
generation are not as polite, hardworking, or serious as they were in their younger days. This is
perhaps best exemplified by a quote attributed to Hesiod (8th Century B.C.E.):
I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of
today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were
taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise
and impatient of restraint.
Or this one, attributed to Socrates (469–399 B.C.E.):
The children now love luxury; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of
exercise. Children are tyrants, not servants of the households. They no longer rise when
their elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble
up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize over their teachers.
Still, many people note that there seems to be a rise in general rudeness (Grimes, 1993; Kelly,
2004; What?, 1997). This seems prevalent in the college environment, as well (Burstein, 2003).
Commentators and researchers call for a return to civility (Lauer, 2002; Melton, 2000). In 1999,
Governor Mike Foster of Louisiana tried to pass a law requiring students to treat their teachers
with respect (It’s the law, 1999).
One hypothesis is that the use of instant messaging, cell phones, MP3 players, and other
equipment has disconnected people from interaction in the “real” or “f-2-f” (face-to-face) world.
Because of the stresses of modern life and immersion in the virtual world of their technological
toys, young people have become isolated and alienated, contributing to what their elders see as
their impatience and rudeness (Carter, 2006). E-mail also encourages feelings of anonymity,
which can promote rude behavior (Krakovsky, 2004; Marx, 1994). Of course, some analysts
believe that the technology is just the latest way through which we express good old selfcentered thinking (Anderberg, 2003; Marx, 1994).
Are today’s youth more rude and impatient than the young people of previous generations? Use
the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts
with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the
following questions:
1. What am I being asked to believe or accept?
2. What evidence is there to support the assertion?
3. Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
77
4. What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
5. What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Anderberg, K. (2003). Phone (un)etiquette. Communications News, 40(3), 4.
Burstein, J. (2003, November 7). Rudeness loves company. Chronicle of Higher Education,
50(11), B5.
Carter, R. (2006, August 17). Rudeness is running rampant in today’s high-tech society.
New York Amsterdam News, 97(34, 10, 41.
Grimes, W. (1993, October 17). Have a #%!&$! day. The New York Times, 143(49487), 9/1.
It’s the law. (1999, August/September). Teacher Magazine, 11(1), 21.
Kelly, K. (2004, January 18). New concern that politeness is a lost art in the office.
The New York Times, 153(52732), 10/1.
Krakovsky, M. (2004, March/April). Caveat sender. Psychology Today, 37(2), 15–16.
Lauer, C. S. (2002, March 4). The end of civility? Modern Healthcare, 32(9), 29.
Marx, G. (1994, January). Taming rude technologies. Technology Review, 97(1), 66–67.
Melton, M. (2000, August 14). Listen up! Rudeness is rife and it=s time to fight back.
U.S. News & World Report, 129(6), 57.
What? Me? Rude? (1997, April). Scholastic Choices, 12(7), 6–9.
ACTIVITY 18.3:
It’s So Much Nicer When We All Agree
There are many ways for a group to make decisions. Some groups have strong leaders who
determine their courses and whose decisions are respected and followed by the group’s members.
Others strive for inclusive forms of decision-making in which all group members are encouraged
to come to consensus.
Proponents of consensus claim that it is the best method because everyone in the group feels that
their concerns have been taken seriously. People who engage in consensus-based decisionmaking view the decisions as more fair and are generally more supportive of those decisions
(Gautschi, 1988; Lentz, 1999; Sager, & Gastil, 2006). Sargisson (2004) found that utopian
communities in New Zealand that used consensus-based decision-making were extremely
effective at promoting power sharing and participation among their members. According to
Gautschi (1988), “Consensus thinking can not only make better use of the available resources,
but it can also increase the participants’ commitment to any decisions that result from the
consensus process” (p. 192).
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
78
Opponents say that trying to reach consensus is too slow and inefficient for some tasks, and
should only be used in particular circumstances (Lentz, 1999). Peterson, Peterson, and Peterson
(2005) assert that consensus is actually a bad way to make decisions, as the process may ignore
the fundamental and actual realities of a situation in favor of the constructed reality of the group.
