West Coast University What Does It Mean to Say that A Claim Is Credible HW Discussion prompt What does it mean to say that a claim is credible? What are s

West Coast University What Does It Mean to Say that A Claim Is Credible HW Discussion prompt

What does it mean to say that a claim is credible?
What are some ways to evaluate a claim for credibility?

In your peer responses, further explore the topic, share similarities, and/or ask follow-up questions in a respectful manner.

Hi folks! Have I got a story for you:

Sometime back in the 40’s, this farmer in the town of Fruita, Colorado, decided he wanted roast chicken for dinner. He went out into his yard, grabbed a chicken and an ax and…whack! No more head.

The intended roast takes off across the yard like…well, like a chicken with its head cut off. But rather than keel over after a few minutes, this one clams down and resumes its daily routine. The farmer senses he’s on the cusp of greatness and – voila! Mike the Superchicken is born!

The farmer takes Mike around to various county fairs, and this headless bird, now fed through a glass eye dropper, becomes a minor celebrity. It’s life is tragically cut short (no pun intended) when the farmer forgets to bring his eye dropper to one of the fairs and chicken starves to death. Or, maybe Mike let celebrity get to his head and died after a three-day party binge.

Or, maybe this claim is total BS.

Because that’s the position we find ourselves in all the time. We hear or read things and it’s up to us – as critical thinkers – to decide whether an objective claim is true. But how do we do that? Trust everything we read and we’re hapless victims of advertising, trolls…maybe even foreign agents looking to influence elections. But believe nothing and we’re left to make decisions based on…what? Our biases? The opinions of our friends? Gut instinct a.k.a. uncut Caveman Brain?

So, tell me in general how we should evaluate claims, but then let’s get specific. Give me a claim you actually had questions about. How did you decide if this claim was reliable? How do you try to inform yourself? And let me know if you believe in Mike! Because Mike certainly believes in you 😉

comment 1

When a person makes a credible claim it is a statement that is true, reliable, or believable . Claims have some of the same flaws as truth in that they don’t have to be true for everyone. The book says “there are degrees of credibility and incredibility; they are not all-or-nothing kinds of things, whether we’re talking about claims or sources”(moore 2017). A claim my brother made after he bought a new shirt was “I decided to try a white shirt, I think I like it.” In this case the claim was that his shirt was white, but in fact it was light pink. When thinking about if something is credible, first I had to think about the content in his claim of the shirt being white. Well I can look and see that it is not white, but is he wrong? In fact my brother is colorblind, he then asked our parents and they verified it was pink. He often sees light colored things as white and I, who is not colorblind, can see all the colors just fine. This leads to credibility, for example my brother is not credible or a good source on what color something is.

If we take the same ideas and apply them to other claims it will help with deciding credibility. I started with the information of the claim, then double checked with what I know or could see. Then I looked at the source and in this case it was not a great source. This prior knowledge about him told me he is lacking in expertise on colors. Regarding other claims sometimes I might not have that kind of prior knowledge and so I will have to go look into it further. When I am working with my mental health clients I use the rule “trust but verify” and I think that works well for assessing claims. If they tell me something I start with the idea it may be true and try to verify the information. I can use preexisting knowledge, a quick google search, asking someone else or any other resources at my disposal in that process. The key is not just accepting everything as true, don’t be afraid to verify, and ask questions.

As for our friend the headless chicken I use past knowledge to conclude it was a true claim. In a past psychology class we talked about this chicken and how it survived due to enough brain being left in tack. This past knowledge leads me to believe it is credible. He even has his own website https://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/mike/page/h…

Moore, B. N., & Parker, R. (2017). Critical thinking. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Comment 2

To say that a claim is credible is essentially saying that a claim that is believable, reliable, or at a minimum within the realm of possibility. The best way to evaluate the claim is to evaluate the claim itself first and then evaluate the source that supports the claim. Evaluating the claim is simple. when we critically think and ask ourselves as ” does this claim make sense?”, we refer to our observations and experience to decide if it’s reasonable. If it’s reasonable, then we evaluate the source.

For example, the electric muscle stimulator belt “Ab Force” claimed that just wearing this belt will tone, firm, and strengthen the abdominal muscles, but also provide weight loss. Would you believe this claim? If you have slight knowledge about our human body, you know this claim is not true. To get toned 6 packs, you need to have a strict meal plan and intense exercise to obtain your abs. This product been alleged from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that won’t provide abs. This product lured the buyers to buy their product because buyers were looking for easy and fast results of getting abs. As a result, this claim is false. It’s important for us to not apply any expectation, hope, belief before we evaluate the claim for credibility.

Reference:

Marketer of Electronic Abdominal Exercise Belt Charged with Making False Claims. (2003, October 1). Retrieved from https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/200…