In today’s age of information fragmentation, we are receiving all kinds of information all the time, which may come from moments of friends, news, weibo, Douyin and so on. We need to decide what information is trustworthy and what is not, and this requires critical thinking. At the same time, we make decisions based on a variety of perspectives, some of which are trivial, some of which are profound. Having critical thinking helps us avoid being a rabble.
What is critical thinking
In Critical Thinking, critical thinking is defined as the process of evaluating your own or others’ conclusions about a particular situation.
According to MBA think tank, critical thinking refers to advanced thinking methods and forms in which individuals can flexibly make use of existing knowledge and experience to select problems and solutions, identify hypotheses, analyze and reason on the basis of reflection, and make reasonable judgments and correct choices in complex situations.
Perhaps the above explanation is not straightforward enough, but we can interpret it as: think again about the process of thinking. Rethinking should be a reasonable independent thinking process with questioning, which requires us to make a fair judgment with reasonable logic after certain questioning, rather than accepting all external information. We can also see that to achieve critical thinking, we need to have the quality of truth-seeking, knowledge-seeking, open and fair thinking.
Why does anyone need critical thinking
To take a practical and ironic example: In March 2011, the fukushima power plant in Japan leaked out. The news came out of nowhere that iodized salt could prevent nuclear radiation. The salt in supermarkets was immediately snapped up, and some friends even took years to eat up the salt they had snatched from their homes.
If we don’t have critical thinking and accept all incoming information as it comes in, it’s easy to make jokes. A critical thinker would have questioned and learned that 40 bags of salt contain the same amount of iodine as one small tablet of iodine, so iodizing salt against radiation offsets the intensity of the markedly markedly before it can do the trick. Critical thinking can keep us alert when we acquire knowledge and pursue truth, and eliminate false knowledge in time. It helps us no longer follow blindly and avoid making conclusions without foundation.
Obstacles to critical thinking
- Thinking too fast: Kahneman mentioned system 1 thinking and System 2 thinking in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow. System 1 only makes decisions based on the information at hand without thinking, while System 2 thinking, namely slow thinking, is the key to developing critical thinking.
- Stereotypes: Stereotypes can take the place of slow thinking, for example: Fat people aren’t as flexible as average people. But there are also fat people on the court who can run fast and jump high, and if we treat them with stereotypes, we will inevitably lose the game because of underweight. When faced with stereotypes, we create stereotypes in our minds instead of rational analysis.
- Habits of thinking: I don’t know if you have found such a situation: when our parents use modern smart devices, they usually need a long time to learn, but some very young children, when facing mobile phones, tablets are quite handy, when they encounter the screen, they will subconsciously use their hands to operate the screen. One of the reasons is the habit of thinking. Our parents have developed the habit of thinking controlled by buttons, and children have become accustomed to the habit of thinking with touch screen. When we can change our way of thinking and think more with an open mind, many problems may be easily solved.
- Self-centeredness: We always feel that our conclusions are correct, and we tend to scoff at the opposite or different opinions of others. Critical thinking requires us to be fair to the opinions of others, to ask questions with a skeptical attitude, to listen to the reasons that support their conclusions, and finally to come to a reasonable conclusion.
- Wishful thinking: When trying to persuade others, do you search the Internet for favorable opinions and ignore information that doesn’t match your expectations? This is wishful thinking at work. Wishful thinking is one of the biggest obstacles to critical thinking. Once we recognize this tendency in ourselves, we need to constantly ask ourselves: “Is this happening because I want it to be true, is it true, or is there solid evidence that it is true?” Otherwise, we cannot allow ourselves to acquire a better quality of thought.
How to develop critical thinking
In fact, learning critical thinking is very simple, the core point is to learn to ask questions, we need to learn to constantly ask questions, ask whether the whole process of argument is reasonable. Because all our lives there are people who insist that they are right because they know best about the business, the stock market, housing prices, fashion, and the game. What is more frightening is that what they say to achieve the purpose of persuasion is both true and false. So we need to ask questions to understand the process of the argument and make the final decision.
After receiving the answer, we need to consider the following questions in turn:
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What are the conclusions and supporting arguments of the thesis:
To become a critical thinker, we must first practice our ability to identify a thesis and demonstrate an argument. We should not make arbitrary judgments until the thesis and argument are clear, because such judgments are necessarily unfair.
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Is the answer wrong?
If the argument is inconsistent with the thesis, it’s obviously not of reference value, and we don’t need to put too much effort into it.
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Whether the reasons given can be believed:
The reason, too, needs to be questioned. Every thought that is used to support the conclusion is a reason, and some reasons are hidden behind that are not directly expressed, and it is up to us to find them.
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Are there any fallacies in an argument? For details, see “Common Fallacies” in recommended reading.
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How valid the evidence is and whether there is bias:
When we want to know how good a player is, we get a wide range of answers, some even more so. The reason for this is that the people who give answers have preferences, favoring the players they like and belittling the players they don’t like. Similar situations are also fully reflected in moments of friends and micro-blogs. As a critical thinker, you need to see the bias and question the validity of the evidence.
case
Knowing the methodology of critical thinking, let’s take a look at the slogan of an APP:
Ten thousand steps a day will keep you healthy.
The first step in critical thinking requires us to find a conclusion and support for an argument. Here’s the tagline:
- Topic: Should we walk 10,000 steps a day?
- Verdict: Take 10,000 steps every day.
- Reason: Good for your health.
Let’s see if the results make sense: Do people of all ages walk 10,000 steps a day? Why 10,000 steps? Is it healthy to walk more or less?
Look at the reasons given: how is it known that health benefits, is it credible? What is good for health? Does it increase my resistance or slow down my aging?
conclusion
If someone throws me another opinion, I ask three questions: What is he talking about? Why would he say that? Does he have a point?
Of course, it needs special attention that critical thinking is not difficult to criticize others, but to criticize oneself, not to deny others’ views, but to revise and change their own views. It is a friendly tool that can improve the quality of thinking. Instead of always having the attitude, “Ha, ha, I caught you wrong.” There’s nothing more deadly than that.
Critical thinking is not a blossoming hobby that can only be put on display in the classroom, crammed for tests, or used to show off your intellectual prowess. It is a solid basis for joint action between reasonable men. Faith is wonderful, but the rewards of faith lie in our subsequent actions. After you find the best answer to a question, act on that answer. Let critical thinking be the foundation for creating a new identity that you can be proud of. Make critical thinking work for you and for the community in which you are a part.
Hopefully, one day, we will benefit greatly from what we have learned.
Recommended reading
- Learn to Ask Questions
- Critical Thinking
- Argumentation and Stance
- Common Logical fallacies
- Common logical fallacies mind mapping