Psychology: Critical Thinking - Essay Example

?Critical Thinking Introduction Before going into the details, let’s first get to know what critical thinking actually is. Moore p.8) defines critical thinking as “both a deliberate meta-cognitive (thinking about thinking) and cognitive (thinking) act whereby a person reflects on the quality of the reasoning process simultaneously while reasoning to a conclusion.” Critical thinking is an expertise that comes with vast experience of reading, writing and utilizing one’s reasoning abilities. During the whole process of critical thinking, the thinker tries to accomplish two objectives, which include improving the quality of his reasoning, and reaching a well-reasoned solution. According to Sen (2010, p.2), a critical thinker is a person who asks for justifications or reasons, and is skeptical and intellectually responsible. This means that a person who does not settle down upon general principles and asks for reasons while being dubious about common justifications is the one who is actually critically analyzing the situation with the objective to reach a logical solution (The Critical Thinking Community, 2011). Hence, a good critical thinker, according to Sen (2010, p.4) is one who is “guided by reason” and not by emotions; who carefully examines all the evidence and follow the direction where the evidence leads; who looks for the best rationalization; is unbiased toward solutions; knows his prejudices and preferences; and is liberal toward accepting solutions not agreeable to him. Moreover, clarity of thoughts while thinking and writing, accuracy of facts, precision and relevance of ideas, and depth of situation analysis, are important factors of critical thinking without which it is impossible to reason fairly (Sen). Critical thinking skills contribute to better quality decisions (Part 1) Since critical thinking involves reasoning, it readily leads to decisions that are better in quality and strength. Let’s understand the philosophy behind this. Since the world is getting more and more complicated, there is only one way to rule it and that is through the way of your mind. When you start thinking rationally, you get more control over the circumstances and the factors creating such circumstances. You learn to deal better with misfortune. But all this comes with practicing the critical thinking skills which enable us to take control of our thinking process. Thus, we are enabled to solve our problems more effectively and thus we make high quality decisions. We have to constantly make decisions in our routine life starting from when to get up and ending at how to end our day. We also have to make life-changing decisions at times. The more logical our pattern of thinking is, the more rational is our life and the better are our decisions. These rational decisions in turn give us happiness, contentment, comfort and a sense of fulfillment. Also, the decisions made are better because critical thinking involves reaching sound solutions that are derived from facts and observations. Faulty and weak reasoning is withdrawn from the thinking process. The basic critical thinking skills required for better decision-making include inquiring skills, observational skills, efficient listening skills, investigating written sources of information, reading skills, and discovering fundamental assumptions and values. These skills can be developed through asking relevant questions; looking for relevant information; understanding and assessing that information; and, drawing the inferences. Hence, we can say that critical thinking skills improve our power of making decisions through conscious and premeditated choice. My Experience (Part 2) Here, I discuss how I applied critical thinking skills to my decision to return to school and pursue a graduate degree. I had decided not to return to school after I had bad experiences with some bullying guys and also because I was seeing hard financial time due of which I decided to leave school and go for a job. However, I was not satisfied. I knew that I would stand nowhere if I did not do my graduation. I was suffering from a sort of complex all the time because I had left school without graduation unlike all other members in my family. I sat down and pondered upon the whole situation critically. I asked myself these questions: What is the problem? Why this problem came into existence? Why I am not satisfied? Why I want to return to school? Will the problem not arise again? What I will do if the problem arises again? What problems I may encounter if I choose not to return to school? I consulted my elders and my professors who had taught me before I left school. I compared the contradictory pieces of advice to know which side had more plus points. I explored literature to find out the tradeoffs of leaving school before graduation. I consulted books, internet, magazines, television shows and libraries to support my point or object with the other side. This critical thinking enabled me to make out the weak points in my initial decision and give my perspective based on sense of logic. I put my expressions and perspectives in black and white. I analyzed my ideas and compared them to common sense and finally came up with a decision that fitted very well with logic. I found myself thinking clearly about the issue. I carefully evaluated the cause-and-effect of the decision to get to any weak points. Finally, after a month or so, I was going back to school for graduation. The decision-making process (Part 3) McGrew (1982, p.13) mentions McKenzie in his book, according to whom decision-making is the process of making a “real choice”. A real choice is one that is not only about choosing the right solution, but also about devising ways to reach that end. Thus, according to McKenzie (as cited in McGrew, 1982), decision-making process is “a cumulative sequence of stages of choice” (p.13). It is very important to control one’s biases, preferences and prejudices while making decisions. The whole process requires effective thinking about all plus and minus points along with the benefits and tradeoffs of the solution reached. The factors that led to my decision-making about the degree I chose mainly included my dissatisfaction regarding not pursuing my graduation degree, and a desire to become intellectually independent. I knew that I could only be strong if I pursued my education. The degree I selected was right according to my interests and mental capacity. I knew that I could do whatever I wanted if I took a stand and prepared myself to suffer from all hardships that were to come my way. I critically analyzed all options about the degree I was going to pursue; pondered upon the benefits it was going to offer to me in my later professional life; considered all negativities associated with the degree; and, consulted the importance of the degree with my professors. I compared the plus points with minus points by literally writing them down on a sheet of paper, and found the pluses outgrowing the minuses. This made me choose the degree I am pursuing now. Conclusion Putting it all together, critical thinking enables one to reason effectively and draw sound conclusions based upon rational decisions. Critical thinking skills include questioning rationally, evaluating the assumptions, drawing inferences, and reaching an agreeable solution. Unbiased attitude is a must. Critical thinking affects decision-making process in that rational justifications are sought and irrational explanations are marked out. Also, critical thinking improves ones writing, reading, and exploring capabilities. I used my critical thinking skills to make a life-determining decision due to which I am proud to pursue the degree of my interest. I will continue to make use of my critical thinking skills to make petty or important decisions throughout my life, and will keep on polishing these skills through practice. References McGrew, A.G. (1982). Decision making: Approaches and Analysis. Manchester: Manchester University Press ND. Moore, D.T. (2010). What is critical thinking? Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis. USA: DIANE Publishing. Sen, M. (2010). An Introduction to Critical Thinking. India: Pearson Education India. The Critical Thinking Community. (2011). Defining Critical Thinking. 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