As you work your way through the course you will learn what critical thinking is, and why it is important to use in the study of psychology. In particular, it will help you to think about how to use it when doing independent research.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course D810 Critically exploring psychology 1 and D811 Critically exploring psychology 2.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• recognise that there are differing perspectives in psychology
• understand how psychologists think about the design of their research and the methods used
• appreciate where and how to find out more about how to critically explore as a psychologist
• understand the importance of critical thinking in psychology and research.