This view is supported by Briant (2005). In fact, Kuhn’s (1970) argument in The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions, is that scientific progress is only made when the consensus view held by
scientists is challenged and disproved by specific research. It is also worth noting that Sager and
Gastil (2006) report that certain personality traits and levels of supportive communication seem
to be related to the successful use of a consensus strategy.
Given the success of consensus-based thinking in mobilizing support and feelings of fairness and
inclusion, is it the best method for most groups to use in coming to important decisions? Use the
critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with
credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Briant, J. (2005). Consensus can be wrong. Institute of Public Affairs Review, 57(4), 35.
Gautschi, T. F. (1988, October 17). The advantages of consensus thinking. Design News,
44(20), 192.
Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Lentz, S. (1999). The well-rounded leader. Health Forum Journal, 42(5), 38–40.
Peterson, M. N., Peterson, M. J., & Peterson, T. R. (2005). Conservation and the myth of
consensus. Conservation Biology, 19, 762–767.
Sager, K. L., & Gastil, J. (2006). The origins and consequences of consensus decision
making: A test of the social consensus model. Southern Communication Journal,
71(1), 1–24.
Sargisson, L. (2004). Justice inside Utopia? The case of intentional communities in New
Zealand. Contemporary Justice Review, 7, 321–333.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
79
CHAPTER
19
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 19.1:
Our Brains Are Hard-Wired for Religion
In 1998, neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran claimed to have seen evidence of a module in the
brain for processing religious information and feelings (Talan, 1998). Later research suggested
that religious experiences were cognitive processes related to particular brain structures (Azari et
al., 2001; Azari, Nimmsimer, & Seitz, 2005). Some psychologists suggest that these structures
require us to think in certain pre-programmed ways, which either predispose or compel us to
have religious experiences (Newberg, 2001).
Critics believe that the brain is too complex for such studies to bear any useful fruit (Albright,
2000). Responses from the theological community have even questioned the ability of
neuropsychology to ascertain anything about transcendent religious experiences in terms of brain
functions (Delio, 2003). Livingston (2005) and Seybold (2005) argue that simply finding
correlations between religious feelings and activity in particular areas of the brain does not
constitute evidence for what some researchers have called a “God module” in the brain.
Are we programmed to believe? Is religion nothing more than an artifact of the way in which our
brain has developed? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure
to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you
need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Albright, C. R. (2000). The “God module” and the complexifying brain. Zygon: Journal of
Religion & Science, 35, 735–744.
Azari, N. P., Nickel, J., Wunderlich, G., Niedeggen, M., Hefter, H., Tellmann, L., Herzog,
H., Stoerig, P., Birnbacher, D., & Seitz, R. J. (2001). Neural correlates of religious
experience. European Journal of Neuroscience, 13, 1649–1652.
Azari, N. P., Missimer, J., & Seitz, R. J. (2005). Religious experience and emotion: Evidence
for distinctive cognitive neural patterns. International Journal for the Psychology of
Religion, 15, 263–281.
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80
Delio, I. (2003). Brain science and the biology of belief: A theological response. Zygon:
Journal of Religion & Science, 38, 573–585.
Livingsont, K. R. (2005). Religious practice, brain, and belief. Journal of Cognition &
Culture, 75–117.
Newberg, A. B. (2001). Putting the mystical mind together. Zygon: Journal of Religion &
Science, 36, 501–507.
Seybold, K. S. (2005). God and the brain: Neuroscience looks at religion. Journal of
Psychology and Christianity, 24(2), 122–129.
Talan, J. (1998, March/April). Religion: Is it all in your head? Psychology Today, 31(2), 9.
ACTIVITY 19.2:
Is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation the
“New Lobotomy”?
In their review of the history of psychosurgery, Mashour, Walker, and Martuza (2005) note that
the use of lobotomies was widespread during the early 20th century. This didn’t begin to decline
until the advent of psychopharmacological agents such as chlorpromazine in the mid-1950s. In
fact, lobotomies later became illegal in many countries, and recently the Norwegian parliament
has offered compensation to individuals who were subject to lobotomies (Goldbeck-Wood,
1996). In contrast to performing lobotomies or prescribing psychoactive drugs, there are a
number of other non-surgical procedures for the treatment of various psychological conditions.
One that seems to show great promise is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which
consists of using a magnetic field to depolarize specific areas of the brain (Mashour et al., 2005).
