PSYC1107 The Psychology of Weird and Wonderful Ideas

2017

4.5

1 x 2-hour workshop weekly

Elective

Assessment methods by Assignments and examination(s):percentage weighting = 25%

This topic gives students an opportunity to explore some interesting facts, some surprising claims and some just plain wrong ideas about human behaviour and experience. Everywhere we look, we can find advice about why people behave the way they do, and how we can fix their problems. There are lots of beliefs about these issues, such as immunisation causes Autism, hypnosis can help people to quit smoking, subliminal advertising affects what we buy, the planets affect how we feel, detox will make us healthier and happier, and we can tell if someone is lying by observing their facial movements. Should we simply accept these kinds of ideas as being true? This topic is about how we interpret claims and information, and how we can go about finding valid answers to questions. Using examples that range from the weird to the wonderful, the topic will show how good reasoning and methods of inquiry can help us make better decisions in our personal lives and in our professional lives, almost no matter what we do. The focus is on real-life applications of psychology, and includes an analysis of everyday sources of information such as TV, websites or product labels. The topic will enable students to discover more about how they themselves think, enhance their confidence and strategies for evaluating information, and hone their appreciation of how evidence can guide our conclusions in a variety of contexts. Although the topic draws on principles of psychological science, students do not need any formal knowledge of science or scientific terms.

This topic aims to:

• Demonstrate how psychology can inform our understanding of everyday issues and problems
• Enhance students’ understanding of their own styles of thinking
• Enhance students’ willingness to question claims about human behaviour and wellbeing if they are not backed up by evidence
• Demonstrate how evidence can support, refute or lead to the modification of ideas
• Teach students about some of the common reasoning errors that humans make when interpreting information
• Give students practice at applying strategies that we can use to evaluate information and arguments to arrive at better decisions in our everyday lives and in a range of professional contexts

On successful completion of this topic students should be able to

Distinguish between opinions, assumptions and evidence-based claims
1. Identify their reasons for holding a particular viewpoint
2. State why we should test claims about the causes of behaviour or solutions for human problems
3. Generate potential alternative explanations for events
4. Identify common biases in reasoning
5. Identify strengths and limitations in an argument or evidence for a claim
6. Generate ideas about how a practical question could be answered or what we would need to know to make an informed decision.