Prologue Critical Thinking/Active Learning

Transcription

1 xxx PREFACE Prologue Critical Thinking/Active Learning (With contributions from Thomas Frangicetto and his students at Northampton Community College) Critical thinking has many meanings and some books dedicate entire chapters to defining the term. The word critical comes from the Greek word kritikos, which means to question, makes sense of, and be able to analyze. Thinking is the cognitive activity involved in making sense of the world around us. Critical thinking, therefore, can be defined as thinking about and evaluating thoughts, feelings, and behavior so that we can clarify and improve them (adapted from Chaffee, 1988, p. 29). This text s focus on active learning naturally contributes to the development of critical thinking. I believe that an active learner is by definition also a critical thinker. Critical thinking is also a process. As a process something you do you can do it better. You can develop your critical thinking skills. Each chapter of Psychology in Action (and corresponding chapters in the Student Study and Review Guide and Instructor s Resource Guide) includes a specific Critical Thinking/Active Learning Exercise devoted to improving one or more of the components of critical thinking. To learn more about each of these components, study the following three lists. They present the affective (emotional), cognitive (thinking), and behavioral (action) components of critical thinking. You will find that you already employ some of these skills. But you will also discover areas you could strengthen through practice. Affective Components The emotional foundation that either enables or limits critical thinking. 1. Valuing truth above self-interest. Critical thinkers hold themselves and those they agree with to the same intellectual standards to which they hold their opponents. This is one of the most difficult components to employ on a regular basis. We all have a tendency to cater to our own needs (see self-serving bias p. 000), and to ignore information that conflicts with our desires. Critical thinkers recognize that, even when it appears otherwise, the truth is always in our self-interest. Psychic John Edward makes a lot of money off his supposed power to communicate with people s dead relatives...his customers should value the truth over self-interest. This means accepting the truth, even when it is not what they want to believe. We learned from the text that one reason people believe in psychics like Edward is because they want to they willingly suspend disbelief and put their self-interest above the truth. LISA SHANK 2. Accepting change. Critical thinkers remain open to the need for adjustment and adaptation throughout the life cycle. Resisting change is one of the most common characteristics that human beings share. Because critical thinkers fully trust the processes of reasoned inquiry, they are willing to use these skills to examine even their most deeply held values and beliefs, and to modify these beliefs when evidence and experience contradict them. As one becomes a parent for the first time, that individual must face the fact that accepting change plays a very big role. A new parent can no longer drop everything and do whatever they please, such as going to a club or bar to socialize or even just going out to dinner. They now have more responsibilities and different priorities. JAMES CAVANAUGH Karen: X-Ref xxx

2 PROLOGUE xxxi 3. Empathizing. Critical thinkers appreciate and try to understand others thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Noncritical thinkers view everything and everyone in relation to themselves, which is known as egocentrism. The ability to consider the perspective of another person to empathize with them is the most effective antidote to egocentric thinking. I think that one thing that everyone should do when they ve lost a loved one is empathizing. Empathy is a great way to help each other in a time of need. Many times there is someone who just needs to talk and express his or her feelings. Being able to listen and understand what they are going through, helps make your response to them more effective and helpful. CHRISTOPHER FEGLEY 4. Welcoming divergent views. Critical thinkers value examining issues from every angle and know that it is especially important to explore and understand positions with which they disagree. This quality would be especially valuable to groups in the process of decision making. Welcoming divergent views would effectively inoculate the decision making process from groupthink faulty decision making that occurs when a highly cohesive group strives for agreement and avoids inconsistent information. Most Americans don t even try to understand the sociocultural influences that affect suicide bombers...but this issue has influenced me to welcome divergent views and try to understand that people in different cultures have different beliefs. Most Americans believe that martyrs are crazy, while Palestinians believe that martyrdom is something to be idolized. My decision to believe that martyrdom is a form of self-expression may clash with the views of many Americans but I grew up in a country where I have the right to believe what I want. SOPHIA BLANCHET 5. Tolerating ambiguity. Although formal education often trains us to look for a single right answer ( convergent thinking ), critical thinkers recognize that many issues are complex and subtle, and that complex issues may not have a right answer. They recognize and value qualifiers such as probably, highly likely, and not very likely. Creative artists, in particular, must be willing to deal with uncertainty and be willing to consider many possible solutions ( divergent thinking ). 6. Recognizing personal biases. This involves using your highest intellectual skills to detect personal biases and self-deceptive reasoning so you can design realistic plans for self-correction. Being an effective critical thinker does not mean the total absence of bias, but rather the willingness to admit, recognize, and correct bias. Because America is such a huge country of immigrants, many people including me as a foreigner from Japan become sensitive about discrimination and prejudice. I have had some difficult times. Once one of my American friends described some Asian people as foxes, because of the way they look. She was joking, but I was not laughing. I felt very sad because she didn t even notice that I felt disrespected. She definitely needs to begin recognizing personal biases if she wants to have friends from different cultures. SAEMI SUZUKI Cognitive Components The thought processes actually involved in critical thinking. 7. Thinking independently. Critical thinking is independent thinking. Critical thinkers do not passively accept the beliefs of others and are not easily manipulated. They maintain a healthy amount of skepticism, especially about unusual or remarkable claims or reports. They are also able to differentiate being skeptical from just being stubborn and unyielding. They are, for example, willing to welcome divergent views and 1) weigh the substance of those views, and 2) adjust their own thinking if warranted ( accept change ).

