In the science-based community, critical thinking is paramount. While we have many ideas of what critical thinking (or the lack thereof) may look like on its face, I think that it would be valuable to introduce another way of thinking about thinking.

As the newest JREF research fellow, I suppose that it is time to share with you what my research is actually about. My field of research at the moment is communication and the theories of cognitive psychology held within. Considering critical thinking as a cognitive mode that deals with evidence and analytical evaluation, the Heuristic-Systematic Model developed by communications researcher Shelly Chaiken (1980) gives a dual-process view of human information processing.

There’s a time and place to preach to the choir, but for skepticism to be truly effective, we need to take our message beyond our own community.

Of course, once we venture outside of our group, we face people who haven’t heard of pareidolia, cold reading, logical fallacies, or even…gasp…James Randi!

On the other side of the coin, there are people who have heard of James Randi, but think he’s a closed-minded cynic, and that his check for one million dollars isn’t real.

I am sad to announce that Sadie Crabtree, our indefatigable communications director, is leaving the organization. A new mother, she is moving to London with her wife and son to be with their extended family there. We wish her well. In her time at the foundation, she has helped elevate our presence in the media, and has contributed importantly to the discussion about the best methods to communicate the skeptical point of view to believers. Her talk at The Amaz!ng Meeting last year was a hit in this regard. We look forward to exploring ways she may remain connected with our efforts, even if not as communications director. I asked Sadie for a brief comment on the move, and she has this to say:

"My time at the JREF has been rewarding, and I think the work we do is very important. I am sad to be leaving the organization, but glad to know the JREF will continue doing such great work to share the tools of critical thinking with the public. I'll miss working with the JREF team, but I look forward to staying connected with the organization and staying in touch with the friends I've made here. Travelling with Randi over the past year was an experience I'll never forget. He is truly one of a kind, and it was an honor to help advance the JREF's work."

What Sadie's moving means is that there is now an opening we need to fill for the position of communications director. You can find the details of the job opening here.

We all wish Sadie the best, and hope to see her at future skeptics events, even if not as a JREF staffer.

D.J. Grothe is president of the James Randi Educational Foundation and host of the interview show For Good Reason.

According to a report from the U.K. news source Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Review, a local bus stop may be haunted. "Fair enough," I thought upon first reading the headline. "My local bus stop is also haunted, mostly by some guy in an Ed Hardy shirt who always calls me 'Dynamite'." But this article is about another kind of haunting. This article is about a ghost.

Still, it's interesting that these stories count as news. Sure, a ghost, were it proven to be genuine, would be a monumental scientific discovery. It would answer one of humanity's fundamental questions: Is there life after death? And it would raise a host of new questions about the nature of physics, the spirit, and why one of the favorite activities of the disembodied seems to be amateur interior decorating.