Critical thinking ch. 1 and 2

whether it is true or false is independent of whether people think it is true or false 

ex: there is life on mars, doesn't depend on whether people think there is

true or false is not independent of whether people think it is true or false 

ex: is rice vinegar too sweet?

nothing either good or bad; but thinking makes it so

a question whose answer is not made true by the speaker's thinking that it is true

an attempt to support or prove a contention by providing a reason for accepting it. The contention called conclusion, the statement offered as the reason for accepting the conclusion is referred to as premise

the claim(s) in an argument that provide the reasons for believing the conclusion

in argument, the claim for which a premise is supposed to give a reason

the tendency to evaluate an argument by how believable its conclusion is

refers to the inclination we may have to assume that our attitudes and those held by people around us are shared by society at large

refers to an unconscious tendency to align one's thinking with that of other people

the tendency people have to weight negative info more heavily than positive info

a bias; people generally are more strongly motivated to avoid a loss than to accrue a gain

a predisposition to find fault with outsiders

the tendency to not appreciate that others' behavior is as much constrained by events and circumstances as our own would be if we were in their position

the tendency to comply with instructions form an authority even when they conflict with their values

a tendency to overestimate the percentage of correct answers we have given to questions on a subject we are not experts about

most of a group rate themselves as better than most of the group relative to some desirable characteristic, such as resourcefulness or driving ability

an argument for which it is not possible for the premise to be true and the conclusion false

a valid argument whose premises are true

stronger the argument

trying to determine which considerations, both for the against thinking or doing something, carries the most weight

a form of inductive reasoning in which the best explanation for a phenomena is concluded to be the proper explanation of the phenomenon