Science and Common Sense

Question 1

Confirmation Bias

Answer 1

We tend to focus on cases that confirm our intuitive beliefs and not on cases that dis-confirm them.

Question 2

Skepticism

Answer 2

Being skeptical does not mean being cynical or distrustful, nor does it mean questioning every belief or claim one comes across. Instead, it means pausing to consider alternatives and to search for evidence, especially systematically collected empirical evidence, where there is enough at stake to justify doing so.

Question 3

Key Takeaways

People’s intuitions about human behavior, also known as folk psychology, often turns out to be wrong. This is one primary reason that psychology relies on science rather than common sense.

Answer 3

Researchers in psychology cultivate certain critical-thinking attitudes. One is skepticism. They search for evidence and consider alternatives before accepting a claim about human behavior as true. Another is tolerance for uncertainty. They withhold judgment about whether a claim is true or not when there is insufficient evidence to decide.