Misconceptions Of Critical Thinking

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.

According to Paul & Elder, “critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a vision of improving it.” Their argument for the need to utilize critical thinking is the fact that without focus, most of the thinking done by people is partial, many times uninformed, biased, distorted, and prejudiced. What is not easily recognized is the fact that the very fabric of life is

To survive in such a multifaceted and diverse world we as people must possess the ability to think critically in highly complex situations. The world is an extremely challenging place, all of us are forced to adapt by constantly challenging existing principles and performing certain methods to ensure our growth both physically and mentally. Many claim that contemporary society needs a skill called critical thinking to adapt and survive. Critical thinking is a higher level of intellectual progression that makes use of diverse information, skills and attitudes in interpreting situations and confronting problems. Critical thinking is done

As indicated by Chitty & Black, there are many things involved with thinking critically. It isn’t an easy process that can be learned

As Paul and Elder point out, critical thinking is self-guided and self-disciplined thinking that assists us in reasoning in a fairminded way (FOCT, 2017). It allows us as humans to live a conscious and consistent life where rationality, reasonability and empathy and present when faced with problems. While I am actively learning how to become a better critical thinker, I have learned that the first step to successfully think critically, I needed to diminish my power to think egocentric. In my professional life, I find myself evaluating situations with more clarity and looking more closely for factual content in order to base my decisions with more

If I am to develop my personal critical thinking ability, I must first make a conscious choice to understand the basic concept of a premise and then make critical reflection of this basic concept by expanding my thinking approach. To achieve this, I must ask radical questions that will enhance the scope of analysis and judgment. I must move from the region of subconscious thinking to one of conscious thinking because in so doing, I become aware that I am actually thinking. This awareness will allow me to think beyond rudimentary concepts through critical reasoning and critical reflection to decipher underlying issues that are concealed in the concept under investigation. By understanding the predictable

Critical thinking is the ability to think of something, and be able to give an opinion/judgement about the subject. If you can’t think critically, you can’t understand the relationship between ideas, or facts given to you. Having

2. If critical thinking is purposeful judgment, then if I do not agree with your judgment, that means I’m not thinking critically.”

I have witnessed different obstacles to critical thinking such as prejudice, ignorance, fear and racism. For example, I have had arguments with my Aunt Linda in the past, who was furious that my cousin was majoring in Spanish, where her prejudices clearly got in the way of her critical thinking, or ability to be objective and have rational opinions. She is not stupid; she went to Columbia law school and is fluent in many languages, but still has formed these ideas that her WASP background is superior without any evidence, just her deep rooted hate. To her, her belief that Spanish is a disgusting language spoken by disgusting people is justified.

The main concepts presented in the article are the varying definitions of each author on the concept of critical thinking. The information the author uses are definitions which are the opinions of varied authors and are similar in foundation in that to apply critical thinking one must be able to identify a problem, pose a question(s), provide valid supporting evidence, and come to a conclusion. Although the author’s definitions do not identify a problem, questions, evidence, or conclusions, the relationship Petress (2004) shows is that the reader must apply this process themselves as it is not always given. The information used does appear to be relevant, significant, and valid. The references the author listed does provide enough information for me to come to this conclusion. Since this work is a literature review and not a case study, numerical data are not necessary to determine validity of the information.

Critical thinking is a vital task that must be done in our everyday lives. In “Becoming a Critic Of Your Thinking” found at criticalthinking.org, Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Paul explain critical thinking as “the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances”. Even tough there are many different types of methods to achieve a better quality of critical thinking, Dr. Elder and Dr. Paul discuss four specific ones in the article. All strategies, however, force you to put yourself in an uncomfortable and difficult position to develop a better quality of thinking.

Critical thinking is the questioning of ideas. It is the process in which you take an argument and analyze it in order to conclude whether that argument is valid. Thinking critically is a good skill that can help others make intelligent decisions and helps them understand what to believe or not believe. Critical thinking is involved in our daily life. For example, every day we make decisions and before every decision we think critically if that is the right decision. We take into consideration the possible consequences of such decision and from that we reach a conclusion. Critical thinking involves disciplined thinking and it teaches you to think for yourself. It is personal growth and confidence that results from learning to exercise your mind to its fullest potential.

The process of critical thinking requires you to ask more questions of both others and of yourself before a decision or determination is made. In order to successfully evaluate data in a critical manner, you must have a system in place to assess information as it is presented. In any situation whether you are having a conversation, observing others, or material you have read, you must be ready to probe deeper and ask the right question at the right time.

Critical thinking takes consistent behavior in asking the right questions about the subject. In my life, I have come across people who ask many questions and some people who “go with the flow” and believe everything they hear because it is spoken with some sort of authority. Assumptions can be damaging to relationships and without critical thinking and communication, our thought process can assume the wrong idea entirely. When I speak with someone who is a critical thinker, they can be so convincing that it is often challenging to decide what the correct conclusions are. To have inferences is to reach a conclusion on the basis of evidence and reasoning through critical thinking and asking the right questions.

What is critical thinking to you? To some it may mean making wiser choices, taking time to critically analyze a situation, or to just put greater thought in your everyday life. According to Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Pauls’ article, “Becoming a Critic Of Your Thinking”, critical thinking is defined as the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances. To us, critical thinking is a very important aspect of life and something we can all improve on. It allows us to think outside the box and put ourselves in others shoes and really look at things differently. We made sure to think about our own thinking habits while discussing these articles and to notice if we were ever being close-minded.