Scientific Attitudes
Mayurie Twatwunnaphong September 19, 2011
FIN2
The 10 scientific attitudes scientists should possess: 1. Tolerance of uncertainty 2. Curiosity 3. Objectivity 4. critical-mindedness 5. open-mindedness 6. Willingness to change opinions 7. Risk-taking 8. Intellectual honesty 9. Humility 10. Respect for evidence
How each attitude helps scientists achieve their goal: 1. By tolerating uncertainty, the scientist accepts that there is always some uncertainty of any experiment or findings. He also strives for greater and greater certainty to prove his uncertainty wrong or correct. 2. Curiosity in scientists is very important as it is a way they start finding new discoveries to experiment on and to prove. It also challenges the validity of unsupported statements and looks for inconsistencies. 3. Objectivity helps in achieving a scientist’s goal by making any findings not bias. This attitude considers all pros and cons, all evidences available, and evaluates statements by others. 4. Critical mindedness gives a scientists the validities of statements by consulting a number of authorities. This attitude also looks for inconsistencies. 5. Open mindedness considers all possible options when investigating a problem, which does not limit a scientist to a certain answer. And, also scientists consider and evaluates ideas presented by others. 6. The willingness to change opinions recognizes all hypotheses, generalizations and theories as being tentative. This attitude is important because sometimes a scientist’s opinions can be proven incorrect. This also alters hypotheses of the scientists to accommodate empirical evidences. 7. Being able to take risks in a scientist is important because without risks, nothing great can be accomplished. This attitude enables scientists to try new ideas even at the risk of great failure. 8. Intellectual Honesty reports all hypotheses even if it contradicts
FIN2
The 10 scientific attitudes scientists should possess: 1. Tolerance of uncertainty 2. Curiosity 3. Objectivity 4. critical-mindedness 5. open-mindedness 6. Willingness to change opinions 7. Risk-taking 8. Intellectual honesty 9. Humility 10. Respect for evidence
How each attitude helps scientists achieve their goal: 1. By tolerating uncertainty, the scientist accepts that there is always some uncertainty of any experiment or findings. He also strives for greater and greater certainty to prove his uncertainty wrong or correct. 2. Curiosity in scientists is very important as it is a way they start finding new discoveries to experiment on and to prove. It also challenges the validity of unsupported statements and looks for inconsistencies. 3. Objectivity helps in achieving a scientist’s goal by making any findings not bias. This attitude considers all pros and cons, all evidences available, and evaluates statements by others. 4. Critical mindedness gives a scientists the validities of statements by consulting a number of authorities. This attitude also looks for inconsistencies. 5. Open mindedness considers all possible options when investigating a problem, which does not limit a scientist to a certain answer. And, also scientists consider and evaluates ideas presented by others. 6. The willingness to change opinions recognizes all hypotheses, generalizations and theories as being tentative. This attitude is important because sometimes a scientist’s opinions can be proven incorrect. This also alters hypotheses of the scientists to accommodate empirical evidences. 7. Being able to take risks in a scientist is important because without risks, nothing great can be accomplished. This attitude enables scientists to try new ideas even at the risk of great failure. 8. Intellectual Honesty reports all hypotheses even if it contradicts