Thinking and decision making - Research Paper Example

Thinking and Decision Making There are three basic types of thinking, i.e. higher ion, lower ion and everyday thinking (Clouser citedin Basden, 2001). Higher abstraction is a type of thinking in which an individual separates one aspect from various others and totally focuses upon that aspect at a given time. Higher abstraction leads to obsession. The individual tends to forget the context and places complete emphasis upon the task at hand. This may prove detrimental. For example, when a lady wants to cook fancy meals in order to impress the expected guests, she would overlook the amount of salt that makes a good marination and would put more because the guest expected is known to prefer eating more salty foods.

Such isolation, if made part of everyday thinking, proves harmful. Lower abstraction is a kind of thinking that occurs when an individual is involved in a task and knows about all potential aspects in which the task functions. The lady may appreciate the exotic look of the variety of meals on the dining table when the guest arrives, yet this appreciation occurs within the context. People make use of lower abstraction when they need to perceive a situation. The lady may think that it might not be good for the guest to have the sweet dish with the meal, but then might think, “If I don’t make a sweet dish, my meal would be incomplete.

Let the guest enjoy the sweet dish once in a blue moon” (this perception is based on the visualization of the meal from the aesthetic point of view). In complicated situations, lower abstraction is used in order to perceive and analyze a situation. The individual thinking this way analyzes the particular aspects that control a given situation and the working of several entities that make part of the situation. In everyday thinking, we work in an integrated manner in every aspect whether or not we are aware of that.

We employ the knowledge of aspects tacitly. We may make one thing the focus of our attention, yet we know about the thing’s context. For example, the lady wanting to cook the meal for the guests may go to the market and purchase the ingredients and buy the cooking book to learn the cooking techniques, but she also remains aware of what the guests’ satisfaction means to her and that she wants to avoid unnecessary criticism by the guests. Of the three types of thinking, everyday thinking is the most rational while lower abstraction is better than higher abstraction.

Steps involved in the critical thinking process include acquiring knowledge, comprehending things, applying concepts, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Everyday thinking is the type of thinking that is most consistent with the critical thinking process whereas higher abstraction is the least consistent with it and thus affects the critical thinking process the most. In higher abstraction, an individual analyzes a matter from one and only one aspect whereas critical thinking requires analysis from several aspects.

Thus, an individual that thinks using too much higher abstraction may experience a decline in the critical thinking ability. References:Basden, A. (2001). Three Types of Thinking, Theory and Practice. Retrieved from http://www.dooy.salford.ac.uk/thinking.html.