Critical Thinking : Sociological Imagination

We now live in a world where social media has changed the way we interact with the world around us. At a young age we are programed to worry about how strangers view our lives and our decisions. People are worried about how many likes they get and social acceptance. Though these outlets individuals build their social foundations that will later become the building blocks of their careers. People tend to fall short excepting criticism, communication skills, and analyzing information.

Personally speaking, critical thinking is an undervalued and underutilized tool. When confronted by a problem with another person, most people just react. In these situations, I have learned to take a step back, take an objective look at the situation, and make an informed judgment/decision. By applying critical thinking to my personal life, friendships, marriage, and my relationship with my children will have a greater chance of success and less negative confrontation.

What did you already know about Critical Thinking: Making Inferences and Analyzing the Author’s Message? Respond to each concept. What did you already know about making inferences? What did you already know about analyzing the author’s message?

One aspect of this chapter that I thought was particularly interesting was our sociological imagination. Our sociological imagination refers to the capability to see connections between our personal lives and the social world we live in. We distinguish between our private troubles and public issues to see the connections of our lives, or the actions of individuals. I agree with C. Wright Mills in that you cannot apprehend an individual or the history of a society until you understand both. We can look to the culture and social structure to find the problem and fix it. I think using this method is valuable in the long run and can help people make more clear hypothesis about how to fix a problem because you will thoroughly understand

The outcome that I think will be the most challenging for me will probably be demonstrating critical thinking skills in response to readings/texts. That will probably be challenging because defining what appeals to the ethos, pathos, logos can get a tad bit confusing for me and sometimes I can mix things up. For example, if I think something is appealing to logic, in reality, it is appealing to emotions and values. Interpreting visual arguments can also be difficult due to the fact that interpreting is dependent on one's background knowledge and experiences. So the way I interpret something could be different to what someone else interprets.

In the book “Asking the Right Questions, A Guide to Critical Thinking” M. Neil Browne and Stuart M. Kelley discuss the ten steps to critical thinking. In the following pages I will apply these steps to a memo that was sent to Mr. Robert Shaw of Triad Insurance Company of Indianapolis and discuss them in detail. The memo was from Ms. Denise Khali, Vice President of Human Resources. D. Khali, personal communication, October 04, 2010.

• Describe a situation in which critical and creative thought could have been used for a better outcome. Describe why it is important to think critically and creatively in similar situations.

When the Judge admonished the Jury, he told them they must reach a unanimous decision beyond a reasonable doubt. The "hero" of this movie appears to be Henry Fonda, the first juror to vote "not guilty". He kept challenging the evidence by saying "isn 't it possible?"...that the evidence was wrong. Do some critical thinking on this...using a good paragraph answer if "isn 't it possible?" is the same thing as "beyond a reasonable doubt." Start with a “yes” or “no” and then eleaborate.

There is a question that must be addressed before there is any true exploration of knowledge of any kind. This is a knowledge that will provide the framework for all that is to come after it. What is the self and how is it formed, shaped and guided by the outside world. This is a question that has been attempted, but never really answered in a thorough manner. Many disciplines formulate ideals Sociology being one of many. Taking a firm stance that the self is something that is dependent on the responses and actions of those in question and the society that surrounds them. Four theories in particular grapple with these ideas and how to frame them in a way that enhances people's understanding of the self . William James a Sociologist born

In a modern society of 21st century, we live in a “free world”, but talking much about freedom. We consider ourselves as individuals, yet the conception of the word “individual” becomes cloudier than with every day. While we are proudly saying, “I decide for myself, I’m an individual”, some of us do not even recognize that most of our own ideas and principles depend on influence of the society on us. Our behavior is often depends on if we are in a large group or by our own. Our principles and are often come out of imitation of ideas of people who surround us.

To start off this article, we are going to look over a group of different writings and writers in different positions and fields of study. When talking about academic freedom people have trouble finding the boundaries, which is not to say those boundaries are always pressed or necessarily stretched. It can be a rocky path to decide how to express your ideas and thoughts, these days there are so many guides, methods, styles and types of writing that it can even be confusing at times.

Critical thinking involves evaluating and analyzing data in order to form a reasonable judgment about a particular topic or idea. It is not simply believing a subject matter because someone in authority or expertise said it, but challenging those arguments in order to form a well thought out conclusion. A critical thinker will normally not accept an answer without reasoning; they require evidence to validate or prove their conclusion. The ability to reason logically is a fundamental and disciplined skill that can be learned over time.

Dixie: Amanda, I agree with you that in making personal decisions that I use critical thinking most of the time. It take me time to decide what I want and how the outcome will be. I find that if I don’t use critical thinking the outcome could be way different. Does it take you a long time to make a decision?

Mid-America Christian University has become my home in the four short months I have been here. It was a scary and tough decision for me to attend MACU but I wouldn’t want it any other way. Critical thought and popular culture was a required course to take and to be honest, I thought it was going to be a super boring class. But, it taught me a lot about myself and made me examine my calling in life a little deeper than before. In turn, I thoroughly enjoyed this course.

Poldma dissects the Interior Design one element at a time. Her book will assist with the research