Critical Thinking In Social Psychology

Critical Thinking in Social Psychology

30034728

PSYC 4002- 63130, Fall 2016

University of Louisiana at Monroe

May 4th, 2017

Critical Thinking in Social Psychology

30034728

Shea Shockey

PSYC 4002- 63130, Fall 2016

University of Louisiana at Monroe

May 4th, 2017

Abstract

“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” (National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987). The concept of critical thinking and how it connects so closely to social psychology

36). Critical thinking is an important skill that social psychologist have learned and continue to teach others because being able to connect situations to real life situations makes understanding them so much easier. The certain subjects of social psychology that I chose to help relate socio political events to are cognitive dissonance theory and fundamental attribution error. Trumps actions can’t be explained by these parts of social psychology thanks to critical thinking.

Critical Thinking in Social Psychology One way critical thinking is connected to social psychology is through cognitive dissonance theory. Cognitive dissonance theory, as described in the book, is the

Fundamental attribution error is “the failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behavior, and the corresponding tendency to overemphasize the importance of dispositions on behavior” (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen, Nisbett, 2016, p. G-3). Fundamental attribution error is when people focus on internal factors and don’t include external factors into the equation. The example used in the social psychology book describes the tragic event of Katrina. During the hurricane many people didn’t leave the city although the whole city was advised to evacuate. Many outsiders described these individuals as being lazy when in reality they were poor and didn’t have the resources available to them to evacuate. If the outsiders would have taken the time to understand why these individuals couldn’t evacuate then maybe they would reevaluate what they said. The lesson in fundamental attribution error is, “We shouldn’t be so fast to make dispositional attributions for others’ behavior; we should hold off until we’ve made a serious attempt to assess the situation confronting them (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen, Nisbett, 2016, p.