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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age by University of Michigan

4.8
stars
1,347 ratings

About the Course

Most professions these days require more than general intelligence. They require in addition the ability to collect, analyze and think about data. Personal life is enriched when these same skills are applied to problems in everyday life involving judgment and choice. This course presents basic concepts from statistics, probability, scientific methodology, cognitive psychology and cost-benefit theory and shows how they can be applied to everything from picking one product over another to critiquing media accounts of scientific research. Concepts are defined briefly and breezily and then applied to many examples drawn from business, the media and everyday life. What kinds of things will you learn? Why it’s usually a mistake to interview people for a job. Why it’s highly unlikely that, if your first meal in a new restaurant is excellent, you will find the next meal to be as good. Why economists regularly walk out of movies and leave restaurant food uneaten. Why getting your picture on the cover of Sports Illustrated usually means your next season is going to be a disappointment. Why you might not have a disease even though you’ve tested positive for it. Why you’re never going to know how coffee affects you unless you conduct an experiment in which you flip a coin to determine whether you will have coffee on a given day. Why it might be a mistake to use an office in a building you own as opposed to having your office in someone else’s building. Why you should never keep a stock that’s going down in hopes that it will go back up and prevent you from losing any of your initial investment. Why it is that a great deal of health information presented in the media is misinformation....

Top reviews

JM

Jul 28, 2019

This course is great! I recommend it to anyone who wants to be able to reason better and have more capabilities in making decisions. Thank you Dr. Nisbett and Coursera for providing this course.

MK

Apr 7, 2020

Anyone beginner can take this course and be 100 times more understanding of information via any media while also perhaps understanding what is the best choice in some give scenario IRL.

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26 - 50 of 314 Reviews for Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age

By John N H Y M

Jun 10, 2018

the book should be available More simplicity will be good

By KOSHILKO E

Jun 29, 2023

The "Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age" course is a true discovery and an invaluable source of knowledge for anyone striving to develop their critical thinking in an era of information abundance. The course material is unique and insightful, capable of sparking genuine interest in studying and thoughtfully analyzing modern information trends.

The importance of this knowledge in today's world cannot be overstated. In an era when information saturates all aspects of our lives, possessing critical thinking and analysis skills becomes key to understanding and making reasoned decisions. This course not only helps develop these skills, it directs thinking towards new, previously unexplored directions.

The "Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age" gave me a new perspective on the information world, enriched my knowledge, and strengthened confidence in my own abilities. I recommend this course to anyone looking for opportunities for personal and professional growth.

By Ghazi O T

Dec 19, 2021

This is a must-take course for scientists, academics, and administrators. It brings up what we may have thought as distant and unrelated tools together to perform the main task of critical thinking. Before this course, I could not have imagined that the interchange of basic statistics, psychology, and philosophy could lead me on the path to find the answer for some difficult questions. Prof. Nisbett is also a character that cannot be missed. The way he put his ideas in order has turned this course into an immersive experience.

By Nazia H

Apr 25, 2021

I enjoyed taking this course and would like to acknowledge Professor Nisbett's excellent method of teaching new and formerly known concepts. The course has helped me in imbibing life enhancing skills which I intend to apply heavily in life henceforth and as Professor says in the concluding lesson that the concepts learnt in this course will prove to be beneficial the more we use them in our every day lives. Thank you for putting this course together and I highly recommend it.

By Markus W

Jun 24, 2020

Fantastic course by one of the best psychologists in the field. Great structure, highly relevant content, good quizzes and a great ROI for 10 hours. The book by Nisbett is a great addendum, as it allows to further pursue the topics covered in the course. Well done, Professor Nisbett. Great that a high-standing academician does such a course and thereby helps to fight the enemies of reason. Thank you to edx, too! This course might be the best 10h you'll invest this year.

By Calin-Stefan R

Jan 9, 2018

Well structured course and very helpful. It presents the matter of critical thinking in a pretty abstract away allowing to cover a lot of subjects while also presenting the most important aspects. I observed changes in my way of analyzing information in every day life. The course does not provide in depth mathematical / logical concepts but it teaches you when to observe the need to use such a concept and how to search for it which is more valuable in my opinion.

By Lenka S

Feb 22, 2018

Thank you Mr. Nisbett! I live on the other side of the planet, currently on maternity leave spending most of the time at home taking care of my baby and I must say that taking up your course was very refreshing for me and I enjoyed it a lot! It was not hard on definitions as promised, yet the course gave me a lot of inputs to think about and I find it very relevant these days. I will definitely participate in lot more courses from your University in the future.

By Jack W F

Oct 19, 2021

The Professor is a great communicator. His information is clear and concise. I found his class to be a bit entertaining but interesting. ( his examples were funny ). Every topic was great. Now I think each one of these could be expanded on more but I understand the scope of the course and the goals were acheived to get his agenda accomplished. I found the last section was my favorite. Knowing about Syllogisim and didactic arguments are very useful.

