Critical Thinking
Introduction to Critical Thinking
Critical thinking: Processing, analyzing, and evaluating information that is received and asking questions about it, with the goal of learning.
To begin a dialogue requires the development of critical thinking skills.
We’ve identified these principles for effective critical thinking:
Identify your own biases and assumptions
Divide complex issues into smaller, more manageable parts
Understand and define all terms
Question the methods by which the facts are derived
Consider alternative interpretations of research evidence
Critical thinking is a skill that allows you to make logical and informed decisions. It can be used to analyze situations, information, and ideas. Good critical thinkers can draw reasonable conclusions from a set of information, and discriminate between useful and less useful details to solve problems or make decisions.
An effective critical thinker:
Raises questions and problems clearly and precisely
Gathers, analyzes, and synthesizes relevant information, using it to draw conclusions
Provides well-reasoned conclusions and solutions that are consistent with relevant criteria, standards, or best practices
Thoughtfully assesses the implications of different systems of thought
Takes an active role in developing solutions to complex problems by communicating with others
While there’s no universal standard for what skills are included in the critical thinking process, we’ve identified three important steps to follow to promote critical thinking in any situation:
Observe and Gather Information
Analyze and Synthesize
Reflect and Decide
Observe and Gather Information
Observe and Gather:
Identify what’s being said
Distinguish relevant and credible information
Dialogue is just one way to gather information. Critical thinkers gather information from different sources, exploring issues from multiple perspectives. They vet all possible sources of information with an eye on inconsistencies, differences, divergences and contradictions.
When a statement or claim is made, critical thinkers do their best to clarify and identify what is being said. A frequent source of disagreement in dialogue is that although the dialogue partners are using the same central term or statement, they understand it differently. This is likely due to a difference in perception.
Perception is the process of taking information from the world around us and forming mental representations of that information, which we then use to guide our actions. It's how we see, understand, and interpret situations. Our perceptions are determined by many factors, including our family, religion and belief systems, culture and ethnicity, age, gender, education, and life experience.
In dialogue, the best way to clarify a term or statement is to repeat back to your partner in dialogue what you believe they are saying, and ask them to either confirm or amend your understanding. By doing so, we explore our dialogue partner’s perception of a situation and can better understand their viewpoint.
Analyze and Synthesize
Analyze and Synthesize:
Understand the significance or meaning of the information
Synthesize the information collected with what you already know
Analysis is the process of re-examining data, searching for significance or meaning, and identifying structural discrepancies. To understand the significance of a statement, a critical thinker must be able to isolate the main claim made and trace it back to the supporting reasons for that claim. Critical thinkers are then able to analyze the data they encounter further by identifying its flaws or inconsistencies and making informed decisions regarding their own beliefs.
When analyzing data, it can be helpful to divide larger arguments or ideas into smaller parts. Almost nothing is truly simple; practically everything is made up of parts, including our thoughts and experiences. Consequently, if we are to understand something, whether an object or an idea, we will need to know what the parts are that make it up and how they are related to each other. When we take time to pause our thinking and challenge the information we observed to get us to this conclusion and what assumptions or experiences have helped us develop this opinion, we are thinking analytically about the situation.
When analyzing source material it's important to research the author of the pieces you're reading. Ask yourself:
Who is their research/ writing sponsored by?
Who is their target audience?
What is their goal of publishing this piece?
Looking at the dates resources are published are also an important indicator of the piece. While older data is not immediately irrelevant, it may be a clue that there is more updated information that is worth taking a look at. Asking questions is an essential part of the critical thinking process!
Synthesis is a process that combines multiple sources to form theories, patterns, and develop a fuller understanding of a topic. It's a mindful approach that asks you to look for and identify links between sources. Synthesizing data starts by evaluating your initial analysis and reinterpreting it based on what you already know. Using synthesis, one develops a more complete understanding of the topic or argument.
Reflect and Decide
Reflect and Decide:
Reconsider your interpretation in view of new analyses, facts, or errors discovered
Make inferences based on data and information presented
Reflection is the process of re-assessing analytical and argumentative logic in search for possible influences, biases, and prejudices that might have impacted your reasoning.
After gathering information, analyzing it, and reflecting on it, the critical thinker is now in a position to identify problematic areas and isolate inconsistencies. The key is to narrow the broad scope of a statement and deconstruct its structure in such a way that it becomes easier to understand one piece at a time.
We always want to consider alternative interpretations outside of our initial scope of thinking. We can ask questions such as: Who is being represented in this instance and who is not? Where is this information coming from and who may benefit from such statements?
The purpose of critical thinking skills are to assist us in making informed decisions based on solid facts and arguments. All of the elements of the critical thinking process work together to help one decide what course of action to take, which arguments to advance, what kind of behavior to change or adopt, and so on.
These next Three Tools are for building skills of dialogue, leadership, and acquisition of knowledge in order to develop creative compassion and critical thinking. Tools that help adaptation to “culture shock of other and self” happen with conscious practice and thus less harm of the inevitable experience of “cognitive dissonance” when engaging in developing empathy and critical thinking.