TMS is currently being investigated for the treatment of several conditions, and has been found
effective in treating schizophrenia (McIntosh et al., 2004; Sachdev, Loo, Mitchell, & Malhi,
2005), depression (Januel, et al., 2006; Rossini, Lucca, Zanardi, Magri, & Smeraldi, 2005),
Parkinson’s disease (Lefaucheur et al., 2004), and post-traumatic stress disorder (Cohen et al.,
2004). It has also been investigated for use in enhancing certain mental abilities (Hilgetag, 2004;
Osborne, 2003; Vanderhasselt, De Raedt, Baeken, Leyman, & D’haenen, 2006).
Proponents claim that it is a safe procedure, but this is also what practitioners said about the use
of lobotomies, early forms of electroconvulsive (electro-shock) therapy, and other treatments that
have since been shown to be harmful. Direct magnetic stimulation of the brain is a relatively new
idea and may not yet be fully understood.
If someone you care about were suffering from one of the conditions listed above, would you be
confident in recommending TMS as a treatment option? Use the critical thinking method to come
to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source material.
Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1. What am I being asked to believe or accept?
2. What evidence is there to support the assertion?
3. Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
81
4. What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
5. What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Cohen, H., Kaplan, Z., Kotter, M., Kouperman, I., Moisa, R., & Grisaru, N. (2004).
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
in posttraumatic stress disorder: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 515–524.
Goldbeck-Wood, S. (1996). Norway compensates lobotomy victims. British Medical
Journal, 313, 708.
Hilgetag, C. C. (2004, January). Learning from switched-off brains. Scientific American
Special Edition, 14(1), 8–9.
Januel, D., Dumortier, G., Verdon, C.-M., Stamatiadis, L., Saga, G., Cabaret, W., Benadhira,
R., Rocamora, J.-F., Braha, S., Kalalou, K., Vicaut, Pr Eric, & Fermanian, J. (2006).
A double-blind sham controlled study of right prefrontal repetitive transcranial
magnetic stimulation (rTMS): Therapeutic and cognitive effect in medication free
unipolar depression during 4 weeks. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology &
Biological Psychiatry, 30, 126–130.
Lefaucheur, J.-P., Drouot, X., Von Raison, F., Ménard-Lefaucheur, I., Cesaro, P, & Nguyen,
J. P. (2004). Improvement of motor performance and modulation of cortical
excitability by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex in
Parkinson’s disease. Clinical Neurophysiology, 115, 2530–2541.
McIntosh, A. M., Semple, D., Tasker, K., Harrison, L. K., Owens, D. G., Johnstone, E. C.,
Ebmeier, K. P. (2004). Transcranial magnetic stimulation for auditory hallucinations
in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Research, 127, 9–17.
Mashour, G. A., Walker, E. E., & Martuza, R. L. (2005). Psychosurgery: Past, present, and
future. Brain Research Reviews, 48, 409–419.
Osborne, L. (2003, June 22). Savant for a day. New York Times Magazine, 152(52522), 38–
41.
Rossini, D., Lucca, A., Zanardi, R., Magri, L, & Smeraldi, E. (2005). Transcranial magnetic
stimulation in treatment-resistant depressed patients: A double-blind, placebocontrolled trial. Psychiatry Research, 137, 1–10.
Sachdev, P, Loo, C., Mitchell, P., & Malhi, G. (2005). Transcranial magnetic stimulation for
the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia: A pilot investigation. Psychiatry & Clinical
Neurosciences, 354–357.
Vanderhasselt, M.-A., De Raedt, R., Baeken, C., Leyman, L., & D’haenen, H. (2006). The
influence of rTMS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on Stroop task
performance. Experimental Brain Research, 169, 179–282.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
82
ACTIVITY 19.3:
Knock Yourself Out
In the late 1950s, Soviet scientists began working with a device that induced sleep by passing a
low-level electrical current through the brain. It was rumored that the Russian sleep machine
would make it possible to get an entire night’s worth of sleep in only a few minutes. These
stories were published in the popular press, and by the 1960s, scientists in the rest of the world
began to experiment with the equipment (Rosenthal & Wulfsohn, 1970). Brown (1975) and von
Richthofen and Mellor (1979) provide good overviews of how the system worked and some
history of its development.
