There is a great clip from this Carol Tavris interview on For Good Reason about her book Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), right near the end (~46:40), where D.J. Grothe and Carol Tavris talk about what skepticism is and what it’s really for.
D.J. Grothe:
Skepticism, it’s affirmative, you’re saying. It’s not just naysaying, it’s not just cynicism, it’s skepticism in maybe the clasical sense of the term which means to inquire, to find things out, to look for the best evidence for things. For you … skepticism is not just used as a weapon to konk others over the head with, it’s an affirmative approach and it’s best when it’s self-applied.
Carol Tavris:
That is the heart and soul of my life and of this book.
Don’t we want doctors to wash their hands because it will save lives?
Don’t we want psychologicsts to have better ways of interviewing children so that we don’t put innocent people in prison?
Don’t we want better methods of determining whether a suspect is guilty or innocent so that we don’t have people in prison for thirty years for a crime they didn’t commit?
Don’t we want better ways of running companys and improving our cars?
Only when we’re able to say—to admit—that we were doing things the wrong way, becuase the evidence shows us it was the wrong way, can we determine the right way and the better way.
Awesome.
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