3 xxxii PROLOGUE 8. Defining problems accurately. To the extent possible, a critical thinker identifies the issues in clear and concrete terms, to prevent confusion and lay the foundation for gathering relevant information. At first glance, this component appears to contradict tolerating ambiguity, but that is not so. Critical thinkers are able to tolerate ambiguity until it is possible to define problems accurately. 9. Analyzing data for value and content. By carefully evaluating the nature of evidence and the credibility of the source, critical thinkers recognize illegitimate appeals to emotion, unsupported assumptions, and faulty logic. This enables them to discount sources of information that lack a record of honesty, contradict themselves on key questions, or have a vested interest in selling a product, idea, or viewpoint that are only partially accurate (a half truth ). While it may be true that the majority of black people score lower than white people on IQ tests, it is important to ask: Why? To learn the answer it is indispensable to analyze data for value and content. To do so you must carefully identify the credibility of sources and evaluate all information from a multicultural perspective; for example, we must consider the daily battle against prejudice in our society and how minority students feel isolated from the rest of the white majority... So the environment has a lot of influence and the effect can be lower self-esteem which can result in lower scores. ARANZAZU GARCIA 10. Employing a variety of thinking processes in problem solving. Among these thinking processes are (a) inductive logic reasoning that moves from the specific to the general; (b) deductive logic reasoning that moves from the general to the specific; (c) dialogical thinking thinking that involves an extended verbal exchange between differing points of view or frames of reference; and (d) dialectical thinking thinking that tests the strengths and weaknesses of opposing points of view. 11. Synthesizing. Critical thinkers recognize that comprehension and understanding result from combining various elements into meaningful patterns. Blending the affective, cognitive, and behavioral components of critical thinking into a deeper understanding of your world involves synthesizing. For example, feeling depressed because nobody likes you might lead to asking other people for feedback (welcoming divergent views), their views might help you realize that you do have good qualities that people like and that it isn t as bad as you thought (resisting overgeneralization), which could inspire you to try new behaviors (applying knowledge to new situations). 12. Resisting overgeneralization. Overgeneralization is the temptation to apply a fact or experience to situations that are only superficially similar. For example, having a bad experience with and forming a negative judgment of a person from a particular ethnic heritage and then applying that same judgment to all members of the same ethnic group. The failure to resist overgeneralization is often at the core of prejudice. 13. Employing metacognition. Metacognition, also known as reflective or recursive thinking, involves reviewing and analyzing your own mental processes thinking about your own thinking. Critical thinkers who are motivated to trace the origin of their beliefs put their thinking under intense scrutiny and can often be heard saying things like What was I thinking? or I don t know why I believe that, I ll have to think about it. Behavioral Components The actions necessary for critical thinking. 14. Delaying judgment until adequate data are available. A critical thinker does not make snap judgments. Impulsivity is one of the surest obstacles to good critical

