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9780826194190 Academic Inspection Copy

Critical Thinking, Science, and Pseudoscience

Why We Can't Trust Our Brains
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This text for undergraduate courses in critical thinking across disciplines uses the intriguing and appealing exploration of pseudoscience to apply these principles and skills. Providing an accessible foundation of what critical thinking is, why it's important, and how to apply these skills, the book explores the psychological and social reasons of why human beings tend to find credence in extraordinary claims. The book then shows how critical thinking skills are used to evaluate specific pseudoscientific arenas by applying scientific methods from various disciplines. From alien abductions, ghosts, and psychic phenomena to historical revisionism and unsupported medical and mental health treatments, this intriguing book uses examples form a wide range of pseudoscience fields and brings evidence from diverse fields as psychology, biology, and physics to critically examine these claims. Authored by a psychologist and a philosopher who have extensive experience teaching and writing on critical thinking and skeptical inquiry, this work is a lively text for courses in critical thinking and the phenomenon of pseudoscience across multiple disciplines.
Section I: Understanding Critical Thinking, Science, and Pseudoscience Chapter 1: Why Do We Need Critical Thinking? Chapter 2: What is Science? Chapter 3: What is Pseudoscience? Chapter 4: What is Critical Thinking? Chapter 5: How Do We Use Critical Thinking? Chapter 6: Why Can't We Trust Our Brains? Chapter 7: Why Can't We Trust Our World? Section II: Applying Critical Thinking to Pseudoscience Claims Chapter 8: Extraterrestrial Life and Alien Abductions Chapter 9: Ghosts and Hauntings Chapter 10: ESP and Mediumship Chapter 11: Cryptozoology Chapter 12: Alternative Medicine for Physical Illness Chapter 13: Alternative Treatments for Mental Illness Chapter 14: Historical Revisionism Chapter 15: Conspiracy Theories Chapter 16: Conclusion
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