Calling Bull: Discerning Fact from Fiction in Psychology and the Real World

Catalog description

Inspired by the course of the same name designed by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West at the University of Washington, the aim of this seminar is to get students "to think critically about the data and models that constitute evidence in the social and natural sciences". We will reinforce critical thinking principles regarding probability and statistics, causality, data visualizations, and more, practicing how to apply these principles to both scientific papers and evidentiary claims made "in the wild" (in the news, on social media, etc). We will pay particular attention to topics and examples relevant to psychology.