Who needs Who needs critical critical thinking thinking skills?skills?

People don’t always use critical thinking skills

It is not uncommon for people to say… “I thought it was no big deal.” “I just wasn’t thinking” “How was I supposed to know?” “I can’t think of everything!” “My bad…”

Poor decision-makers tend to lack reasoning skills People who bounce checks monthly, spend the rent at the racetrack, get their car impounded, etc. tend to have poor reasoning skills (Wenner, 2007) There is a scientific link between people who are “their own worst enemies” and critical thinking ability.

Critical thinking defined Norris (1985) who stated that

“thinking critically can be defined as rationally deciding what to do or believe” (p. 40).

A survey corporate executives revealed that the top three characteristics they were looking for in college graduates were “teamwork skills,” “critical thinking and analytic reasoning skills,” and “oral/written communication” skills (Vance, 2007, p. 30).

Good decisions require critical thinking skills Consciously reflect on the

choices you are making Habitual versus reflective

thinking Resist intuition and your “gut

response”—at least initially Clearly define the issue or

decision (what is your goal or objective?) Identify criteria for making the

decision. Consider all the options Weigh pros and cons

Use a reality check: ask “what might go wrong?”

Let emotion play a role, but not the role in making the decision.

noteworthy absences in critical thinking

examples from government, public institutions FBI and September 11 attack CIA intelligence on Iraq’s alleged WMDs

examples involving celebrities, politicians Michael Vick, Michael Richards, Mel Gibson, Bill Clinton

examples involving ordinary people police pursuits suspects on Cops guests on Jerry Springer and

Judge Judy sub-prime home loans

faux hate crime (October 24, 2008) Ashley Todd,

a McCain supporter from Texas, claimed she was assaulted by a 6’4” African-American male at an ATM.

She alleged the attacker beat her and carved a “B” on her cheek because she had a McCain-Palin bumper sticker on her car.

The “B” was backwards, however, suggesting she had carved it herself while looking in a mirror.

She later confessed the whole story was a hoax and was charged with filing a false police report

lapses in critical thinking by the FBI and CIA

Prior to Sept. 11, the FBI failed to connect the dots The August 2001

memo, titled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S.” stated that Bin Laden “hoped to bring the fight to America.”

Kenneth Williams’ “Phoenix” memo of July 10 2001, warned that Bin Laden might be using flight schools in the U.S. to train for terrorist attacks.

don’t try this at home “Jackass” wannabees try to copy

Johnny Knoxville’s stunts MTVs Jackass show, and the two

spin-off movies, feature Knoxville and his pals performing dangerous stunts that often result in injury.

A number viewers, mainly teen males, have tried to imitate the stunts and were seriously injured.

One boy in Connecticut suffered serious burns after trying to copy a stunt called the “human barbecue.”

Another boy in Kentucky was run over by a car while attempting to jump it.

When good clowns go bad Spunky the clown was arrested for attempting to smuggle marijuana to an inmate at the Greensville Correctional Institute Kooki the clown was arrested for defrauding a 90 yr old woman out of $500,000 Trim Trim the clown was sentenced to 12 years in prison for molesting a 12 and 14 year old girl

MDs and critical thinking Doctor Is Suspended

Over Errand Boston—A Boston

orthopedic surgeon has been suspended from practice after disclosures that he abandoned a patient midway through back surgery so he could go to the bank to deposit his paycheck.

(Source: Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2002)

Doctor Loses License Over Carved Initials

New York state has taken away the license of an obstetrician who carved his initials in a woman’s abdomen immediately after she gave birth.

(Source: Times Wire Reports)

prayer at the pump Rocky Twyman and his

followers held a pray-in to ask God to lower gas prices.

“God is the only one we can turn to at this point,” said Twyman. The prices keep soaring and soaring.”

When the prayer vigil began at 4 p.m. Friday, a gallon of Texaco unleaded gas cost $3.92.

But even before the praying stopped, the price dropped three cents!

"Prayer works fast," said Rocky Twyman

Earlier this week, police officers in the otherwise enlightened community, home of Harvard university, shared their theories on pepper spray with a local reporter.“Pepper spray doesn’t work well on Mexican American suspects,” the officers said. Why? “Because Mexicans grow up eating too much spicy food, and because they spend so much time picking hot peppers in the fields.”

Massachusetts department says officers were wrong to say defense weapon doesn’t work as well on MexicanAmerican suspects.

Cultural insensitivity Massachusetts style

Cultural insensitivity Inland Empire style

(October 2008) Diane Fedele resigned from the Chaffey Community Republican Women’s group, after mailing flyers depicting Barack Obama on food stamps.

She explained the coupon was intended as satire after Obama claimed during the campaign that he “doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”

Most Most Americans Americans think their think their odds of odds of becoming becoming wealthy are wealthy are better with the better with the lottery than lottery than with savings with savings and and investmentsinvestments

Lucky lotto retirement strategy

(Coombs, Jan 13, 2006), ABC news reported that "one-quarter of Americans believe their best chance to build wealth for retirement is by playing the lottery, not by patiently saving and investing” Among low income households the belief jumped to 40% Many families spend $20-50 per week on gambling and lottery tickets. But the odds of winning the lottery are approximately 1 in 20 million. if a family saved $25 per week for 40 years at a 10 percent return, they would have a nest egg of nearly $500,000.

Decision-making taskYou were in a horrendous accident. Only your brain survived. It is sitting in a jar waiting to be transplanted. The doctors have three bodies available to you and you must choose one of the options .

1. You can be placed in a stunningly attractive body. Heads will turn as you walk by.2. You can be placed into a somewhat unattractive body, but it is the body of a multi-millionaire. The millionaire's estate will recognize you as the true millionaire, giving you ownership of all assets.3. You can be put into the body of a rather unattractive person. In the process, however, for this body only, it is possible for the doctors to increase your intelligence level to 180 (genius).

Thinking critically about what you really want In a survey conducted by the PEW Research Center in 2007, asking 18-25 year olds what their most important life goal was:

81% percent said getting rich is their generation's most important or second-most-important life goal 51% said being famous was their number one goal in life. "Society raised us where money is glamorous, and everybody wants to be glamorous," says Jason Head, an aspiring actor who turned 26 just before Thanksgiving.