Critical Thinking Lesson 3 - Credibility Learning Objectives: 1. To be aware of what ‘credible’ means. 2. To understand what credibility criteria are and how we use them.

Getting you thinking... This is your third lesson in Critical Thinking with Mr Fryer. You haven’t questioned what I’ve taught you, so I assume you’ve accepted it all. But, how do you know that I’m telling the truth?! Task 1: Work in pairs. Construct an argument to back up the view that Mr Fryer is telling you the truth in his lessons!

Who would you trust the most? Why? Who would you trust the least? Why?

Credibility Toolkit We should never take a piece of information at face value. We must ask questions about it to find out if it is credible. If something is credible, it means that it can believed – it is convincing. There are several ways of finding out if something is credible – an easy way to remember them is by using CRAVEN.

CRAVEN Context Reputation Ability to See Vested interest Expertise Neutrality

Task You need to make a mind-map to show the main credibility criteria. I will explain each one, and give an example. I will then ask you to come up with a couple more examples. You will then write up the criterion on your mind-map, along with an example.

Circumstantial or Context This is details or the actual situation, eg. weather conditions, time of day or clues at a site which could help people to work out what may have happened.

Reputation How someone is thought of in terms of their character and reputation. Example – some members of society, for example doctors, have a positive reputation for telling the truth.

Ability to See Were eyewitnesses to an event able to see well, or hear well? Was the person actually there (primary source)? If the person wasn’t actually there, it is a secondary source. Example – does a person wear glasses or hearing aids?

Vested Interest ◦ To stand to gain in some way if something happens. ◦ Example – does the person have something to gain, or lose, from telling the truth? ◦ One example is where a salesman may try to persuade you that a product is amazing. This is because he needs to sell it to make a living – he has a vested interest in promoting the product.

Expertise An individual, group or organisation with relevant training, experience, knowledge and skills. I want to find out about Black Holes. Which has the greatest expertise? 1. A university professor who has studied astronomy for 40 years. 2. A science teacher in a high school. 3. A website written by a sixth former.

Neutrality Impartial – does not take sides. Example – does the organisation have a code of ethics which prevents them from taking sides?

Other words which help Plausibility – does the claim seem believable? Is it ridiculous? Eg. ‘Aliens have just landed in Biddulph.’ 2. Corroboration – is the statement or evidence supported by other pieces of evidence? Eg. Several eye-witnesses also describe seeing the same thing. This means they corroborate each other.

More key words Consistency – does a person stick to their story or do they contradict themselves? Example – a witness may give two statements which are different and contradict each other. 2. Bias – when a person or organisation favours a particular point of view. They have a one-sided view of events.

Example Time Read through the account of what happened in Mr Smith’s classroom. For each witness statement, apply the credibility criteria which we have looked at. How credible is each person? Who threw the rubber? Why do you think this?

Your Task Read the article, then complete the set tasks. We will go through the answers and discuss them in about 20 minutes from now!