Common sense in these fields do you suppose?????

Question

Do you think there is an element of "common sense" in disciplines such as medicine, physics, and chemistry? Please explain. Is common sense necessarily a negative characterization of a subject area in psychology?

Answer 1

Yes, at least this is my take on it: Some people are just more in touch with their bodies and their physical surroundings than others. Some people can learn from observing stimulus and response and just being in the 3-dimensional world and have a sense of moving through time. I think people with this talent, which to me is nothing more than common sense, can learn and understand the above disciplines better than others who are oblivious to their surroundings, their own personal safety or the effect they are having on people and things around them. They can also take what they learn and apply it to the real world without thinking about it too much, almost through a "feel" for it. I don't know about the second part of your question, but I can see where a teacher who tends to over-intellectualize everything he/she teaches would consider common sense a negative characteristic in the study of psychology. Hope I addressed/understood your question!

Answer 2

Sure. Med students are always told when diagnosing "if you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras" because the simple, more common sense diagnosis is the most likely. Physics and chemistry use a similar theory "Occam's Razor". So there is certainly an place for common sense in all fields. It shouldn't be a negative in psych, but I know too many people in that field. It could be that this discipline feels that the concept of common sense itself is "too subjective" or "value laden".

You might enjoy reading "Blink" by Malcolm Galdwell. It's about how people make decisions.

Answer 3

For sure. If a statement does not pass the common sense test then you need to be skeptical. It may not be right.

Answer 4

every one has common sense it is the not so common one should pay attention to..

Answer 5

like Judge Judy says "if it doesn't make sense it's not true"...