Critical Thinking

What Is Critical Thinking?• Critical thinking means making

reasoned judgements that are logical and well thought out.

• It is a way of thinking in which you don’t simply accept all arguments and conclusions you are presented with, but rather question them.

What Is Critical Thinking?• A critical thinker will ask:

• Is that really true?

• How do you know?

• Show me the evidence.

• Is that evidence reliable?

Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Knowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GU2kPl57JQ

Critical Thinking SkillsCritical thinking can be divided up into three main skills:

1. Curiosity – the desire to learn more information, seek evidence, and be open to new ideas.

2. Skepticism – having a healthy questioning attitude about new information and not blindly believing everything everyone tells you.

3. Humility – the ability to admit that your ideas are wrong when faces with new convincing evidence that states otherwise.

Using Critical Thinking SkillsMany people make decisions in their daily lives based on anecdotes, or stories from one person’s experience.

Using Critical Thinking SkillsExample:

• Your aunt told you that she takes vitamin C supplements every day. One morning she was running late for work and forgot to take them. That afternoon, she developed a cold. She now insists that you take vitamin C every day or you will get sick, just like she did in her story.

Using Critical Thinking SkillsMany people hearing this story would just accept this and think, “To avoid getting sick, I should take vitamin C.”

Although this logic is common, it lacks critical thinking skills.• Where does the idea of vitamin C stopping illness come from?

• Why did your aunt take vitamin C instead of vitamin D or any other vitamin?

• Maybe your aunt was already developing a cold and it just happened to get manifest itself that day.

• Maybe she shook hands with someone who had a cold.

Why Is Critical Thinking Important?• Helps with intellectual self

improvement

• Allows you to become a better team player

• Improves creativity

• Helps you stay calm and rational under stress

• Improves ability to make decisions

Critical Thinking Review Videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnJ1bqXUnIM

Critical Thinking: Cause and Effect• The concept of cause and effect (consequence) addresses who or

what influenced events to occur and what the repercussions of those events were.

Think about this:

• What was the grade of your last big assignment or project in one of your classes?

• What were the causes of this grade?

• Which cause was immediate and which one was underlying?

• Think beyond these simple factors:• How much time did you have to study?• Did you leave the essay until the last minute?

• Consider other factors:• Health issues, social environment, physical environment, etc.*Think outside the box for determining factors

• Underlying causes are usually more important or serious than immediate causes.

Critical Thinking: Cause and Effect

Critical Thinking: Cause and Effect• The concept of cause and effect (consequence) addresses who or

what influenced events to occur and what the repercussions of those events were.

Think about this:

• What were the effects or consequences of this grade?

• How big were the consequences?

• How long will you feel the impact of this consequence?

The Importance of Causes When faced with an issue or problem, why is it important to look for the causes? Causes help provide evidence to support a claim:

• Evidence of causal connection:➢ Is the cause clearly connected with the event or is it coincidence? If this factor

(people or beliefs) were removed, would this event still take place?

• Degree of influence: ➢To what degree did the cause contribute to the event?

• Absence of alternative explanation: ➢Could some other factor explain what happened?

The Importance of Consequence• Depth of impact: How deeply felt

or profound was the consequence?• (deep)

• Breadth of impact: How widespread was this felt? • (size - small or great?)

• Duration of impact: How long-lasting was the consequence?• (time)