4 PROLOGUE 19. Listening actively. Critical thinkers fully engage their thinking skills when listening to another. This may sound like the easiest or most obvious of all components, but it is one of the most difficult. Test this yourself the next time you are in a conversation with someone. After you ve talked for a while ask the other person to summarize what you were saying. Or monitor your own listening prowess when the other person is speaking. How often does your attention wander? Critxxxiii thinking. Rash judgments about other people, impulse purchases of a new car or home, uninformed choices for political candidates, or falling in love at first sight can all be costly mistakes that we regret for many years. When it comes to debating the Iraqi war people are often misinformed and I believe it is my responsibility to inform them of the truth since I am in the U.S. Army Reserves. At first I did not agree with the war, but as a soldier I am supposed to do what I am told. I have worked with people who were part of the unit responsible for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, and I have friends who are over in Iraq, some who support the war and others who do not... (but) some people judge the situation before they get all the information they need. This is why I try to convince them to delay judgment until adequate data in available. LONGSU CHENG 15. Employing precise terms. Precise terms help critical thinkers identify issues clearly and concretely so they can be objectively defined and empirically tested. In the everyday realm, when two people argue about an issue they are often defining it differently without even knowing it. For example, in a romantic relationship two individuals can have very different definitions of words such as love and commitment. Open communication that explores and identifies the precise shades of meaning is an important key to successful relationships. 16. Gathering data. Collecting up-to-date, relevant information on all sides of an issue is a priority before making decisions. Too often noncritical thinkers collect only information that confirms their point-of-view. For example, researchers can unintentionally skew a study in the direction of a desired outcome by only collecting data that will support it. 17. Distinguishing fact from opinion. Facts are statements that can be proven true. Opinions are statements that express how a person feels about an issue or what someone thinks is true. It is easy to have an uninformed opinion about any subject, but critical thinkers seek out facts before forming their opinions. I like that this text teaches us to distinguish fact from opinion, for example, to recognize statements that can be proven true versus statements that merely reveal the way we feel about something. We must learn to tell the difference between the truth and popular opinions we have learned from our parents and society. WENDY MOREN 18. Encouraging critical dialogue. Critical thinkers are active questioners who challenge existing facts and opinions and welcome questions in return. Socratic questioning is an important type of critical dialogue in which the questioner deeply probes the meaning, justification, or logical strength of a claim, position, or line of reasoning. In everyday communication it is often easier to avoid the type of dialogue that would help solve problems and strengthen relationships, but it is an essential part of living an emotionally healthy life. My mother has been calling me for the last year and I know she is only talking to me because she is dying. It has taken me a long time to warm up to here because of the past... I currently find myself encouraging critical dialogue with her... after many years we have finally started to express our feelings with each other. This dialogue has been most gratifying because now we have learned to become friends and enjoy each other s company. My hope is that when the end comes we will know that despite our faults we really loved each other. TIM WALKER

5 xxxiv PROLOGUE ical thinkers actively engage in the conversation by encouraging critical dialogue. They ask questions, nonverbally affirm what they hear, request clarification or elaboration, and so on. 20. Modifying judgments in light of new information. Critical thinkers are willing to abandon or modify their judgments if later evidence or experience contradicts them. Noncritical thinkers stubbornly stick to their beliefs and often value selfinterest above the truth. For much of my high school years, I procrastinated on almost every assignment. The process of change has been a slow one...however, I procrastinate less now that I am in college. In addition to prioritizing my work, and finishing the more important assignments sooner... I have modified my judgment in light of new information. I know now that these assignments are primarily for my own benefit and that a certain level of self-motivation is required in order to succeed in life. I also realized that I am paying for my education so I may as well get as much out of it as I can. TOM SHIMER 21. Applying knowledge to new situations. When critical thinkers master a new skill or experience an insight, they transfer this information to new contexts. Noncritical thinkers can often provide correct answers, repeat definitions, and carry out calculations, yet be unable to transfer their knowledge to new situations because of a basic lack of understanding or an inability to synthesize seemingly unrelated content. A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. WILLIAM JAMES