Back to Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age
University of Michigan

Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age

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.

Status: Cognitive flexibility
Status: Research Design
BeginnerCourse13 hours

Featured reviews

TJ

5.0Reviewed Sep 13, 2018

A pretty crucial look at the common fallacies and biases that influence the way we absorb information. This is highly recommended to all people.

MK

5.0Reviewed Apr 8, 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.

SA

5.0Reviewed May 14, 2018

The activities and lectures were really interesting. This is the first course that i started and completed on Coursera. So I'm super excited.

VV

5.0Reviewed Oct 1, 2020

I thoroughly enjoyed the course. It was very well designed with lot of examples to easily understand the topics in the course. Thanks to the Professor.

JI

5.0Reviewed Oct 10, 2017

The professor is likable, the content is engaging and accessible, and the lessons are applicable to everyone's daily life in both personal and professional situations.

WS

5.0Reviewed Apr 10, 2021

The professor was excellent and the whole course was very much easy to follow. I enjoyed the exercises and the information learned was precise.

DQ

5.0Reviewed Jul 4, 2018

A Clear and Useful course to be a Better Decision Maker. Do you need something else? What you waiting for? Take course it's more than a nudge.

JC

4.0Reviewed Jun 2, 2023

Interesting course that bult on a lot of what I was familiar with. I do feel It will help me to make better decisions in work and my personal life.

DJ

4.0Reviewed Dec 28, 2025

This is a good course on a difficult subject. I have trouble whenever I attempt to predict the future but Richard laid it out in a fashion that made it understandable. Thank you

SN

5.0Reviewed May 27, 2017

Excellent! A very informative course delivered in a very effective manner. I would highly recommend this course to all who have any interest at all in critical thinking.

JI

5.0Reviewed Nov 21, 2021

In my opinion, a must-take course. Hopefully someday it will be included as mandatory curriculum for public high schoolers all around the world.

EC

5.0Reviewed Jun 17, 2020

I have learned a lot and I am inspired to learn more. Thank you so much, University of Michigan, Coursera, and to the very insightful Professor Nesbitt.

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