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PSYC 100:
PSYCHOLOGY
OF CRITICAL THINKING
(Fall 2009, section 1)
Catalog Course Description: Analysis of arguments and persuasive appeals (both deductive and inductive), common fallacies in thinking and forming arguments, evaluating information sources used to justify a belief, application of critical thinking to scientific reasoning about human behavior. This is a GE Course (Lower Division, Area A). Courses in this category have the goal of helping the student to think clearly and logically, to find and critically examine information, and to communicate more effectively, whether orally or in writing.
Instructor:
David
Campbell
Office:
444 BSS
Phone:
826-3721
Office
Hours: Continuous (by e-mail)
and usually 9-11 Wed in my office.
E-mail:
dec1@humboldt.edu
Web
site: www.humboldt.edu/~campbell/psyc.htm
Groups:
Creative Puzzlers (Last names
Deep Thinkers (Last names E to G)
MasterMinds (Last names H to M)
Clear Cogitators (Last names N to Z)
Texts: (Be sure
to purchase the correct edition.) The bookstore should have your
textbooks in stock. If they run out, you can purchase them in ebook
format from: http://www.coursesmart.com/students
Bassham, G., Irwin, W., Nardone, H., & Wallace, J. M. (2008).
Critical
thinking: A student’s introduction (3rd ed.) New York:
McGraw-Hill.
(ISBN 978-0-07-340734-0)
Stanovich, K. E. (2007). How to think straight about psychology (8th ed.). New York: Allyn and Bacon. (ISBN 0-205-48513-8) Only in hardcopy at present.
NOTE: You must have your textbooks at the
beginning of the semester. Reading assignments and homework typically
begin in the first week. If you cannot afford the required texts, ask
about the emergency loan program at our Financial Aid Office.
Course
Goals:
To
achieve improved skill in critical thinking. Specific
attention is given to:
Identifying the premises and
conclusion of
arguments,
Evaluating the validity of
deductive
arguments,
Evaluating the strength of
inductive
arguments,
Identifying common fallacies in
arguments,
Constructing and evaluating
arguments of
your own,
Evaluating information sources
used to
justify a belief.
This
is a GE
course (Lower Division, Area A). As such, this course aims to
sharpen
your ability to think clearly and logically, to find and critically
examine
information, and to communicate orally and in writing. You will learn
about
errors in thinking and ways to test the validity of reasoning. These
skills
will help you to write better papers, ask critical questions, and
improve your
overall understanding of material.
Course
Procedure:
Since
this class is being taught via the web, we will not have traditional
lectures.
You must do the assigned reading and submit homework assignments as you
would
in a traditional class. And you will have several exams over the course
material—all completed over the web except for the final exam.
Beyond that,
much of your work in this course will be in the form of participation
in a
“virtual” class discussion. Frequently during the week, you
will be expected to
logon to Moodle and contribute to the discussion using a bulletin board
format.
This will require a fair amount of your time, but if done
conscientiously, you
will find that the class debate and discussion is one of the most
interesting
parts of the whole course. The expectation is that you will spend a
total 4
hours each week participating in class discussion (note that we are
using
the 4 hours you would normally spend going to, waiting for, and sitting
through
lectures each week).
The publisher has a website with chapter outlines, review quizzes, and
other
study aids: http://www.mhhe.com/bassham3e
Grading
(approximate weighting). Note:
Details on the grading of each course component are provided on our
Moodle
site.
15%
Homework assignments Graded as done/not done.
Serious effort
with the homework assignments will pay off when you take the exams. Due Tuesday midnight of the week assigned.
40%
2 midterm exams (20% each) over material from the reading
assignments. You will have 24 hours in which to complete your test
(timed test, usually about 50 minutes). There are no make-ups. You must
make arrangements so that you have access to a computer on the test
days. This applies to traveling athletes, students on field trips,
those sick at home, visiting relatives, etc.