Many researchers found it extremely effective as a sleep aid (Magora, Beller, Aladjemoff, &
Tannenbaum, 1964; Nias, 1976) or for the relief of tension (Singh, 1967). Others claimed it was
an effective treatment for depression or psychotic conditions (Flemenbaum, 1974). However,
some scientists claimed that it was totally ineffective (Woods, Tyce, & Bickford, 1965).
Evaluators felt that scientists who did find electrosleep (as it was called) effective had made
various methodological errors in their testing (von Richthofen & Mellor, 1979). Brown (1975)
reported that in some instances test subjects experienced complications, including salivation,
micturition, cardiac arrest, and respiratory arrest.
If you’re like most students, you may have problems getting enough sleep. Would you use the
Russian sleep machine? Your answer should address the machine’s safety and effectiveness. Use
the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts
with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the
following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
CAUTION: Several of the articles cited in this exercise provide some schematic
diagrams and rudimentary instructions for building a Russian sleep machine.
These directions are neither complete nor fully tested, and therefore it would be
unwise and possibly unsafe for you to attempt to build a Russian sleep machine
for yourself.
References:
Brown, C. C. (1975). Electroanesthesia and electrosleep. American Psychologist, 30, 402–
410.
Flemenbaum, A. (1974). Cerebral electrotherapy (electrosleep): An open-clinical study with
a six month follow-up. Psychosomatics, 15, 20–24.
Magora, F., Beller, A., Aladjemoff, L., & Tannenbaum, J. (1964). Electrical sleep in dogs.
British Journal of Anaesthesia, 36, 407–414.
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83
Nias, D. K. B. (1976). Therapeutic effects of low-level direct electrical currents.
Psychological Bulletin, 83, 766–773.
Rosenthal, S. H., & Wulfsohn, N. L. (1970). Electrosleep clinical trial. American Journal of
Psychiatry, 127, 533–534.
Singh, K. (1967). Sleep inducing devices: A clinical trial with a Russian machine.
International Journal of Neuropsychiatry, 3, 311–318.
von Richthofen, C. L., & Mellor, C. (1979). Cerebral electrotherapy: Methodological
problems in assessing its therapeutic effectiveness. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 1264–
1271.
Woods, L. W., Tyce, F. A. J., & Bickford, R. C. (1965). Electric sleep-producing devices: An
evaluation using EEG monitoring. American Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 153–158.
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84
CHAPTER
20
CRITICAL THINKING ACTIVITIES
ACTIVITY 20.1:
Tenure Makes Professors Complacent and Lazy
According to the American Association of University Professors (2006), “Tenure is a means to
certain ends; specifically: (1) freedom of teaching and research and of extramural activities, and
(2) a sufficient degree of economic security to make the profession attractive to men and women
of ability” (p. 3). Tenure guarantees professors the freedom to investigate and share knowledge
about any topic, no matter how offensive or obscure, without the fear of losing their jobs.
Benjamin (1999) points out that although he believes that it does indeed achieve its stated goals,
there is some controversy with regard to whether that is actually true.
Some colleges, universities, and even state legislators claim that tenure gives professors a sense
of complacency, making them unproductive (Fairweather, 2002). Others claim that in these
tough economic times, the tenure system makes it impossible for institutions to be sufficiently
flexible in terms of staffing (Dowdy, 1998; Holden, 1977) and some institutions are attempting
to eliminate tenure in favor of contracts or other “tenure-like” systems (Bess, 1998; Holden,
1977).
Yet many believe that the need for tenure has never been greater. Participants at a Harvard
University-sponsored conference on the merits and problems associated with tenure noted that
many scholars would be afraid to pursue important research topics were it not for the protections
of tenure (Dowdy, 1998). Williams and Ceci (2007) report that even among tenured faculty, it is
not until a person has achieved the highest rank that they feel capable of doing or speaking freely
about controversial research. Evidence for this is abundant in recent news, as the unpopular
opinions of some educators have angered government officials and members of the public, who
call for their ouster, despite tenure’s protection (Giroux, 2006).
