Check yourself: What is the scientific attitude and why is it important for critical reading?

Scientific attitude is when we question the surrounding around us; when we are curious of everything around us. Scientific attitude is the passion to explore and discover new ideas. People with scientific attitude would be open to new concepts and be willingly to learn more about pretty much everything. So how does the scientific attitude important to critical thinking? Critical thinking is the “thinking that does not blindly accept arguments and conclusions. Rather, it examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.” Unless we would willingly be open to any new thoughts, you would not be considered to be using critical thinking. If you claim you are using critical thinking, you must not be considering only one idea. Therefore, you must have the scientific attitude in order to be thinking critically.

“Best of the Century”

What has been the major breakthrough in psychotherapy this century?
Nowadays psychotherapy is everywhere; it is multicultural and it exists all around the world. People attend the group therapy, intensive weekends led by therapists, etc. And it is universally known that it helps you coping stress or any other kind of problems. Not that it only deals with problem; it also helps one with their education and jobs. In this field (psychotherapy), there are numerous methods: behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, etc. Many researches have been taken place and there are many developments for the medications and others. Even the spiritual methods are being used in the modern psychotherapy.

Twenty breakthroughs are identified. Which 5 do you think are the most important? Justify your answer. Identify what perspective is being taken by the psychologist.
One of the most important breakthroughs is discovered by Jean Piaget. His theory states that “human intelligence develops in stages;” meaning we can gain more knowledge at any stages of your life. This breakthrough proves that even an old man can learn more about something, and you never stop accumulating new information! By knowing this, you know you can keep adapting to the changing world by learning new discoveries, etc. I think Jean Piaget is looking at psychology through the neuroscience perspective.

The next important breakthrough is Matina Homer’s discovery: how humans with different sexes have diverse levels of ambition and desire for achievements. According to her experiments, the females are more violent when it comes to achievements while the males tend to give up and find something else to do. I think it is very fascinating and important, because now we are able to understand why females react that way and why male humans react differently. I think Matina Homer is focusing on the behavioral perspective, because she is studying about different behaviors of the male and the female. And I think she is also focusing on the evolutionary perspective, because her discovery is related to how humans have different methods to survive, and if we trace back through evolution, we might be able to justify this aggressive behavior.

Elizabeth F. Loftus’s breakthrough is about how unreliable our memory is. She was performing experiments on the factors that influence our memory; we are not even aware of those factors and how we always manipulate the story. This discovery tells how we should find out about both sides of the story before judging what is right or wrong; it help us a lot with our lives. She is seeing through the neuroscience perspective; she is studying about how our brain enables memories.
B.F. Skinner is the person who discovered organism’s learning behavior called “Operant Condition”. This discovery is the “systematic use of positive [or negative] reinforcement to modify behavior.” This benefits us, because we can use this to train animals or even fellow humans (your children) to know what they should do and what not. I think Skinner looks at psychology through the behavioral perspective.
Another important breakthrough is Marian Diamond one; her discovery tells us that by more stimuli and activities for the brain (basically thinking more) would help develop a more complex brain. This finding informs us that our intelligences are not limited by our IQ that is inherited from our parents, but we can work hard enough in order to be successful. Diamond is looking at psychology through the neuroscience perspective.

Big Issue

The first “big issue” in psychology is “Irrationality versus Rationality”. I agree with both of them, because we can go with irrationality in some circumstances and on the other hand, we can go with the rationality in some circumstances. The score that I received for this issue16, which means that I think humans act in the rational way. However, I still think that it depends on the situation. For example, I am curious why do humans eager to find love, regardless of how major conflicts often involve with love. On the other hand, I understand why humans want to be success, although I might not understand every justification, but I still have my own reason.

Another big issue in psychology that we all are discussing about is “Stability versus Change”. My score on this issue is 3, which means I strongly disagree with the idea that humans cannot change throughout their lives. I believe that each person is able to change for the better, because I think that our personality is developed not only by the inherited genetics from our family, but by the environment and society as well. So I strongly believe that humans can change to be a better person as well as a worse person.

The last issue that is still the big issue in modern psychology is “Nature versus Nurture”. Since I have studied biology and I intend to further study on this topic, I somewhat agree with nature. My score on this issue is 17, more towards nature. However, like I mentioned before, I also believe that humans can learn from their environment and their society, or else how would humans survive our changing world. Nevertheless, not only the physical appearance that we inherited from our parents, but a lot of our personality is being passed on from generations to generations. So I think I agree with both nature and nurture; I think it’s the mixture of both.

What makes people do what they do?

In my opinion, people do what they do because of their values, what they believe is the right thing to do in that situation. The society/ family set their values for them; they might not set the values for them, but they are the major influence to a person’s values. And those values are the motives that enable someone to do something. Since each person has different beliefs and values, their actions would vary. Some people might think killing animals is bad, while another group of people says that sacrificing animals is right. So the differences in the society are common, because the reason for their actions diversify by the different societies.

MY MOTIVATION FOR STUDYING PSYCHOLOGY

To be honest, i never want to study psychology until last year. I always think that why do you need to understand more about people behaviors and thoughts. I thought I understand why certain individuals would react uniquely to the same situation, but actually i never understand it. I admitted I was scared to learn more about people and their complicated minds, because sometimes there lies the problems I never want to face. But don't you wonder sometimes, why would someone pay so much for just a brand-name tiny wallet? Why would someone cry over such a little changes in their lives? I realized, maybe by studying psychology I would truely and totally understand human's minds and behaviors. Therefore, I might be able to interact more with people and understand a person's true intention in doing this or that. Since i want to further study economics in college, I think the understanding of human beings might give you more confidence, because you know your reaction would be appropiate for the situation and you know what is the best way to interact with people. So my motivations to study psychology is to come to an understanding of people's minds and behavior in order to communicate and interact more with people throughout the world.