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1 Peruse the letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Identify a letter that describes a belief that you suspect is based on one of the sources of beliefs discussed in this chapter. Why do you think this is the case?

2 Obtain a copy of a popular magazine. Find an article of your choice that is based on opinion. Identify the sources of belief used by the author. Do you think the writer was a critical thinker? Explain your answer.

3 Select a major psychological theory. Generate three testable hypotheses.

4 Read a research paper in a scientific journal. Generate a testable hypothesis from the research.

5 In our introductory psychology classes, we often do the following demonstration: We ask for eight or so volunteers. Each student is given a coin. We turn our back to the students and instruct them to clench the fist holding the coin and place the fist next to their head. We then ask them to try sending thoughts to us about which hand is holding the coin. We hem and haw for a while. We then tell the students to drop the hand and hold out both fists in front of them. We quickly turn around and identify which hand is the one holding the coin. We are always accurate. The students are required to generate a scientific hypothesis for our ability to do this. Use the steps of the scientific method to plan a way to test your hypothesis. Try to find more than one hypothesis that could explain our “magical” ability, and identify how you could test each.