Fairweather (2002) notes that it is the rare faculty member who can be highly productive both in
research and in the classroom, as the demands of each are different, but that tenured faculty were
more likely than untenured faculty to be productive in one arena or the other, and that only
tenured faculty were generally able to be productive in both. This echoes Benjamin’s (1998)
findings about the productivity of tenured faculty, both as researchers and teachers. Benjamin
(1998) also notes that the ratio of students to faculty has risen dramatically in the past few
decades, which may also have something to do with instructors’ ability to teach effectively.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
85
What do you believe? Does tenure help promote good research and teaching, or does it make
professors too comfortable, resulting in bad teaching and poor research? Use the critical thinking
method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible source
material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
American Association of University Professors. (2006). 1940 statement of principles on
academic freedom and tenure with 1970 interpretive comments [Electronic version].
Retrieved September 4, 2007, from American Association of University Professors
Web site: http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/policydocs/
1940statement.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished.
Benjamin, E. (1998). Declining faculty availability to students is the problem B but tenure is
not the explanation. American Behavioral Scientist, 41, 716–735.
Benjamin, E. (1999). Some implications of tenure for the profession and society. Retrieved
July 27, 2007, from American Association of University Professors Web site:
http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/issues/tenure/benjamintenureimps.htm?wbc_purpose=Ba
sic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished.
Bess, J. L. (1998). Contract systems, bureaucracies, and faculty motivation: The probable
effects of a no-tenure policy. Journal of Higher Education, 69, 1–22.
Dowdy, Z. R. (1998). Is tenure in your future? Black Issues in Higher Education, 15(19), 12–
13.
Fairweather, J. E. (2002). The mythologies of faculty productivity: Implications for
institutional policy and decision making. Journal of Higher Education, 73, 26–48.
Giroux, H. A. (2006). Academic freedom under fire: The case for critical pedagogy.
College Literature, 33(4), 1–42.
Holden, C. (1997, April 4). Tenure turmoil sparks reform. Science, 276(5309), 24–26.
Williams, W. M., & Ceci, S. J. (2007, March 9). Does tenure really work? Chronicle of
Higher Education, 53(27), B16.
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86
ACTIVITY 20.2:
Honesty Is the Best Company Policy
When one of the authors was working his way through graduate school, he applied for a job at a
national electronics chain store. As part of the interview process, the manager handed him an
honesty test, and left him alone to complete it. Knowing something about test construction, he
held the paper up to the light, and found that the check-boxes for the correct answers were
marked on the back of each page, so he checked off nearly all of the right answers (there were
close to 100 items) but left two incorrect, so he wouldn’t appear to be cheating. When the
manager scored the test, he told our hero that not only would he get the job, but that it was
wonderful to be able to hire such an honest and upstanding person.
Many businesses use integrity tests as a part of the hiring process. Some tests are dependent on
personality variables, and others measure hypothetical behaviors in specific situations. Some
organizations even used polygraph systems (sometimes called “lie detectors”) as screening
devices (Jussim, 1985), although use of the polygraph is no longer permitted as a result of the
Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988. Many researchers support the use of integrity
testing, saying that some tests give an accurate picture of the prospective employee’s level of
honesty (Goodstein & Lanyon, 1999; Wanek, 1999). In fact, Lucas and Friedrich (2005) found
that integrity testing was also a good measure of whether students would engage in academically
dishonest behaviors, such as cheating on examinations.
Others, however, maintain that many of the tests used are not valid measures of integrity
(Guastello & Rieke, 1991; Lilienfeld, Alliger, & Mitchell, 1995; Saxe, 1994). One problem is
that the actual construct of integrity is not well defined (Rieke & Guastello, 1995), and often
contains particular biases (Lilienfeld, Allinger, & Mitchell, 1995). Another is that individuals can
be coached to get good scores on many of the integrity tests currently in use (Alliger & Dwight,
2000; Lilienfeld, Allinger, & Mitchell, 1995). Although they noted that some integrity tests
might be useful, Camara and Schneider (1994) discussed several methodological and ethical
problems regarding the use of such instruments. Other psychologists have also raised ethical
issues (Rieke & Guastello, 1995).
