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8.10: Critical Thinking Skills

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    68267
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    We are not born with natural critical thinking abilities. Critical thinking is a skill that can be developed. The good news is that we all have the ability to improve our critical thinking skills. We can become more effective decision makers and improve our self- confidence. Below are some of those Critical Thinking Skills that can be developed and enhanced:

    Critical thinkers are intellectually curious. This skill implies that the critical thinker is never totally satisfied with what they know. He or she seeks answers to various kinds of questions and problems. The critical thinker is concerned with investigating the causes and seeking explanations of events; asking why, how, who, what, when, and where.

    Critical thinkers are open-minded. An open-minded person is one who is confident enough in his/her abilities to accept new and contradictory ideas, which challenge his/her current beliefs. This is opposed to being “tolerant” where the dogmatic person may politely listen to other arguments, but their minds will not be changed.

    The open-minded person is one who is not only willing to listen to new ideas, but will alter an already adopted position if the new data dictates. The open-minded person is willing to consider a wide variety of positions and beliefs as possibly being valid. Open-minded people are flexible. They are willing to change their beliefs and methods of inquiry, if they are faced with a more valid argument. Open-minded people show a willingness to admit they may be wrong and that other ideas they did not accept may be correct. Critical thinkers do not just want to prove they are correct; they are open- minded enough to change their mind.

    Critical thinkers avoid “Red Herrings.” Critical thinkers follow a line of reasoning consistently to a particular conclusion. They avoid irrelevancies, called “red herrings,” that stray from the issue being argued. When Jim and his wife Suzy argue, and Jim feels he is losing, he looks at Suzy and says, “You argue pretty well for a short person.” He is hoping to draw her off the argument and send her fishing for the “red herring,” her being short. If she takes the bait the original argument fades away. Critical thinkers won’t go after “red herrings.”

    Critical thinkers are aware of their own biases. All humans are biased, some more than others. Some know that they have biases, some are not aware of their biases. We all have biases that we are not aware of and the critical thinker strives to learn them, so he or she can be more in charge of their thinking. It may be too much of a challenge to eliminate the different biases we have. Instead a critical thinker needs to be aware of the bias and how it will affect the thinking process. Thinking about thinking is referred to as metacognition. A critical thinker looks at how he or she thinks and makes decisions in order to improve the process.

    “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

    ----F. Scott Fitzgerald1

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    Critical thinkers learn to handle confusion. People will do almost anything to avoid the mental pain that comes with lingering confusion. We bypass it, avoid it, and even try to pass it off to someone else. In this haste to avoid confusion we often make quick decisions based on limited data or overworked stereotypes. The critical thinker allows him or herself to be confused as they work through the argument towards a conclusion.

    Critical thinkers are able to control and use their emotions. Notice this does not say, “Eliminate emotions.” We gather all sorts of valuable data through our emotions, that we can use in the decision-making process. We just have to be careful not to let emotions dominate our critical thinking and argumentation. Nothing will destroy the critical thinking process faster than misplaced or misdirected anger, fear, or frustration.

    Critical thinkers are sensitive and empathetic to the needs of others. Critical thinkers need to pay particular attention to the needs of their target audience. The needs, concerns, and desires of your audience may be different than yours. The critical thinker is more effective if he or she can understand those concerns. They may not agree with them, but at least they understand them. The target audience may be the person trying to convince you of their argument or the person you are trying to convince with your argument. Persuasion usually takes place when an advocate is able to meet the needs of his or her target audience. In fact, your needs may be unimportant as it pertains to moving a target audience towards adherence to your point of view.

    Critical thinkers can distinguish between a conclusion that might be “true” and one that they would like to be “true.” Notice the use of "truth" with a lower case "t." This "truth" refers to just what a person believes, not the ultimate correct position that would be indicated by "Truth." A conclusion that might be true, is based on calculating the probability of its outcome, to see if it has a reasonable chance of becoming a reality. The second type, a conclusion that you would like to be true, is based more on your wishing, wanting, and desiring that it become a reality. The first can be put to the tests of critical reasoning, but the second cannot, and, therefore, is of little value in critical thinking. You may believe your child to be a great person, but the evidence might suggest otherwise.

    Critical thinkers know when to admit to not knowing something. An essential prerequisite to understanding is humility; to be able to admit when you don’t know an answer to a situation. Although we want to protect our egos by believing we know everything, learning comes from questioning, not from knowing all the answers. When we can admit that we don’t know, we are more likely to ask questions that will enable us to learn. By giving ourselves permission to admit we don’t know everything, we can overcome the fear that our lack of knowledge will be discovered. The energy expended trying to cover up what we don’t know diminishes our ability to learn. If we are always trying to disguise our lack of knowledge of a subject, we will never fully understand what it is we don’t know about it. Feel free to say, "I don't know."

    Critical Thinkers are independent Thinkers. They have the confidence to state their opinions and point of view to others who might disagree. They use the skills of critical thinking to support their positions and make their arguments.

    Critical thinkers seek a “dialogical” approach to the process of argument. “Dialogical” thinkers seriously seek points of view other than their own. The ability to think “dialogically” would include the abilities to: analyze, synthesize, compare and contrast, explain, evaluate, justify, recognize valid and invalid conclusions, identify or anticipate or pose problems, look for alternatives, apply logical principles, and solve conventional or novel problems. These are many of the skills of critically thinkers.

    Stephen Brookfield in his book, Challenging Adults to Explore Alternative Ways of Thinking, writes,

    “Critical thinking is only possible when people probe their habitual ways of thinking, for their underlying assumptions, those taken-for-granted values, common-sense ideas, and stereotypical notions about human nature that underlie our actions.” 2

    We are looking at the process of argumentation and the type of person who can be most effective in an argumentative situation. You as a critical thinker will be both involved in an argument and an observer of an argument. We can improve our abilities to do both.

    References

    1. Thomas Oppong "F. Scott Fitzgerald on first Rate Intelligence," 2018, medium.com/personal-growth/f...e-7cf8ea002794 (accessed on November 6, 2019)
    2. Brookfield, Stephen. Developing Critical Thinkers : Challenging Adults to Explore Alternative Ways of Thinking and Acting. (Baltimore: Laureate Education, 2010)

    This page titled 8.10: Critical Thinking Skills is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jim Marteney (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI)) .

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