How do you know if you are a critical thinker?
One of the important parts of critical thinking is the awareness that no one is perfectly critical and thinking logically all the time. Anyone can make errors in the process of thinking– unconscious errors that lead to misinterpretation of information that is around us. The other side of the coin is logical errors – incomplete, misleading or false statements which fail to pass critical and logical assessments.
Most people believe that they are critical thinkers, and often they actually do possess some of the most important skills. They will ask questions like: who, why and how something is happening, and they will try to spot agendas and motives behind actions and events. These are important steps but they need to be followed by some more in-depth inquiries like:
How do you know that? Why do you think so? Who told you that? How do they know that? Why would they say that? Could this alternative explanation be the case? Why\why not? Could you look at this situation differently?
What are the “rules” of critical thinking?
According to studies on the functioning of the human brain, psychology distinguishes between two levels of human brain activity — fast and slow-thinking mind systems.
1. The first level is automatic, fast, emotion- and intuition-based.
2. A second level of thinking requires effort. It's rethought, slow, and based on logic and analysis.
It is in second-level thinking we connect the dots and think about the positive and negative consequences of a decision or consider a statement carefully before we agree or disagree. The first level of thinking is unconscious and automatic. However, the two levels can’t be separated from one another. The first level may influence the second analysis process. On the other hand, by connecting second-level thinking, we are able to overcome the impulses that come from first-level thinking mechanisms. The second level of thinking is the one that we have to develop to be a critical thinker.
Common thinking errors
Next, let us look at some of the errors that regularly occur during thinking – hindsight bias, illusion of transparency, predisposition of approval and bandwagoning.
Knowing about these common errors will be the beginning of a journey to “better thinking”, because all of these errors affect the quality of our decisions. The understanding of these errors will eventually affect the way we think and allow us to look at ourselves more critically and motivate us to reflect more on the reasons for our decisions. Knowledge of and the ability to recognize these “red flags” is an important part of critical thinking, as red flags should trigger the need to connect the second-level, analytical form of thinking to carefully assess the statements we face.
What do you think about the consequences of your beliefs?
Every day we are bombarded with various information. Every day there is an unprecedented battle on social networks for people's hearts and minds. Part of this information is rooted in reality – facts, data, real events. The other part of this information is problematic or false, flawed, unilateral, knowingly misrepresented, or even fabricated. Not everyone chooses to stay uninformed on purpose but it is easy to fall into traps. Many people have never heard about manipulative rhetorical techniques and by being unaware of this they are leaving themselves open to fake news and other false information that is spread by others who might also be unaware of the mechanisms of thinking errors.
What are the “rules” of critical thinking?
According to studies on the functioning of the human brain, psychology distinguishes between two levels of human brain activity — fast and slow-thinking mind systems.
1. The first level is automatic, fast, emotion- and intuition-based.
2. A second level of thinking requires effort. It's rethought, slow, and based on logic and analysis.
It is in second-level thinking we connect the dots and think about the positive and negative consequences of a decision or consider a statement carefully before we agree or disagree. The first level of thinking is unconscious and automatic. However, the two levels can’t be separated from one another. The first level may influence the second analysis process. On the other hand, by connecting second-level thinking, we are able to overcome the impulses that come from first-level thinking mechanisms. The second level of thinking is the one that we have to develop to be a critical thinker.
Common thinking errors
Next, let us look at some of the errors that regularly occur during thinking – hindsight bias, illusion of transparency, predisposition of approval and bandwagoning.
Knowing about these common errors will be the beginning of a journey to “better thinking”, because all of these errors affect the quality of our decisions. The understanding of these errors will eventually affect the way we think and allow us to look at ourselves more critically and motivate us to reflect more on the reasons for our decisions. Knowledge of and the ability to recognize these “red flags” is an important part of critical thinking, as red flags should trigger the need to connect the second-level, analytical form of thinking to carefully assess the statements we face.
What do you think about the consequences of your beliefs?
Every day we are bombarded with various information. Every day there is an unprecedented battle on social networks for people's hearts and minds. Part of this information is rooted in reality – facts, data, real events. The other part of this information is problematic or false, flawed, unilateral, knowingly misrepresented, or even fabricated. Not everyone chooses to stay uninformed on purpose but it is easy to fall into traps. Many people have never heard about manipulative rhetorical techniques and by being unaware of this they are leaving themselves open to fake news and other false information that is spread by others who might also be unaware of the mechanisms of thinking errors.
