Asking the question of what critical thinking is, if not referring to scholarly literature, the answers will be sufficiently diverse. Finding common sense, objective judgment, logical connection, and the ability to abandon own assumptions are a few of the typical answers that might be received for such questions.
Although the definitions might vary, the previous answers are partly correct, while all of them mostly acknowledge two important aspects, i.e. the existence of certain skills and abilities, and the disposition to use them in a thoughtful manner. (Sternberg, Roediger and Halpern 5). The importance of such a subject can be related to that in this era, where people have access to an excessive amount of information and the decisions made either personal or as members of society have a particular weight affecting the future generations.
In that regard, it can be said that the ability to think critically is an important requirement. Accordingly, this paper analyzes the concept of critical thinking in terms of the skills, techniques, practices as well as common obstacles that usually hinder people from being critical thinkers.
Critical Thinking Overview
As previously stated, the definition of critical thinking might differ in its terminology, but nevertheless, it is consistent in its contest. In that regard, a definition that covers all the concepts of critical thinking might be considered as follows:
Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and well directed – the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions, when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task. (Sternberg, Roediger and Halpern 6).
A good method proposed in identifying the skills and the strategies mentioned above is taking an example of a particular role model. In that case, examples of people who were commonly known as good critical thinkers will have several mutual aspects that distinguish them from the others. Basically, it is “a list of mental abilities and attitudes or habits, [which] the experts, when faced with the same problem… refer to their lists as including cognitive skills and dispositions.” (Facione 4).
The Characteristics
The characteristics that are common to critical thinkers differ in their statements and priorities, but they are equally important. One set of characteristics discussed in the class’ workshop include the following:
- Open-Mindedness – The ability to listen to other’s arguments.
- Healthy Skepticism – The ability to criticize and question other’s arguments when relying on proofs and facts.
- Intellectual Humility – The ability to change own mind when being logically convinced.
- Free Thinking – The ability to eliminate presumptions and stereotypes when forming an argument.
- High Motivation – The ability to devote efforts to research and backup one’s arguments.
It can be seen that these characteristics are mostly related to certain rules in leading a healthy and efficient discussion. In that regard, it can be assumed that these are characteristics are related to a set of techniques that should be used.
Another approach to address critical thinking was proposed by Arthur Costa and Bena Kallick. The approach proposed by Costa and Kallick deals with the intellectual abilities of the people, stating that there are some attitudes and views that promote the formation of thinking skills in all subject areas, where these such attributes are called “habits of mind”.
Accordingly, Costa and Kallick formed a list of characteristics that are intrinsic for people with such attributes. These characteristics include:
- Inclination, which can imply that people have the intention to thoroughly think over the problem’s solution.
- Value, i.e. “choosing to employ a pattern of intellectual behaviors rather than other, less productive patterns.” (Costa and Kallick)
- Sensitivity, i.e. the ability to choose the appropriate strategy for each particular situation.
- Capabilities, which are basically the main basic abilities to compare, contrasting objects, and the using logical arguments to convince others.
- Commitment, i.e. basically it is a combination of factors that imply continuous improvement of own knowledge, skills, and abilities.
A mutual parallel can be established between the characteristics proposed by Costa and Kallick and the discussed in class, where commitment might resemble high motivation, while capabilities might represent a combination of more than one characteristic.
Obstacles
If critical thinking can be taught, and according to Costa and Killick thinking intelligently can be habituated, then accordingly, there are factors that can limit one’s ability to think critically that should be learned to avoid. Such critical thinking hindrances might include confirmation bias and selective thinking, which can be seen through selecting premises that might be unproven, weak, or false just because they coincide with one’s belief. Accordingly, such bias includes personal ones, where life experience might prevent people from thinking objectively.
While bias and prejudice can be considered as one of the most influential hindrances, as they might imply conscious manipulation with arguments and premises in leading to a certain conclusion, other hindrances are also worth mentioning.
The emotional factor, for example, can influence critical thinking in different manners. On the one hand, it is understood that emotional stresses might affect the ability to think clearly, while on the other hand, such emotions as aggression might result from overestimating the values of one’s ideas. The latter might be seen, where people like the conclusions that they came up with, and accordingly they try to protect themselves from the influence of others.
Implementation
As previously stated, the skills and the characteristics previously mentioned can be taught, and accordingly, people have control over them. In that sense, an example of the implementation of good critical thinking can be taken from assessing such controversial issues as euthanasia. Taking the position that euthanasia can be used when it results in relief for incurable patients, who suffer great pain, engaging critical thinking to imply the following:
- Research the literature in regard to euthanasia on both sides of the issue.
- Criticizing the arguments that euthanasia is unethical using only proven facts from respected sources.
- Eliminate the stereotype that euthanasia is only used for people who are in great pain with a little time left to live, accepting the different versions that might imply abuse in such practice.
- Weighing the arguments of others, without allowing personal bias, such as the case of people one might know, who were dying in pain, from objectively assessing the issue.
- Logically building arguments, where the leading premises should form from strong and proven facts.
In that example, being a controversial issue, the right and wrong of the subject can be established through the way people critically think about this subject and the way the arguments are presented. Avoiding hindrances in critically thinking about this subject is related mainly to setting aside the personal factor, whether it is a personal experience, a prejudice, a certain emotion, or a memory.
Conclusion
Critical thinking is a vital attribute of intelligent behavior. In that regard, it can be seen that the mentioned skills and characteristics can be used as the main guidelines through which not only in the process of thinking itself but also through the way the arguments and the conclusion of logical reasoning can be convincingly presented and discussed. Additionally, an important aspect of critical thinking, in general, is universality.
In that sense, answering the topic’s question, it can be said that an accomplished critical thinker is not the one who has all the characteristics previously mentioned, but rather the one who can use these skills and characteristics in all life spheres, and not only within the curriculum. The skills of critical thinkers should be used beyond imaginary examples and mythical case studies.
Works Cited
Costa, Arthur L., and Bena Kallick. “Describing 16 Habits of Mind.” (2000): 1-14 pp. Web.
Facione, Peter A. “Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts”. 2006. California Academic Press. Web.
Sternberg, Robert J., Henry L. Roediger, and Diane F. Halpern. Critical Thinking in Psychology. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.