I wrote:
> A silly question occurred to me after I finished reading another paper...
As I re-read my post, I realize that I meant the question more seriously
than this statement suggests. A characteristic of science is that we
express tentativeness regarding our conclusions because we understand that
any evidence used in support of a particular conclusion can be interpreted
in other ways. In addition, we understand that evidence gathered in the
future may fail to support the claim. In other words, we understand that
knowledge is fallible and that conclusions are accurate only in a
probabilistic sense.
But, as I'm sure we've discussed before on this list, our tentativeness and
explicit discussions of the fallibility of knowledge claims result in a
"public-relations" problem for psychology. For example, my students
sometimes express dismay at the difficulty of evaluating evidence and
reaching a valid conclusion. Because it seems that it is mostly behavioral
scientists, such as we psychologists, who express much uncertainty about
their conclusions, I suspect that many students eventually think of
psychology and these related sciences as "not really science": we too often
express tentativeness regarding our claims.
That is why I like to show videos such as the Nova episode on facilitated
communication. It seems to be one of the rare examples when we can say with
much certainty: "There...we've answered THAT question." It's a good
example, I think, of a critical experiment in psychology.
Are there any other easy-to-understand examples (critical experiments) in
psychology that can demonstrate to students that psychologists can make
conclusions that are very likely to be true?
Jeff
--
Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D. Office Phone: (480) 423-6213
9000 E. Chaparral Rd. FAX Number: (480) 423-6298
Psychology Department [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626
Listowner: Psychologists Educating Students to Think Skeptically (PESTS)
http://www.sc.maricopa.edu/sbscience/pests/index.html
