by Albert Major

Critical and Scientific Thinking

Recap from last week:

• Popper’s demarcation criterion

  • A theory is scientific if and only if it makes predictions that are in principle falsifiable

  • More easy version: (A theory is scientific if and only if it makes predictions that can be proven false.)

    

Cognitive Science of religion

• Why are religious beliefs and practices so common?
  • One theory: Hyperactive agency detection, tendency to impose agency on natural phenomenon (snake wind example)
  • Another possible theory: applying Occam razor in situation of great ignorance.
  • Another one: ingroup bias.

Behavioral economics

• Reasoning errors play a role in correcting scientific theories
• The myth of the rational Homo economicus
• Biases in consumer behavior:
  • Loss aversion
  • Endowment effect
  • Sunk cost fallacy
• Kahneman won the Nobel prize in economics for this work