by david allan van nostrand | Mar 10, 2025 | critical thinking, Human Behavior, Shaky Science, Using Information
The American Psychological Association doesn’t like the term used by most people, lie detector, because the machine does not detect lies. The APA prefers the more scientific term, polygraph, a Greek word that meant “writing much.” There is no detecting going on...
by david allan van nostrand | May 13, 2024 | critical thinking, Research, Using Information
The word polar first meant the end of an axis. Visualize a world globe. Locate the North and South Poles and notice how they are geographic opposites on the axis around which the earth rotates once a day. After a time. the word polar was used to refer to things...
by david allan van nostrand | Jan 29, 2024 | critical thinking, Human Behavior, Psychology
The concept of intelligence describes cognition that results in an ability to function in the world, adapt, and achieve goals. Some say human intelligence is the skilled use of knowledge and reason. Others define it as the ability to learn from experience and use that...
by david allan van nostrand | Nov 27, 2023 | critical thinking, Sociology
In 1998, I traveled across North and South America, Europe, and Asia conducting field tests with prototypes of what we now call tablet computers. The device was originally conceived as a browser-only gadget that operated wirelessly from a base station, much like a...
by david allan van nostrand | Sep 11, 2023 | critical thinking, Human Behavior, Using Information
What Is a Concept? Concepts are general ideas about things. They are mental representations we use to understand the world around us. Concepts represent groups of related ideas that are organized around a main theme. One example is how the concept of gravity includes...
by david allan van nostrand | Aug 28, 2023 | Assumptions, critical thinking, Using Information
The bandwagon fallacy assumes that something must be true because others think it is. A great example is found in thousands of HR departments that value the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator because so many others use it. Just like a perpetual motion machine, its popularity...
