Critical Thinking Topics: Fall, 2011
Due Monday, November 28, 2011
What does the expression mean, cut off your nose to spite your face.
Due Friday, December 2, 2011
Discuss the concept of “free will” in light of social psychological research (Milgram,
Zimbardo, Cialdini) and anecdotal history (Kitty Genovese, the Holocaust, The
Killing Fields in Cambodia, etc.).
Due Friday, November 4, 2011
Think about perception. Differentiate between bottom-up and top-down
processing. Some say that perhaps less than half of perception is associated with
moment-to-moment sensory input and experience (i.e., our brain fills in most of
what we are aware of in any given moment), what are the implications of that with
respect to our view of the world?
Due Friday, October 28, 2011
7. What is intelligence?
Consider how nature-nurture contributes to it
What advantages does an intelligent individual have?
How would you tell if someone was intelligent 100, 500, 5,000 years ago?
What can a “intellectually deficient” person accomplish?
What traits or characteristics can compensate for lower intelligence?
Think of examples of some behaviors or skills that you have learned during your
lifetime.
How did you learn these behaviors or skills? Observation, reading, training, etc.
In your opinion, do people learn (and retain) more from the mistakes they make or
from discipline, mastery, and “getting it right.”
Due Friday, October 7, 2011
From video: Secret of the Wild Child
Consider the contributions of nature-nurture to Genie’s development, e.g., neglect,
abuse vs. intellectual deficiency
What are some ethical considerations relevant to her treatment?
What did you find most striking about the professional responses to Genie?
What evidence suggests that Genie showed modest improvement?
What could be done differently to protect children like Genie?
1. Who suffers and who benefits from Breed Specific Legislation (BSL)? Should
there be prohibitions from ownership of "aggressive" breeds of dogs?
2. Find one example from commercial advertising (television or magazine)
where our perceptions are manipulated and/or we are deceived. What is your
theory on why we are often taken in? How does this differ from the old west
"snake oil" claims?
3. Which theory best describes newborns and their potential to develop and
grow?
Puritan: Children as inherently evil and stubborn
punitive approach to child-rearing
Locke: Tabula rasa
children as blank slates shaped by experience
Rousseau: Noble savages
children as naturally healthy and moral. They are screwed up by parents/adults
4. Share your thoughts on motivation.
Think of things that motivate you.
Do you conceive of motivation as intrinsic (inward) or extrinsic (outward)? E.g.,
Mother Teresa vs. Donald Trump.
Is it more nature or more nurture?
How much control do people have over what motivates them? Think of examples.
5. Distinguish between “the mind” and “the brain”
Can you have a mind without a brain or a brain with no mind?
What evidence convinces you that the mind is an essential component of who you
are?
Which exerts greater control over the other: the brain or the mind.
6. Why do we dream?
7. What is intelligence?
Consider how nature-nurture contributes to it
What advantages does an intelligent individual have?
How would you tell if someone was intelligent 100, 500, 5,000 years ago?
What can a “mentally retarded” person accomplish?
What traits or characteristics can compensate for lower intelligence?
8. Steve Wilkos and Maury Povich use polygraphy to determine if people are
lying and/or guilty of “cheating,” etc. Watch a small segment on Fox or YouTube.
Consider if confidence in the polygraph is deserved.
9. Consider the implications of The Tragedy of the Commons and Tragedy of
the Anticommons and their relevance today.
10. Small Group: