Exam 1 Flashcards
What is science?
Process of questioning, testing, experimenting, and observing. Asks why
What is technology?
The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. It’s the collection of tools, machinery, modification, arrangements and procedures used by humans. It makes things easier and solves problems for humans.
What is the question that needs to be asked in terms of technology?
Who needs what because why
Misconception
misunderstandings that we have about specific points of factual evidence, either misinterpreted or led to the wrong conclusion
When we are presented with material that is unfamiliar or goes against our conceptions, we are
afraid of it
Where do we get our information from?
The web, entertainment, news sources
What are some of the reasons it is so easy to be misinformed?
Bad science, “marketing tool” headlines, celebrity causes/hero-worship
What is an example of bad science?
“Drinking red wine everyday is as good as going to the gym”, sample of 12 people
“Marketing tool” headlines
Summarizing a study to make it “sexier”
P-Hacking
Manipulating your variables over and over again until you finally get something that is statistically significant
When looking for information, most media outlets just read
press releases
Indexing
finding new web pages and other media in search results. Search engines only index a fraction of what is available
How do we determine what studies have produced reliable results?
huge quantity of available information, but uneven level of quality, credible websites come from recognized experts, beware of anecdotal evidence
Straw man argument
An argument that doesn’t address the actual argument. It misrepresents and distorts the real argument, and while it may contain a grain of truth it is blown so out of proportion it is hardly recognizable
Red herring argument
an attempt to shift debate away from the issue that is the topic of an argument. It doesn’t distort it like a straw man. It just completely shifts the focus.
The quality of our life depends on the
quality of our thought
Critical thinking
self directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcoming our native egocentrism and sociocentrism
Egocentric
humans do not naturally consider the rights and needs of others. We do not naturally recognize our self-serving perspective
Sociocentric
place one culture’s nation, religion above all others, self-serving positive descriptions of ourselves and negative descriptions of those who think differently from us
Three levels of thought
Highest order thinking, higher order thinking, lower order thinking
Highest Order Thinking
- Explicitly reflective
- Highest skill level
- Routine use of critical thinking tools in analyzing and assessing thinking
Higher Order Thinking
- Selectively reflective
- High skill level
- Lacks critical thinking vocabulary
Lower Order Thinking
- Unreflective
- Low to mixed skill level
- Frequently relies on gut intuition
- Largely self-serving and self-deceived
Three Kinds of Questions
one system, no system, multi-system
One system (kinds of questions)
o Requires evidence and reasoning within a system
o Always has a correct answer
o Left with knowledge
No system (kinds of questions)
o Calls for stating a subjective preference
o A subjective opinion
o Cannot be assessed
Multi-system
o Requires evidence and reasoning within multiple systems
o Better and worse answers (no right or wrong)
o Judgment
