Did the APA just end critical thinking in colleges?
From Actual Intelligence with Steve Pearlman by Steve Pearlman, Ph.D.
September 2, 2025 · 8 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the implications of the APA's new A.I. policies on critical thinking in education.
Thanks for reading Actual Intelligence with Dr. Steve Pearlman! Subscribe FREE to receive new posts and support my work. APA to Students: Don't Bother to Think for Yourselves Anymore. Let AI Do It. If in the future you want a psychologist who can actually think about psychology, or a doctor who can actually think about medicine, or a teacher who can think about what their teaching, or a lawyer who can actually think about the law, then the new American Psychological Association’s (APA) A.I. policies should make you concerned. Maybe they should even make you angry. As many who’ve been to college already know, the APA’s standards for what constitutes academic integrity and citing sources is the prevailing standard at most institutions. When students write papers or conduct any research, it’s typically the APA’s standards that they observe for what they are permitted to use and how they must disclose their use of it. Yet, when it comes to supporting critical thinking and actual intelligence, the APA’s new standards just took a problematic if not catastrophic turn. And the irony is palpable. Of all the organizations that set standards for how students should use their brains, you…
People in this episode
Host: Steve Pearlman
Topics covered
- critical thinking
- education
- academic integrity
- artificial intelligence
- psychology
- college standards
Keywords
- APA
- critical thinking
- academic integrity
- artificial intelligence
- education standards
- psychology
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: American Psychological Association, MIT
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