Should employers use integrity testing as a part of their hiring decisions? Use the critical
thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure to support your thoughts with credible
source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you need to answer the following
questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
87
References:
Alliger, G. M., & Dwight, S. A. (2000). A meta-analytic investigation of the susceptibility of
integrity tests to faking and coaching. Educational Psychology & Measurement, 60,
59–72.
Camara, W. J., & Schneider, D. L. (1994). Integrity tests: Facts and unresolved issues.
American Psychologist, 49, 112–119.
Goodstein, L. D., & Lanyon, R. I. (1999). Applications of personality assessment to the
workplace: A review. Journal of Business & Psychology, 13, 291–322.
Guastello, S. J., & Rieke, M. L. (1991). A review and critique of honesty test research.
Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 9, 501–523.
Jussim, D. (1985, December 21). Lies, damn lies—and polygraphs. Nation, 241(21), 665,
682.
Lilienfeld, Alliger, G., & Mitchell, K. (1995). Why integrity testing remains controversial.
American Psychologist, 50, 457–458.
Lucas, G. M., & Friedrich, J. (2005). Individual differences in workplace deviance and
integrity as predictors of academic dishonesty. Ethics & Behavior, 15, 15–35.
Rieke, M. L., & Guastello, S. J. (1995). Unresolved issues in honesty and integrity testing.
American Psychologist, 50, 458–459.
Sackett, P. R. (1994). Integrity testing for personnel selection. Current directions in
Psychological Science, 3, 73–76.
Saxe, L. (1994). Detection of deception: Polygraph and integrity tests. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 3, 69–73.
Wanek, J. E. (1999). Integrity and honesty testing: What do we know? How do we use it?
International Journal of Selection & Assessment, 7(4), 183–195.
ACTIVITY 20.3:
Telecommuters Are More Productive Than Office Workers
According to Wikipedia (2007), “Telecommuting . . . is a work arrangement in which employees
enjoy limited flexibility in working location and hours. In other words, the daily commute to a
central place of work is replaced by telecommunication links” (& 1). In other words, you don’t
need to go to a specific location to work, but might work from home, a favorite restaurant, or
even a park or campsite. Many people believe that this flexibility allows workers to be happier
and more productive (Apicella & Jefferson, 2001; Wahl, 2007). Butler, Aasheim, and Williams
(2007) found that productivity increased when people became telecommuters at the Kentucky
American Water Company, and that they sustained that increase over a five-year period.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
88
Some researchers have shown that telecommuters’ productivity is not as high as that of on-site
workers (Westfall, 2004). Others note that only certain types of workers are likely to be able to
work well as telecommuters (Apicella & Jefferson, 2001; Khaifa & Davidson, 2000; Wahl,
2007), or that telecommuting only works in certain types of situations (Apicella & Jefferson,
2001; Khaifa & Davidson, 2000). Managers claim to have difficulties with how telecommuters
are to be supervised (Gross, 2006; Schiff, 1998).
If you owned a company, should you encourage your workers to telecommute rather than to
come in to the office? Use the critical thinking method to come to your own conclusion. Be sure
to support your thoughts with credible source material. Remember that in thinking critically, you
need to answer the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What am I being asked to believe or accept?
What evidence is there to support the assertion?
Are there alternative ways of interpreting the evidence?
What additional evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives?
What conclusions are most reasonable?
References:
Apicella, M., & Jefferson, S. (2001, March 12). Telecommuting proves benefici al and
detrimental. Infoworld, 23(11), 52–53.
Butler, E. S., Aasheim, C., & Williams, S. (2007). Does telecommuting improve
productivity? Communications of the ACM, 50(4), 101–103.
Gross, G. (2006, June 19). Government managers resist telecommuting plans.
Computerworld, 40(25), 21.
Khaifa, M., & Davidson, R. (2000). Exploring the telecommuting paradox. Communications
of the ACM, 43(3), 29–31.
Schiff, D. (1998, October 22). Go telecommute. Electronic Design, 46(24), 64T.
Wahl, A. (2007, March 12). Work naked. Canadian Business, 80(6), 33–35.
Westfall, R. D. (2004). Does telecommuting really increase productivity? Communications of
the ACM, 47(8), 93–97.
Telecommuting. (2007). In Wikipedia. Retrieved on July 27, 2007, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommuting.
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