By Dídac J T

Mar 13, 2024

I believe Mindware by Richard N. is an excellent course about critical thinking. It delves into statistics, logic, fallacies, and biases. It provides easy-to-follow explanations that have direct application, and it uses lots of examples to consolidate knowledge. Furthermore, it has some minor generalisations here and there, including an outdated bell curve section, but most of the content it provides can be used immediately and effortlessly.

By Kavya S

Jun 10, 2019

Sir Richard Nisbett ensures an enjoyable learning experience full of anecdotes and surprising facts. This is a course everyone should do irrespective of the stage in their careers. The quizzes are the perfect difficulty level- questions are thought-provoking but not so difficult that the learner needs to rack their brains too much. They also have the perfect length of 4-15 questions which prevents quizzes from being burdens on the learner.

By Chia C L

Jul 24, 2017

I really enjoyed this course. While going through the course materials, I get to apply some of the things I have learned and reflect them in my life e.g why we tend to generalize someone's behavior with just one observation, ...etc. I will want to continue to apply concepts I find important esp. to my daily life. In short, this course is not just useful;

it is transformative! Thank you! May you be well and happy ^^.

By Eren J G

Oct 20, 2019

Mindware: Criticial Thinking of the Information Age is a great fundamentals course that helps you learn by heart some very important concepts. It is a great primer about anyone who wants to delve further into statistics. The fact that it is not at all math - heavy prepares you for any statistics course that you might take. The implications of the concepts talked about in the course tie in with psychology really well.

By Dinara S

Aug 4, 2017

This is one of the best courses for everyone. It describes very common life situations and give you the right answer on them. The course is built very interesting. First you should answer the questions or make exersices and afterward the professor explain to you your mistakes (if you made them) and describes the logic of conclusions in a very clear way. I definitely recommend this course to all. Thank you!

By Henry D

Jun 25, 2017

I found this course very useful and informative in many ways. The content is particularly relevant for the current "information age". Learning and applying the thinking skills and analytical tools outlined by Dr. Nisbett have a tremendous positive effect on how I look at things in both a business and personal situations. Thank you for providing this course through Coursera.

By Regina K

Jun 23, 2017

The course was very helpful to deal with the huge amount of unfiltered information in an appropriately critical way. I have now a much higher awareness of judgment errors and feel better prepared for conluding the right things from the information that I get. Thank you very much, the course helped a lot and it was especially easy to handle because of the many examples.

By Jen H

Nov 28, 2021

This was an excellent course! I have taken a few MOOCs now and so far this one was my favorite. The lectures were presented well and were very informative. The content was very interesting and is very important to foundational critical thinking. The course is perfect for anyone looking to brush up on basic information such as statistics, fallacies, and logic.

By Stefan V

Aug 16, 2017

This is a great course for anyone who wants to improve the way they approach problems and choices. It introduces topics that are useful in everyday life but are generally accessible only in higher education (Behavior and Social Sciences, Economics, Philosophy). The video materials are great and the course is fun to go through. I definitely recommend it to anyone!

By Lara G

Oct 3, 2020

Great course and great instructor. Excellent for those interested in data and critical thinking. Covers a range of topics from stats to cognitive biases to logic, which can help us think more critically about the information we're presented with and make better decisions. Definitely worth doing - it will make you think about your life in a different way!

By Lukáš H

Jul 19, 2017

This course gives you the skills you will need in the 21st century. It helped me to understand data and filter out the noise from relevant information. If you want to know what is really going on, what works and what is not and make up for your cognitive limitations and heuristics, go for it. One of the best courses you can take in the information age.

By Jameel C

Apr 2, 2019

A very Practical and Real life skiIls course. I found this course very well structured in terms of organising the way to use the thinking tools that I discovered in the course This is a must course for everyday thinking. Also Professor Nisbett brings a very warm and engaging way to his lectures that makes you come back for more.

By Danica B

Apr 28, 2017

It's an amazing course designed to help us think better in the world we live in. I'd recommend it to everyone as a basis to start evaluating your own ways of thinking, finding the flaws and creating new ways and healthier habits when making decisions.

It's fully worth the time. Thank you for such quality content.

By Gabriel M

Jun 23, 2021

This is a fantastic course that delivers with high quality lectures and learning materials. Professor Richard Nisbett has synthesised his expertise of social psychology in a course that is intellectually engaging but organised so it can be completed with a couple of weekly hours over a 4-week period.

By Linda H

Oct 10, 2021

This course was easy to understand and a great review of some earlier learnt concepts, plus introduced me to some new ones. I have found myself referring to it regularly over the past weeks when i have been reviewing information in the media, or making decisions on a personal level. Recommended!

By Вера Г

Jul 17, 2017

It's really great! It's my first course I've completed so far, and I admit I just scratched the surface. I will learn more about logic and principles of making choices on my own, but this course gave me the initial spark of interest.

You should definitely consider it useful for your life!

By Harinath V

Jun 11, 2020

This is a distinguished course. Very practical, simple, and lucid. The course opens you to several new perspectives and sure to enhance your decision making. If you ever wonder, why you are hurting someone or loosing money or making poor decisions, check this course & stick to the end.