(Wrote this one for the “throw-away” 4-week intro class that turned out to be quite worthwhile after all. I absolutely adored the Douglas article — so many of my personal interactions make more sense with an understanding of belief perseverance. That one has gone into my “revisit regularly” file.)

“She doesn’t have much book-learnin’, but she’s got a lot of common sense.”

“He’s a brilliant physics professor, but he has absolutely no common sense!”

“C’mon (insert daughter’s name here), use your common sense! Where did you last play with (insert desired toy here)?”

We talk about common sense all the time, but what exactly *is* it? From listening to our daily conversations, it would be easy to assume that common sense is exactly that: a commonly-held set of general principles and basic knowledge that “everyone” (except, perhaps, that poor physics professor) shares. As reality would have it, as we dig into friends’ or spouses’ minds, we are likely to discover that what seems “obvious” to us is anything but to them. As discussed in the PSYC 6001 course study notes (“Psychology as a Science”), even so-called common sense folk wisdom is not particularly valuable; it is often contradictory, which renders it non-falsifiable. Circumstances in your life don’t fit one maxim? Use the opposite, contrary one, and the power of folk wisdom still appears to hold.

Science, on the other hand, involves research, hard examination of one’s assumptions, and not only a willingness to be found wrong, but an eagerness to find error in one’s hypotheses. Without the ability to recognize and our own errors, scientific research becomes useless. Or, as Pope suggested, “Only if we are willing to find out that our expectations, assumptions, and conclusions were wrong will the data be able to teach us anything” (1998, p.1177). In sum, common sense does not invite questioning and re-thinking. Science, on the other hand, demands it.

As I have experienced my first quarter of graduate research, it has become obvious to me that belief perseverance could well be one of the most difficult personal obstacles I will face in my effort to become a scholar-practitioner. For any given concept, the human mind can usually only accommodate one explanatory concept; when new ideas explaining the same phenomenon arise, my natural tendency will be to reject the new information (Douglas, 2000). After all, I already *understand* that issue; this new information just confounds things! This is not unlike the action of neurotransmitters and receptor sites in the brain; if the receptor site for ACh has already been filled by nicotine, for instance, loose ACh molecues have no way to activate postsynaptic neurons (Weiten, 2008). My best strategy to combat this potential Achilles’ heel of mine is awareness. As I ensure that I am consciously more aware of my existing belief system, I can be cautious of my tendencies to overlook hypotheses that do not match up with my existing beliefs.

References

Douglas, N. L. (2000). Enemies of critical thinking: Lessons from social psychology research. Reading Psychology, 21 (2), 129-144. Retrieved December 16, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.

Pope, K. (1998). Pseudoscience, cross-examination, and scientific evidence in the recovered memory controversy. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 1998, Vol. 4, No. 4, 1160-1181. Retrieved December 16, 2008, from PsychARTICLES database.

Psychology as a Science. (2008). [Study notes]. Retrieved December 16,2008, from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/33748/CRS-WUPSYC6205-3204183/SN_W11_Psychology_as_Science.doc

Weiten, W. (2008) Psychology: Themes and variations. Briefer version. (7th ed.). Belmont, California: Thomson Higher Education.

This is a concoction I can honestly say is mine — one of those “oh, this should all be good together” kind of dinners that worked really well. I first did something like this several years ago, to promptly forget it. Recently, I recreated it, and it’s now a favorite in our house.

All measurements are “ish.” That’s how I roll.

Makes: Fills most of an 8-quart stockpot. So, 6-7 quarts, I guess?

Sautee in 2T or so coconut oil (canola if you don’t keep CO on hand):

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 5 celery ribs, chopped
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup (guessing here) chopped fresh basil or 1tsp dried
• 1tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 to 1 tsp ground ginger (or 1-2 T fresh diced; I was feeling lazy)
• 1 to 1-1/2 tsp dried lemon grass

Cook for a few minutes (until the onions start to go clear), then add 2oz Thai red curry paste (about 1/2 a bottle). Stir in and let sautee for a minute.

Chop up 1-pound bag of baby carrots into quarters, lengthwise, then crosswise. Or, alternately, chop half of them, say “Fuck it all,” and put the rest of them in whole. (Alternately, use whole carrots, which would be much simpler to cut up.) Add these, and sautee for another minute or two.

Pour in:

• 24oz cheap beer. I use Coors Light, purely because any leftovers get drunk by my dad when he visits. Any crappy, unfit-for-consumption American beer will do.
• 2 14-oz cans coconut milk
• 4 14-oz cans chicken stock
• 1 16-oz bag of dried lentils

Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer. Add:

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 4 Tbsp soy sauce (I used regular-salt Tamari)
• 2 Tbsp Sriacha sauce

Chop 4 to 5 cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts into cubes. (You can boil, or pressure cooking makes them REALLY tender.) Add to the pot.

Cook 20-30 minutes, until lentils tender. Add 1tsp of salt (or salt to taste).

Serve over brown rice.

YUM.