25%
Final exam (comprehensive). This is in two parts: The take-home
portion will be made available in the last week of classes and must be
delivered to the instructor; the online part will be taken following
the same procedure as with the midterm exams.
20%
Class participation. You should logon to the class
discussion at
least three times a week: early (Sun-Tues), mid (Wed-Thurs), and
late
(Fri-Sat). At each of these times, you should read the other
postings and
submit your own contributions to the discussion (in the form of
“replies”). Strive for frequent, high-quality,
thought-provoking
contributions. Support your ideas with your own reasoning or
evidence you
have obtained from internet searches and other classes you have taken
and you
should do fine with this part of the course. Expect a lower grade
if you
post contributions to the discussion board only once a week, make short
posts
that show little thought, fail to address ideas in previous posts, or
provide
confused and poorly thought out contributions.
Extra
Credit:
You can earn extra credit in this course by participating in one or two
hours
of research as a participant (subject). To sign up for
experiments, you
need to first create an account in the participation pool system.
Instructions are available at http://www.humboldt.edu/~cla18/partpool.htm
No specific point values are associated with extra credit work.
However, such
activities will be considered when course grades are determined and may
be
useful when students are near the border between two letter grades.
Note:
research participation appointments are taken seriously. While 2-3
hours of
participation credits can improve your grade in borderline situations,
failing
to show up for scheduled research can lower your grade.
Student
Responsibilities:
You are expected to tackle this course in a constructive and mature
manner. Your instructor expects you to make your work in this
course a
high priority, keeping up with reading, and completing all assignments
on
time. Exams, in particular, must be taken when scheduled.
There are no
make-up exams in this course. Also, be sure to review the HSU
policy on academic
honesty.
You need to be aware of what constitutes cheating and plagiarism (e.g.,
is it
OK to turn in essentially the same paper in two classes with similar
assignments, or is it OK to make use of quizzes provided by your
roommate from
the same class last semester?).
Schedule
of
|
Wk # |
WEEK |
TOPIC |
READING ASSIGNMENT |
|
1 |
Aug
24-28 |
Orientation (The time and location of our
orientation session will be sent to you) |
-- |
|
2 |
Aug
31 - Sept 4 |
Intro
to Critical Thinking |
Bass:
Ch 1; Stan: Ch 1 |
|
3 |
Sept
7-11 |
Recognizing
Arguments |
Bass:
2; Stan: 2 |
|
4 |
Sept
14-18 |
Basic
Logical Concepts |
Bass:
3; Stan: 3 |
|
5 |
Sept
21-25 |
Language |
Bass:
4; Stan: 4 |
|
6 |
Sept
28 - Oct 2 |
Logical
Fallacies |
Bass:
5; Stan: 5 |
|
7 |
Oct
5-9 |
More
Logical Fallacies |
Bass:
6, Stan: -- |
|
8 |
Oct
12-16 |
Analyzing
Arguments |
Bass:
7; Stan: 6 |
|
9 |
Oct
19-23 |
Evaluating
Arguments |
Bass:
8; Stan: 7 |
|
10 |
Oct
26-30 |
Categorical
Logic |
Bass:
9; Stan: -- |
|
11 |
Nov
2-6 |
Propositional
Logic |
Bass:
10; Stan: -- |
|
12 |
Nov
9-13 |
Inductive
Reasoning |
Bass:
11; Stan: 8 |
|
13 |
Nov
16-20 |
The
Media |
Bass:
14; Stan: 9 |
| Nov 23-27 | Thanksgiving Break | -- | |
| 14 | Nov 30-Dec 4 | Science & Pseudoscience | Bass: 15, Stan: 10 |
|
15 |
Dec
7-11 |
Final
Words from Stanovich |
Bass:
--; Stan: 11,12 |
|
-- |
Dec
16 |
FINAL EXAM Comprehensive final: Take-home
part to be provided in last week of classes, online part to be taken on
Wednesday of finals week. |
|